It was great to see so many PowerBuilder folks in Charlotte last week for the 3 day regional user conference. I expected a large turnout from the North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia areas but was surprised that customers came from all over the US (Texas, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, Michigan...and more...) as well as Mexico, Australia, and multiple provinces in Canada! It's more proof that PowerBuilder developers are some of the most committed and loyal out there, and for good reason - their apps work, and they're highly productive using PowerBuilder.
It was nice to see so many familiar faces and old friends, as well as hear about how folks are not only still actively using PowerBuilder for their existing apps, but building new applications and modules. Dave Fish held a few sessions on PowerBuilder as well as an overview of the River Definition Language .
The keynote featured Appeon CEO Armeen Mazda and customers got a close up look at how easy it is to deploy a PowerBuilder app as a native iOS or Android application. Some long time PowerBuilder folks also presented, including Buck Woolley of DW Extreme fame, and Chris Pollach
Customer feedback at this event was aligned with what we've been hearing through email and other forums. Top issues include PDF (i.e., SaveAsPDF,) focus on Classic PowerBuilder and moving core .NET functionality into that IDE, and a statement of direction from SAP.
Next month, another event, the ISUG-TECH Conference, 2014 will feature PowerBuilder as well as other SAP products, including the launch of ASE 16, and opportunities to learn about SAP's strategic HANA platform. This event will also be another multi-day conference with options for pre-con training. Looking forward to more customer interaction and feedback!