In early December I had an idea about running a developer event which will run across 3 cities and be available online to bridge the gap between developer communities and speakers. With a little help this event has become a reality and will be called DevRally.

I have had the honour of working with the Microsoft MVPs for some time now, and have to admit that they continue to amaze me. The South African MVPs are making waves locally and the international MVPs are just as passionate and driven.

Jeff Atwood from CodingHorror fame sent me my StackOverflow stickers from the US. They are definitly a handy addition to my collection of computer hardware and software.

There seems to be a underlying trend lately from blog commenters and forum posters to completely disregard the thoughts and emotions of others online. The lack of basic values in today's society has started to bleed into the internet, and the result is demotivating to those that are trying to share knowledge.

SA Developer.Net has finally gotten a new home after more then a month offline. This has again highlighted the importance of sponsorship to keep these communities alive and well, even with the current recession.

Hilton Giesenow, the well known South African MVP has launched a new podcast called the MOSS Show, covering the SharePoint platform through hosting interviews with some of the more well known, and lesser know SharePoint experts in the world. I have a look at the first 3 episodes and really recommend everyone involved in SharePoint to subscribe.

With Tech-Ed 2009 arround the corner I am extremely proud to announce that Dave Coates, the Port Elizabeth community lead has taken on the challenge to run and manage the 2009 Community Lounge. Dave will be managing one of the most exciting parts of the Tech-Ed event.

Another life update this time featuring information about the response to my role change as an evangelist and community lead, my visit to the doctor and our very pregnant Sharpei Cross.

I have maintained To Dev or not To Dev as my development and technical blog for the last 3 years, however the time has come for Diago.co.za to evolve and I have decided to shut down To Dev or not To Dev. The blog will remain as a reference point but no more entries will be added.

I have been actively involed in the South African technology community for the last 3 years. I have always been a proud and passionate member of the community, involved as a technology evangelist. I have achieved a lot in this time however it hasn't been without a heavy cost. The time has come for me to step back and slowdown, as my family and my body is not the only parts of my life suffering from my current involvement.

SA Developer.Net KZN is having an event with guest speaker Gail Shaw on the 12th of February 2009. The event will be covering Gail's talk from the PASS Submit 2008. We are extremely honored to host her for the evening and invite anyone interested in development or SQL to attend this talk.

SA Developer.Net KZN is starting the year with a bang. One Development Talk and a Social already on the calendar and DevDays and Tech-Ed 2009 will promise to be existing events for this coming year.

Eben De Wit is running the quarterly DevChat event in KZN on the 13th of November 2008 at the Riverside Hotel in Durban.

During Tech-Ed I was interviewed by Ruari Plint about South African Communities, in particular on what it means to be a community lead and also on what challenges communities face. The video has been posted on the Tech-Ed Online website.

Tech-Ed Online contains video interviews with key speakers and visitors of Tech-Ed. Currently the South African interviews are available for download from the MSDN site. This year quite a few of the local bloggers and community members featured in these interview.

During a recent career evening held at my offices, the question came to mind about the misconception created to students about success in the IT Industry. Althought there is a few success stories, the impression is somehow created that success happens early in the industry with the least amount of effort. Does the fact that successful individuals always talk at these events the reason for this perception?

Jeff Atwood has opened up the private beta for StackOverflow.com and I am extremely impressed by what they achieved. The new site is developed in ASP.Net Mvc with a host of features in the beta which makes the site extremely easy to use. The content is also proving to be valuable and accurate.

Hosting Community Lounge at Tech-Ed is no simple task, and a few people from the industry and the community deserves a huge amount of credit with their help and assistance at the lounge this year.

DevDays 2008 was a huge success and I was extremely glad to have the support of so many people at the community lounge. It was a busy 3 days with more people then we ever imagined but the exposure was amazing.

We are in the middle of planning for Tech-Ed 2008 and this year the communities are high on the agenda with the biggest ever community lounge planned. Please join us at the Durban ICC for 3 days of technology and information sharing brought by some of the industries best.

SA Developer.net is hosting another event in Durban, this time to discuss and review SharePoint Server 2007. Come join us for an evening of information sharing on how to use SharePoint Server inside your organisation.

I travelled to JHB to attend some meetings with Microsoft and IT Intellect around business and the community. While I was there I was able to meet with various community leads around events planned for the year.

Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky is in the process of starting a new venture called StackOverflow. The first part of the project is a podcast they host weekly. Phil Haack has joined Microsoft but is stilll very actively involved in SubText.

SA Developer.net is having a event featuring two speakers. Dion Beneke will be joining us on behalf of SA Architect.net to discuss LINQ and 3 Tier architecture along with a talk on Ajax.

Another life update this time featuring information about the new Microsoft MVP's, some community activity and plans for SA Developer.net.

Being involved in the community has left me drained after being extremely active in the last few months. It is an extensive task to manage the community activities and to keep up to date with the latest technologies.

SA Developer.net has another busy month ahead with 3 events planned. Please join us for some information sharing around Microsoft technologies and development in general.

Another life update this time featuring information about hospitalized parents, visiting cousins, quick movies, SA Developer.net status and speed services still in the mix. We also recieved a new kitten called Spartan.

Another life update this time featuring information about outstanding projects, SA Developer.net, development technologies and community credit winner announcements.

SA Developer.net will be having a very busy May and this is a list of all events planned for the month. Attendance is free and everyone in the Durban area is welcome to attend if interested in development.

Another succesfull SA Developer.Net event was held at IT Intellect in Musgrave on 11 April 2007. The topic was Dissecting a Web Application.

The second SA Developer.net social has been planned for the 2nd of March at NewsCage in Musgrave. Hope to see everyone there.

The first social event for SA Developer.Net has been arranged for 2007. Come join us for an evening of drinks and decision around the IT industry, in particular development. A great oppurtinity to meet and greet other players in Kwazulu-Natal.