Channel 9 Interview: Miguel de Icaza and Dragos Manolescu

niwong — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:45:18 GMT

This is one of my favorite video interviews coming out from Channel 9 this year. In this post, Channel 9's intrepid reporter Charles Torre interviews Miguel de Icaza and Dragos Manlescu.

Miguel de Icaza is, of course, the famed free-software developer who started the open-sourced Mono project which implements C# and other .NET tools on non-Microsoft platforms such as Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc. Miguel is also leading the Moonlight project that puts Silverlight on Linux.

Dragos Manolescu is a computer scientist on the Microsoft team. Formerly an architect with the Patterns and Practices group, and is now part of the Live Labs team who released innovative technologies such as Volta, etc.

Together in the video, the three gentlemen had a enlightening conversation about open source, the Mono and Moonlight projects, the tensions between business and free software ideals, and perceptions about Microsoft as a company.

Great video worth watching!

Silverlight - Light up the web!

niwong — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:57:51 GMT

WPF/E is now Microsoft Silverlight.

To learn more, go here.

Developers, go here.

Firefox, Safari on Mac welcomed...

(I realized this is one of the hundreds of blog posts on MSDN this evening on Silverlight, but this is too cool a thing not to be part of!)

HeuLab - A Singapore Software Success (...And DPE Singapore Played A Part Too!)

niwong — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:58:00 GMT

So my colleagues Mark and Andy from the Singapore ISV Team blogged the other day that one of our Microsoft ISV partners HeuLab got featured in both the Singapore 2007 Budget Speech, and was profiled as local software heroes in the newspapers.

HeuLab, a 4 year old startup company making impressive strides in creative learning worldwide, was founded by two graduates from the National University of Singapore. In the Budget Speech, it was held up as a shining example of the new breed of local companies the Singapore government would like to see more of -- start in Singapore, and grow / globalize from Singapore.

Kudos to Mark, Andy and of course, our boss Daniel, for working hard and to ensure our partners get the recognition and support they so richly deserve.

Conversation with a MVP: Alan Andrews Dias

niwong — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 08:52:00 GMT

One of the most fulfilling and interesting aspects about my role in Microsoft is meeting interesting people - Customers, Partners, Microsoft colleagues from other parts of the world. A special group of folks I particularly respect is our MVPs (or Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals.) These are the guys who are driven by pure passion for technology and generosity in helping the Microsoft technical community.

In my two short months in Microsoft, I've had the pleasure of working with a couple of our MVPs and most of them have very interesting backgrounds. Following is a short "virtual interview" I did with my friend - Mr. Alan Dias...

Who are you, where do you live, where were you raised?

I am an IT enthusiast currently living in Singapore and identify myself as a Global citizen. I started my life in Tanzania (East Africa) where I had my formative schooling until I moved along with my parents to Portugal and later on to Goa – India where I completed my studies and finally settled down in Singapore.

In the mid sixties African schools enforced Swahili as a medium of instruction and so I started my schooling in Swahili. I simultaneously learned Portuguese from my Portuguese speaking parents of Indian descent. Both my parents strongly believed that English would be the right ingredient to arm me in the corporate world and decided to move me to study English in Goa … the land of my ancestors. The rosy picture painted thoughtfully by my parents was far from reality as I had to struggle with 3 new languages Hindi, Marathi and English. Now, I can speak Swahili, Portuguese, and English with passable grammar and diction and get by with a sprinkling of Malay, Mandarin, Hindi and Konkani (a Goan language) enough to order at the food court.

A global citizen... So what brought you to Singapore and what do you do for a living?

Wanderlust had got the better of me and I eventually landed up in Singapore where I work as Director of Training and Technology for an educational training provider which runs Microsoft courses. In fact, we are a Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS). Additionally, we provide IBM training.

I dabble with technologies from both IBM and Microsoft and have done well. I received the Global Best Instructor Award in Lotus Notes for Asia-Pacific for 3 years and have been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for the last 2 years in Mobile Application Development.

So you are a MVP – what do we mean by that?

The MVP title, I understand is conferred by Microsoft to people who contribute to the community using Microsoft technology. My relationship with Microsoft started a decade ago when I first volunteered to present Tips and Tricks in using Windows XP to a group of Computer professionals at a Tech-Net event. The presentation was well received which led to more presentations at a wide variety of Microsoft events such MSDN day, MSDN Connections, Polytechnics and Universities in Singapore as well as at Microsoft Job Street event, Microsoft Non Profit Organization day and at SGDONET (a local .NET user group).

I founded the Singapore Small Business Server User Group (http://sbsug.sg) due to request from IT companies and the Microsoft Product Manager. The group grew from 10 users to 150 and now has a council formed by volunteers and was responsible to spawn two SBS MVPs.

So what sort of technologies have you had the chance to play with these past few years?

I have lost count of the technologies I have handled since the last 26 years but I frequently use Visual Studio.NET, SQL Server 2005 and occasionally Java and allied technologies around these products. Going forward I see a potential in 3 basic areas which include Network Readiness Index (E-Business and e-Governance), Mobility and Broadband services (WiFi, WiMax).

Going forward, which application technology areas excite you? Or what do you see as potential?

I am excited with technologies that help improve real-world businesses (revenue growth and cost reduction) and am drawn towards innovations such as virtualization and consolidation technologies.

These days, I see opportunities opened with the release Office System 2007 and VSTO 2005 SE. A company can maximize the value from existing Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and SharePoint investments even more with Office Business Applications (OBA).

I have been working with the OBA concept for more than a year in Singapore and this year I was invited by Microsoft to speak at Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) on “Using Microsoft Office 2007 as a Powerful Development Platform with Visual Studio Tools for Office.” There were more than 300 developers who attended the seminar and over many of them were so impressed by OBA that they have expressed interest in developing a new breed of application by extending Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. I was not surprised, as I have been having similar responses when I showcased OBA at other events.

With OBA you can extend your Microsoft Office to fit into three main areas which are Unified Messaging Communication and Collaboration (which simplifies a team working together), Business Intelligence (which enables business insights with capabilities such as server-based Excel and so on) and Enterprise Content Management (which allows people to find and use role-based information.)

Any closing comments?

I'm thankful to embark on the journey of learning with many hardworking students and hope I have contributed enough to the society to make a small difference.

Thank you, Alan.

You can learn more about Alan at his MSDN MVP profile page.

<nick:node> : Software Development

Channel 9 Interview: Miguel de Icaza and Dragos Manolescu

Silverlight - Light up the web!

HeuLab - A Singapore Software Success (...And DPE Singapore Played A Part Too!)

Conversation with a MVP: Alan Andrews Dias