SunCEC2007: A kind of a wrap-up

I won´t write that this entry will my last entry about CEC2007, because i´m sure i will find some interesting blog entries about this and i still didn´t summarized the Keynote of Don Grantham. But before i forget somehthing, i will write down my thoughts. The conference
CEC2007 was really cool. As i wrote before: Many good presentations, many interesting informal talks. It was a good mixture. The overarching topic of the Keynotes was Redshift … well, this underlines how important those customers are for us. There is only an finite amount of computing needed to do your general ledger. Really big SAP systems on one or two small systems is not too far in the future. The growth will come from different customers or from different departments of an existing customer, it has to come from different customers or departments. As Jonathan stated: Redshift is in every company. At the end the CEC2007 was the real Redshift Kickoff Conference. Las Vegas
Well, i´m still not fond of this city, but i think it´s one of the best places to hold such a large conference. The hotels are much cheaper than in SanFrancisco, thus you have more money in a given budget for other things like a decent show program around the event or - more important - inviting more people to CEC. And this is highly advantageous. Will come to this later. Las Vegas is a city full of eye candy, but there is no soul. Las Vegas is like a large amusement park with the overarching theme sex, drugs, gambling and rock n´roll … and the casino hotels are something like separated worlds in it (like the theme parks ins the Disney Resorts). I think this city is okay for 2 or 3 day … but a day longer and I would opt for a rental car to get out of the city. More people
There were 1000 people more on CEC2007 than last year. When all attendees learned only a thing or two at CEC, this events makes our customer engineering workforce much stronger. More people leads to more communication. More communication to more exchange of opinions. Critic

1. We need more more WLAN, more bandwith, more power outlets. Gred Papadopulous talked last year about the ever elastic demand of computing power. The CEC crowd is a nice example for the ever elastic demand of internet connectivity.
   
2. The breakfast was much better, but i´m still not convinced that a croissant with ham or a wrap with a generic egg-simulating substance is a decent breakfast.
   
3. Next CEC: Sun Rays, lots of Sunrays … mooooore Sunrays ….
   
4. The idea of the paperless conference was a good idea. But the paper boxes for the cartons spoiled that topic a little bit … A suggestion for improvement
   Some tips for having dinner would be nice. Maybe a short chapter in the conference guide or a wiki entry for decent restaurants in Las Vegas written by a Las Vegas resident. Kudos!
   
5. The conference was worth every hour of travel and every hour of missed sleep.
   
6. From my perspective the conference was organized in a good and professional way. Really, kudos to the org team.
   
7. The messaging team for the questions from the auditorium did a great job. But next time: only one question at once for Andy B. ;)