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Big Things in Mini Packages

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Mini Packages

Yes! , paid delegates to Australia's TechEd 2009 are each receiving Microsoft Windows 7 on a HP 2140 Mini notebook (aka: netbook). Pop over to the TechEd 2009 web site to register to see all the terms and conditions etc.

Mini-note Relevant Speeds and Feeds:

Screen: 10.1”
HD: 160Gb
Memory: 2Gb
Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g
Processor: Intel Atom 1.6GHz N270

Delegates will be able to take their HP Mini back to work to show off Windows 7, or just loan the device for the duration of TechEd. Of those returned, Microsoft will be donating these these loan to charity.

Imagine each and every delegate with a mini-note roving around TechEd doing everything online; Messenger, Office Communicator, Twitter’n, downloading presentations … the list is endless.

Also imagine the IT skills provided to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Big Things: A Call-out to the TechEd Community:

What would you like to see running across these 2000+ devices?

  • A mass Azure stress test web application?
  • A magical Powershell configuration script?
  • A WPF-based network game?
  • A new Windows 7 based WinForms/Win32 Twitter client that doesn’t suck?

Ideas are endless … we’d love to get you, the community, involved in creating interesting scenarios.

Let the big ideas flow!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 29, 2009
    The regular Teched site seems to only be used before and after the event - having a live schedule with what's happening now, and related bits would be teh awesome. Bandwidth might be an issue if it were all going off-site, but a local cache of some variety shouldn't be too hard to set up. (Load Balanced WCF Services on IIS + Velocity backing = yay?)

  • Anonymous
    June 29, 2009
    What better tool than OneNote to be on there to take notes during session or some cool colloboration tools for finding peeps during the event and discussing stuff during talks.

  • Anonymous
    June 29, 2009
    I agree with @Jeremy - lets get OneNote onto the mini!!! as for what we'd love to see:

  • a mass Azure stress test web application that has my vote that's for sure!

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2009
    A live map of the venue App showing what's currently on and where. Then use wifi positioning (Skyhook Wireless and Loki?) to locate yourself.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    OneNote 2010 techinical preview (the whole of Office?). A copy of the USA TechED DVD's.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    @Nigel no luck doing the wifi positioning with any detail, the complex wifi arangement at the venue doesn't support it said David from Codify. We could certainly overlay the venue on Bing Maps but without knowing your actual location it wouldn't be as cool. Silverlight3 RTM would be handy Nick :)

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    @SoulSolutions We'll have .NET 4.0 Beta 1 and Silverlight 3.0 RTM installed in the image. @Peter I think the office guys are going to be doing something on their showcase stand with Office 2010 :-). Office 2007 (trial) will be there as an installer

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    I am kind of hoping that there would be a Visual Studio 2010 copy on there to use during the sessions. Bonus if it is more recent than the downloadable trial ;)

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    @jerryjvl Funny you should mention that .. VS2010 beta 1 will be on the disk, ready for your installation pleasure.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    Oh, unrelated to software, ... what kind of battery pack is the netbook coming with? ... and if this turns out to be the 3-cell variant, is there likely to be a place at/near the venue to buy the 6-cell variant? (I really likes me some battery life!) (And if no to both of these... it may be worth considering having somebody arrange for pay-for 6-cells to be available... I doubt I'll be the only one happy to fork over some cash for a better experience)

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    @jerryjvl The extra cost of the 6-cells vs. adding lots of powerboards in presentation rooms was done. As there are ppl who will also bring their full-strength laptops, we err'd on the side of lotsa powerboards plus an additional 300 spare power adaptors (for the HPs) We'll try to get a HP reseller there in the exhibition hall to sell stuff. Nick

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    Thanks... it'd be great to have a HP reseller there. Would be good if there is some way to make sure it's not a total rip-off though (altho you will have little direct control over this...) As much as I say I'm prepared to pay for a 6-cell, I also know what StaticIce says they should be worth, and there's a limit to how much I am prepared to pay for them. Maybe the strong suggestion can be made that if the price is set attractively enough they should have a good chance of getting at least half to upgrade. I think after getting the netbook for free the threshold for paying $150 for a battery might be a lot lower than it otherwise would be.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 30, 2009
    Another vote for a good price on the 6cell battery. The netbook is a fantastic gift btw.  Thanks!