It’s been a busy week. Planning season has arrived at Microsoft Canada, a [crazy] time when we step back, take a look ahead at the rest of 2009 and into 2010 and make some decisions as a company on our top priorities. One of them will undoubtedly be to continue to support software innovators across Canada...

  Last year we launched the first ever Blue Sky Award.  It’s targeted at highlighting Canadian software innovation – great up-and-coming software companies doing great work.  SiteMasher, our winner last year is a great example of one of those Canadian innovators.  I love it because...

I was on the road when we held our local MIX09 media event for media on March 17th, so I couldn’t be there. But the good news is that we captured all the highlights on video. Video: Great examples of Canadian UX in action Don’t have time to watch? Here’s the 30-second version: We had CTV on hand to announce...

Did you know that Toronto has the third-largest design workforce in North America, behind only New York and Boston? That’s good news for the GTA, especially given the current economy. Design is a growing, dynamic and increasingly important industry. As we heard at MIX09, the future of software and device...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the IT skills shortage. According to the Information and Communications Technology Council , from 2008 to 2015, Canadian employers will need to recruit as many as 178,800 technology workers. But based on their projections we’ll likely fall short of hiring requirements...

If you haven’t already, check out the Ontario in the Creative Age report released last week by Richard Florida and Roger Martin of the Rotman School of Management. It’s focused on Ontario, but it applies to every major city in Canada. It’s fascinating stuff, but also in-depth. Simply put it discusses...

We are sponsoring the second Founders & Funders event in Toronto.  The first one was a major success. “Founders & Funders is a private, invite only social event. Founders and Funders is dedicated: to helping Canadian entrepreneurs to meet each other; meet potential funders: angel,...

Congrats to imason and TorStar for making it to the defacto "you are cool" news site TechCrunch . If you haven't gone to check it out - head over to OurFaves . Our friends at imason have done some amazing work on our platform lately, enabling sites like Workopolis and OurFaves . Interesting note....Canadian...

After a quick Westjet flight from Vegas, I am settled into my Vancouver hotel to get ready for the game summit . The title of my talk is "Communities, Creation & Master Chief". I will focus on XNA and how we are helping drive the next generation of game developers in Canada, as well as providing...

Just heard from my good friend Dmitry @ Flowfinity in Vancouver ( www.flowfinity.com ) - a very neat Canadian ISV that does some innovation mobile work -> including .NET to Blackberry integration. "Flowfinity Wireless Inc., a leading provider of adaptable applications and fully integrated solutions...

I have talked a bit about our Game Camps in the past and all of the excitement we saw around the launch of XNA ( here , here and here ). (You can read all about XNA here ) With game development now growing exponentially in Canada – as revealed by overflow crowds at the first Game Camp in Toronto on November...

I am really excited today because I am heading down to Waterloo to open the first Microsoft Innovation Centre in Canada. Our good friends at Infusion Angels teamed up with us on this one. The Infusion Angels Innovation Centre is located in the very cool Accelerator Centre in the research park at the...

The Community Crew with the help of our former super star co-op Mark headed down to Waterloo for the latest stop on the Game Camp Tour. They recorded this great video with one of the students. Video: Game Camp Waterloo 2007 - Neville Samuell

Who’s doing the best development in Canada? Submit your nomination now in for the very first MSDN Code Awards The MSDN Code Awards are your opportunity to tell Canada who you think is doing the best development work in Canada. Who has created the most innovative application? Who’s driving business performance...