Microsoft Designertopia conference

I'm off to London tomorrow, to drop into the Microsoft Designertopia conference (see http://www.designertopia.net for more info). Apparently, design has a new face, and that face is Microsoft.

The conference speakers will challenge us to 'Create rich user experiences, beyond the browser' and we will 'Stand out among the crowd.' We shall be empowered to 'start building the next Web today.' Apparently we'll meet lots of inspirational people and speakers, who will encourage us to think outside 'the box'. And perhaps we'll down a glass of wine or three along the way.

The conference is split into 2 tracks - one is for creative heads, the other is for techies. I know a few other people going there (bbc heads, university designers and a few freelancers) so between us we might manage to cover both tracks and see whether or not Microsoft's new products really can help us to create 'more enjoyable, satisfying and productive user and customer experiences across all classes of software, on all types of device.'

Gentle cynicism aside, I am genuinely interested in Microsoft's vision for creative interactive content...they promise to explain how we can use cross browser, cross platform, technologies like AJAX, WPF/E and Windows Media to enhance the user experience and provide us with richest experience imaginable.

And, as the website says, Microsoft are 'committed to deliver tools and technologies to serve your creativity.' The downside is that 'The only boundary is your imagination.'

So if everything I see and hear on Thursday and Friday doesn't light my creative fire, that is because I lack the imagination. *sigh*