I'm attending the Amazon 're:Invent' conference in Nov and looking forward to it. Every time that I use the EC2 I get more impressed on what they've done with the cloud and virtualization. I regularly debate even needing a desktop computer at home anymore and instead using my (highly portable) MacBook Air and iPad as clients to EC2 instances for anything that I want to do. I am also signed up for a migrating legacy apps to the cloud session because I think that that is one of the more challenging aspects of using the AWS. Architecting an entirely new system to fit into the AWS or cloud in general is generally less difficult than determining the most cost effective way to get cost savings and innovation opportunity by moving your existing (and potentially old) systems in there. Having to deal with technical issues such as a system that uses multicast or unusual data messaging approaches into a cloud environment that might not support them can be difficult. It also demonstrates the value of architecting for the simplest possible system that facilitates maintenance and migration rather than squeezing performance from the hardware (thinking that less hardware saves money). I'm hoping that re:Invent will broaden some of knowledge and skills as well as increasing my contacts and future opportunities.