There comes a time when you look at your world and you say, its time to move on. The memories are great and it was a good experience but something has changed. The Bug triage is not as interesting as it used to be, the conference calls have lost that special meaning, the company meeting just seems silly and the confidence and optimism for the company is just harder to fathom. I also feel that I know more than the many of the people who are senior to me as well which is a definite signal that its time.
Both my co-blogger Neema and myself have already left MS months ago and weeks ago respectively. I join the ranks of the 5+ years of ex-Microsoft folks to "do something different." I could still post here but most likely I will post here at YumYum blog.
I will follow my passion for gaming in Asia further in Beijing. What started for me as a Regional Xbox Business Manager in Singapore will now morph into something else in China for games and entertainment. My friend Paul Denlinger sums it up best in his blog post over at ChinaVortex.
America used to be a much more entrepreneurial country, now it is overly regulated, overly expensive, overly specialized, overly structured and overly corporate. In order to be competitive again, the entire society and culture will have to make major adjustments. The road will not be a smooth one.That is why the smart entrepreneurs, like Gage, start their businesses in China.In this new globalized world, China has become what America used to be.
America used to be a much more entrepreneurial country, now it is overly regulated, overly expensive, overly specialized, overly structured and overly corporate. In order to be competitive again, the entire society and culture will have to make major adjustments. The road will not be a smooth one.
That is why the smart entrepreneurs, like Gage, start their businesses in China.
In this new globalized world, China has become what America used to be.
China has become the New California for Americans...and there are many of us ex-MS folks already here in China forming companies and making the local ones better.
so, goodbye.
My goodbye MS letter that i sent out. (the second time I left)
Good luck and good bye. Its been an honor working with you all and I hope we can work together again in the future. I really like some of the things that MS does and stands for and I hope you can all continue to make that happen. MS probably has the largest number of smart people in any company anywhere – just ask any of us ;) Thank you DaveVR, Harry Shum, Alan Bowman and Sun Shaw for letting me follow my passion for games. Most of all I would I would like to thank my team in Casual Games both here and there for making this the best year of them all. My last day is Sept 2 while most of you are in the Thailand offsite. Feel free to have a beer for me at Soi Cowboy with some of the Katooey Take care Frank Yu If you want to connect:Linkedinhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/frankyu and of course facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607648416 You can find me and other former colleagues on FaceBook in the MS Alumni in Asia Grouphttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5705900361 or at the Beijing Zhonguancun Technology Startup Grouphttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5504465643 For those of you on the China Gaming newsletter, I may continue it herehttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5228767003 The mandatory Recap – yes, I’m damn proud of these Its been an interesting 4 years 11 months. This is the second time that I have left.7 x managers., 9 x different teams, 2 x countries.I’ve been an FTE, a VR, a CS, an FTC and an FTE again 1 x Console Launch of Xbox V1 in 4 countries (3 price drops in region, 4 bundles created)Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, TaiwanHED Sales and Marketing oversight on India and China 1 x MS Patent for Hierarchical Carousel Interfacehttp://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22hierarchical+carousel%22&OS="hierarchical+carousel"&RS="hierarchical+carousel 1 x PublicationKelvin Cheng, David Vronay, Frank Yu: Interaction design for the media pc. 77th ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2004 Symposium), Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM), James A. Landay (Program Chair), Companion to Proceedings, pp 5-6. 2004. ISBN 1-58113-957-8. 3 x Shipit Awards in 3 years Thanks Todd and Paull IE7l Media Center TV (smart thumbnail)l Media Center Extender (Transrating) PM for ATC’s first Tech Transfer in 2004 . Hierarchical Carousel User Interface Design from MSRA ACID to Windows Shell Team 1.5 Games Shipped PM for ATC’s first game, first MS game team in China, (first consumer product) designed and created in China for global distribution (one of the fastest games shipped from design to RTM) 1) Rock Paper Scissors with the first Messenger game sim ship in 33 countries. Thank Debbie, Bulent, and Hakim for being our pilot on your phases
Good luck and good bye. Its been an honor working with you all and I hope we can work together again in the future. I really like some of the things that MS does and stands for and I hope you can all continue to make that happen. MS probably has the largest number of smart people in any company anywhere – just ask any of us ;)
Thank you DaveVR, Harry Shum, Alan Bowman and Sun Shaw for letting me follow my passion for games. Most of all I would I would like to thank my team in Casual Games both here and there for making this the best year of them all.
My last day is Sept 2 while most of you are in the Thailand offsite. Feel free to have a beer for me at Soi Cowboy with some of the Katooey
Take care
Frank Yu
If you want to connect:
Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/in/frankyu
and of course facebook
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607648416
You can find me and other former colleagues on FaceBook in the MS Alumni in Asia Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5705900361
or at the Beijing Zhonguancun Technology Startup Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5504465643
For those of you on the China Gaming newsletter, I may continue it here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5228767003
The mandatory Recap – yes, I’m damn proud of these
Its been an interesting 4 years 11 months. This is the second time that I have left.
7 x managers., 9 x different teams, 2 x countries.
I’ve been an FTE, a VR, a CS, an FTC and an FTE again
1 x Console Launch of Xbox V1 in 4 countries (3 price drops in region, 4 bundles created)
Hong Kong,
Singapore,
Korea,
Taiwan
HED Sales and Marketing oversight on India and China
1 x MS Patent for Hierarchical Carousel Interface
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22hierarchical+carousel%22&OS="hierarchical+carousel"&RS="hierarchical+carousel
1 x Publication
Kelvin Cheng, David Vronay, Frank Yu: Interaction design for the media pc.
77th ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2004 Symposium),
Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM), James A. Landay (Program Chair),
Companion to Proceedings, pp 5-6. 2004. ISBN 1-58113-957-8.
3 x Shipit Awards in 3 years Thanks Todd and Paul
l IE7
l Media Center TV (smart thumbnail)
l Media Center Extender (Transrating)
PM for ATC’s first Tech Transfer in 2004 . Hierarchical Carousel User Interface Design from MSRA ACID to Windows Shell Team
1.5 Games Shipped
PM for ATC’s first game, first MS game team in China, (first consumer product) designed and created in China for global distribution (one of the fastest games shipped from design to RTM)
1) Rock Paper Scissors with the first Messenger game sim ship in 33 countries. Thank Debbie, Bulent, and Hakim for being our pilot on your phases
Austria Switzerland* Germany Australia Canada* UK Ireland Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Singapore United States* South Africa Argentina Chile Spain Latin America Mexico Belgium* France Indonesia Italy Japan Korea Netherlands* Brazil Turkey Taiwan Hong Kong China India l game released in multiple languages in this market 2) ZPA Chess AI IntegrationFirst AI integration of a multiplayer Web Chess game into a single player game for MS Casual Games My ThinkWeek papers (FTEs only) Why MS should consider acquiring Facebook (brand new – I won’t see the feedback)http://thinkweek2/Details.aspx?subId=1507 ACORN: MS Alumni and Seed Venture Initiative (brand new – I won’t see the feedback)http://thinkweek2/Details.aspx?subId=1508 Eight of the Billion Users: Decoding China’s Next Generation ( A winter 2007 and Ad Astra favorite) (BillG commented)http://thinkweek2/winter2007/details.aspx?subId=1150 Connecting One Billion Gamers: Creating a unified entertainment experience in China (BillG commented) http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1151 One Billion Gamers Service Pack 1: A high level action plan for redefining entertainment in China (BillG commented)http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1203 Opening the Online Pandora’s Box: Unleashing 4 structured derivative based services in the online market (this was before anyone heard of the #1 game in China Zhengtu Networks)http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1208 One Billion Gamers: Redefining Digital Play in China (BillG commented)http://thinkweek2/spring2006/Details.aspx?subId=708 The Light Revolutionhttp://thinkweek/Winter2005/Lists/Papers/DispForm.aspx?ID=319 1 x Bloghttp://blogs.msdn.com/acid49/default.aspx
Austria
Switzerland*
Germany
Australia
Canada*
UK
Ireland
Malaysia
New Zealand
Philippines
Singapore
United States*
South Africa
Argentina
Chile
Spain
Latin America
Mexico
Belgium*
France
Indonesia
Italy
Japan
Korea
Netherlands*
Brazil
Turkey
Hong Kong
China
India
l game released in multiple languages in this market
2) ZPA Chess AI Integration
First AI integration of a multiplayer Web Chess game into a single player game for MS Casual Games
My ThinkWeek papers (FTEs only)
Why MS should consider acquiring Facebook (brand new – I won’t see the feedback)
http://thinkweek2/Details.aspx?subId=1507
ACORN: MS Alumni and Seed Venture Initiative (brand new – I won’t see the feedback)
http://thinkweek2/Details.aspx?subId=1508
Eight of the Billion Users: Decoding China’s Next Generation ( A winter 2007 and Ad Astra favorite) (BillG commented)
http://thinkweek2/winter2007/details.aspx?subId=1150
Connecting One Billion Gamers: Creating a unified entertainment experience in China (BillG commented)
http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1151
One Billion Gamers Service Pack 1: A high level action plan for redefining entertainment in China (BillG commented)
http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1203
Opening the Online Pandora’s Box: Unleashing 4 structured derivative based services in the online market (this was before anyone heard of the #1 game in China Zhengtu Networks)
http://thinkweek2/winter2007/Details.aspx?subId=1208
One Billion Gamers: Redefining Digital Play in China (BillG commented)
http://thinkweek2/spring2006/Details.aspx?subId=708
The Light Revolution
http://thinkweek/Winter2005/Lists/Papers/DispForm.aspx?ID=319
1 x Blog