Portland loves the WordPress. And we love the open source. And that’s why we love WordCamp Portland, arguably the largest gathering of WordPress enthusiasts and bloggers—who use the open source content management system and blogging platform—in the state of Oregon.
And when people think of open source content management systems, what’s the first name that jumps to mind? It probably wasn’t Microsoft. In fact, that probably wasn’t even in the top 10. Still, I’m happy to report that they have signed on as the premier sponsor for WordCamp Portland.
And while this may strike you as strange bedfellows or keeping Portland weird or whatever, it actually carries with it some very positive repurcussions. You see, apart from their showing support for open source and blogging and camp camp campity camping, what else is Microsoft’s investment in WordCamp doing? It’s bringing WordCamp Portland to the world.
That’s right. Thanks to Microsoft and Blaze Streaming Media, everyone will be able to see the WordCamp Portland sessions on the live stream.
While it’s great that we have a sold out event for WordCamp Portland, it means that there are a lot of people who aren’t able to attend in person.… [W]e’re now pleased to announce that we’ll be streaming as much of the event as possible.
Say what you may about that little company up in Redmond. I think it’s awesome that they’ve taken the opportunity to fund WordCamp Portland and enable more people to attend—albeit virtually.
In fact, the only downside, in my opinion? It’s a shame that WordCamp had to go out-of-state to get that level of support.
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Jason Mauer, another Portland-based Microsoft guy, offered these two tweets:
http://twitter.com/jasonmauer/statuses/3908589413
http://twitter.com/jasonmauer/statuses/3908611490
I wonder if Portland based Scott Hanselman, who works for Microsoft, can give us some insight?
The plot, as they say, thickens. http://bit.ly/11FrR1
Rick, thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions on this cool happening. I’m very excited that more people will be able to enjoy the fruits of all the effort and hard work Aaron Hockley and the gang have put into this. Unless someone has put together an event like this, they really can’t comprehend the work involved. I’m looking forward to next weekend and all the learning that will happen. I’m also thankful that Microsoft has stepped up in a big way to help make this awesome event even better!
I’m far from a fan of Microsoft. That said, there’s something a little different in the air in Redmond, Washington these days and I’m hopeful that the support that they’re showing for WordCamp is the beginning of a more open and supportive Microsoft. Two years ago I would have thought that statement was completely ludicrous, anymore I think it’s a sign that the folks up north have seen the writing on the wall and are becoming more and more open to the efforts of the “little guy” – again, I’m hopeful that this is the case. Kudos to them for their support. More importantly, kudos to the organizers of WordCamp Portland for creating an event worthwhile enough to attract that kind of attention and sponsorship in the first place.
Actually, they’re trying to get more people to use their Windows Live Writer tool I’d imagine.
I’m thinking that this might be part of their initiative to support php as a scripting language for Windows / IIS … What they don’t get is that most php devs also use stuff like: Linux, Apache, and MySQL… It’s not the language we love and use, it’s the environment. PHP on IIS is painful for most WAMP devs, and that’s without getting into the scaling issues. The one big thing for me is IIS’s lack of a url rewriting engine [like mod_rewrite] — unless you want to pay for it, and it’s not cheap. And not nearly as powerful [from what I’ve seen].
But, it’s very nice to see them supporting this 🙂
Wow, this is surprising but great news! I didn’t get a ticket to WordCamp so I am excited to have the live stream.
Great work to the organizing team.
That is great news! I’m so happy for organizers & attendees for all the benefits the sponsorship will bring – and I will definitely be tuning into the live stream. Congratulations WordCamp Portland!