So I’ve been invited to attend the Microsoft Technology Summit in Redmond next week which, from what I understand, is focused as an interactive conversation between MSFT technology/product owners and a group of ~50 or so technologists from around the industry. As per a recent email I received regarding the event,

Please plan to openly discuss your views and opinions. While having respect and tolerance for others opinions, we encourage you to be vocal and open with your opinions. The MTS is a non-NDA summit, so we also encourage blogging, web posting, etc.

I’ll most definitely be blogging the experience as the week progresses and as such am definitely keen to hear from community members any questions you’d like to have answered, topics you’d like to see discussed, opinions you’d like to express, etc. In this regard, please feel free to leave either a comment below or email me directly.

Also, if you’re in Redmond next week and would like to get together for lunch and/or in the evening after any of the planned events (they end between 9:30 and 10:30 each night) please let me know! I arrive on Tuesday afternoon and leave Saturday afternoon. The event ends @ ~noon on Friday, so I’ve got a solid day to play. Will probably head downtown to hit some shows Friday night, so if you’re into that kind thing and you’re free on Friday night, hit me up! :D

Update: In case any of you are interested in the topics/speakers such that you can guage what type of questions/comments/etc. to make, the conference agenda follows (I wanted to gain verification that publishing this list was kosher, thus the reason I didn’t supply this until now.)

Wednesday, March 26

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM Welcome and Intros Karri Dunn, Sr. OSS Dev Lead
Platform Strategy
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Welcome Keynote Sam Ramji, Director
Platform Strategy
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Introduction to Microsoft Research Kevin Schofield, General Manager
Microsoft Research
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Break
11:15 AM - 12:15 PM ASP.NET MVC Framework Scott Guthrie, Corporate VP
.NET Developer Platform
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Silverlight Product Review Brad Abrams, Principle Group Program Manager
.NET Developer Platform
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM The Windows Live Platform John Richards, Director WLP
Angus Norton, Sr. Director Search
3:00 PM - 3:15 PM Break
3:15 PM - 4:45 PM LINQ Product Review Anders Hejlsberg, Technical Fellow
Visual Studio Division
4:45 PM - 5:15 PM 30 Min Attendee Showcase: Olympic 2008 technology Roger Slobe,
NBC Universal
5:15 PM - 5:45 PM 30 Min Attendee Showcase: OpenID David Recordon,
5:45PM - 6:15 PM Open: 30 Min Attendee Showcase

Thursday, March 27

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Intro to Microsoft’s OSS Lab Anandeep Pannu, Sr. Program Manager
Platform Strategy
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM IIS7 Product Review Bill Staples, Principle Product Unit Manager
IIS Product Division
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Break
11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Introduction to Microsoft’s Local Software Economy John Fernandes, Director
Local Software Economy
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch Workshop: Popfly Mashup Jacqueline Russell, Lead Product Manager
Developer Marketing Division
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM Internet Explorer 8 Product Review Chris Wilson, Principle Program Manager
IE Division
2: 30 PM - 3:45 PM Dynamic Languages on the CLR Jim Hugunin, Principal Architect
John Lam, Sr. Program Manager
Visual Studio Managed Languages
3: 45 PM - 4:00 PM Break
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Robotics, Concurrency and distributed services solution (CCR/DSS) Tandy Trower, General Manager
George Chrysanthakopoulos, Architect
R&D Advanced Strategies
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM Open: 30 Min Attendee Showcase
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Microsoft Company Store Visit Tanya Young
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Hotel

Friday, March 28

8:45 AM - 9:45 AM Microsoft Home Tour and Center for Information Work Tour Tanya Young
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM XNA development Jason Mauer, Sr. Developer Evangelist
Developer Platform and Evangelism Division
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Break
11:15 AM - 11:45 PM How Microsoft supports Emerging Businesses and Startups Don Dodge, Principal Tech Evangelist
Emerging Business Team
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM Final Comments and Close Sam Ramji, Director
Karri Dunn, Sr. OSS Dev Lead
Platform Strategy