So I received my first CodeZone user group kit today. This is the one that goes to user group leaders. All of the digital content can also be downloaded by user group members who have signed up. In addition to digital content there are three books: O’Reilly’s .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide, MS Press ASP.NET Mobile Devices and MS Press .NET Compact Framework.

The very first thing I  thought of when seeing this was all of the people who are saying “CodeZone is out to replace INETA.” This box is very different from the INETA swag mailings and I see no cross over here at all.

The whole thing is geared towards Mobile Development. The production quality of the materials is astounding and a almost a little frightening. MS EMEA outsourced the development of a full blown mobile application to a few development shops which are promoted in the little accompanying booklet in a way that actually looks like magazine ads – but that’s fair, we all deserve recognition for our work.. However the fact that they are in the front of the booklet is actually very confusing and perhaps they should be put in the back. There is even a CompuWare ad on the back. The binder that it all comes in is super duper guper slick – but is generic enough to be reused for all of the CodeZone user group kits. Yes, the green girl is in there. I guess I’m not really the target market for this marketing effort – I have to say that the design doesn’t really appeal to me, but as 40+ female, I am such a teeny little slice of the demographics – so I don’t have a problem with that at all. I’m just a different kind of “hip”. tee hee

So that was my first impression. I KNOW that the whole thing is really geared towards getting developers really excited about doing mobile development (translation: there is not enough going on yet) and presenting a fantastic sample solution that not only is chock full of great code, but an app that I will assume has great architecture ideas as well as the business analysis that went into the solution.

The kit contains 3 cds. One is the Mobile Development SDK, another is a compilation of webcasts, demos, powerpoints etc and the last is the WeRock sample application – emblazoned with the slick graphics. It sure doesn’t look like a disc from the MSDN Universal Subscription!! 🙂

So I think what I will do is give away the entire kit to one lucky person in the group. However, I have that worry of raffling it off and someone who is not so interested winning it and then putting it on a shelf. Usually a good solution for that is having a bunch of things for raffle winners to choose from.

In the meantime, it will be a good vehicle for me to promote CodeZone at the meeting although right now that is the only value for *this* codezone site. Downloading the digital portion of the kit. In the future it will be a lot more.

http://www.AcehAid.org

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