Microsoft PDC 2009: What's on tap for developers this November?

Microsoft opened up registration for its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2009 on August 4. This year's developer-fest is in Los Angeles again, as it was last year, and will run from November 16 to 19.

As it will be too early for Microsoft to start detailing publicly what's coming in Windows 8, what will the Softies be highlighting at this year's conference?

Keynotes are on tap from the elusive Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and Server and Tools President Bob Muglia. (Other keynotes will be added to the agenda later this year, company officials said.) Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, is slated to go from beta to final around the time of the PDC. And Microsoft also plans to offer a number of sessions on its hosted-development strategy at the show, as well. (Think xRM, SharePoint Services, and other "utility computing" building blocks.) Sessions dedicated to SQL Azure, Microsoft's hosted SQL Server service, also are on the agenda.

Even though Microsoft will have launched Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 less than a month before the PDC, on October 22, there will still be lots of sessions around developing for those platforms. Windows expert and Technical Fellow Marc Russinovich is on tap to talk about the kernel changes Microsoft made in Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.

Russinovich isn't the only "Big Brain" slated to speak at the confab. Other Microsoft Technical Fellows, including parallel-computing expert Burton Smith and database guru Dave Campbell are on the line-up, as well.

There is going to be a lot of content on .Net Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 (both of which are expected to launch around spring 2010, last I heard). Microsoft also is promising a "sneak peek" at some of the so-far unspecified new features in the next version of Silverlight (which I'd expect to be called Silverlight 4) during the PDC.

There are a few sessions dedicated to developing for SharePoint 2010 on the docket. There's a session on "Office 2010 as a RAD (Rapid Application Development) platform." I'm assuming this is Microsoft's updated Office Business Applications (OBA) platform/strategy.

I asked Tim O'Brien, Director of Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group, whether there would be much, if any, PDC content dedicated to developing for Windows Mobile. The first Windows Mobile 6.5 phones are set to launch in October and developers are champing at the bit for information on Windows Mobile 7.

"We are marching toward getting 6.5 out. That's our focus right now," is all O'Brien would say. In other words, guess we'll have to wait and see if WinMo makes it onto the PDC agenda in any meaningful way.

I also asked O'Brien whether Microsoft was still planning to hold a Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) this year. Last year, Microsoft cancelled WinHEC.

"There's no reason to say we won't," said O'Brien. But he also acknowledged he didn't know for sure whether or when Microsoft would hold a WinHEC in 2009. Guess that's another wait-and-see, too.

Microsoft is planning to Webcast the keynotes and many of the PDC sessions for those who can't make the show in person. Me? I'm planning on making the cross-country trek myself to my favorite Microsoft show of the year.