developers conferences vs. codercons

the balance betweeen traditional developer conferences, unconferences and codercons is shifting, and it will be interesting to see different types of developers attending different types of developer events.

here's an interesting article from CNET that does a nice job of comparing developer events and ecosystem approaches, professional developers and hackers, Microsoft and Yahoo! that I picked up from Adam T:

"In September 2005, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Yahoo would never compete against tools powerhouse Microsoft in the developer realm.

"Yahoo doesn't think of themselves as a platform company," Gates told CNET News.com at the company's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. "I don't think you will ever have the Yahoo PDC."

Chad Dickerson, the senior director of the Yahoo Developer Network, doesn't see it that way at all. Dickerson, who started at the Web company last year, has even used that Bill Gates quote in presentations to demonstrate how Yahoo is changing.

"We are already a platform company," Dickerson said. "There is (cultural change) going on in Yahoo and every company on the Internet."