Project Phoenix: Early September Awards Announced

ArnieRowland — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:13:00 GMT

9/14/2010

Two more eligible developers and deserving projects have been selected.

Any proposals submitted but not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award criteria, details, and benefits.)

In no order of implied importance.

Alan Minner, Camp Verde, Arizona

Verde Valley Robotics is an organization in central Arizona working with schools and youth organizations in the Verde Valley to promote STEM education through robotics programs and teams. We teach summer classes for ages 8-18 on beginning engineering and programming and develop opportunities to utilize robots as a teaching tool to create greater interest in education in rural and low income areas. We currently work with Camp Verde, CottonWood, Sedona, and Flagstaff school districts as well as NAU and Yavapai College. We have been supporting and developing Robotics Teams for LEGO League, and FIRST Robotics. This project will be to create a multi user remote control system for LEGO MindStorm Robots linking multiple PCs and robots with Teacher Control. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: C#, C++, Windows 7, Server2003, PHP, SQLserver, and Javascript.

Thomas Burl, Plattsburgh, NY

The Office of Field Experience (OFE) of Plattsburg State University is using an Access based information system to manage student teaching assignments. This system allows them to produce reports that enhance their decision making process and allow them to quickly locate information about students, schools, and participating teachers. This project will migrate the system to a Client-Server Architecture using ASP.NET and SQL2008, enhancing efficiency and increasing productivity. The migration will also allow for a design review as new requirements have been introduced that are not supported on the existing system. The web interface using ASP.NET would allow the system to be access by more users. This project will allow me to update my skill sets in SQL and ASP.NET. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: Server 2008, SQL 2008, LDAP, IIS, and ASP.NET.

Congratulations to Alan and Thomas. These both seem to be very useful and valuable projects. The Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email.

You will be receiving the following:

Microsoft: Visual Studio Ultimate with MDSN subscription,
Pluralsight: three (3) month Standard subscription to On-Demand!™ .NET Training Library,
APress: three books(3) of the winner's choice,
O'Reilly Press: three (3) eBooks of the winner's choice,
ComponentOne: license for Studio Enterprise components and tools,
Microsoft Learning: Vouchers for two (2) Free Certification Exams
Quest Software: license for Toad® for SQL Server),
BillP Studios: license for WinPatrol's Host-based Intrusion Prevention System(HIPS)

We are encouraging both Alan and Thomas to host their projects on http://Codeplex.com so that other developers and non-profits can benefit from their efforts.

Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.

MVP Summit 2009 -A Most Excellent Adventure

ArnieRowland — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:10:00 GMT

For many of us, one of the high points of being an MVP is attending the annual MVP Summit hosted in Seattle by Microsoft. Yes, there is a lot of flash and hoopla, good food, and a party or two. But the real value comes from connecting and re-connecting with MVPs from around the world. And then being given 'inside' information from members of the product groups. Product group members answer our questions and give us insights into future developments for the product/technology that holds our interest. And, to their credit, they put up with a fair amount of pushing and pulling from MVPs –which, thankfully, is accepted in the spirit of 'the loyal opposition'. Everyone recognizes that we all have the same interests -the improvement of the products we use and support.

So I guess that I could sum up the event as one of Relationships. Establishing, building and renewing relationships between MVPs, AND between MVPs and product group members. Relationships that will serve us well -now and in the future. Relationships that are as diverse and complex as the products we support. Relationships that are both intense and fleeting. Relationships that will persist even when only renewed at the next summit. Relationships that will strengthen our interactions in newsgroups, forums, blogs, and even Twitter. Relationships that continually improve the SQL Server community.

A few MVPs were acknowledged for their outstanding participation in the SQL Server community over the past year.

For finding and reporting Bugs –overall:

1. Aaron Bertrand
2. Steve Kass
3. Dan Guzman

The most ‘critical’ bug was found and reported by:

Teo Lachev

For Newsgroup participation:

1. Erland Summarskog
2. Plamen Ratchev
3. Uri Dimant

For MSDN Forum participation:

1. Jonathan Kehayias
2. Jacob Sebastian
3. Mangal Pardeshi

The 'MVP Choice Award' was presented to give special recognition for MVP contributions to the SQL Server community over the past year. The SQL Server MVPs that attended the summit could offer five nominees each. Those selected received a plurality of nominations. Summit attendance was not required, and two folks were not eligible since they were previously acknowledged. (See above.)

The MVP Choice Award was awarded to:

1. Paul Nielson
2. Arnie Rowland
3. Itzik Ben-Gan
4. Kalen Delany
5. Pinal Kumar Dave (tie)
5. Jessica Moss (tie)

(I wish to humbly thank those MVPs that thought I should be included in such great company.)

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Project Phoenix: Early September Awards Announced

MVP Summit 2009 -A Most Excellent Adventure