Microsoft Sandcastle Documentation Compiler	Monday
Anand Raman, Microsoft	1:15 - 2:45 pm
This session is about updates to Sandcastle documentation compiler. Sandcastle produces accurate, MSDN style, comprehensive documentation by reflecting over the source assemblies and optionally integrating XML Documentation Comments. Sandcastle has the following key features: Works with or without authored comments Supports Generics and .NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 and other released versions of Framework Sandcastle has 2 main components (MrefBuilder and Build Assembler) MrefBuilder generates reflection xml file for Build Assembler Build Assembler includes syntax generation, transformation, etc. Sandcastle is used to build Microsoft Visual Studio and .Net Framework documentation
Microsoft Help v.3 Preview April Reagan, Microsoft
Microsoft Help 3 is a new client help system! This help system has been built from the ground up with simplicity, performance and relevance in mind. It was not a straightforward road in getting the project approved, and with a large legacy content base and complex content scenarios, it took a lot of long and heated design discussions with a will to favor simplicity. The end result is a greatly improved deployment model, a fast underlying architecture based on the Zip storage standard and a beautiful new Windows Presentation Foundation based help viewer featuring a web-browser feel. Initially shipping as the product help system for the next wave of Visual Studio products, this system will become available to all Windows developers in the near future. This will be the first wide release of a help system from Microsoft since Help 1.
Microsoft 2.0: What to Expect in the Post-Gates Era	Tuesday
Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet	8:30 - 9:45am
Tuesday opens with an independent look at the future of Microsoft. Enjoy this wide-ranging interview with journalist and commentator Mary Jo Foley. Mary Jo's All About Microsoft blog is among the top business blogs on the Web. Her book – Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era – provides a framework for a discussion of her views about a range of current and future Microsoft activities including Windows 7, Azure, and home entertainment and mobile initiatives. Matthew Ellison will be host.
Integration Jumpstart for Adobe Technical Communication Suite	Tuesday
Kevin Siegel, IconLogic, Inc.	10:15 - 11:30am
Attend this high-powered session and learn real-world best practices for integrating the core products that make up Adobe's Technical Communication suite (FrameMaker, Captivate and RoboHelp). — YOU WILL LEARN — The optimum Captivate project settings for projects intended to be published into RoboHelp and/or FrameMaker (including techniques for lowering your published output files to 1) The best FrameMaker settings to allow for a smooth import into RoboHelp How to work with CSS in RoboHelp How to map styles between FrameMaker and RoboHelp How to control topic pagination between FrameMaker and RoboHelp How to control the appearance of FrameMaker cross references in RoboHelp How to recover if your RoboHelp project crashes post FrameMaker import
An Insider Tour of Microsoft Surface	Tuesday
Doug Bolin, Razorfish	1:00 - 2:15pm
Microsoft Surface is a 30-inch table-like display that gives individuals or multiple people the opportunity to interact with devices and content in a way that feels familiar – by using touch, gestures and placement of devices on the display. In essence, it's a surface come to life for exploring, learning, sharing, creating, buying and much more. It is currently in use to help customers in AT&T Wireless stores and as an information kiosk in Sheraton Hotels. Avenue A Razorfish has been deeply involved with Surface development. AARF team member Doug Bolin will provide a demonstration of Surface and discuss the research and development that went into creating a new software user experience. This is a great opportunity to learn how this technology may fit into our future user assistance projects.
Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and AIR Help	Tuesday
Scott Prentice, Leximation, Inc.	2:45 - 4:00pm
AIR Help is a new cross-platform, highly customizable, online Help delivery option that has been made possible by Adobe's introduction of the AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) development platform. AIR Help files can be created using an application (currently only Adobe RoboHelp Packager and MadCap Flare) or can be built from the ground up using open source web technologies (Flex, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, etc.). AIR Help files can be installed on Mac, Windows, and Linux systems. This presentation introduces you to the AIR technology and its underlying requirements. You will see examples of AIR Help output from the commercially available tools, with a discussion of the pros and cons of each. You will also see how easy it is to work with Flex and ActionScript to design and develop your own custom Help system using AIR. — YOU WILL LEARN — About the AIR development platform The benefits of using AIR technology for the creation of a user assistance application The pros and cons of the AIR Help output generated by the commercially available tools How to use AIR to design and develop your own custom Help system
iPhone Design and Development Overview	Wednesday
Christopher Z. Garrett, ZWorkbench, Inc.	1:30 - 2:45pm
Development for mobile platforms is particularly challenging, due to the small screen size and challenges of developing for a platform that is often disconnected from the network. The advent of the iPhone raised the bar in mobile platform usability, but it still has its own challenges as a development platform. This discussion will give a brief overview of the iPhone design and development process. Then it will focus on several applications we developed in the past year, discussing some of the design challenges we faced and how we addressed them.