Another Day in the Antz Farm

Google is making concerted efforts to attract and publicise its lighthouse Google Apps educatioin sector adoptionwins to proves its readiness to move into the enterprise space. See “Going to School with Google” (Google AU Blog)

IT News sources such as ZDNet will often cover these win-stories. Sometimes, I often wonder what happens after the switch? Switching core IT services like emails systems in a large organisation (like a University) aren’t like switching to a new grocery chain for food.Things often do go wrong.

Often with the introduction of a new operating environment, many legacy and unexpected issues arise. Are the users satisfied with the service level with these hosted services? Were the IT services able to receive adequate support when things falls apart? What are the statistic behind when these problems get resolved?

The complete story after a migration often goes unreported. In all fairness, the points raised can also apply to other companies including Microsoft.

Congratulation to Team SOAK from Australia! The 2008 Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Design Worldwide Finals Champions! You brought home the (green and) gold!

I am extremely proud of your final achievement! You have achieved a first for Australia! Well done, David Burela (University of Tasmania), Dimaz Pramudya (Swinburne University), Ed Hooper (Melbourne University), Long Zheng (Monash University)!

Related links:

• Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners (Microsoft Presspass)
• Australian students win global software competition (ZDNet Australia)
• Team SOAK! (frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger)
• Aussies win tech prize for saving water (The Australian IT)
• Video of Team SOAK Final Round Presentation (Soapbox) (via MSOZACADEMIC)

PS: Thanks for sending me the sms on your victory!

Dr Rick Rashid (Senior Vice-President, Microsoft Research) spoke to IEEE Spectrum (Jun 08 ) about his computer science department-styled approach to running Microsoft Research and the breathe of pure research (and not just applied) undertaken.

Visit the interview article “Microsoft’s Rick Rashid on Building a Corporate Research Giant” on IEEE Spectrum.

Steve Vamos is making his way back to Australia after a stint as VP, Microsoft International Online Services Group. He was recently interviewed by MIS (a Fairfax publication) about Steve Ballmer’s Google strategy, Vista, his time in Redmond and what he plans to do when he leaves Microsoft. Steve also shared his advice for all Australian graduates out there look for new employment:

1. Find a place where you can learn from the people
2. A place where you can trust the people you work with

Great advice, Steve!

Steve has always been passionate about having the right values in place. During MS AU FY07 kickoff, Steve brought a trainer who elaborated the concept of having a player mentality. Not a political player but someone who takes undertakes responsibility, provides accountability and take pro-active steps to make sure that things happen the right way. I really enjoyed that session and I have a lot of respect for the man and his leadership style.

Related link: A Conversation with Steve Vamos (MISAustralia)

Team SOAK has exceed all expectation and has made it into the very last round of the worldwide Imagine Cup Software Design. They are in the FINAL 6! Awesome! Well done Ed, Dave, Dimaz and Long!

You even made your own team t-shirts! Way to go!

Related links:

• Let’s Meet our Top Teams! Software Design Team From Australia: SOAK! (2008 Imagine Cup Finals Blog)
• Aussie students close in on Microsoft prize (ZDNet Australia)

Team SOAK (Australia Imagine Cup Software Design representative) is through to the semi-finals of the 2008 Imagine Cup Finals in Paris, France!

This is a FANTASTIC result, the best in three years!

The complete list of teams that made it through the finals are:

* Australia
* Slovakia
* Portugal
* Brazil
* China
* France
* Hungary
* Singapore
* South Africa
* South Korea
* Croatia
* Russia

Courtesy of Roger Lawrence

• Water, a real serious issue in country Australia. The team aspires to help to help farmers achieve sustainable use of their land by utilising sensor networks to ensure the best use of precious water resources.
• Diversity, in the team setup. Team SOAK is made up of students from 4 Australian Universities, between two states (VIC and TAS) which includes Monash, Melbourne, Swinburne and the University of Tasmania. This multi-cultural team reflects the modern diverse Australian society.
• Preparation. I know how early this team had been preparing for the competition. Ed has been aiming, learning and preparing for this competition since the 2007 Australia Imagine Cup finals.
• Passion. This team is made up of 3 Microsoft Student Partners and 1 “bloody” Microsoft blogger. Common among them is a serious passion for technology, dream big and take technology onto the field.
• Mates. This guys are my friends and I am proud of their current success. Anything more is a bonus. Good luck, boys!

Related links:

• Students saving the world for a rainy day (The Age)
• Roger Lawrence’s Imagine Cup coverage from Paris

Windows Vista brought a set of user interfaces updates to the Windows environment. However there are some inconsistencies and legacy user interfaces in the released product. There has not been an easy and transparent way to bring this irks and quirks to Microsoft’s attention. But not until Long Zheng’s UX Taskforce.

Long Zheng, the Windows and good user interface (UI) enthusiast (and all things well-designed) has developed a web site (UX Taskforce, see screen shot below) which allows you to:

a) upload screen shots and report such UI issues on the web site,

b) search for such reports by categories and

c) add your voice and vote for the reports.

This site has been gaining lots of momentum, and has caught the attention of the Windows Experience group and even an article by the Guardian (Windows Vista: Microsoft could learn a few lessons from a gifted student)

Post, view or vote your choice today! This is users’ democracy at its best and now Microsoft is listening and acting on the feedback!

(Long Zheng)

Download SearchTogether (beta)

Microsoft SearchTogether is a free Internet Explorer plug-in that allows groups of people to collaborate on Web searches.

SearchTogether can benefit any group of people who are interested in investigating a topic together, such as students working on a group report, colleagues working on a joint project, or friends planning a shared vacation or other social activities. SearchTogether supports both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration styles.

SearchTogether allows each group member to customize their search preferences; choices include Windows Live Search, Yahoo!, and Google.

SearchTogether is a project from Microsoft Research. See SearchTogether page for more details.

In Mar 08, while I was back in Microsoft Australia office, I noticed a concerted effort by the management to make positive environmental changes. Well done! Some of the awesome changes include:

• Providing a choice of post-consumer printer paper
• Encouraging people to reuse their drinking bottles by providing sturdy high quality reusable attractive water bottles
• Individual recycle trash bins - to faciliate staff to sort out their individual recycleable bits from the main pile
• Introduction of additional instant filtered water in the pantry
• Transport rebate for staff who use public transport to work

Unfortunately, not all staff could particpate fully in these measures. Resourceful contingent staff can always find their own ingenious green contributions at their work area.

Related links

• QUICK FIXES - 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
• Quiz: Are you a Green-collar worker?
• Green Guru: Green at Work (Q & A for all those typical green office improvement opportunities)