FASTDash: A Visual Dashboard for Fostering Awareness in Software Teams

Charles was in London a few months ago and had the honor of meeting some London Niners: Sabot (and his lovely wife), Blowdart, and Irascian. In this video, Sabot and wife give Charles a brief tour of London including a ride on the world's largest ferris
wheel (at least it sure seems like it...) also known as the London Eye. Then, we meet up with Blowdart and Irascian for some beers and good conversation about, among other things, Channel 9 - The Good, Bad and Ugly.
Enjoy! (As always, this is unedited and raw )
Thanks for the great time, London Niners!
BenZillaTheSecond wrote:I hear you guys about the information Microsoft presents as being like spaghetti.
Maybe there should be a more comprehensive independant "blog search" site dedicated to Microsoft stuff. For example you could have a section called "Office" and under that section is all the bloggers and all the little sites that Microsoft has, and maybe users could tag information.
It's kinda already being done with MSDN but personally to me that site is a little too much "OMGWTFLOOKLOOKLOOOK!!!!" for me.
Sabot wrote:
... but Barry is better looking than Bill Hill?
CyberGeek wrote:#
I'll bet someone at Microsoft was thinking, "just how much money exactly are we paying to put this stuff online?" while you guys were coming up with a voice for the Channel 9 Guy, and again later during the bondage thing.
Charles wrote:It's always great to meet and talk to Niners. We continue to do this for Channel 9, and all over the world...
C
Excellent!
More brits on channel 9 please
Interesting stuff at the end of that conversation.
fdisk wrote:So...does this constitute drinking on company paid time?
I fully agree. I believe all rebellion should be crushed under our boots, rival kernels smashed, and the flag of Vista should fly over the headquarters of the free software foundation.jsampsonPC wrote:Please note that although Irascian is a proponent of light-to-no-moderation, yet he feels that Charles should not un-ban beer28...this seems a bit confusing. I am with Irascian on this, don't unban him...if anything, tighten his chains even more.
Maybe there's a case for an intelligent(-ish) tag-enabled aggregator of Microsoft tech content (perhaps a live.com gadget? I'll think of a reason for one sooner or later).
A RoboScoble if you will.
fdisk wrote:So...does this constitute drinking on company paid time?
W3bbo wrote:
Charles wrote: It's always great to meet and talk to Niners. We continue to do this for Channel 9, and all over the world...
C
Let us (me, Tensor, Ross, etc) know if you ever stop by at Manchester or Liverpool airport
I'm still watching the video, I've seen 10 minutes of it so far, I'll watch the rest tomorrow.
Sabot wrote:
It'll give me a chance to meet you, have a few beers and a laugh.
I'm free the weekend of the Oct 28th/29th? So what do you say? Are you up for it?
Ian/Barry/Sarah wanna come ?
blowdart wrote:
Sabot wrote:
It'll give me a chance to meet you, have a few beers and a laugh.
I'm free the weekend of the Oct 28th/29th? So what do you say? Are you up for it?
Ian/Barry/Sarah wanna come ?
A weekend with you? Up north?
I must have been wicked in a former life.
Actually what about DDD#4? That might be an interesting idea.
footballism wrote:Sabot's girl friend is reallly cute
Here. Let's try this. Your undying enthusiasm for this site is really odd. Are you trying to get hired by them? On more than one occasion they have offered job interviews. Usually they hired internally. Granted, Rory is a great hire, but looking back, what would be the point of applying if you were up against that? Why even open it up to the public? It was probably an HR requirement if nothing else. So, yes, your devotion (and others) is really scary and unmerited.irascian wrote:Fdisk, you're becoming extremeley tiresome lately. What exactly is your point? As it happens the video was recorded on a Sunday afternoon/evening, but your comment is ridiculous anyway.
Sabot wrote:
DDD4Oliver Sturm day is going to be way coool!
OliverS wrote:
Sabot wrote:
DDD4Oliver Sturm day is going to be way coool!
Careful there, I'm reading
fdisk wrote:Here. Let's try this. Your undying enthusiasm for this site is really odd. Are you trying to get hired by them? On more than one occasion they have offered job interviews. Usually they hired internally. Granted, Rory is a great hire, but looking back, what would be the point of applying if you were up against that? Why even open it up to the public? It was probably an HR requirement if nothing else. So, yes, your devotion (and others) is really scary and unmerited.
irascian wrote: Fdisk, you're becoming extremeley tiresome lately. What exactly is your point? As it happens the video was recorded on a Sunday afternoon/evening, but your comment is ridiculous anyway.
Edit: I used to believe in this site and the people here (until I actually met them, which really opened my eyes). I am also extremely capable as a coder, a semi-decent software architect, and a few other things so before you launch into another diatribe, I'll tell you that this site has done more to wreck my image of microsoft than anything else.
Why do I feel like you have this huge chip on your shoulder? Maybe that's not the case, but it's very easy for me to hold a conversation. I've done it on here numerous times and in public. It's not difficult. My point is that each time they have opened up a position to the public, an internal employee is hired every single time. What's the point of competing with that? Not to be sarcastic, but it reminds me of the rules that were involved in the Express contest...not very well thought out and biased to some extent. And if you think that my skills are limited to what I told you about, you are waaaay off in your assessment. Frankly I don't feel like spilling all the details of my personal life in a public forum like Scoble did. I think it's crass, unprofessional, and damaging to your family if anything goes wrong (and something always does). It was a creepy kind of openness that not many others shared. It's also not hard to interview people, although I'm very direct at times (to a fault) and I'm sure I'd get kicked out of one or two offices and get wrung through the wringer with the pr/legal.Sabot wrote:Then why are you still here?
Being cool on C9 doesn't get you hired by Microsoft, I doesn't really help either.
What helps you get hired is being good at the job they are hiring you for.
With the C9 positions, there was more than one, what stopped you from going for one of them? Is the kind of thing that C9 is asking the kind of thing you do? It's all well in and good being a decent coder or Arch if you are really bad at holding a conversation and making a good interview.
Ian and I have been around Microsoft long enough to know they aren't perfect.
IMO there has been a sea-change in recent years and C9 reflects that thinking, Microsoft has internal battles about this kind of things which we don't see.
fdisk wrote:Here. Let's try this. Your undying enthusiasm for this site is really odd. Are you trying to get hired by them?
fdisk wrote:Why do I feel like you have this huge chip on your shoulder?
footballism wrote:Ian is really really an old man. I am just curious whether or not he's still writing code
rory wrote:Bloody hell, Ian. I miss you
sabot wrote:
Ian/Barry/Sarah wanna come ?
sabot wrote:
Ian does great hugs
Nice ending line there. Some places fire you for getting trashed on the job. But since you don't work in a machine shop with heavy equipment...irascian wrote:
fdisk wrote: Here. Let's try this. Your undying enthusiasm for this site is really odd. Are you trying to get hired by them?
If you'd spent more than 5 minutes here you'd know that working for Microsoft is the last thing I want to do (nothing against Microsoft it's just that having worked for IBM, Amdahl, Oracle, Ford and a whole bunch of other companies in the past I feel I've "been there, done that"). Not that I haven't had friends inside who've tried to persuade me to go for interview. I prefer being my own boss although age will undoubtedly start making that more difficult as time goes on.
I too have been a coder, a software architect and a bunch of other things. None of which bears any relevance to posting stupid comments like "Does this constitute drinking on company time?". What exactly was the point you were trying to make, other than to make some pathetic snarky comment? And so what if it HAD been on company time (as stated above, it wasn't) - who cares?]
And I see trends.irascian wrote:I see absolutely nothing in Sabot's post (to which your quote above was a reply) that would indicate that. Your posts on the other hand.....
Must. Not. Barf.irascian wrote:I'm flattered! Miss you too, mate. Not going to make Tech-Ed this year but seriously thinking about Mix-07 as I've never been to Vegas and it's a chance to mix business with pleasure. Hopefully you might be there with Channel 9?
rory wrote: Bloody hell, Ian. I miss you
Sabot wrote:DDD4 would be a cool place to meet up as there is a likelihood of more 9'ers being there!
I recently moved to London and it was cool seeing some of the niners based in the UK.
hehe, Charles got real quiet when all the 3rd parties started talking trash at Waterloo station.
Excellent video, thanks C9!
fdisk wrote:Must. Not. Barf.
irascian wrote: I'm flattered! Miss you too, mate. Not going to make Tech-Ed this year but seriously thinking about Mix-07 as I've never been to Vegas and it's a chance to mix business with pleasure. Hopefully you might be there with Channel 9?
rory wrote: Bloody hell, Ian. I miss you
ioStorm wrote:
hehe, Charles got real quiet when all the 3rd parties started talking trash at Waterloo station.
irascian wrote:
footballism wrote: Ian is really really an old man. I am just curious whether or not he's still writing code
Well thanks for making my day!
I've been self-employed as a "developer/lead developer" for the last 10 years (spent a brief period as an architect but missed the hands-on and took a rate cut to move back to being lead developer in that same organisation). The longest down time I've had between contracts has been 4 weeks (my choice - I wanted to go to New Zealand) so yeah, I still write code and people seem to be happy to keep paying me to keep writing code and (touch wood) renewing a contract has never been a problem - when I've left a company it's always been my choice.
irascian wrote:I think the problem for most of my clients over the last 10 years is they've typically hired all those wet-behind-the-ears youngsters who are too focussed on what's "cool" rather than what's cost-effective or what their customers want, so they hire an old fart like me to pick up the pieces of disasterous projects and mentor the silly young puppies
jamie wrote:*blowdart - make a c9park!!!
blowdart wrote:
jamie wrote:*blowdart - make a c9park!!!
I have little to no artistic talent. I know my limitations!
MarkJ wrote:Blowdart - I won't comment on your opinion on DPE UK, since I work there, *ahem* (shame you feel that way). But, out of interest where you from originally in Norn'Iron?? (I'm from Holywood originally...)
footballism wrote:
From the video, I know you are a funny guy, why not bring your girlfriend or wife with you that day?
Sheva
blowdart wrote:
MarkJ wrote: Blowdart - I won't comment on your opinion on DPE UK, since I work there, *ahem* (shame you feel that way). But, out of interest where you from originally in Norn'Iron?? (I'm from Holywood originally...)
Coleraine.
I like some of the people I've met there, shame Melita moved, but pah, not technical, can't present? My arse
Mind you Ed Gibson did call me hilarious last month when I was on a round table discussion with him.
Cybermagellan wrote:hehe...that video was great...funny in the video Ira says not to feed the trolls yet replies to fdisk on this very thread *ahem*.
Hello Dave,
I hope you're not getting too warm and cuddly with anyone in this video. You know what redheads are like!!!
MadOne
MadOne wrote:Hello Dave,
I hope you're not getting too warm and cuddly with anyone in this video. You know what redheads are like!!!
MadOne
rjdohnert wrote:Great video Charles, Sabot I may take you up on the tour of London one day.
blowdart wrote:A weekend with you? Up north? I must have been wicked in a former life.Actually what about DDD#4? That might be an interesting idea.
DDD4 would be a cool place to meet up as there is a likelihood of more 9'ers being there!
Actually Barry you've been bad in this life! [6]
An_Angel wrote:Really amusing video! ...It's probably one of the best video's that C9 have done in a very long time... possibly ever... it had me laughing LOTS!
I think it's the best video ever as well too
DDD4 Oliver Sturm day is going to be way coool!
Rory wrote:Bloody hell, Ian. I miss you
Ian is a great guy!
footballism wrote:Sabot's girl friend is reallly cute
Thanks, yes my wife is really cute!
Btw. whats up with Dave, and all the monkeys? I know he doesnt give monkeys, but anyways?
Chadk wrote:Btw. whats up with Dave, and all the monkeys? I know he doesnt give monkeys, but anyways?
Cheers for that link good site, I've read a few books by Mike Gunderloy.irascian wrote:Well that was embarrassing.
Just in case anyone's interested the Larkware site that Dave mentioned (which each day summarises interesting stuff found on the web for .NET developers) can be found here: http://www.larkware.com/ - definitely worth subscribing to their feed and checking the daily update if you're a .NET developer.