Birds-Of-(a)-Feather sessions are like sushi - every really good or really ya know, not-good. Not often much middle ground. I attended the BOF last nite regarding Microsoft vs. Sun solutions. The details weren't spelled out so probably every aspect of these solutions were discussed (I think we missed MSFT mice vs. Sun mice however).

As soon as I sat down I saw we had amongst the crowd 2 speakers Christian Gross and Ken Pugh. Sometimes you get a feeling in life that something is just "gonna be good". But if you see those two guys in a BOF - you don't need the feeling. It IS going to be good.

As expected those two guys hit the ground running with Christian's indeterminable accent and Ken's booming voice setting the pace.

The BOF probably came to the conclusion it should have - you should always be using the BEST solution - who makes it is not necessarily relevant. Of course "best" is unique to your situation.

I definitely recommend checking out the program and finding the talks by Christian and Ken and penciling them into your schedule. You won't be sorry. And if you see a BOF with these guys yelling and waving their hands in the air - grab a beer and some pretzels - you're in for a show.

Paul