If you’ve been following this blog (and if not, why not!) then you will have seen that we’re gradually providing more information about the session content at Micro Focus World 09. MFW'09 will have 15 tracks and over 100 separate sessions scheduled so there’s going to be a huge amount on offer for a wide developer audience - as it should be!

The conference theme is based around the concept of “Business 2.0” – how will organizations exploit the new technologies of Web 2.0, the Cloud, SOA, new platforms and new business dynamics while exploiting their considerable investment in powerful systems where they can’t afford to take risks. This is obviously very important and timely given the amount of change going on in the world and potentially paradigm-shifting platform changes gather speed.

Having said all that, Micro Focus isn’t about to forget its core strengths or its core audience. Developers are at the heart of all the changes and opportunities going forward, and their knowledge, skills, productivity and agility in moving across technologies and platforms mark them out as critical assets to any organization.

It also shouldn’t be forgotten just how much business awareness the development teams have – a “COBOL programmer” may seem like a fairly simple way to describe a role, but in reality a large proportion of their work is concerned with understanding how the business works, interactions between systems and people to achieve a result, optimal approaches to solving problems and much, much more. These people are critical corporate assets and need to be supported and nurtured (can you tell I used to be a programmer myself?!)

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the developer tracks at the conference. There will be more details published over the next few weeks and months but sessions will cover everything from the COBOL language through best practices to exploiting new platforms and tools. Combined with the main conference sessions, optional training sessions will really enhance developers’ skills and value.

So, although the headlines might be talking about Business 2.0, we are keeping a close watch on developers and continue to push the envelope to provide the best support they need regardless of the business’ technology choices. Whether it’s running “big iron” mainframes, creating funky WPF & .NET applications on Windows or providing rich developer support across all platforms including UNIX and Linux with our newly launched Net Express/Server Express for Eclipse, Micro Focus provides state of the art development environments.

As a developer, what do you want to get out of the conference? What do you want to hear? As a self-confessed ex-developer and now Product Manager for Micro Focus’ Application Development tools, I’m really looking forward to meeting as many techies as possible in Dallas and hearing your feedback – but don’t feel you have to wait until then, please feel free to leave comments here to spark a discussion with your peers. I’m sure you will find some common themes or issues we should discuss.

Just for fun, some Dallas trivia: Did you know that the outlaw Frank James once sold sewing machines in downtown Dallas.