The Microsoft TechEd 2007 Student Day is this Thursday at the Skycity Convention Centre in Auckland. The talks I’m looking forward to,

• Nigel Parker is doing a demo of Silverlight – the Microsoft equivalent of Adobe’s Flex/Flash. With it spanning across Linux, Mac as well as Windows, it may well be worth knowing this. There is also the bonus of demoing XAML. Surprised there isn’t more on .Net 3 (or 3.5).
• XNA is being shown in a quick “Dev Jam.” XNA replaces the failed Managed DirectX libraries to make games for both Windows and the Xbox 360, however the Xbox 360 function is ruined by the fact that you can’t just pass round applications without your friends requiring XNA and a developer subscription.
• Ryan Tarak will be demonstrating the Microsoft Robitics Studio with a Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. Damn them, just as I was getting over wanting one — again!
• Nigel Parker will also be presenting information on Windows Live (why?) and PopFly (cool). I only just requested an invite to PopFly which is a tool similar to Yahoo! Pipes but has an attractive, easy-to-use, Silverlight based interface, so full of crazy effects (see the screencast on the website).

The day ends up talking to some ICT industry leaders bosses and interns, which will be interesting.

Anyone reading this blog going (or presenting)?