This time I have to write a relatively personal column, not around Windows Mobile technology. Believe me, I think Windows Mobile is cool and the development environment to create Windows Mobile Device Applications, whether you use Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008, absolutely rocks! However, over the last few weeks I have noticed being completely out of the loop, thanks to some issues I don’t feel ready to talk about (yet). Having said that, I felt that my latest MSDN Webcast got bad advertising, so I informed the people responsible for advertising Webcasts about it. First off, I got a very formal email back, from which I want to share at least one sentence with you: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” I hope this is true, and probably it is true for the majority of Webcasts. However, I was dealing with a relatively small team and if somebody on such a small team does not like you anymore, for whatever reason, you have a problem. To be honest, I found out that I missed some advertisements about this webcast, so I probably should have been nicer in my remarks about advertisements of Webcasts. At the same time though, 6 minutes before my last MSDN Webcast aired, all of a sudden there was additional advertisement. Let me repeat that sentence in the email that was sent to me: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” Pretty late advertisement if somebody might have wanted to sign up for that particular Webcast. Let me repeat that sentence one more time: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” Let me share this screen shot snippet of the last advertisement for this webcast:

The blog on which this is published is irrelevant, but one more time: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” Advertising 6 minutes before air time: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” Also, this was a 90 minute Webcast, running between 11.00 AM – 12.30 PM PT, so here we go again: “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” On the air I said I am retiring from MSDN Webcasts. It is not because I feel I am too old to present, it is because “Microsoft takes each and every webcast we schedule very seriously.” I hope the developers of the Windows Mobile Platform and the developers of Visual Studio 2008 take their job a little more serious. Your platform is great and has huge potential. Please continue to take it very seriously. For me however, to be taken seriously I have to move on. DotNETForDevices will hopefully become one of your #1 resources to learn about Windows Mobile Application Development, something I take very, very seriously!

Oh btw: If you missed the Webcast I am talking about, you can still watch the on-demand version. Simply click on this link.

Maarten Struys