Life, the universe and whatever

SUGUK and SharePoint in April

Things are really gathering pace in the SharePoint arena this month, both generally and specifically here in the UK.  It was announced on the SharePoint Product Team blog their intent to RTM (Release to Manufacturing) SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 sometime this month before the May 12th launch date.

This week Microsoft is hosting Microsoft Tech Days United Kingdom 2010; a “week of free technology events for developers, IT professionals and IT managers”.  There promises to be plenty of SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 coverage not to mention all the supporting technologies; Windows 2008, SQL Server 2008, a “Virtualization Summit”, Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

In support of the UK Tech days 2010 week the SharePoint User Group UK (SUGUK) decided it would be a great idea to host a few cinema nights around the country.  I am hosting the evening at the Showcase Cinema in Reading where we’ll start with an informal discussion about all things 2010 whilst nibbling pizzas and dishing swag (generously donated by Microsoft) before settling down to watch Clash of the Titans (2010) and then finishing the evening in the George pub next door for SharePint or two.  Special thanks here have to go to Mark Macrea and Steve Smith whose dedication and support made these events happen.  It’s not too late to sign up for Reading so if you’re in the vicinity then register here and come along.

And talking of Steve Smith, he has again brought a collective of some of the worlds greatest authorities on SharePoint together for a three day conference in London next week.  The SharePoint 2010 Evolution Conference will be happening between 19th and 21st April 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre near Westminster in London.  There are no less than 6 tracks running on all 3 days;

• IT Professionals
• Developers & Designers
• Information Worker, Business Strategy and Adoption (2 tracks)
• Deep Dive – Level 400
• Community – Tales from the trenches

There will also be lunchtime and evening partner sessions and over 90 sessions recorded for the post conference DVD that all attendees will receive.

Then before you know it, it will be May and we’ll all finally be able to get our hands on the real thing!