TechEd IT Forum: Barcelona, Spain
The Journey Begins
The Scripting Guys are working hard preparing for their trip to the 2007 TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona. Let’s see, we have our guide book of fun things to do in Barcelona…the trip takes place in November, so let’s pack some warm clothes…well, looks like that’s about it.
Or maybe not.
On This Page
 | November 7, 2007 |
| November 6, 2007 |
| November 5, 2007 |
| November 2, 2007 |
| November 1, 2007 |
| October 31, 2007 |
| October 30, 2007 |
| October 29, 2007 |
| October 26, 2007 |
| October 25, 2007 |
| October 24, 2007 |
November 7, 2007
Well yesterday was pretty exciting, wasn’t it? The Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows PowerShell 2.0 was released, and … well, that’s about it. But really, can you even handle more excitement than that? That’s what we thought. To mark the occasion we’ve put a couple of articles up, but the Script Center’s big kickoff for Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP comes on Monday, when we also happen to be kicking off TechEd IT Forum Week. Isn’t it just amazing how all these big events seem to happen at the same time?
The Scripting Guys are leaving for Barcelona tomorrow, so today will be the last preview before TechEd Week starts. Be sure to check the TechEd Week page (or the Script Center home page) every day throughout the week for new content, downloads, and even a chance to win a Dr. Scripto bobblehead.
If you’re in Barcelona, don’t forget to stop by booth 22 in the Ask the Experts Pavilion. If we’re not there (which will be a rare occurrence) we might be at the TechNet Magazine booth (Wednesday at 2:45) or maybe even visiting some friends at the Special Operations Software booth, or at … well, we don’t actually have that many friends. It’s more likely we’re just taking a short lunch break. But don’t worry, you won’t have any trouble finding us.
See you next week!
November 6, 2007
Yesterday was filled with network problems. One Scripting Guy had a slow network connection. The other Scripting Guy had a fast network connection – when she had one anyway, which wasn’t all the time.
Let’s see, one of the Scripting Guys spent the day at home waiting for a telephone. The other spent the day at home working, and walking the Scripting Dog, and doing laundry….
Oh, you want to know what’s going on with our final preparations for TechEd? OK, let’s see…. Here’s something: We discovered a minor problem with one of the files we included on Dr. Scripto’s Greatest Hits, the CD that’s included with the Fun Book we’ll be handing out. But don’t worry, it’s not a big problem. This particular file is an update of the Hey, Scripting Guy! archive Help file. The problem is with the Table of Contents – for some reason it didn’t get generated properly and there are some articles in odd places. The good news is that the articles are all there, and you can search for whatever you’re looking for. Plus, during TechEd Week, we’ll be making the corrected version available as a download. So everyone, whether they received a CD or not, can get the corrected file.
We’ll be making other downloads available throughout the week – some updates to existing downloads, some brand new. All very useful. And as far as we know the files we’ll be posting for download are actually correct.
November 5, 2007
Well, we certainly had a busy weekend. But we’re actually almost on track now – we think (hope). The release of the new Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows PowerShell 2.0 is imminent – stay tuned for that announcement. To go along with that release we’ll be kicking off TechEd Week on Monday November 12 with a ton of content about this new CTP. Okay, maybe not a ton, but quite a bit.
We also finally figured out how we’re going to give away Dr. Scripto bobbleheads during the convention. We’ll be having an instant-win drawing that will continue each day until all the bobbleheads have been given away. So stop by Booth 22 in the Ask the Experts Pavilion to get your chance to win. And don’t forget, even if you’re not in Barcelona or you don’t win there, you’ll still have a chance to win in the TechEd IT Forum Challenge here on the Script Center.
Two more days before we leave….
November 2, 2007
Ah, it’s finally Friday. Time to look forward to a nice relaxing weekend: sleeping in, reading novels, watching TV…Oops, wait a minute. Okay, we still have a few things left to do before we leave. No sleeping in and reading novels for the Scripting Guys this weekend. (Although there might be some TV-watching…it’s still football season you know.)
We still haven’t figured out what we’re going to make people do to win a Dr. Scripto bobblehead doll. Greg has this idea about throwing darts at balloons, but Jean is pretty certain the organizers of TechEd IT Forum wouldn’t be please to see darts being hurled around the Ask the Expert hall.
But that’s okay, we still have five days left – including the weekend of course.
November 1, 2007
It’s been another…busy…day here at Script Center headquarters. One of the things we’re going to be doing during TechEd Week Europe – yes, here it comes, another announcement revealing what’s coming the week of November 12 – 16 – is making a number of downloads available. We mentioned in the first day of this report that attendees of TechEd IT Forum will receive a copy of Dr. Scritpo’s Fun Book, which contains a CD of Dr. Scripto’s Greatest Hits. (Assuming those attendees stop by Booth 22 in the Ask the Experts hall.) Well, there’s no reason the attendees should get all the fun. (They get most of it, but not all.) Some of the contents from the CD will be made available for download from the Script Center. This includes updated versions of the Hey, Scripting Guy! Help file, the Sesame Script Help file, plus an all-new Help file with over 150 categorized and fully-searchable articles from the Script Center.
Now, all of that (and more) is available on the CDs, which means we must have finished them weeks ago, right? Well, that’s right, except for one thing. The CD includes the Windows PowerShell Graphical Help File for PowerShell 1.0. During TechEd Week Europe we’ll be making available a download for the Graphical Help File for Windows PowerShell 2.0. That’s what we’ve been working on.
Well, that and our next installment for TechNet Magazine. And speaking of TechNet Magazine, we have a couple of announcements there. The first is that we’ll be abandoning our post at our Ask the Experts booth for a brief period of time on Wednesday November 14 so we can join in the “Meet the Authors” session at the TechNet Magazine booth. (Why would we abandon our booth for theirs? Well, because they asked nicely.) So from 2:45 – 3:45 on Wednesday you can find us over with the folks at TechNet Magazine.
The second announcement in relation to TechNet Magazine is that starting with the November issue we have a new feature in the magazine: Doctor Scripto’s Scripting Perplexer. This is a monthly puzzle that allows you to test your scripting skills and have a little fun. Be sure to check it out and give it a try.
October 31, 2007
Wow, we got nothing done yesterday.
We did finally find out for certain that we have a little money in the budget this year to give away prizes for the 2008 Scripting Games. (Which, by the way, will be held February 15 – March 3, 2008.) We’re not going to tell you what the prizes will be just yet, mostly because we haven’t made up our minds what we want. We do have several ideas though, and they’re all just as much fun as the Dr. Scripto bobblehead dolls we gave away in the 2007 Scripting Games. So plan to participate this year!
Speaking of bobbleheads, did we mention we’ll be giving away more of them at TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona? We did? Oh. Well, did we also mention that, just like we did when we were at TechEd in Orlando, we’ll be holding an online competition for those of you who can’t make it to the conference? (Actually, those of you who can make it to the conference can enter too.) We didn’t think so. That’s right, there’s another TechEd Challenge on the way – even if you’re not in Barcelona, you still have one last chance to win a Dr. Scripto bobblehead doll. We’ll be posting the Challenge (along with the rules and all that) at the beginning of TechEd Week Europe, so stay tuned.
October 30, 2007
We finally made some progress yesterday. The Scripting Guy who’s been having issues with the pre-release software finally managed to get everything installed. Not only did it install, but it worked the way it was designed to work. Now that’s progress.
The other Scripting Guy stayed at home; did laundry, went shopping, walked the Scripting Dog…. Oh, and of course worked hard on preparing for TechEd Week. On what? Well, we don’t want to reveal everything ahead of time.
We will tell you that we got a good look at the latest preview of Windows PowerShell. Will we have any information on that during TechEd Week? Do you even have to ask? Oh – well, right now the answer is “yes.”
One and a half weeks, and counting. Can you feel the excitement mounting?
October 29, 2007
Friday last week turned out to be a great end to the week. First thing in the morning we had a message waiting for us from the TechEd IT Forum team. The message included all sorts of information, but the best part was this:
Okay, we know that’s a little tough to see. Click here for a version that’s a little bigger.
Do you know what that is? That’s the floor plan for the Ask the Experts area at TechEd. We embellished a little bit on the picture we have here so you can see exactly where the Scripting Guys will be: Booth 22. Believe it or not (and you probably do), this is the most exciting thing we’ve seen in a long time. Sure, we’ve been talking to the highly competent organizers of this event for several months, we filled out all the forms and did everything we were supposed to do, but to see that we actually have a booth – well, we’re pretty excited about that.
How excited are we? Well, Greg got so excited he started an endless series of processes on his computer that were impossible to stop without just shutting down. Jean was so excited she stopped playing computer solitaire a full 15 minutes earlier than usual, giving her a good 20 minutes of work time before leaving for the day.
So don’t forget: If you’re going to be at TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona, stop by Booth 22 in Ask the Experts. We can’t promise any experts will the there, but the Scripting Guys will be.
October 26, 2007
It was another productive day for the Scripting Guys. Remember that pre-release software we struggled with yesterday? Still having some trouble with that.
One thing we plan on doing while we’re at TechEd IT Forum is bring you daily updates from the conference, plus, as we’ve mentioned, publish some new content to the Script Center every day. One of the things that needs to happen ahead of time is prepping the dozens of Web pages it’s going to take to do this. Have we started this yet? Well, you know the answer to that. Did we start that today? Of course not. Although this time we have an excuse: the system was down all day today. Not only did that mean that very little got done today for TechEd Week, but it also meant at least one Scripting Guy was up in middle of the night getting Hey, Scripting Guy! and the Windows PowerShell Tip of the Week ready to be published in the morning.
But hey, all in a day’s work, right?
Okay, we’ll stop complaining. Something good did happen today: we didn’t have to go to a single meeting. And there were those donuts in the morning….
October 25, 2007
Well, yesterday was an interesting day. Or it would have been interesting had anything gone as planned. Instead it was more of a frustrating sort of day.
We started the day in typical Scripting Guys fashion: sitting in Greg’s office eating donuts. Obviously even under the best of circumstances it can only go downhill from there, and these weren’t the best of circumstances.
As soon as we were done with the donuts we erased everything from Greg’s whiteboard and started fresh. (We had to use Greg’s whiteboard because Jean’s has the all-important countdown on it – see yesterday’s report.) We then went through our list of things that needed doing. Realization number 1: we’re insane. (Yes, we know, that’s not a revelation to anyone. But the extent of that insanity still comes as a shock to us every now and then.) The list is pretty long.
Okay, we won’t leave you in complete suspense. One thing on the list is Part 2 in our series on Task Scheduler in Windows Vista. We’re also working on a couple hundred Active Directory search new scripts – VBScript and Windows PowerShell – that we’ll be adding to the Script Repository. That’s about all we’ll give away for now, mostly because we’re pretty certain we’ll get those done; we’re not sure about the rest of the list yet.
After that, one of the Scripting Guys spent the day trying to install a daily build of some software, and, well, let’s just say it didn’t go well. We’ll have to try again some other day. In the meantime, the other Scripting Guy was simply trying to install a pre-release operating system. Due to a problem with a video driver and some security settings on the existing pre-release build that was on that computer, it was several hours before the install could even be attempted. That one ended on a more positive note – the operating system is installed. It even seems to be working.
So what did we manage to cross off the whiteboard? One more day in the countdown.
October 24, 2007
Just recently the Scripting Guys realized that it’s October already. What did that mean? Well, among other things, that meant we were really far behind in getting our work done before leaving for Barcelona. Just how long did it take us to realize this? Well, take a look at Scripting Guy Jean Ross’ whiteboard:
That’s right, just last week we finally realized we better get to work, so we started “the countdown.” Yes, we really have a countdown of the days we have left to get everything done. What else could it mean, that we’re anxious to get away from the office and head out for a week and a half in Europe? No way, we’re hard-working individuals focused on … okay, even we couldn’t get through that with a straight face.
Actually, believe it or not, we started preparing for TechEd IT Forum long before today. We didn’t really have much choice, since our boxes had to be shipped out on October 15 (which turned out to be October 16 – minor issues with the pickup times).
What boxes, you ask? Well, there just happened to be 14 boxes packed full of things that we are absolutely not bringing back with us. (You don’t want to know how much it was going to cost us to ship even one box back.) Want a peek at what’s in the boxes? Take a look:
Doctor Scripto Bobblehead Dolls
That’s right, the Dr. Scripto bobblehead is making his way to Barcelona. We’ll be giving away dozens of bobbleheads while we’re there. Stop by the Script Center booth in the Ask the Experts (ATE) section for your chance to win. (What do you have to do to win? We’re still working on that part; we’ll get back to you.)
Doctor Scripto Crayon Packs
A four-pack of Dr. Scripto crayons. Why crayons? Well, to go with the Fun Book, for course.
Doctor Scripto’s Fun Book
Doctor Scripto’s Fun Book is full of scripting-related puzzles and other activities. The Fun Book has been updated especially for Barcelona, including the all-important coloring page. And there’s a special bonus in back! Read on…
Doctor Scripto’s Greatest Hits CD
Here’s the special bonus, only for TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona. Each Fun Book includes a copy of the CD Dr. Scripto’s Greatest Hits. You’ll find loads of resources from the Script Center on this CD: searchable help files, webcasts, and even some original scripting songs.
We’re Almost There
With all that, what more could we have to do before we leave? Well, tune in tomorrow to find out. Hopefully we’ll know by then.