Adobe MAX Europe – Day 4

Much less to say about today. First because it was a full-day lab session, second because the whole thing was just fantastic. The content, the pedagogy, the examples, the trainer, everything was perfect. It allowed me to discover all the features specific to AIR runtime and API’s and we didn’t spend to much time on Flex details. AIR is definitely an interesting technology. The integration with the desktop offers all the features that I need most and I sincerely think about migrating You And The World administration to the desktop since it will remove so many barriers that we have right now like HTML rendering, client-side image cropping and big data synchronization.

Now that the event is over, it’s time for global feedback:

• The organization was just great: it’s easy to understand why the entrance fee is so high, given the quality of the food, the number of computers for labs, the number of teacher’s assistants and staff people, the Wii’s, etc. One thing though: I really missed drinks in fridges where you don’t have to wait in line for a glass of water.
• The venue was just awesome, with enough room for everyone, plenty of electric plugs to reload our small iPhone batteries, Wii’s everywhere, couches, toilets (not just one spot where you have to wait in a long line if you don’t choose your time like Metropolis). Two negative aspects though: mere chairs hurt when you got used to theatre seats, and Fiera Congressi Milano is a little bit lost in the middle of nowhere: not a lot of restaurants nearby.
• The wireless network was good enough most of the time, except inbetween sessions where I managed to get an IP address, but impossible to get any bandwidth. It was good enough for email checking and a few commits on Subversion though.
• The content covered was great and gave me a sense of cohesion and innovation on the whole Adobe product line-up. And feedback forms for each session were definitely a good idea.
• The hotel I stayed in was just awesome. I still don’t understand why it’s called a mini-hotel as the service was really great and the room was very cool. I missed some more French-speaking  channels but I had some content on my laptop to compensate. And 8€ for 24 hours of Internet connection is not too expensive.
• I didn’t see much of Milan but the taxis you can’t stop in the street outside of a taxi station, the plane that doesn’t come and pick you up directly at the terminal, the old-school trams, gave me the impression of a not-so-modern city.

Overall, this first Adobe MAX Europe was really a wonderful experience for me and I’ll really thank my manager for sending me there. Now, one day of roadmap design on You And The World, and next week, on to Devoxx. I just love technology!