Went to "Microsoft Windows 10 devices event" NYC after party, met Paul Thurrott & Mary Jo Foley again, along with many other prominent bloggers/journalists

Posted by Paul Braren on Oct 6 2015 (updated on Oct 10 2015) in

I sure enjoyed the Microsoft Windows 10 devices event streamed earlier today, got me fired up enough to hop onto the Metro North train this afternoon, from New Haven to Grand Central Station. So glad I got myself to the publicized Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley after-party at Rattle N Hum, just hours after the Microsoftians finished presenting at the nearby event.

BY8D4731 — Panos Panay with Surface Book, by Mark Von Holden/AP Images on Microsoft News Center.

Yes, it turns out always-friendly Mary Jo let me know that keynoter Panos Panay, VP of Microsoft Surface, was actually at the Rattle N Hum with us for a bit. He's now the leader of engineering of Microsoft Hardware. Oops, somehow I didn't see him. Oh well, met many other folks, including some detailed conversations with a guy with an IT career way longer than mine. Heck, we talked about UEFI BIOSs and GPT file systems!

These long and meaningful conversations that more than made up for lack of time with weary Paul. Yeah, he was up at 4:30am, and I only managed to make my way over to him right at closing time, 7:00pm. Oops. So glad I got talk to him quite a bit last month. Living less than 2 hours from NYC can be convenient!

After my dinner at my favorite NYC restaurant, I'm typing this post on the late return train home, while the new faces and conversations are fresh in my mind.

Wanted to be sure I express how very thankful I am to Mary Jo for talking with me about enterprise stuff for a bit. Lotus Notes users unite! IBM becoming a huge Apple shop! She also kindly introduced me to several bloggers, helping me pick them out from a sea of around 50-80 strangers, in this very noisy place. Sure glad that she did. One of them was...

The Verge - Tom Warren

Quite the prolific blogger during his many years at there, see the impressive list. He flew from London for this special day in Microsoft history, and handled much of The Verge live blogging coverage. He was kind enough to hang out and discuss his stories with me, including a bit about his enterprise IT background. We also chatted about the Surface Book design, the challenges of ad blockers, the joys of working with a talented team of video editors. He mentioned that he's sometimes the ONLY live blogger representing The Verge, no pressure or anything, eh? He's certainly got those live transcription/typing skills down.

Just before the afterparty, Tom had published his Surface Book article, which I had read moments before meeting him. How cool is that! Here's an excerpt:

A closer look at Microsoft's new Surface Book laptop

When I reviewed Microsoft's Surface 3 tablet earlier this year I simply concluded that Microsoft should make a laptop. I can't believe I'm typing this, but the Surface Book laptop now exists. I got a chance to take a closer look at the Surface Laptop during Microsoft's Windows 10 devices event in New York City this morning. It's gorgeous.

More of Tom's posts, also on October 6th:

See also Tom's work at his (now retired) winrumors site.

AnandTech - Brett Howse

The fun for me got even better. Mary Jo had also introduced me to Anandtech's Brett Howse, who happened to be standing right nearby. He's also rather prolific. Wow, one of my favorite technical sites, and this guy writes the stuff! This kind Canadian shared his start with PCs, sluggish vSphere Web Client concerns, and the joys of creating an extremely long and difficult article. That sounds like me! What a joy to trade stories with him. We also chatted about podcasting mics, what it's like to have an editor, and more. Yeah, maybe there's some etiquette I'm supposed to follow, like not telling everybody everything...

Here's Brett's latest article:

Hands On: Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, & New Lumia Phones

I think the Surface Book looks to be a defining product from Microsoft. With the Surface tablet lineup, it took them a couple of generations to get it right, but they have taken all of that and put it into the Surface Book including the 3:2 display which should be very nice. Battery life is of course a concern with such a higher resolution panel but Microsoft is using an IGZO solution here so the impact may not be as bad as it could.

More of Brett's work, just from October 6th, including live blogging:

Microsoft Windows 10 Devices Day NYC Live Blog
Excerpt about the Surface Book:

11:35AM EDT - 1.6 pounds
11:34AM EDT - Even with the hinge it's a 2-in 1? wait, what?
11:34AM EDT - Body is machined Magnesium
11:33AM EDT - No USB 3.1
11:33AM EDT - Wait, is that a mDP or a Thunderbolt port?
11:32AM EDT - Doesn't say what DRAM/storage segments
11:32AM EDT - Pre-order Oct 7th, Avail 26th
Microsoft Reveals the Surface Book
Microsoft Launches Three New Lumia Phones

At one point, all three of us were talking, with Brett and Tom's respect for each other's sites quite evident. It's all good.

So thank you, Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley, for publicizing this event, so glad I had the good fortune to be able to join in some of the fun, and meet so many new people!

Oct 07 2015 Update

Blush, numerous misspellings corrected, and some refinement, on a fresher brain. Yeah, I'm my own editor, which means my articles tend to be pretty rough those first 24 hours or so, one of the reasons my automated RSS newsletter is weekly.

And how could I forget to mention getting that I saw (but didn't meet) Thurrott.com author Brad Sams @bdsams, and said hello again to always friendly Andrew Zarian @AndrewZarian:

Thank you to everyone that came to the meet up today in NYC @thurrott @maryjofoley @theskinnypignyc @bdsams pic.twitter.com/JXpzP6Jvn0
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) October 7, 2015

Went to "Microsoft Windows 10 devices event" NYC after party, met Paul Thurrott & Mary Jo Foley again, along with many other prominent bloggers/journalists

The Verge - Tom Warren

AnandTech - Brett Howse

Oct 07 2015 Update

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