Gluecon 2010 - even stickier

Is it December 2009 already? Where did *that* year go?If it's the holidays, then it means one thing for sure: once, we ring in the New Year, my attention turns to Gluecon 2010.In case you missed it, last year was the inaugural Glue conference (a.k.a., "gluecon"). We set out to explore the set of issues that exist once you assume that the move to "the cloud" has occurred. What we found is that, even though we thought we had started to dig in, we hadn't even scratched the surface. So, even though gluecon attendees left happy, they still left with a sense of "clamoring for more" - more developers, more protocols, more in-depth explorations of APIs, more technically advanced content, more more and more.Being the kind of folks that aim to please, we're coming after Gluecon 2010 with a vengeance. I'll be working on lining up our early keynoters, and am aiming to announce them in January. But in the meantime, know this: My personal goal with this year's gluecon is to have it feel like at the end of the conference, you've just completed a Master's Level Graduate course in the "glue space." I want you coming out *understanding* the protocols and APIs, understanding the problems at hand, and understanding what you need to do to attack them.What kinds of protocols, APIs and problems, you ask? Well....How about things like: YQL (yahoo query language), activity streams, the twitter API, CouchDB, JQuery, PUSH (pubsubhubbub), OAuth, WRAP (web access resource protocol), SAML, OpenID, Facebook Connect, scaling cloud architectures, spot pricing in a cloud world, identity as a foundational security concept, InfoCards, XMPP, best practices around API building, deployment and adoption driving, management tools for clouds (public and private), cloud analytics, building contextual web browsing tools, billing, metering, CRM, why "business intelligence" is driving cloud adoption, how all of this sticky technology connects to making the world a better place, and oh oh oh so so so much more.How are we going to pull this off structurally? Simple. We rented more space. Yep - we're going 3 wide. Why? To give you options. We're aiming toward a "strategic/business" track, a technical overview track, and a "workshop" track (think 90 minute deep-dives on protocols/standards).And what makes me think I'm smart enough to figure all of this out? Actually, I don't. Accordingly, I'm more than pleased to announce the Gluecon Advisory Board:Ben Kepes -- of Cloud AveChris Shipley -- of Guidewire GroupJeff Kaplan -- of THINKStrategiesIan Glazer -- of Burton GroupTogether, we're gonna start figuring this puppy out. And come May 26-27, we're *all* gonna get together and work on figuring out this bad boy of a mess we've got working.There's much more to come, and you should (of course) plan to join us.