Trip to Texas – Microsoft WPC Day 3

After last nights UK Regional Party, I was today feeling more than a little fragile.

The thought of going with a fuzzy head to sit and listen to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer scream at me in his own unique style did not fill me with excitement, and so I skipped the Keynote to recuperate. I understand a few others from the party went a step further and missed most of the day – I sympathise. Alcohol is an evil evil beast. I caught up with Mr. Ballmer’s words over at Microsoft’s Digital WPC site, which by the way, is an excellent site if you couldn’t make the trip to Texas – containing all the keynotes and more.

I took the opportunity to walk off my hangover with a stroll through the huge Vendor Expo that is also going on at WWPC – hundreds of suppliers of hardware, software and services in attendance. Every stall was giving away swag, so my rucksack was bulging by the end of the day!

During a conversation with someone at the HP stall, I learnt details of HP’s new online backup service “Upline”. Apparently, Upline is a service HP have acquired and re-branded – it’s an on-line backup service (nothing exciting there) but does have some great features such as the ability to easily securely share files with external recipients (hopefully cutting down on the ridiculous habit some clients have of trying to e-mail every file externally – whatever the size) an easy to use Web Interface for users to restore their own files, and fairly competitive pricing. Downsides? The service is currently US and Canada only. Personally, I’m happy with AhSay via OwnWebNow for my own clients off-site backup, but I could see the Uptime being useful for Home Users and Small Offices without any IT experience on-hand.

I also had an opportunity to get a proper look at Connectwise and TigerPaw, the Practice management tools that many favour. I’ve been researching PSA tools for a few weeks now, listening to opinions and reviews from many sources – so it was good to meet the folks behind the tools in person. Whilst even the TigerPaw staff readily admitted AutoTask GO would be a better fit for me (and I always admire companies that will openly let you know their product isn’t a fit for you – I’m more inclined to re-visit these folk at a later date when they are a fit for me) I’d always dismissed Connectwise as being “too big” for my own businesses low requirements, but Erick Simpson grabbed me on the shoulder while I was the Connectwise stand and implored me to give the system a second look – who am I to argue with Mr. Managed Services?

Plenty more stalls I’ve not had an opportunity to visit, am hoping to do so on the last day of WWPC – Thursday.

If I’ve not mentioned it already though, the keynotes, the break-outs, the Hands-on-labs and even the parties are not the best bit of a WWPC. The best bit, by far, is meeting folks you’d only exchanged e-mails and IM’s with before, making new friends and exchanging ideas, hints and suggestions .  The WWPC allows you to meet people who have been where you are in the development of your own business, those people who are experiencing the same challenges as you right now, and even those who ask you for advice as they are treading ground you’ve already experienced. I’ve found myself coming away from several of these meetings with great advice, almost literally buzzing about the possibilities of implementing suggestions when I return to the UK.

The evening saw yet more parties as Microsoft hired three nightclubs and plied it’s partners with litres of free alcohol, but I took the cowardly corporate decision to head back to the hotel to catch up on some work and more importantly, some much needed sleep. Considering my intake of alcohol on Tuesday night had been truly heroic, I’m not too ashamed of this – but also considering the fact that self-confessed “old man” Vijay carried on partying hard with me on Tuesday night and is out again tonight partying, maybe I should feel a little guilty for being a lightweight… 🙂