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Microsoft Eliminates MEDC; Content Going to Other Conferences

Microsoft announced this week that it is eliminating its standalone Mobile and Embedded DevCon (MEDC) conference and rolling the content into two other developer events -- the Embedded Systems Conference West in San Jose, Calif. (April 14 through 18) and Tech Ed 2008 in Orlando, Fla., to be held in June.

Tech Ed 2008 actually will take place in two back-to-back events: Tech Ed U.S. 2008 Developers on June 3 through 6; and Tech Ed U.S. IT Professionals on June 10 through 13.

Microsoft plans to include track sessions on embedded development in the San Jose and Orlando events. It's not clear if Microsoft's consolidation of MEDC will result in a general scaling back of the number of sessions for mobile and embedded developers. At present, the agendas for Embedded Systems Conference West and Tech Ed 2008 are not publicly available.

Last year, the MEDC 2007's U.S. and international events included "more than 140 technical sessions and 60 labs tailored for developers, IT professionals and business professionals," according to the MEDC 2007 Web site.

Microsoft broke the news about this year's consolidation of MEDC via e-mails to past MEDC attendees. It was also noted by at least two Microsoft bloggers.

Blogger Frank Prengel, embedded evangelist for Microsoft Germany, described MEDC's passing for this year as "sad" but added that "it only makes sense since mobile & embedded development is becoming more mainstream."

Mike Hall, a Microsoft technical product manager, noted that the international MEDC events had been smaller than the U.S. standalone event. However, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, that international content will be rolled into other events worldwide, including non-Microsoft developer conferences.

While Microsoft has a precedent, in at least one case, of restoring developer events, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that this change is permanent.

Becky Nagel contributed to this story.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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