MVP

MVP Login Screen - Still Using Old Logo ...

Shandy — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 11:18:00 GMT

You've got to chuckle. With all the fanfare of the new MVP logo the MVP login screen still has the old logo on it ;-) I take its just an oversight and not an indication on Microsoft back tracking on the logo?

My MVP Logo Kit Has Arrived Today

Shandy — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 19:43:00 GMT

I got my MVP Logo Kit through via email today. Measuring in at 3.25Meg it contained png, wmf, ps formats for the 6 different variations on the logos (black & white, blue and white, colour in both vertical and horizontal formats). I have uploaded all the available images in my MVP Gallery if anyone is interested. Needless to say I may have had to break the usage guidelines in doing so as my blog doesn't recognise png files :( I had to convert them all to JPG. well it was either that or I used the old logo ;-) Why can't life be simple?

Like or dislike the new logo is irrelevant to me. I'm using it. Not that I use it anywhere else other than on my blog.

The Hive : Beta Web Site For Community Leaders

Shandy — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:02:00 GMT

Microsoft have recently announced a new web site, The Hive . It claims to allow community leaders to connect with one another. If I get chance I'll look at joining on behalf of vbCity unless one of the other leaders fancies giving it a go?

New MVP Logo

Shandy — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 10:54:00 GMT

I have just signed up to get hold of the new, official Microsoft MVP logo. I can't say at the moment I think its as good as the current one but I'll go with the flow. Maybe it will grow on me ;-) Anyway I now have to wait 7-9 days for the logo to be emailed to me along with guidelines on how to use it. Until then I'll refrain from using it but I noticed other bloggers are already displaying it on their sites, see Blink.Nu.

Update: My MVP Logo Kit Has Arrived Today

Microsoft MVP Asia Regional Summit - Belated Review

Shandy — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 17:30:00 GMT

I never did get around to properly blogging about the Microsoft MVP Asia Regional Summit. The week I took off to get to it meant I got so far behind with my work I lost the plot for the following 6 weeks.

However the event was very enjoyable and I can recommend attendance for any MVPs in the future. You get to meet a lot of interesting people, get access to some inside news on Microsoft, get to see some great presentations and also get to see something of Singapore!

Day One

This was mainly devoted to welcome speeches, generic overviews etc. The highlight was probably Shaun O'Driscoll's speech. Shaun is an excellent speaker and his presentation was clear, flowing and witty.

The afternoon session split the MVPs up into two groups, Developers & IT Pros. I attended the Developer track. The Tool Roadmap presentation by Nigel Burton was very good, although the Developer forum afterwards was less so.

In the evening we were taken to Singapore Zoo for an evening meal and a tour on a tram around the zoo.

Day Two

There were four tracks to choose from and I went to all four presentations in the Developer track. The Visual Studio 2005 Overview and Demonstration by Brian Keller, Visual Studio Tricks And Tips By James Lau and the Migrate Your Skills And Code to Visual Basic .NET by Sean Draine presentations were all excellent. The only disappointing one was New Features In CLR 2.0 (Widbey) by Bin Lu.

In the evening transport was provided around the shops at Orchard Road. I elected to spend the evening with my wife and we got some Sushi from a local Sushi Bar to eat.

Day Three

There were again four tracks to choose from and I attended Microsoft Real Time Collaboration - connecting people and information by Joe Poon and Presenting effectively with Powerpoint by Glen Millar from the Application track and Managing windows via WMI scripting by Chung-Wei Foong from the Windows Client track. Joe's presentation was OK, Glen's presentation was excellent and Chung-Wei's was poor.

In the evening transport was provided to a bar where beer and food was provided by Microsoft along with some entertainment by street entertainers and also some photographs on a projector from the last few days.

And Today, 6 weeks later

Today I got reembursed for my air fare today and the reimbursement from Microsoft was very generous, practically covering my entire air fare. A big thank you goes to Microsoft for setting up the event and for contributing towards the costs of getting there and the accommodation costs once there.

MSDN Hard Drive Pilot Program

Shandy — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 16:25:00 GMT

I thought I'd post a follow up for my previous post on the MSDN Hard Drive Pilot Program. Although it was an excellent idea I had a lot of problems getting my hard drive to update to the latest versions. Finding and reporting the new versions of software was fine; it was just actually performing the update that failed. Despite reporting the problem to the development team they were unable to resolve my problem and in the end I abandoned using it and reverted back to using my MSDN DVDs.

I am sure that in the long run this will prove to be the way to go for MSDN. However, the system needs some more development before releasing it to the general public.

Mircosoft Asia MVP Summit

Shandy — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:11:00 GMT

I am currently in Singapore to attend the Microsoft Asia MVP Summit. Microsoft have put us up in the Oriental Hotel, which is where I am adding this blog entry from. The room is fully internet enabled. I did have a brief problem when my wife's laptop refused to acknowledge a network connection. A brief inspection of the RJ45 port revealed a bent pin in the socket. However, using a knife, and with my wife holding a torch aimed directly into the RJ45 socket I managed to bend the pin back into place and get the network connection up and running.

This evening there was a cocktail reception by the pool side and I spent an hour or so mingling with some of the other MVPs, downing a couple of beers and trying out the nibbles. I'm not much for socialising so after an hour or so I headed back to the room. However, there were an impressive number of MVPs present and Howard informs me that 90% of the MVPs from SE Asia are due to turn up.

Tomorrow we get picked up at 08:00 to get taken to the summit conference center. Looks like a 06:15 start if I want breakfast! Hopefully I'll get chance to post some more over the next few days to report on the summit :)

Microsoft MVP Academy Courses

Shandy — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 13:18:00 GMT

I am currently taking two Microsoft MVP Academy courses - VB.NET Intro & XML Intro and I thought I'd add an blog entry to explain what MVP Academy course are all about.

Firstly, the courses are only open to you if you are a MVP ! However, they are made available free of charge to MVPs :) They are run periodically - typically lasting 6 weeks (but there are also some shorter courses also being run) and cover a wide range of topics (all MS based). The idea is to allow MVPs to gain knowledge outside their normal MVP area of expertise. A tutor is assigned to each class, usually with a backup tutor to help out and cover for sickness etc. The classes are run via newsgroups and email. A CD is sent out to all attendees with the class material on, although some material is made available via a private FTP download. Note that all course work is covered by a NDA. A private newsgroup is opened up for each class and assignments are posted to the newsgroup. Some assignments are for open discussion and so replies are posted to the newsgroup - other assignments are private and answers are sent to the class tutor via email. Because the classes are on-line and participants are spread all over the world there is no set time to complete the assignments (other by the end of the course of course) but you need to do it within a few days to keep up with the discussions in the newsgroup and ensure you don't fall behind. The number of assignments per week varies from class to class. The assignments are generally to read through a particular module, answer some questions on the module and perform some labs or a group assignment based on what you have read.

This is a good example of one of the ways MS is helping to support its products. Despite the many people who knock MS (sometimes quite rightly) it should also be pointed out that MS can and do put something back into the community FOC. With the knowledge I am accumulating from these courses I can be of more help and benefit to the posters at vbCity.

I'll cover my experiences with both courses in later posts :)

What Does It Take To Be A Microsoft MVP - Robert McLaws Views ...

Shandy — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 12:10:00 GMT

Here is one person's take (Robert McLaw) on what it requires to be a Microsoft MVP, How to Become a Microsoft MVP . Robert has some interesting views on the subject and some of the responses to his blog post are well er how shall we say - interesting? I certainly don't agree with all that Robert says but he certainly makes some valid points and many that I do agree with.

Wela Is Now Blogging

Shandy — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 15:01:00 GMT

Great to see Wela is now blogging. I think that means all the Sri Lanka Microsoft MVPs now have a blog.