The Scoop On Microsoft's 2010 Professional Developer Conference

Welcome to the 2010 Professional Developer Conference, aka PDC, from whens we've got a few bits of info on Windows Phone 7 for you. PDC2010 was kicked off with a keynote speech by Steve Ballmer and Scott Guthrie that said some very nice things about Windows Phone 7's investment in the WP7 development community. They know that these developers can make or break the whole project, so they've done a few things to help them finish up their first round of WP7 apps: hint: free stuff.

First, all paid PDC conference attendees will get a free Windows Phone 7 device (because it's always good to have the device you're designing for lying around to test with.) Then, they gave a few notes on how big the Windows Phone Developer community currently is: 12,000 developers registered with Marketplace, up 40% from last month, with more than 100 adding every day.

Then noted that on November 3rd, developers may submit their applications "with the self serve capabilities of Marketplace for developers." A tiny but important note to add to this is that there've been som revisions to Marketplace policies which everyone should check out here.

Then, presenters! A giant list (which you can see here) of PDC presenters share tips on optimization and testing and all that fun stuff developers love to hear for hours on end. To see the presentations as they happen, yes LIVE STREAMS, take a peek over at the Microsoft PDC site and get out your popcorn and pens and pads and peel your eyeball skins up for great talks.

[Via Microsoft]