Yawnz, have been doing ECSA for one whole day… not one subject which I am most pleased with..

I want to do some bits of ENCM later at night! So excited about the Windows 7 development workshop tmr at SMU.

Chirs Chin, Developer Marketing Director, Microsoft Singapore came to MSP (Microsoft Student Partner) meet on Saturday to give us a quick talk on Windows Mobile 6.5 (http://wmdevasia.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/aug-22nd-2009/), abit on Windows Mobile Marketplace and asked us to submit applications for certification if we can. Certainly, he got me excited and right after my exam on Wednesday afternoon, I begin to develop my first Windows Mobile Application. As a student, we should try everything. :p

I posted it on my facebook and twitter and it seems like it gotten some attention from my friends. Some of my friends, my classmates and friends outside, asked me whats the difference in developing a client-side application and mobile application, I will say beside the idea that should be generated is a bit different, the rest are the same. I will be covering this later.

On Thursday night, Microsoft Singapore has a Mix-It-Up event and the speaker is Chris as well. Went down and listen what he has to present and what others are presenting. A group of students and 2 companies presented their product. I am really impressed by what the students and HNL had done. =)

Let me point out some of the differences here.

1. The normal application we are developing on VS08, we normally use .Net framework 3.5 but for a windows mobile application, we use .Net Compact framework 3.5 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Compact_Framework )

2. Can we develop a silverlight application on Windows Mobile since silverlight is cross platform? At the moment, its a no. I believe something is coming out soon though ( After doing a search on bing, http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13870 )

3. I am developer, what is the link to Windows Mobile Marketplace?

http://developer.windowsmobile.com/Marketplace.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

4. Where can I find applications which I can buy for my Windows Mobile phone?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/catalog/cataloghome.aspx

5. I want to start developing. Where is the SDK?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=06111A3A-A651-4745-88EF-3D48091A390B&displaylang=en

You might want to have a look at the toolkit as well

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e

Hopefully my application I am developing will be a success though I am facing some difficulties now. =)

Follow me at @limguohong

Recently, to be more extact, 23th June 2009, Microsoft released the beta of Security Essentials which was the previously Windows Live One Care.

Allow me to quote this from wikipedia,
[quote]Microsoft Security Essentials (codenamed Morro) is an upcoming gratis antivirus software created by Microsoft that will provide protection from viruses, spyware, rootkits, and trojans for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.[3]

Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management in the online services division at Microsoft, said: “This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware.” [3]
[/quote]

I will say that the installation is very smooth and the virus scanning relaly run quietly at the background. These are some of the screenshot which I have taken while installing.

Before I start my LONG post on Windows 7 at this late hour ( 4.10am ), this are the information you might want to know

- Did clean install on a partition which previously has Windows 7, build 7077
- Installing Windows 7, build 7100 ( RC1 )
-This is my computer specs,
250gb space
4gb ram
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.40 GHz processor
I am installing a 32 bit version of build 7100.

This is not my first time installing Windows 7 on my laptop.
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The experience was really great! Let me tell you it took me how long to install the windows. Only 36 minutes and 37 seconds.

This is the breakdown timing of my installation

00.00.00 – On computer with installation disc in drive
00.59.46 – Loading File
01.39.58 – Starting Windows – Set Up
02.32.40 – Installing Windows
17.57.50 – 4/5 Installation completed, Computer restart
19.35.51 – Starting Service
32.15.07 – Installation completed, Computer restart
33.22.51 – Preparing for the first time use
34.09.62 – Set Up
36.37.61 – First Boot into Windows 7

It only took me 36 minutes. 36 minutes 37.61 seconds to be extact. I mean, wow…. its only 36 minutes and whats more, I did not had any big issues when installing the OS.

Most of my readers are not very technical person so some of you might be asking what is Windows 7? Basically, it is a new Operating System. It is the next one after Windows Vista.

What are the differences?
I am unable to tell you ALL the differences between its really a big advancement especially in speed. The speed of the OS is really good!

Pictures speak more than a thousand words. Have a look.

The first screen you will see after your installation.

See mini screen capture of the running program and be able to navigate to it. You don’t have to worry about spending time to find your lost tabs.

Bottom right of the page is show desktop. Upon hovering over it, you can see what the desktop is like. Likewise for the mini screen capture, upon hovering over it, you can see what the program is like.

Shortcuts to functions of a program and even links to the frequently visited page.

Does this look like paint? Yes, it is paint!

Dock your windows. Its easier for you to compare two documents now. Instead of spending 30 seconds of your life trying to resize 2 document windows so that you can compare. You just have to drag the windows to the extreme sides to make it dock. ( Like the image above )

Moving from GUI to NUI ( Natural User Interface ). You can use your hand and write to communicate with your computer.

Customize your Notification Area ( What you see at the bottom right ) now!

Did I mention that I am using Windows 7 for most of my work and school work?

I am very excited!!! Later, I will be going to watch a Imagine Cup’s presentation and award ceremony and one of the agenda is ……

by MATTHEW Hardman! Cool guy, met up with him in MIC when we are recording the Live@Edu video. I happen to bring my brother, MATTHEW Lim there and yea. They are playing Guitar Hero together. A working guy and a young boy.. weird combo but yeah! ^.^

Go and try it out!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Will be posting more soon. Kinda late. Time to sleep, need to rush some school’s project later in the day and finally meet up with all the MSPs. Long time since we met as a team at Microsoft, eh HAHA. I wonder if I will get the chance to talk to Neng Giin, some things I need to ask him. Umm.

I went to Yuhua to teach wushu today after my medical checkup this morning after that I went to Plaza Sing to collect a Wireless VOIP phone from the StarHub Customer Service Centre then we went to Wufang to learn wushu. Let me now breakdown the stories.

Checkup
So I went for a checkup for my little cute right knee after 1 week of getting a serious injury, alot of speculation about my knee. Ligement tear, Ligement broke, ACL injuried, Medicus tear, Medicus broke. ALOT la. So when I enter, I scan my NRIC and get a queue number, 2211 and sitted down and wait. I saw the queue board, I need to wait for 100+ people to be registered before its my turn but anyway I got medicus injury. Nothing much but I need to rest alot. It was very cheap as well. HAHA

Yuhua Wushu
Went to Yuhua, the CC there to teach the junior. HAHA, okay la… I feel weird, cant demo to them. You will start asking, why did I go down? I don’t know? Because I cant see them as often soon? Esp my didi.

Plaza Sing
After that, I went to Plaza Sing to collect some DLink wireless thingy, haha it was fast, the queue. 1 person compared to 100+ peple at the clinic in the morning. Good Customer Support but I waited quite long for the product to be redeemed but overall it was damn good. Was a bit paiseh to let Jun An and Matthew wait so long. haha.

Wushu
At night, went to wushu, I see Matthew didi is already damn hungry before going to wushu liao. When he reached them, he is hunting for food already but the uncle not around to cook so I went to practise abit of light-weight training. super lightweight which will not affect my leg. I see that he sit there waiting for me with that super super super hungry face, i really feel bad lea… Imagine, you see a close close close brother hungry and you cant do anything, how you feel? Then after my practice, I faster bring him to the food place for him to buy food and lend him my laptop to DOTA. HAHA. Well, he played awhile and the battery died then he sit there again seeing my practise. I think he damn sian liao but I never talk to him.

But I treated him drink and food at night. Spent $10+ on him at night. o.o HAHA but okay la, hope he forgive me. Exciting things for him, me , Jasper and Beverly coming up!

SORRY MATTHEW DIDI

p.s: Oh yea, I have to go Microsoft tomorrow ( and its a Good Friday. HAHA)

Tomorrow is a long long day

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Anyway, on Thursday, a few of our Student Partners went to Microsoft to experience the Microsoft Surface ( Microsoft Site ) [Microsoft Surface]. The only thing i can share, its very very cool. =)

Went straight to training after that and something very terrible happen. I was doing Wai Bai Lian and suddenly my right knee gave way and I fell down. The next thing I know is that I cant even stand up and walk liao. I don’t know what happen. Its still very pain till now. I cant even walk properly now.

Guess I will have a long break from wushu liao. Very long break.

Its a good thing that I got addicted to blogging, somehow. Its 4.28am now and well, Hairiandy coming to my house to continue doing on ThinkQuest competition project tomorrow at 9am? I have to wake up at around 8.30am…It will be a long day tomorrow.

Tomorrow night have to go to Microsoft to attend Mix It Up – they will be talking about ASP 4.0 and VS 2010. Pretty excited about it, first time I heard it was during the PDC (Professional Developer Conference) of Microsoft last year.

My back still hurts.

Random facts about myself.
- I support Jarod for CSS3
- I normally sleep pretty late.
- I have the urge to take TS: Configuring Microsoft Windows Vista Client certication.
- I have been listening to the fact ??? alot.
- I am currently using Windows 7.

I got some comments that my blog looks like a website. Haha, guess i shall make it more like a blog then.

MSP meeting

We had our monthly meeting again at Microsoft Singapore’s office at One Marina Boulvard. I was late because I had to teach wushu in the morning. When I arrived, Chun Siong was presenting something with Visual Studio which I shall not reveal and out of 3 demos, he had done, 1 fail but neverthless its a great session for us all and the last demo that he did proved to us that Int32 works/runs/does faster than Int16 or Int64.

Coming up next is the SMUs and TPs presenting the 2 events that we had done respectively, Experience it with Windows 7 and IE 8 ( if i recall correctly ) and MSP Boot Camp. SMUs also talked about something like clean the toilet campaign which attracted a good amount of people.

Next Zi Han present to us 2 applications that he did, one in WPF ( Windows Presentation Foundation ) and the other in Silverlight and he got me inspired to learn Silverlight but I am pretty busy at the moment so I guess I need to look at it only after week 0.

As usual, we have Pizza! This time, we have Mr Gates face on the Pizza boxes, too bad i have no chance to post the picture because it seems like I cant get my Windows 7 to work with my incoming bluetooth. =(… My outgoing one works. Anyway, yea and we had a little event-game just before we leave… We have to plan for Stanely’s birthday. Haha.

Another thing that I took away today, 3 things, if you are able to sell any of the 3 things, you will be able to get a job ( supposely ).

1. Sell products
2. Sell ideas
3. Sell yourself

Outing with Matthew and Jun An

We had a very sudden outing which we planned just one day before the event. Just happen to meet Matthew when I am at Raffle Places MRT with Bee Siew so well, we go to SomerSet together and met Jun An there.. Wah Raining wor. Play LAN, DOTA where Matthew keep killing Neutral Creeps and I “play” the game. Well I am lousy in doat so basically, indirectly, Matthew is controlling my character. Haha. Then played a bit Arcade to pass time before going to Movie.

Went to watch Mall Cop, its funny till siao..Its nice.
Had some dinner. Walked to Suntech and Arcade abit then go home liao.

Matthew and I had a promise on something. Lets hope it will come true!
*Before anyone says its lame to promise by using fingers at this age, i tell you, its not! =) Small things like that works better people it could reassure the people that no empty promise is made because its carved into the person’s mind.

On a side note, Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Student Technology Day: Lessons from Starting a Software Company

What is Microsoft Surface?
Microsoft Surface™, the first commercially available surface computer from Microsoft Corp., turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. The product provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that’s easy for individuals or small groups to interact with in a way that feels familiar, just like in the real world. In essence, it’s a surface that comes to life for exploring, learning, sharing, creating, buying and much more. Soon to be available in restaurants, hotels, retail establishments and public entertainment venues, this experience will transform the way people shop, dine, entertain and live.

http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/

Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface

Seems like my blog is dead. Too busy to update?

Lets make my blog alive now! I will start posting new technologies from Microsoft that a lot of you might not have even heard of them before!

I personally feel very excited and happy as I have one more way to share with my friends, readers of my blog and peers Microsoft technology. If you do wish to contact me regarding anything, do feel free to contact me at guohong.lim ( at ) live ( dot ) com

I will post them under the tagname MST4U which means Microsoft Technologies for you. Its so that it will be easier for you to find out as well!

I learn one thing from Microsoft today.

Learn Share Lead

Microsoft Popfly (internally codenamed Springfield) is a website that allows users to create web pages, program snippets, and mashups using the Microsoft Silverlight rich internet applications runtime and the set of online tools provided. Popfly is currently in Beta stage of development. It requires users to log in with their Windows Live ID, and provide additional information about themselves when logging in for the first time to use Popfly.

Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Popfly

http://www.popfly.com | I will be giving a tutorial on how to create a game on popfly. I personally think making a game on popfly all boils down to 3 simple general steps.

1. Ideas
2. Creating the game
3. Tweak the game to make it better

I will be teaching mainly the second stage, the creation of the game. I will pull in some simple functions which most people will be using when they are creating a game on popfly. Without further ado, we will start the fun!

(more…)

On Saturday, Hairiandy, Sunny, Kelvin, Jireh, Kenneth, me and 2 other friends of Kelvin went to Microsoft Walk the Success Lane & Mash-it-up Awards at One Marina Boulevard.

We have the following,

1. “Microsoft Academic Programs” by Pratibha Kumar, Academic Developer Evangelist.
2. Bringing Data to Life using Windows Presentation Foundation by Chris Ismael, Developer Evangelist
3. Get Connected for Life with Social Media! by Jonathan Wong, Web Platform Evangelist
4. Address by Jessica Tan, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore
5. plus some prize giving

It was really a talk that teaches me a lot of things. We then have a small chat with different Microsoft Empolyees and some people I know from MSP interview. The top 3 finalist for Mash It Up! also presented their projects, there is one which I think is really good which is the inviting.me. They got 3rd though but I would say its really good effort put in and they are pretty useful too!