As is the norm for events like this, they gave out goodies to
entice the uninterested. To ensure that people didn't get their
software and flee, they didn't do the give-outs until the end
(apart from the notepad and crappy branded pen that they gave out
at the beginning), handing out the bounty in plastic bags as you
returned your nametag necklace. This technique worked well, as
several times throughout the event I heard people comment on the
"carrot" that was keeping them there "if they could
stay awake", which really is sad. It's sad because there was a
tonne of fantastic content, but people have become so acclimated to
the goody bags that they focus far too intently on it.
I laughed to see that there was the standard $5 t-shirt, not
surprizingly in the size XL (why do computer/software shows always
give out XL?).
The ready to launch CD holder contains 4 CDs -
two Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition CDs, a SQL Server 2005
Standard Edition CD, an MSDN Library CD, and CD keys. The other CD
contains event related content, although apparently the slides are
a bit out of sync with what they presented (which is standard for
events like that. The presenters were likely tweaking their slides
even that morning).
Also included was a "coupon" to receive Biztalk
2006 Developer Edition when it's released, a free certification
exam, and a single client-access license for SQL Server (so if you
decide to take advantage of SQL Server 2005 Standard for your shop,
you'll likely need some more CALs. Per the
US
pricing page, it would cost you $648 to get it up to the level
[5 CALS] of a retail SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, yielding a
net savings of $237. Not bad for a freebie. Of course many people
these days are buying the per-processor license - recommended for
things like Internet accessible sites - in which case this freebie
is useless to them).
