The PDC 2005 was the best conference I ever attended. Seeing WF and WCF for the first time, as well as the DSL Tools and lots of other stuff, plus the several contacts I did while there, helped understand what was to come in technology, and this help |create|it| prepare for this future.
I am also attending this year's PDC2008, where a lot is expected, for example, in what regards Microsoft's approach to Cloud Computing. BizTalk Services is sure to be there, as well as BizTalk "Oslo", Live Mesh and other initiatives like SQL Data Services. Just check the session list, full of vague descriptions so as to not spoil the surprise, and you'll realize this has the right ingredients to be a great conference again.
I know of several other (Portuguese) people who are attending, and if you can, try to be there. The PDC2008 is about future technologies, and it's the Microsoft conference to attend this year.
[Cross-Posted de http://www.arquitecturadesoftware.org/blogs/joaomartins e http://blogit.create.pt/blogs/joaomartins]
Microsoft has published a few days ago a new guide around optimization of BizTalk Server performance. This is a lengthy guide (over 200 pages), but it has a lot of very interesting information, some of which you can't find anywhere else, and there's always something to learn. Highly recommended. You can download it here.
A second recommendation is a little tool that is very helpful in gathering information about a BizTalk installation, and which also gives you a report about your installation. A little like the BizTalk Best Practices Analyzer, only deeper and with more information. It's MsgBoxViewer, and you can download version 9.20.3 here.
[Cross-Posted de http://www.arquitecturadesoftware.org/blogs/joaomartins e http://blogit.create.pt/blogs/joaomartins]