h0bbel.p0ggel.org

I've been attending various Microsoft Technet events (link in norwegian) over the years, for the most part every time they find time to grace the little city of Bergen, Norway with their presence. For the most part I've been pretty happy with the events, they provide a way for me to get out of the office and spend a day listening to usage scenarios and sometimes they have even provided me with some valuable input.

Obviously, this is a Microsoft event designed to promote Microsoft in all it's glory, but I've been OK with that since they have been putting on these for free. I can bare the brainwashing sessions, they more often than not provide some value I can actually put to use later. Other sessions have had me actually correct the speakers, but that is an entirely different story.

Sadly, for me this seems to be something of the past. Starting from the next event here in Bergen, Microsoft will require an early bird payment of 1000.- NOK + VAT, roughly $140 USD, to participate. After the early bird period passed, the price is raised to 1500.- NOK + VAT.

I can understand that the events have a cost, and I can see how Microsoft haven't been able to profit directly from them in the past, but does Microsoft really think that people will pay to attend them? In my case I would have to be away from the office an entire day, and then try to get my employer to pay the fee as well. The total cost of that is way over the actual value the event itself represents.

Even if Microsoft tries to "award" attendees with some kind of scoring system that could potentially win you a goodie bag of related Microsoft stash, or a "Change the world or go home" hoodie (?!), I suspect that many others will think the same way as I do. Normally these events have been fully booked, and you might not be able to actually get a pass unless you sign up early enough, my feeling is that they will see significantly less attendees than they have before.

Perhaps that's even their intention, as they also limit the number of student passes (half admission price) to 20 in each city. Even if I'm no economic guru, I do understand the current economic climate and why Microsoft would want to try to get some of their investment back. I just don't think everyone else feels it would be ok to both spend an entire day away from the office and pay to get brainwashed at the same time. Somehow I think that Microsoft would be better off spending a bit more on getting people interested and hyped up about their solutions, instead of charging them for it.

After all, the current climate might just be what Linux and other FLOSS solutions needs to really gain momentum in Norway?

It would be in Microsofts best interest to get their vision out there, and convince people. They won't be able to use these events to get any convicts now, as those who are looking elsewhere already certainly won't pay to be convinced otherwise.

Bad move Microsoft, bad move.

Does any other vendors like Microsoft charge for small events like this? I'm not talking about Lotusphere or VMworld, but rather small local "evangelism" meetups?