I have been traveling a lot the past few weeks talking to Force.com developers across the globe. At every stop the message was the same: mobile is the future, VMforce is bringing the cloud to Java developers, and Winter 11 is early anticipated. For me, the lead up to Dreamforce is even more action packed. In the next few weeks we are off to SpringOne for a bunch more VMforce fun, and talk to a whole new set of developers.  (Sorry Jon, I know I am supposed to be writing the VMforce tutorials, but when the blog urge calls you have to obey). Here is a quick recap:

Cloudforce London: The sun was out in London for the launch of Chatter Mobile. Marc warned of the false cloud, and there was lots of action on the expo floor. 

Cloudforce Toronto: Toronto was a great event. I presented in the afternoon to a packed room and active Q&A session. 

Architect Day and Developer Meetup Chicago: Nothing beats Chicago when the sun was out. This time the windy city didn't disappoint. After a full day of active discussions at the Architecture workshop we had some fun with the Developer Meetup, gave away some prizes, and busted out some cool code. 

Oracle Open World San Francisco: Last stop was a day at Oracle Open World/JavaOne where I had a chance to talk about VMforce to a audience of attentive Java Developers eager to learn how they can leverage the cloud. Salesforce was also giving away three Lexus cars which made for some touching scenes where Sassy and Chatter were very emotional. 

I have a little break before hitting the road again for SpringOne in Chicago which I am very excited about. One of the best things about talking to a new development community, the Spring developers this time, is that there are no pre-concieved notions about what the Force.com platform is or isn't — you get a great fresh perspective which often makes you think about how you can do things differently, or how you can take advantage of the the wealth of technical knowledge out there.

I have developed Java apps for many years and have a deep appreciation for the depth of libraries and resources available. These libraries are often written by community members. We in the Force.com community do a great job through Code Share contributions, events etc. but I think we still have a way to go to really build our community. We can learn a lot from other developer communities, and they can learn a lot from us. I look at technology as an enabler, a tool you could say, it is not the destination, it is the journey. And every journey, whether it is global or local, is always better with friends. Just look at Sassy and Chatty for an example 🙂