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September 9, 2006
Robert Scoble at SAP Developer Network day
I wrote before that I am excited about the upcoming SAP TechEd and SDN Day, but the news keep coming. That excitement doubled when I learned that Robert Scoble, famous tech Alpha Blogger, will attend SDN Day to do interviews for PodTech and mingle with the SAP developer crowd (BTW PodTech has now an SAP channel; Check out the interview with SAP Chief Architect Vishal Sikka).
You can find a summary of all Adobe activities at SDN Day and SAP TechEd here. It is pretty amazing, the most comprehensive partner participation I have seen at any SAP TechEd, which shows the depth of the SAP Adobe relationship.
I still need to configure a demo server and tomorrow it is off to Vegas!
September 1, 2006
Exclusive Flex Workshop @ SAP SDN Day
You know already that I am excited about SAP TechEd and the long list of sessions around Interactive Forms. However I am especially excited that I was able to recruit Flex Evangelist James Ward to do a two hour hands-on workshop at the SAP SDN Day on Sept. 11 in Las Vegas. During the last months we have done some work to show how a Rich Internet Application developed with Flex 2 can be integrated with an SAP backend. Here is a video with a 12 minute demo showing the results. If you know the traditional SAP GUI this stuff is pretty impressive.
If you are at all interested in developing Flex applications on top of an SAP backend make sure you sign-up for SDN Day and bring your laptop. We will get Flex Builder installed and you will be able to take the samples you developed home and play more with this exciting new technology.
By the way we will repeat the workshop at SDN Day in Amsterdam on October 17.
Also I will compete in the SAP TechEd Demo Jam, so if you participate please root for me (I will do live coding on stage, so this could get very interesting... No risk, no fun).
August 1, 2006
It's Time to get ready for SAP TechEd 2006
Time is flying. I barely recovered from last years SAP TechEd and the preparation for this years event is in full effect. As we are extending our partnership with SAP to provide engaging user experiences for business applications there will be a significant number of presentations and workshops around Adobe technology integrated with SAP solutions.
First and foremost we continue to educate on SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe. Markus Meisl has compiled a nice summary of all Interactive Forms related sessions. Actually SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe is also a key word in the SAP TechEd search index (Las Vegas, Amsterdam). I will present together with Markus a 1 hour overview on Interactive Forms at SAP TechEd in Las Vegas and in Amsterdam. Hands-on workshops I would like to highlight include "Interactive Forms in Web Dynpro for Java: A New Way of Accessing Your ABAP Back End" (Las Vegas, Amsterdam) and "Using Interactive Forms in SAP Workflow" (Las Vegas, Amsterdam)
For those of you interested to learn how SAP leverages Adobe Flex technology attend some of the sessions around SAP Visual Composer and SAP Analytics. I recommend "Creating Flexible Business Applications Using SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer" (Las Vegas, Amsterdam) and "SAP xApp Analytics Implementation Project from Zero to Go Live" (Las Vegas, Amsterdam).
Ensure you also attend the SDN day (one day before SAP TechEd). I am working with SAP on a special treat: An exclusive two hour bring-your-own-box hands-on workshop demonstrating how to develop engaging Flex 2 applications using Flex Builder and integrate them with SAP (both in Las Vegas and Amsterdam). I also submitted additional SDN day session proposals on Interactive Forms, with the opportunity to meet the Adobe engineering team. More details in my SDN Blog... If you are interested to participate please comment to this or my SDN Blog.
If you are attending SAP TechEd in Las Vegas or Amsterdam please make sure to stop by the Adobe booth and say hi to the team. I am always interested to discuss ideas around Web 2.0 and the enterprise as well as sharing restaurant and party tips ;-) (I discuss both on my private Blog).
Finally with some luck our proposal for the SAP TechEd Demo Jam will be accepted (an enterprise mash-up with Flex and SAP).
November 9, 2005
Pictures and Video Footage from Vintage Computer Festival
The Vintage Computer Festival last weekend was great! In particular the Homebrew Computer Club retrospective was a lot of fun. Turns out the secret of Apple 1 is that Woz is the fastest hex code typist :-) Even in school Woz could write with a typewriter faster then any of the girls in his class.
I wish I had those skills... I could produce many more blog entries...
If you missed the event Cnet has a number of video clips available. Also there a a lot of pictures on Cnet as well as on Flickr.
I only had my cell phone camera, so unfortunately not the best quality...
Here is the panel and it turned out a couple of old school hackers were in the audience including Captain Crunch.
From left to right: Michael Holley, Steve Wozniak, Allen Baum, Lee Felsenstein and Bob Lash.
BTW they have some really interesting exhibits in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, so if you are in the area stop by and visit it.
Adobe exhibit including Illustrator 1.0.
Original Apple 1
November 2, 2005
More on Computing History
If you are interested in historic (well I guess that means older then 10 years) computer hardware and happen to be in the Bay Area this weekend do not miss the Vintage Computer Festival 8.0 in Mountain View. I will certainly be there. The highlight is the Homebrew Computer Club Retrospective panel discussion Saturday at 1:00pm.
Looking forward I already signed up for the Sun Founder's Panel on January, 11. IMHO this could be one of the best events next year. Having Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy, Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy, and John Gage in one room, do I need to say more?
Finally I rediscovered a lot of older hardware at my recent move. It is always suprising what shows up in those moving boxes, especially since I had a lot of stuff in storage for a number of years. My wife convinced me that there is not enough room in the house for all this "junk" (afterall I was single when I bought it), so I started to move the interesting pieces into my office to start my private handheld computing exhibition :-)
The most interesting piece is certainly the Sony Magic Link PIC-2000 (in the back of the picture). It is from 1995 if I remember correctly. It is powered by General Magic's MagicCap. It is still my favorite handheld with a very intuitive UI and great features, like a build in modem, backlight and 2 PC Card slots. Back in 1995 I worked on a project with E-Plus, Cable&Wireless and General Magic connecting the Magic Link to a Cell Phone. So I could actually use it to request email and browse the web using wireless data connectivity (9600 kbps). We also developed a restaurant reservation system for Geneva, which we demoed at a global telecommunications conference in Switzerland.
Nowadays I am working without a PDA (just my laptop). I just find the current devices (e.g. Blackberry) not very compelling. However I am excited about the announced Motorola Q. Maybe that will convinve me to use a handheld again.
September 24, 2005
SAP TechEd Vienna Impressions
I am on my way back from Vienna to San Francisco and wanted to take a minute to update you on TechEd in Europe before I head to Boston on Monday.
To make it short: The event was great! It was a great opportunity to meet people with whom I had exchanged e-mails on Interactive Forms, both from SAP and SAP customers.
The event (the third European TechEd I attended to educate on Interactive Forms) clearly showed that we have created critical momentum. A number of developers and architects stopped by our booth to tell me that they have implemented Interactive Forms in SAP NetWeaver and start to use interactive PDF forms to extend SAP business processes. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive. What more can I ask for as a Product Manager.
My personal three highlights of the show:
1) The two hour Interactive Forms overview session I jointly presented with Markus Meisl and Volkmar Jaekle from SAP. The room was full with about 130 attendees. Volkmar is an SAP consultant who presented the implementation of Interactive Forms at Cincinnati Insurance. It allows insurance agents to fill-out electronic claims forms and print checks right in their office, resulting in improved customer satisfaction (I think I will write about this in more detail another time).
2) The Interactive Forms Birds-of-a-Feather session. I wasn't sure what to expect since these sessions compete with the main program and you never know if somebody shows up. Well, I ended up with 45 attendees and spent most of the time on my laptop showing new features of a "fresh from the labs" LiveCycle Designer 7.1 build. The new table wizard is great!
3) The TechEd party... I have to say the TechEd parties improve every year. You would not expect this from a company like SAP and especially at a Tech event in Europe. Great band and performances and a great opportunity for me to catch up with some of my friends from SAP I hadn't seen in a while. You can find the party pictures tagged with SAPTechED on Flickr.
Finally (I think we are landing soon), SAP released a new book called "mySAP ERP for Dummies". They had free copies and book signings. I was pleased to see that Interactive Forms are extensively featured in the book! Another proof that Adobe technology is now deeply entrenched in the SAP universe. If you have the book, check out page 244. The interactive PDF insurance form screenshot is from one of my favorite demos... I was so surprised to see it in the book. Kel Varsen (the user name we use for a lot of our demos) will become famous!
That's it for now... Hope to see some of you in Boston.
Busy Adobe Booth at SAP TechEd in Vienna
September 7, 2005
Adobe at SAP TechEd in Vienna and Boston
If you are working with SAP technology the most anticipated event every year is the SAP TechEd. It is a big get-together of SAP professionals to learn about new SAP and SAP Partner technologies as well as sharing ideas (and have an exciting demo jam and party). This year SAP has four TechEds around the world:
Vienna: September, 21-23
Boston: September, 27-30
Bangalore: October, 5-7
Tokyo: October, 26-27
Adobe will have a significant presence at the TechEd in Vienna and in Boston. It will be a great opportunity for attendees to learn more about Interactive Forms based on Adobe software and for me to talk to SAP developers using Adobe technology and also further evangelize our Interactive Forms story. If you are attending SAP TechEd please ensure to stop by one or more of the Interactive Forms presentations and hands-on sessions:
Interactive Forms Based on Adobe Software – Overview and Customer Experiences: Vienna, Boston
Business Task Management – Overview: Vienna, Boston
Scenarios with Interactive Forms in Web Dynpro: Vienna, Boston
Creating PDF-Based Forms for Printing with Interactive Forms Based on Adobe Software: Vienna, Boston
There is also the possibility to meet and discuss in a less formal setting. Stop by our booth and look at the latest improvements of designing forms integrated in SAP development environments. I think especially our new table wizard is a great new Designer enhancement. Finally, I also offer a Birds of a Feather meeting on Interactive Forms. You can sign up through the SAP TechEd Wiki for Vienna or Boston.
If you are attending SAP TechEd write a little comment. I am interested if anyone out of the SAP community reads this Blog. For those who are interested, but not able to attend I will post updates live from TechEd to this Blog.
