Sushi with Don Box
As I was already in the Pacific north-west, I took the opportunity to meet up with Don Box, and a number of his friends, including Chris Anderson and Omri Gazitt.
We talked about a number of topics, like Longhorn, Indigo, and Open Source.
The feeling is that it will be a long time before Microsoft attempts another super-mega project like Longhorn.
These guys are excited about Indigo, but I remain deeply skeptical of any framework that attempts to abstract away the transport layer. Particularly when dealing with protocols like HTTP which support application level semantics like caching and permanent redirects. It would help considerably if Indigo had a public implementation of a HTTP based protocol as a proof point — like, say, client and server implementations of the APP, complete with test suites and demonstrated interop with independent implementations.
These guys had a healthy attitude towards Open Source, but needless to say that such feeling are not universal at Microsoft. Microsoft desparately needs a Simon Phipps type of person, with the full backing of executive management. Clearly the challenge would be great, but worthwhile.
Both the toro and the people made this side trip well worth my time.