The Big 'B' in Bangalore!

Bill Gates visited Bangalore on December 9, 2005 to launch the next generation of integrated computing platform - SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006. It was a great experience for me to be a part of this huge event , seated in the first row watchin Mr.Bill enthrall the crowd with his presence and listenin to him speak bout the new products of Microsoft.
Several ppts and demos were delivered by Microsoft employees like Mr.Gaurav Khanna which left the audience amazed by the cool features Whidbey(VS2005),SQL Server n BizTalk Server2006 provides.
When Developer Evangalist , Sheila Gulati asked Mr.Bill Gates whether he likes 'dose' or 'idli', he replied that he liked the 'upma' which was served to him for breakfast !
When asked about the last time he wrote code, he replied saying that he often often works with Microsoft`s latest products and plays around with them to understand and learn, but the last time he wrote a complete software package was in 1983 !
He addressed young entrepreneurs and developers of India giving them words of advice.When asked about the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which provides funds for various noble causes, he said he always dreamt of two phases in his life, one was to earn money, lots of it ! and the second where he`s gonna give away money which he is doing now.
The day`s event ended with rock band, Parikrama`s queue of songs, who played some of their own compositions. A Microsoft goody bag to take back home, a t-shirt and a waist pouch.

Jan 15th 2008 Update:

This is a video composed and relayed at CES 2008 where Bill Gates addressed his last keynote of how he would spend his last day at Microsoft (sometime in July 2008) starring:
Bill Gates, Brian Williams, Jay Z, Bono, Steven Spielberg, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jon Stuart, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, and from Microsoft: Steve Ballmer, Christine White, Lisa Brummell, Robbie Bach, Kevin Turner, Ray Ozzie, and Craig Mundie...watch!

a talk with Joe Wilson...

29th september,2005
The Microsoft Student partners and Ambassadors welcomed Mr.Joe Wilson on this day at Hotel Grand Ashok as i played the role of both a Student Partner and an MC for the evening. Last minute preparations with my co-host Garima and we started out with the spoof of Steve Balmer screamin on stage enacted by Sunil. Was nervous at the begining as that was the first time i hosted a show but then i settled down and delivered my lines with a smooth flow.
One blooper midway where i spoke my lines when i wasnt supposed to but kinda patched it up.
Mr.Joe Wilson as any other Microsoft employee spoke with so much ease and content with clever answers to all our whacky and Student partner program and Microsoft Academic Program related questions.
We threw some more questions towards Microsoft Evangalists Mr.Ashwani,Ms.Pratibha and Mr.Kevin. their witty answers leaving the audience laughing out loud.
The event was accompanied by Awards named the .NUT awards. I was presented with a Ineta shirt - International .Net Association, for hosting the event. Personally, it was a great experience for me.The shooting of the video for the event that sunday was a memorable day too. A shoot at Cubbon Park meant to be a serious shoot with scripts ended up being a video of bloopers.And how can i not mention the part where the innocent me walking by the pool in my shorts was sent diving into the pool by Sunil in the making of the Steve Balmer spoof!
The event at Grand Ashok ended with a photo shoot and delicious food . A bite of fish fry was like a piece of heaven.Has been quite some time since i have tasted fish after my mom got allergic to it. It was a great day and a memorable one too...

my first step to learning C#...

Saturday 10th september was another day which boosted my learning curve. The alumini of KSIT were supposed to conduct an aptitude n a tech test for us on this day. Also i had my GRE classes from 3 to 8pm and to give me more choices to leave me in a dilemma I had to attend the Microsoft Student partner training at Ramaiah at 9.The agency cancelled out on the training and the sessions were now gonna be held by the senior student partners.Now the decision had to be made .... didnt take me much time to decide and i packed my bags and left to Ramaiah.
Was worried i wud be lost in the huge city of Ramaiah, luckily i met Abhinav(my ol school buddy) to lead.Was nice talkin to Rishab(Senior partner) after a long time.Session started late as how every session starts.
Sabarish(Microsoft ambassador) delivered the first session on the basics of C# and some features of it which make the language so powerful.I jotted down some points which i will have to cover when i deliver the same to my frnz in coll.He and Sunil are speakers who inspire.They speak with so much confidence and content, seeing them i hope to get some pointers and gather my courage when i deliver my sessions.Sunil`s session was on the basics of .NET which ive heard for the nth time now and yet there`s so much to know.
The lunch was followed by the hands on lab.I`ve always enjoyed coding and coding with Visual studio .NET makes the experience much more fun.It was the day where i had my first exposure to C# and ASP.net. Never realised that working with ASP.net was so much fun. Sunil and Sharath helped us program with them and they gave demos on programming for a mobile device - An applicaton which detects any bluetooth enabled device within its range.
It had rained all the while and i had a long way to ride back home. Bid my small family of champs adieu and left with Pavan(partner of APS). I knew the day wouldnt end so soon without a lil more fun.We missed a turn and ended up touring that part of Bangalore. Thanx to all those auto drivers who led us to familiar roads and i drove back home safe n dry to listen to some great songs on Radio City. Thank god for bringing back english songs on radio.
Sunday 11th september was just another day. Attended my Gre classes from 2:30 to 7:30. Learnt a cple of geometry formulae and lotsa words which i can barely remember now.