First of all I would like to thank Microsoft for inviting me to what was a truly awesome event!

The Microsoft UK Tech Days Special was a one off event showcasing some of Microsoft’s new toys, to a developer audience this was a little like Christmas day when you were a kid, except your rich aunt is Microsoft and that Power Ranger action figure who’s head can flip inside it’s body - is technology.

Suffice to say that it was really amazing - and I haven’t mentioned Steve Ballmer yet.

The Keynote

Probably the most anticipated talk of the day.

Actually, that’s a bit of an understatement. If you live under a rock or Smurf Village and have no idea why seeing Steve Ballmer delivering a keynote would be exciting to a room full of geeks, please watch the following video: Link

Now, Steve didn’t go that crazy, but he defiantly wasn’t a boring speaker either. He talked about this being an exciting time for software developers and how there is more opportunity now than there has ever been before, especially with exciting new cloud, phone and internet technologies.

Steve didn’t reveal much secrets regarding the future, but he did say that Windows Phone 7 is two weeks away and that slate devices with Windows 7 are on their way.

After the keynote, the day moved on to four, 45 minute sessions (called Deep Dives). These went much more into depth regarding what Steve Ballmer touched on during his presentation. The four talks were on; Azure, Windows Phone 7, IE9 and Windows 7. A lot of content was covered in these sessions, and will be the subject of later blogs. For now, however, I leave you with more Steve Ballmer and a well known friend of his.