Tech Ed 2007 is over. It has been a very busy week and I am tired and ready to go home.

For IT Pro people Tech Ed contained loads of interesting information about  Windows Server 2008 and the System Center products among others. Attendees also had the unique opportunity to beta test the upcoming MCSA and MCSE upgrade exams for Windows Server 2008.

My personal highlights:

Virtualization is hot! And Microsoft has a problem or should I say a challenge when it regards to virtualization.  When you heard the SME's you clearly heard the message: "please wait till we're ready". The problem is that Microsoft is far from ready. Most sessions about virtualization were without demo's or contained demo's with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (still RC also). In a lame attempt to fool the market Microsoft even renamed the long existing Virtual Server 2005 Host Clustering to the more sophisticated sounding Quick Migration that was shown during the keynote session. My guess is that it will take Microsoft another year before they can finally say their solution is ready and available to use.

Windows Server 2008 will be the blockbuster for the end of the year. Beta 3 is supposed to be feature complete and Microsoft felt free to talk about all new features in the product. The launch of the first book on Windows Server 2008 was a good reason to spread - what I heard - 5.000 copies for free among the attendees. The more we know about the new features, the better the product will sell.

Besides product information Tech Ed also provided a lot of attention for the communities like MVP's, MCT's, Culminis and various other programs. It must be no surprise that a lot of the star speakers at the conference are part of those communities.

I managed to attend a number of good and interesting sessions. Even though it was sometimes hard to make a choice between competing sessions in the same slot as Microsoft did not put the names of speakers in the conference guide. My favorite sessions were: