"Rory has some great .Net knowledge that wasn't
exposed in the interview. Why?"
They actually did try to engage me on technical topics,
but I was so nervous that I could hardly see straight,
let alone think :)
There were things that I wanted to talk about, and I had
planned to bring them up, but my mind went blank during
the recording. It was the first time I had ever done an
interview like that, and I just sort of did my best
under the circumstances.
It also doesn't help that I'm a huge fan of the show
(that's not ass kissing, by the way - when the show
first came out, I was really happy that there was a
community effort to give developers a voice - I loved
the format, the ideas, and the people - getting to be on
the show was a truly exciting thing for me that I had
never expected would actually happen, and I'm very
thankful to have had the chance to take part).
Being a big fan made me a bit more nervous than I should
have been.
So, yeah - I think that most of your concerns can be
addressed by the fact that I was an interview virgin
whose brain was going nuts with excitement. The previous
two shows had plenty of good technical content, so I
don't think the show is headed downhill or anything ;)
Then again, I love the non-technical content on there. I
already know that Don Box is a smarty-man, so I wanted
to experience a side of him that we don't usually get to
see when he's writing/presenting. Same thing with the
other developers. I want to know what makes them tick,
and when they talk about things *other* than code, I
feel like I'm getting a glimpse into a small bit of
their worlds outside communion with a PC, which is cool.
I'm not arguing with you, of course :) (I'm using extra
smileys to ensure that the proper tone comes across).
"It takes all kinds" to make a
community, and we are two coders who differ slightly in
taste, but I totally understand where you're coming
from.
And, yeah - I'm also going to miss Mark... We definitely
agree on that.
"Hey, I love Microsoft technologies, but is it
just me or was the show sounding like an orgy of ass
kissing from both sides to each other and to
Microsoft?"
I just remembered this comment, and wanted to make sure
that I addressed it.
What sounded like ass kissing was my *genuine* love of
MS dev tools and products.
I've been coding for about 80% of the time I've been on
this planet. I've dealt with BASIC, Pascal, C, C++,
Objective-C, Java, Python, Assembly, and .NET.
The *truth* is that I've never encountered anything that
I've loved so much as .NET, and I've loved many tools.
My excitement for this stuff is very real - if it
weren't, then I sure wouldn't be doing this whole
blogging thing :) If I did the math, I'd probably see
that I spend almost all of my time dedicated to this
community. Friends and family wonder about where I've
gone, and it's not like I don't love *them*. It's just
that I get really passionate about this stuff, and want
to get other people excited, too.
I can see how it could be mistaken for ass kissing, but
I'm seriously *that* interested in this stuff, and I've
been having such a great time for the past few months,
having had the chance to meet a lot of the people I've
quietly worshipped from between book covers. These past
few months have given me the chance to help define this
totally weird community of which I constitute one small
part, and the joy has caused me to say a lot of nice
stuff about many of the nice people I've met.
I guess I'm just happy, and it shows :)
I do say the occasional bad thing about MS, but only
when I'm being critical for the sake of trying to
improve something (as you're doing now).
However, there's a time and place for everything, and I
didn't see myself helping out much by stopping the show
to grumble for a while.
It's funny - I was thinking about the show earlier
today, and was trying to figure out when somebody was
going to call my enthusiasm into question. This thought
entered my mind: "It's much easier to say
something acceptably negative than it is to say
something acceptably positive." People don't
cut you as much slack for the latter...
Anyway, I'll stop. I'm just writing this stuff because
you happen to be someone I respect, and I wanted to
"clear my name" so to speak.
Ok. I know there was no real ass-kissing taking place.
You are all smart thinking people and you do what you
love (as do I). But what I meant to say was that the
show had too much "I love this I love that aI
love you" rather than actual content. Which is
a shame. Sure, it's nice to relax once in a while with a
totally non technichal interview but even a non
technical interview should include questions, not famous
quotes. Am I wrong? Yes it's a matter of taste, but hey,
for me, with you on the show, it could have been a whole
lot better.
Just my 2 cents.
It does not mean I don't read your blog, because I do,
and love it. It does not mean I do't like .Net rocks,
because I do, and sometimes you want to hear criticism
from lovers, IMHO. Better than listening to it from
haters..
Anyway, As a .Net rocks show, I did not want to see
"Neopoleon on the radio" but wanted to
see the real Rory, which sometimes I bet is not that
funny but has a serious side. Talking about real issues
you had with .Net. Just saying how much everything is
wonderful makes for a boring show, to me.
I was a bit annoyed at the show, too. A couple times,
when Rory was getting into some technical-related
dialoge, he was interrupted so that the conversation
could be steered back towards the comedic entertainment
that it seemed like he was there for.
I think '.NET Rocks' can do with a rating system -
'stars', 'thumbs-up' or similar. At the end of year, we
can have our own Oscars!
You people should get your own shows! <g>
Hey Carl. I like your show. Hope you don't mind a little
criticism <g>
I listened to the show while I worked . . . funny enough
to keep me interested, not so technical as to distract
me. Good bang for my buck . . .
I guess you can't argue with taste, can you? :)
sorry - but Carl's comment still has me laughing
Roy,
I will certainly miss doing the show. I have too many
irons in the fire these days and something had to give.
Keep listening and keep that constructive criticism
going.