As I sit here at the airport in San Jose, CA, reviewing the SharePoint (and, to be fair, Office Business Application or OBA) development content covered and gleaned from the experts at Microsoft and partner companies, I'm amazed (and tired).  This is the first ODC open to the public, which is good and bad.  I have to admit, the content wasn't as deep as I'd expected like past, invitation-only ODCs, but it was still good stuff.  To top it off, I was asked to do a presentation on the Developer - Business User relationship of SharePoint application development.  You can download the presentation deck below from Windows Live SkyDrive Beta.

I had the opportunity to do a pre-conference session with Ted Pattison of MSDN magazine Office Space fame and Wouter van Vugt, the Open Office XML Guru.  There were some very good breakout sessions, as well.  Bill Gates' keynote was great.  There was a different version of his "Last Day at Microsoft" video that first showed it's head at CES 2008 and is easily found all over the web.  Unlike most presentations, I was very impressed with the FedEx business services and Microsoft Office 2007 add-ins announced and officially released at the keynote.  It is something I will surely download and install.  I urge anyone that uses FedEx shipping or printing (FedEx Kinko's) or supports users that do, go and sign up for the FedEx Developer Center to see great mature, robust web services (usable by any platform) and add-ins for the Microsoft Office platform.

Just before I left for ODC here in California, my wife started up a blog.  I admit, I was a little humbled at how well she writes in a blogging context.  Be aware, I rarely assist my wife with technical computer issues unless they're severe.  She is quite self sufficient on her Dell notebook (Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007 Ultimate) and the web.  In the last few years she has posted over 10,000 entries (yes, that number is correct) on scrapbooking and mother boards.  [The worst part is when she asks me if I've made any posts to my blog lately.  How embarrassing!!!]

I'm glad to be heading home to review what I've learned from ODC 2008.  I'll be back on the road the next few weeks.  Next week, I'll be at Interface, teaching a SharePoint 2007 Development class.  And shortly after that I'll be doing two (yes, two) Microsoft conferences in the same week; The Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2008 (which, by the way, has been sold out for a while) in Seattle, WA and MIX08 in Las Vegas, NV.  [For those wondering about the difference between ODC and SharePoint Conference, the SharePoint Conference is IT Pro or system administrator focused, while ODC is focused on developers.]

Well, I've got to get ready to jump on the plane.  I get home late tonight, but I'm looking forward to seeing my wife and son.