I try to avoid doing posts that simply announce upcoming events without providing some kind of value to the message. This is a blogging tip I got from my buddy Josh Holmes and it's really proven to work well.

But this time, I'm going to make an exception...

If you haven't heard already, Microsoft launched the Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC) web site. The conference will take place in Los Angeles from October 27th through October 30th. The registration site is now open and, if you possibly can, you should make every effort to attend this conference.

For those who aren't familiar with the PDC, this is not a conference that happens every year, like Microsoft TechEd that is taking place over the next couple of weeks in Orlando. The PDC only happens when Microsoft has something big coming that they want the development community to learn about.

What might you learn about at the PDC this year? Well, Ray Ozzie spent a lot of time at MIX last March talking about Software + Services and, not long after that, the Live Mesh CTP as released. S+S is surely going to be a big topic at PDC this year, but I'm also betting that we're going to see a lot great information about the future of the Windows Mobile platform, Silverlight and .NET as well.

If you're a senior developer, architect or technical decision maker responsible for helping determine the technical roadmap for your organization, you will want to be in Los Angeles this October for the conference. I'm definitely going to be there, and hope to see you there too.