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    12月18日

    Pat McGee, Top Development and Gaming Authority, Author, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

    This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Pat McGee, Top Development and Gaming Authority, top-selling Author, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP). 

    Pat has an infectious enthusiasm that appears in this interview. When you consider that gaming is a $18B industry in NA versus $9B for movies, you can see its continuing rise is readily apparent. In fact, it’s predicted that e-sport federations will supplant traditional sports as the most popular spectator pastime. This is happening now in parts of the world where stadiums are filled to capacity to watch on gigantic screens while e-teams compete.

    Enjoy,
    Stephen Ibaraki,
    FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP, Advanced Technology

    Pat McGee, Top Development Authority, Author, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

    This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Pat McGee.

    Pat McGeePat is a Microsoft XNA / DirectX MVP and has co-authored the Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creator's Guide. Pat McGee is an Instructor and curriculum developer for both CST part-time studies and for BCIT's High Tech Professional Programs. In his career he has been a Games Programmer and a Technical Engineer at Business Objects where he worked with business intelligence technologies. Pat began his teaching career by leading several video games courses for teens in summer sessions. Since then Pat has gone on to develop several courses for BCIT and for Part-Time studies in addition to writing two books on games programming.

    To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

    DISCUSSION:

    Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

    :00:38:
    What triggered your initial interest in computing?
    "....Being able to combine an interest in technology with any industry or sector, and being able to create something from nothing using software was a real selling point for me...."

    :01:15:
    Pat profiles how he got to his present position in his career.

    :03:23:
    Pat describes his upcoming work at BCIT.
    "....A web programming option, very Microsoft based...."

    :04:18:
    Please define XNA: what it is, who uses it, where and how do you get it?
    "....It is a C# based platform from Microsoft that enables development for the Xbox 360 and PC....As far as 3D games are concerned, it's really the number one freeware library out there for hobbyists, programmers and independents. It's really changed the gaming programming world...."

    :06:38:
    Based on your experience if someone had some background in computing but wanted to get into the gaming area, how long do you think it would take them to go from scratch to having some proficiency?
    "....Not long at all....The XNA creative site has tons of examples.....These libraries have been built by thousands of people over millions of hours so they've really streamlined it and made the 3D graphics development very simple...."

    :07:38:
    Profile key lessons from the XNA Game Studio Creator's Guide which you co-authored.
    "....It's really a complete solution showing how to build the entire game. That's the approach that I use in the classroom too....How to build a complete project and also to encourage the readers or students to take it further and customize it and make it their own...."

    :09:26:
    What best practices can you share from other books you have written?
    "....We had Nick Gravelyn help with the tech review of our latest book. He's a Microsoft MVP for XNA and really knows his stuff and is a really big community champion as well....We've really benefited from having that expertise in the technical review and that's really going to take the 2nd edition to another level...."

    :10:43:
    What gaming best practices can you share from the courses you are teaching?
    "....The ones who do really well are the ones that experiment, who look things up on their own. They'll take the framework that I provide them but they will go and try things on their own...."

    :11:31:
    Can you talk about the suitability of XNA for schools and for encouraging students to learn programming?
    "....I think it's a great technology for schools. At BCIT we run kids camps almost every summer and the game programming courses are extremely popular....It's exciting for children, they can learn about programming and even if they don't become game programmers, the skills they learn, applying the logic, they can apply in other industries. It really is a great, healthy learning tool for young learners...."

    :14:28:
    Can you explore further key new and recent features surrounding: Developers selling their games on Xbox Live, Networking, and Zune deployment (Microsoft's mobile mp3 player)?
    "....This is going to drive game innovation. We are going to see a lot of small game developers and independents driving innovation. I think it's going to change the way games are made and I think big companies are going to be paying attention to what the smaller developers are doing with XMA...."

    :18:25:
    What are some little known but essential tips in XNA?
    "....In general 3D graphics are easy to program. The main area of math that you can benefit from knowing is linear algebra which is mostly addition, multiplication and volume....All 3D worlds, everything from plants to people, are just a collection of triangles...."

    :20:59:
    Where is gaming heading in 3, 5, and then 10 years?
    "....More advertising in games....Athletics integrated into the games....Resort companies hiring companies to build 3D models of their resorts so they can be toured virtually....A convergence of animation and 3D programming...."

    :24:12:
    The industry is changing. What advice would you give to IT professionals to stay on top of what is happening in the industry in order to position them (from a career standpoint) and their organization to benefit from these trends?
    "....Anybody interested in this industry really needs to find what interests them the most and to focus on it. Over time, as they gain experience they will find a way to take a lead and find a niche...."

    :25:48:
    In your current role, what are the biggest challenges, and their solutions? How does this relate to business?
    "....For me it's trying to create complete solutions that are good foundations for anyone to start with; to challenge people to customize by adding to it and to develop it into a framework and make it their own....Find what's important to you and pursue it. That's how I've approached it for myself...."

    :26:48:
    Pat shares some stories (something surprising, unexpected, amazing, or humorous) from his work.

    :30:42:
    Provide your predictions of future IT/Business trends and their implications/opportunities?
    "....Independent developers are going to see their ideas come to light and we'll see a lot of good small games come out of this. There's always going to be room for the big companies too. I think they will definitely co-exist. But we will benefit more from having platforms like XNA...."

    :31:36:
    Which are your top recommended resources and why?
    "....XMA Creater's club....Shawn Hargreaves blog....Michael from Ziggyware....Andy Dunn from ZBuffer....George Clingerman....Nick Gravelyn...."

    :34:04:
    Provide commentary on any topics of your choosing.
    "....XNA is a great platform for schools. If I were to choose a games platform for a school/college/university, I would choose XNA. It's free, it has incredible support from Microsoft....You've got a great suite of products that you can use to develop the games....More and more applications are going to use advanced graphics and elements of XMA graphics libraries are finding their way into other applications...."

    18:49 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志
    12月17日

    Dave O’leary, CIO and Dean, Recognized for Innovation

    This one caught my eye since it’s about students, education, innovation, and addressing the skills gap. Each ICT worker contributes about $120,000 to the Canadian Economy and with the world economic challenges, the skill value of IT professionals is more pronounced then ever. Well David O’leary is at the forefront of making a substantive difference to all of the areas noted above.

    My last extended chat with Dave O’leary happened at the March 2008 National Council of IT Deans Summit hosted by Microsoft Canada, where academic leaders from across the country shared solutions to increase technology enrollments, address the skills shortage, foster passion and industry-leading competencies in students, and innovate. I was invited to keynote and advise, and will do this again in Feb 5/6 of 2009 at the National Council of IT Deans Summit. Dave, led the summit as both incoming Chair of the National Council of IT Deans and also as a Dean at Northwest College. Dave also now holds the position as CIO at the college.

    Dave spoke at the summit about an innovative consortium of colleges and universities launching a new collaborative academic program which features the use of Microsoft technologies and solutions. This is often not widely known but Microsoft has extensive and far reaching programs to support the academic community through academic forums, research and software, gaming tools and curriculum, student ambassador/partner programs, faculty connections, sponsorships, awards, events such as TechDays/EnergizeIT, Webcasts (Ignite Your Career, Academic), and much more.

    Late in 2008, Northwest Science & Innovation sponsored an innovation award, and David O’leary was spotlighted by a nomination for his leadership.

    As noted in the nomination, Dave “has been instrumental in the development of a new collaborative Information Technology Program which not only addresses the skills shortages in the IT field both locally and nationally, but also which uses modern communications technology to break down geographic and other barriers to students, and allows students to train, work and stay in their communities.”

    I wanted to congratulate Dave on this special honour! Well Done!

    And a special thank you to Dave for his continuing commitment to excellence and to Microsoft Canada (and the award-winning, world top-ranked advisor, evangelist teams you see in the MS blogs) for providing the enabling support to make real change happen.

    Cheers,
    Stephen

    15:29 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志

    MS BizSpark—Amazing Boost for Startups

    How many of you have wanted to start a company? My guess is the majority of you have considered this at some point in your career. With online services increasingly prevalent, it can be done with limited capital, piloting and testing new innovations.

    My history advising/creating startups, goes back to the 1970s’--more than 30 years. In fact, I have several new startups I am working with now with one holding No.1 position internationally in the social media space. So, I found this news item on “startups” reported in www.itbusiness.ca of great interest. Here are extracts from the MS web site…

    Enjoy,
    Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP

    More about the MS BizSpark program: http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/At_a_Glance.aspx

    --
    Microsoft® BizSpark™ is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups by providing key resources when they need it the most:

    • Software. Receive fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. There is no upfront cost to enroll.
    • Support. Get connected to Network Partners around the world — incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters — that are equally involved and vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship who will provide a wide range of support resources.
    • Visibility. Achieve global visibility to an audience of potential investors, clients and partners
      As a Microsoft BizSpark member, you’ll be tapping into a rich, vibrant ecosystem of peers, partners and support resources around the globe, helping you grow and succeed. Microsoft BizSpark is the quickest way to get your Startup fired up.

    15:29 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志

    What’s New in Windows Live

    Cheers,
    Stephen Ibaraki,
    FCIPS, I.S.P., DFNPA, CNP, Advanced Technology

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Abstract

    Microsoft announced the next generation of Windows Live, an integrated set of online services that make it easier and more fun for you to communicate and share with the people you care about most. The new generation of Windows Live includes updated experiences for photo sharing, e-mail, instant messaging, as well as integration with multiple third-party sites.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Background

    The release also includes Windows Live Essentials, free downloadable software that enhances your Windows experience by helping you simplify and enjoy digital content scattered across their PC, phone and on Web sites. More information about Windows Live is available at http://www.windowslive.com.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Rationale

    These offerings that will help more than 460 million Windows Live customers better manage their digital lives. This blog provides you with an overview of some of the significant enhancements to the Windows Live Web services and applications for the PC, now called Windows Live Essentials, as well as, Windows Live for mobile.

     

    Location

    www.windowslive.com

    www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowslive/

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Additional Information –

    The new Windows Live experience is also enhanced by Microsoft partners with feeds from third-party sites that help you stay up to date on what’s new with friends and family, and see information from other online services such as Flickr, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter ,WordPress and Yelp — all in one place. 

    For your reference, the new Windows Live includes the following web services:

    · Windows Live Calendar. With the completely revamped Windows Live Calendar, it’s easier to manage multiple calendars (you can even subscribe to third-party calendars supporting the open iCalendar standard), share calendars and to-do lists with family and friends, track tasks, create automatically generated birthday and holiday calendars, sync with Microsoft Office Outlook and Windows Live Mail, and stay wonderfully organized.

    · Windows Live Events. Create and send out online event invitations and host event-related interactions — even share photos after the event takes place. Windows Live Events will offer ready-made templates for a variety of common events, and integrates with multiple online calendars and the new “What’s New” feed in Windows Live Messenger.

    · New! Windows Live Groups. This new service allows teams, clubs and friends to more easily collaborate online and engage in discussions, create a shared calendar, share photos and files they create, or simply chat online.

    · New! Windows Live FrameIt. Windows Live FrameIt allows you to dynamically deliver photos and other content such as news, traffic and weather directly to digital picture frames that are wirelessly enabled. Through one service, you can set up personalized albums that contain pictures and content from any compatible photo-sharing site to be delivered to any compatible wireless picture frame and have that content dynamically updated when new images are uploaded.

    · Windows Live Hotmail. For the newest version of Windows Live Hotmail, Microsoft focused on making Hotmail simpler, faster and more intuitive by combining the Classic and Full user interfaces into one sleek new interface that brings the best of what Hotmail offered before with faster performance. Other new features and enhancements that will be made available to Hotmail users over the coming months include the following:

    - Integration of “What’s New” feed. After you send an e-mail to a friend, Windows Live displays a page confirming that the e-mail has been sent. If the friend is part of your Windows Live network, you will also see a concise update of the friend’s online activity, on both Windows Live and third-party services.

    - Better spam protection. Spam in the inbox has now been reduced by 80 percent (as compared with August 2006 Hotmail).

    The following new features for Windows Live Hotmail customers will be rolled out over time, starting in early 2009:

    - POP access. You can access your Windows Live Hotmail inbox while offline using Windows Live Mail or Outlook with POP access. Anyone can use just about any e-mail application, whether it is from Microsoft or not.

    - POP aggregation. This feature offers one place for your e-mail. With POP access in Windows Live Hotmail, any non-Hotmail e-mail account that is POP-enabled (such as Yahoo! Mail Plus, Gmail and AOL) can be imported into Hotmail for convenient, one-stop access. There are options to see all e-mail in one inbox or have each account filtered into a separate folder that users specify and label.

    - Instant Access. Instant Access is a convenient tool for quickly finding and embedding Web images, restaurant reviews, maps, directions, movie times and more into e-mail messages — without ever having to leave the compose e-mail page.

    - Instant messaging in Windows Live Hotmail. The Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service can be used to send and receive instant messages from the Hotmail inbox.

    · New! Windows Live Photos. The home to your photos on the Web is at http://photos.live.com. You can create Web slide shows and share photos through Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Groups, Windows Live Events, Windows Live FrameIt and Windows Live Spaces. You can even see all your photos from Windows Live Photos on most Web-enabled cell phones. Windows Live Photos includes several great tools and features such as these:

    - People tagging. You can identify and tag people in your photos, and see other photos that they are tagged in.

    - Commenting. You can add comments to photos and see comments friends make.

    - “What’s New” feed. You can monitor the photos that people in your network post on Windows Live.

    - Shared albums. You can create albums on Windows Live Groups and give friends permission to add photos, tag them, and collaborate to create a shared album that combines the best photos from all group members.

    · Windows Live SkyDrive. Conveniently access all your files with the increased ease and storage capacity from Windows Live SkyDrive, now offering 25BG of online storage and tighter integration with other Windows Live services. Upload your photos, files and other digital content and access them online from virtually any device connected to the Internet.

    · New! Windows Live Profile. Quickly and easily broadcast key information about yourself from Windows Live and ultimately more than 50 partner sites to your Windows Live network. Anything that you do on Windows Live or on select third-party services is automatically reflected on your profile as well as throughout most other services in Windows Live — if you choose to share with your network. You are in control to broadcast your activities to the world, share only with designated friends and family, or share with no one at all. The Profile page is also the place to invite your existing friends and contacts from your favorite third-party services, such as LinkedIn, to Windows Live so that they can stay in sync with your latest updates. You can also choose to publish your activity on more than 50 sites into your Windows Live feed, to allow your network to see updates from all your online activities in a single place.

    · New! Windows Live People. The People page is for storage and management of your Windows Live contacts. It’s a central address book that contains your contacts from Windows Live Hotmail as well as all the people in your Windows Live network (Windows Live Spaces and Messenger contacts). With Windows Live People, you can invite your contacts from third-party services such as LinkedIn (and more services will be added over time), organize contacts into categories, and assign permissions that put you in control of what your contacts can see about you online. The People page is accessible everywhere in Windows Live through the header, so you can add, invite, follow or connect with your contacts wherever you are in Windows Live. You can also chat with your IM contacts directly from the page with Windows Live Messenger for the Web.

    · Windows Live Spaces. With 175 million customers Windows Live Spaces is a central part of the Web experience on Windows Live designed to be the place where you communicate and share things important to you with your Windows Live network and beyond. With the newest version, Microsoft has focused on improving the experience by making the fonts easier to read, removing advertisements and generally improving the user interface. Windows Live Space is your personal canvas where you can blog and share photos, create custom lists of information, and add fun gadgets from around the Internet.

    · Windows Live Sync. Formerly known as Windows Live FolderShare, the new Windows Live Sync enables you to keep your files and folders synchronized across PCs and Macs. The new features include Windows Live ID integration for a unified sign-on experience and functional enhancements such as Recycle Bin integration for easy file recovery and Unicode support for working with files from an even broader range of formats.

    Windows Live Essentials includes the following free Windows Live applications:

    · Windows Live Mail. When you are offline, use Windows Live Mail to access Windows Live, Hotmail, Windows Live Calendar and Windows Live Contacts.

    · Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live Messenger is one of the favorite ways for Microsoft customers to stay touch with their contacts. With the latest version of Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft has introduced several new, socially oriented features and an entirely new look and feel:

    - Personalization. Personalize nearly everything: Add a profile picture or video, display a personal scene in the chat window, update the status message with your news, add a favorite link, or add what song you’re listening to.

    - Integration of “What’s New” feed. With the “What’s New” feed in Messenger, you can stay in touch with the latest updates from your circle of friends at a glance, without any need to log in across multiple destinations.

    - Photo sharing. Photo sharing lets you share and comment on pictures while you’re chatting. Show and view pictures right in the chat window and still have ample space to chat. To start photo sharing simply drag and drop pictures into the conversation window.

    - Favorites. Favorites are your most important contacts. Think of Favorites as speed dial for your Messenger contacts.

    - Groups. Create groups on the fly and chat simultaneously with up to 20 members at the same time. A group that is created in Windows Live Messenger will also be created as a Windows Live Group (see above) with all related features such as shared calendars, photos and posts.

    · New! Windows Live Movie Maker beta. Movie Maker has now been added to Windows Live to bring that same simplicity to videos. With Windows Live Movie Maker, you can easily turn photos and video memories into great-looking movies to share with family and friends on the Internet, CDs, DVDs, your TV, cell phone or portable video device, using most popular camera types and file formats in the market today.

    · Windows Live Photo Gallery. Easily find, fix and share photos with the Windows Live Photo Gallery.

    - Face detection. Windows Live Photo Gallery can recognize the people in your photos so that tagging and finding photos of the people you care about becomes easy.

    - Slide shows. Slide shows are easy to make, with built-in special effects such as fading and transitions.

    - Easy photo sharing. Easily share photos via Windows Live Messenger or publish to Windows Live Photos, Windows Live Events, Windows Live or Windows Live Spaces, where friends can comment on photos. Publish to third-party sites, with third-party plug-ins.

    - Edit photos. Remove red eye, straighten, autofix, crop and even create panoramic photos.

    - Easy offline printing. Print photos at one of 71,000 retail locations worldwide, or have them delivered to your doorstep.

    · Windows Live Toolbar. Get an at-a-glance summary and quick, easy access to the people, information and services you care about. With easy access to a variety of Windows Live services — Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live Photos — you can easily find and share information on the Web.

    · Windows Live Writer. Edit photos, insert videos directly from your PC, and add beautiful photo slide shows directly in your blog entries with Windows Live Writer. Windows Live Writer works with Windows Live Spaces, as well as third-party services such as WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and many other popular blogging sites.

    · Windows Live Family Safety. Parents can help keep children safe by managing which Web sites kids can visit, and the list of contacts they can communicate with when they are using Windows Live Spaces, Hotmail and Messenger. Family Safety even generates reports for parents so that they can monitor their children’s activity. Best of all, it lets parents monitor this from anywhere they are online — on their PC or from the Web.

    Windows Live for mobile brings the Windows Live experience optimized for mobile devices:

    You can access Windows Live services via client applications, the mobile Web or short message service (SMS). Go to http://mobile.live.com from your mobile phone’s Web browser to get started on the mobile Web. Windows Live for mobile includes the following services:

    · Windows Live Hotmail for mobile. Web- and client-based mail on your mobile phone and new mail alerts via SMS. The new version of Windows Live Hotmail for mobile is focused on making Windows Live Hotmail on the mobile Web faster and more efficient to use. Some of the new features, scheduled for release in early 2009, follow:

    - Mail search. Ability to search within your e-mail

    - Rich e-mail. HTML rendering of e-mail, including embedded images and links

    · Windows Live Messenger for mobile. Web-, client- and SMS-based IM from your mobile device

    · New! Windows Live Photos for mobile. Web-based photo viewing, upload and sharing. Client-based photo upload.

    - Album and photo viewing. View your own and friends’ photos using your mobile phone’s Web browser. Browse albums, view photo thumbnails, see photo details and add comments.

    - Photo upload. Publish and share your photos from your Web-enabled camera phone.

    - “What’s New” feed. See if friends have shared new albums or if there are new comments on photos.

    · New! Windows Live Profile for mobile. It offers Web-based access to view and update your information and connect with others.

    - View profile. View your own and other people’s profile information.

    - Manage friend invitations. Accept or decline friends’ requests to connect with you.

    - “What’s New” feed. See what’s new for the person whose profile you are looking at.

    - Invite a friend. Send SMS to invite a friend to connect with you.

    · New! Windows Live People for mobile. Integrated contacts in mobile phone address book for supported devices. Web-based hub to access contacts. SMS-based search for contact info.

    - Contact search. Search for contacts in your contact list using your phone’s Web browser.

    - Get Contact Information. Send SMS to a Windows Live SMS shortcode to look up a contact’s information (coming early 2009).

    · Windows Live Spaces for mobile. Web-based access to personal Web page and blogging

    · New! Windows Live Calendar for mobile. SMS-based access to today’s and tomorrow’s appointments

    - Get calendar. Send SMS with “today” or “tomorrow” to a Windows Live SMS shortcode and get your calendar for the day (coming early 2009).

    15:28 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志