Best of 2008

An interesting year came to an end. I'm usually not a fond of a "top N" or "best of best" and other sort of lists, but there are some interesting key events that marked the year 2008 in my eyes and i want to share that view with you.

So dear readers, here is my list of top 3 events that marked 2008:

1. Foundation of Macedonian .Net User Group

I started thinking about joining/founding of a .net user group somewhere in the Q3 of 2007, and exactly on March, 5th 2008 i got an email announcing the foundation of the first .net user group in Macedonia! Btw. couple of months earlier, the first Java user group in Macedonia was founded too - JUGMK, and i really, really appreciate this trend of breaking communication barriers between professional developers. Definitely the way to go!

 

2. ASP.Net MVC

For someone who has played with Ruby on Rails and liked it for its simplicity and conventions, ASP.Net MVC came as a true gift. Not that we didn't had something based on MVC before - Castle Project is at the moment still more mature and complete solution than MVC Framework. But the fact that Microsoft stands behind it, and that is open source at the same time - gives me a feeling that we finally got our dream toy to play with.

 

3. DevReach 2008

My first "real" .Net Conference. And i liked it!

That was it. I intentionally tried to keep the list short, cause i don't like long and boring list where i must put all events that i can think of just for the sake of it.

And now, for the best of the best winner of 2008:

Microsoft

Although i don't like maybe half of the products they make, nor the global company policy and "bad image" they have, i must admit:

- I was constantly thrilled by the moves and trends that especially developer department made this year. They braked the bad image of non listening autocratic company they had, and started to nourish completely different approach toward community.

IMHO, acquiring well established evangelists was the key move they maid and this helped a lot in opening of the Redmond's doors toward community.

I just wish that this trend continue and that we'll see more and more positive surprises from the excellent teams in Redmond.

There. I've said it.

I'm off for this year. See you in 2009.

Happy holidays!