I think ScottHa was referring to the non-toolset, non-Microsoft content of the conference. Alot of the Agile/XP principles we discussed originated from other communities. I still find it fascinating that so many .NET devs look so intently to Microsoft for all of their experience and direction. I do believe that is specific to the "Mort culture", and I think that because of my own history as "that guy". But in my experience the folks at Microsoft don't think of their role as that, and are often befuddled by the community's desire for more guidance. That is more what I think ScottHa meant, but I could be wrong.

Jeremy, ScottHa is one of people that actually use and evangelize a lot of the stuff we like to use (nunit, cc.net, ncover, and the reasoning behind these tools). I think it's great that he was there considering his new job title at MS and his history of community participation. Whether one likes his style of humor or not, is another story.

BTW, +1 on ScottGu's demonstrable knowledge about "the others". It was refreshing and reassuring.

"I still find it fascinating that so many .NET devs look so intently to Microsoft for all of their experience and direction."  That's because Microsoft has buttered our bread with development tools.  You, on the other hand, have done nothing for me, ever.

Joe, Microsoft has done nothing to butter my bread. I paid for the butter and applied it myself. And I say this as a self-taught college dropout who learned more practical on-the-job knowledge from MSDN than anywhere else. That said, _I_ did it. Microsoft supplied some tools and articles to sell and support their tools, but it was my effort nonetheless. I would have learned that stuff anyway, but Microsoft and MSDN was the path of least resistance.

I feel indebted to Microsoft for their role in my career, but I am not blinded by it. I was honestly surprised how many folks at ALT.NET held Microsoft in quiet reverence, where I'm starting to see myself as more of an equal. Think about it, if you were a guy working for Microsoft, which would you rather talk to? A worshipper? Or an equal?

The whole room laughed as much of comedy is rooted in truth. But, you know me well enough to know that it was a joke, and it was a funny one.  Pre-canned? I made that sh*t up on the spot. But I balanced one-liners with content, technology, reality and demos. Remember Linus "Talk is cheap, show me the code." :P

I'm not really clear on what you're trying to accomplish with this public post? You never mentioned it to me at the conference and I was around for 3 days. Sorry you didn't find it funny. Mike gets where I'm coming from.

Cool.

<hugs>

It took a week, but I finally got around to finishing my recap of the ALT.NET Open Spaces event from

It took a week, but I finally got around to finishing my recap of the ALT.NET Open Spaces event from