Mix 06 Announced

I came across Mix 06 via Erik Porter’s blog. It’s a conference for web designers and web developers put together by Microsoft. The site has little information at this time, but I’m really excited to see what’s up there already. I’m also happy to see Microsoft finally targeting people on the other side of the fence and trying to woo designers into their fold. Good, timely move considering the now-available VS 2005 and other upcoming tools (Acrylic, Sparkle, Quartz). This is definitely a site to keep an eye on.

One thing that cools my excitement is the location: Las Vegas. You take $995 for registration, add up plane tickets and hotel accommodations… and you’re easily looking at 2G. The rates at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino start at $329. This is where it’s hard to beat affordability of SxSW—$275 for Interactive is a great price. Besides, you can get some very decent hotel deals in Austin, so it surely won’t drain your wallet.

*sigh* When will Microsoft learn to host affordable conferences? Folks, if FTP is behind this again, ditch ’em. ;)

Can you expand on the reasons to avoid FTP? I'm relatively new to the .Net world, and I was considering VS Live San Francisco. I'm also looking at ETech and Mix06, either of which will probably be more interesting than VS Live, don't you think?

I think FTP produces cookie-cutter conferences. They are good at what they do, and that's their groove, but I don't believe they can do a good enough job with something as unconventional for Microsoft as Mix. Also, I think they jack up the cost of their conferences too much.