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Java 
What has a Java Champion got to do at a Microsoft conference you might wonder? Well, first and foremost I’m not changing my beliefs now that Oracle plans on buying Sun, that’s for sure. The sole reason for my DevDays appearance is that I’ve been asked by Microsoft Netherlands to do a couple of Java – .NET interoperability talks. And thus I will be joining my coworker Edwin van Wijk and present two talks on Webservices interoperability using WCF and Project Metro, and another session on developing Java services and clients for the Windows Azure cloud platform using the jdotnetservices SDK. Additionally, I was asked to join an expert panel on Open Source Software and Open Standards for the Dutch Government.
Personally, I think its a good thing that vendors acknowledge the existence of a multi-vendor world that is a reality nowadays. Moreover it fits the trend of Microsoft appearing on a number of Java related conferences like Devoxx, and JavaOne in the recent past. I even heard that next week’s JavaOne conference will feature its first ever Microsoft keynote. Can’t wait to see that!
All-in-all, this will be a crazy week preparing for both conferences. My DevDays sessions will all be on Thursday. Friday morning I’ll be flying off to San Francisco for my yearly pilgrimage to JavaOne. During the weekend a number of NLJUG activities will be organized for Dutch Java User Group members that attend the conference. The economic downturn has hit the number of Dutchmen quite hard. Last year we had a steady 120+ pilgrims, but this year that numbers has significantly slimmed down to 30. I’m really anxious to see how this translates into the total number of attendees. Nevertheless it will be a great conference, no doubt about that!