I get the boring projects...

I find it rather annoying that although I am doing a Software Engineering course I have to do hardware this year when I'd much rather do my housemates C assignments. Ok I had to write a pong program in Z80 assembly code last term but currently my housemate Li is doing a Vector Based graphics application in C, and my other housemate Chaz is writing a routemap finding program, effectively a shortest route algorithm. Though much to their annoyance I wrote my own implementation of their tasks.

All my computers are failing... don't die on me now!

Regretably as time goes on computers slowly break or components stop working... its only natural. Regretably all mine seem to be happening at the same time, my main PC a staple need for any self respecting nerd seems to be breathing its last breath, not even almighty Vista could stop the Blue Screens, random lockups and the heatsink falling off my graphics card...(was worrying when I noticed that). My laptop as well, although not used as much is always fun, though not fun with 7 lines down the screen and after about 4 months permantly on being our house server its poor processor and harddisc don't sound too pleased.

All in all I guess its off to work for me to start saving, regretably Student Loans don't cover gadgets!

I'm free... free at last!!

Well TSP (Team System Project) is over, after about 40+ Pages of writing which is great, and also kinda happy that I finished my Vista Sidebar Gadget Project so go visit the Microsoft Student Rep site to have a look (will be shortly on my Uni Site as well). Was great fun learning some JavaScript and how XML works but I think I will stick with C# for the time being. I guess I will be back to coding something else soon, will have to finish my Pocket PC paint program!

Why I am a Microsoft Student Representative

Like many young people, I am actively involved in the latest technology and try to use it most effectively in my life. It’s great to talk to people with the same ideas and attitudes around campus but beyond that being a Microsoft Student Representative allows me to communicate ideas and experiences to thousands of other students around the country, whether it be about our favourite Xbox 360 games or cool ideas for a Vista Sidebar Gadget.

Being a Student Representative allows me to be more confident when giving tech talks around campus along with the chance from Microsoft to get sponsorship in holding product launches, also I know I will be one of the first to know about the latest Microsoft News; be it the latest version of Visual Studio or the new Xbox 360 Elite.

Now being a Student Representative is not without its rewards, Microsoft sweetens the deal by giving away prizes to a monthly competition; I myself was lucky enough to win 2 great Xbox 360 Games! And also there is a Star Prize given away every 6 month to the most active Student Representative; who completes the most Microsoft related activities. These however are not the only competitions on offer so checking the website often is a great idea, not only for the competitions but for the latest news.

Whether you are part of a technology society or not, becoming a Student Representative will allow you to help shape the future of technology and computing at Microsoft by having your ideas and feedback listened to by the right people. If you’re not giving feedback but instead seeking help, then hundreds of people on the forums are there to help and remember a Microsoft representative is only a forum post or email away; many of my questions however complicated have been happily answered this way!

So if you have a passion for technology and want to socialise with other people like yourself then now is the time for you to join up to become a Student Representative; a new Star Prize competition will be starting shortly with more great prizes and more people everyday are signing up to help become Microsoft’s future at:

http://www.studentpartner.com/rep/

VS Code Name 'Orcas' & .Net 3.5

Well its the start of May, everyone seems to be out and about around campus but lets not forget some of the new offerings from Microsoft. Just recently they have released the .Net Framework 3.5 Beta in which they add to the already amazing set of functionality the .Net platform provides. The install which is ~110MB seems a lot larger than version 3 but thats progress for you. Also what I think will be truely amazing and is currently downloading away is the new version of Visual Studio, still currently in beta but it looks amazing. Only weighs in at around 5.6GB download! Guess I will be leaving my computer on overnight to download that one then...