Protocol Cloud: The underwhelming reality of a virtual Build

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Welcome to Protocol Cloud, your comprehensive roundup of everything you need to know about the week in cloud and enterprise software. This week: A cloudy forecast for virtual events, Microsoft's journey to the right side of history, and the evolution of remote work strategies.
Speaking of virtual events: Tomorrow at noon PDT, Republican Rep. Will Hurd will talk to Protocol's Issie Lapowsky and Emily Birnbaum about tech and cybersecurity. Sign up here.
Why do people go to tech events? Sure, there's plenty of interesting content, from high-profile executive speeches to hands-on deep dives on specific technologies. But the best tech events have always been gathering places for communities of like-minded people to bounce ideas off each other and make lifelong connections.
We all know that's not happening this year. Still, Microsoft attempted to be the first major tech company to replace one of its signature in-person events with a virtual event this week. And it went … OK.
Maybe I'm being a bit unfair: This was the first real attempt at a virtual tech event by one of the big platform companies, and there's no real playbook for running Build at scale over the internet. And nothing went wrong, it was just underwhelming.
And on a more positive note, there were some interesting ideas on display at the event:
But this year's Build will be remembered mostly for reminding us that virtual experiences are no substitute for the real thing. Microsoft did the best it could, opening up Teams channels to attendees for chatting and livestreaming an enormous amount of technical content, but I'd bet everyone who logged onto the Build site Tuesday will be thrilled to grumble about the chilly drizzle and gridlocked traffic of downtown Seattle in May 2021. See you there. Hopefully.
Tailored to meet client demand, the Nasdaq Cloud Data Service (NCDS) provides real-time streaming of exchange, index, fund and analytic data. Data is made available through a suite of APIs, allowing for effortless integration and a dramatic reduction in time to market for customer-designed applications.
Quick starts: When Olivia Nottebohm came over from Google Cloud to assume an important operational role at Dropbox in late January, she couldn't have predicted how chaotic her first three months would be. The company's new COO talked with me about a surge in Dropbox usage, the company's plans for its employees in 2020, and what she learned from her experience at Google.
Remote control: The Braintrust panel discussed the uncertainty of planning around this period of remote work when we still don't really know how the pandemic will unfold in the second half of the year. Different companies will have different needs, and pivoting to a permanent work-from-home strategy is just not going to work for everyone.
Travel for closers: Splunk CEO Doug Merritt told my colleague Shakeel Hashim in Protocol Index that business travel will come back as soon as it is safe, even if it's a hassle: "While doing deals with existing customers is holding up OK, Merritt said, 'for brand-new customers, it's a different journey right now.'"
Thanks to everyone for continuing to send in new ideas for our question and answer session! Email me at cloud@protocol.com, and a special request: Let's hear from some folks in technical leadership positions at companies that aren't in the technology business.
What was your first tech job?
I was a student network tech in college in the early 1990s. There were three student techs on campus. We answered questions and fixed network issues if there were problems after hours. It was a pretty sweet gig: Not only was it among the highest paying jobs on campus, and I got priority selection in on-campus housing, but I also got to learn all about networking right as the internet was taking off.
What's the best piece of advice you could give to someone starting their first tech job?
Learn how to speak and write well. Being a good communicator is what differentiates great engineers from good ones.
What has changed the most at your company over the past two months?
We were very much a work-from-office culture. The COVID-19 crisis forced us into a massive work-from-home experiment. I think we've all been pretty surprised how well it's gone. There are clearly some things that are much better remote. It has caused us to start to think about what aspects we'll want to keep when we're able to return to the office.
Will the pandemic usher in a new era of remote working, or will we all come back together when it is safe to do so?
We'll see. At Cloudflare, we're talking about how we can take what we've learned from all working remotely and not "get back to normal," but "get back to better."
Mac or PC?
Mac. First computer was an Apple ][+ my grandmother gave me for Christmas in 1980. I learned how to program on it. Then in 1997, I heard Steve Jobs was returning to Apple and bought some stock in the company as a result. It's how I paid for graduate school. As a result, my loyalty to Apple runs deep.
Tailored to meet client demand, the Nasdaq Cloud Data Service (NCDS) provides real-time streaming of exchange, index, fund and analytic data. Data is made available through a suite of APIs, allowing for effortless integration and a dramatic reduction in time to market for customer-designed applications.
Thanks for reading — see you next week.
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