Dan Fernandez has been discussing hobbyists and microsoft recently. He posted this response to someone asking for VS to be included within windows.
http://blogs.msdn.com/danielfe/archive/2006/08/10/694832.aspx#comments
What can we as the developing community suggest should be done by Microsoft to encourage hobbyists. should they stick VS in windows, should they give links within IE. should notepad become meaner?
i put my own thoughts in the comment's on his page which i'll reproduce here:
"Dan,
You have
http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/ however the problem with this is that it really tells you all about products not made by Microsoft.
What you really need is a good page where it lists hot products made by Microsoft, the other day there was a MSN space (http://bhandler.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!70F64BC910C9F7F3!1231.entry)
that listed a majority of the free software that Microsoft provides. Build something like this, make it a default link in IE7. have it so that you can easily find downloads from MS:R or the DN or Microsoft Game Studios. Make it all rounded, have the front
page showing whats hot.
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ver=4000&template=ph1&zone=ph take a look at this page. see the flash menu thing where
it has "Win Back Time", "Never Miss a Shot" etc etc do this show off Linq, show off Halo 3, show off Microsoft Scoreboard. "
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Jaz
From the depths of Wales I come
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blowdart
Peek-a-boo
I posted a comment there, which hopefully gets let through, but in the mean time I'll add it here
Interestingly I asked Developer Platform Evangelism UK a couple of weeks back for some CDs with Express on to give out at user group meetings.
Apparently the descision was made within Microsoft to only distribute via downloads. So I now face the problem of do I burn some CDs myself, or do I not care about users losing the momentum and just hope that they will bother when they get home.
(I'm currently involved in starting up a user group in a UK university town, we had the idea of a beginners session first and a more in depth session as the second session on the night and using Express to build a project over a year. We thought it would be nice to give the students an alternative to just Java)
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blowdart wrote:Apparently the descision was made within Microsoft to only distribute via downloads.
Are you sure I have seen them for sale on eBay. Here is one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Microsoft-Visual-Studio-2005-Express-Edition_W0QQitemZ270011813319QQihZ017QQcategoryZ1251QQcmdZViewItem
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blowdart
Peek-a-boo
jonorossi wrote:
blowdart wrote:Apparently the descision was made within Microsoft to only distribute via downloads.
Are you sure I have seen them for sale on eBay. Here is one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Microsoft-Visual-Studio-2005-Express-Edition_W0QQitemZ270011813319QQihZ017QQcategoryZ1251QQcmdZViewItem
Wow! I wonder if it's an EMEA policy then. The way the email was worded it was presented as company policy, not a regional one
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blowdart wrote:I posted a comment there, which hopefully gets let through, but in the mean time I'll add it here
Interestingly I asked Developer Platform Evangelism UK a couple of weeks back for some CDs with Express on to give out at user group meetings.
Apparently the descision was made within Microsoft to only distribute via downloads. So I now face the problem of do I burn some CDs myself, or do I not care about users losing the momentum and just hope that they will bother when they get home.
(I'm currently involved in starting up a user group in a UK university town, we had the idea of a beginners session first and a more in depth session as the second session on the night and using Express to build a project over a year. We thought it would be nice to give the students an alternative to just Java)
Hey Blowdart/Barry, I responded in my blog, but just in case you missed that, you can see the response here. In short, there was probably a communication breakdown as we do have plenty of CDs. feel free to email me danielfe[at]microsoft[dot]com with a mailing address and quantity and I'll send them right to you.
Also, who was the UK evangelist you were talking to?
Thanks!
-Dan -
blowdart
Peek-a-boo
Dan wrote:
Hey Blowdart/Barry, I responded in my blog, but just in case you missed that, you can see the response here. In short, there was probably a communication breakdown as we do have plenty of CDs. feel free to email me danielfe[at]microsoft[dot]com with a mailing address and quantity and I'll send them right to you.
Also, who was the UK evangelist you were talking to?
Thanks!
-Dan
Email sent, and name not posted here to spare her blushes
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blowdart: What university you at??? You had any success in starting a UG? What’s the feedback been like?
I was thinking about doing something similar myself this year - would be great to discuss some ideas with you about this… -
blowdart
Peek-a-boo
ben2004uk wrote:
blowdart: What university you at??? You had any success in starting a UG? What’s the feedback been like?
I was thinking about doing something similar myself this year - would be great to discuss some ideas with you about this…
Hah, I'm not at university, but one of the partners in crime for this has a wife who works at one, and it's the perfect location to hold these things.
It hasn't started yet, still in the planning stage.
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