Terence Lim

Windows 8 was launched on 26 October 2012 all over the world, and I was fortunately enough to be in London to witness for myself the Windows 8 Elite Launch here! The event was held at the Modern Jago Studios in Shoreditch, London, and it was extremely exclusive. In order to qualify, I had to get myself into the Elite programme, where I first had to build a great Windows 8 app and submit it to the Windows Store by 26 Oct 2012, which actually wasn’t too difficult! This has to be one of the most interesting events I’ve attended. Not only was the place very beautifully done up with free Polaroid pictures taken for us at the gallery, there were exciting activities to keep us occupied throughout the event! For instance, there was the Race car competition where we attendees had the opportunity to race with fellow app builders around the 8 lane figure of 8 track, with computerised lap times and top gear style leader board. The top performer walked away with an Xbox 360!! At the bar, there were free flow drinks up for grabs, while enthusiasts like myself had the chance to join in the mixology lab and learn how to create our very own cocktail from the professional bartenders on site! Served with Bangers & Mash, Fish & Chips and Burgers, we were given the opportunity to network with fellow Windows 8 app builders, and also create our very own customized limited edition Windows 8 Elite launch T-Shirts in less than 5 minutes. Mr. Anand Krishnan, Senior Director, Developer and Platform Group, Microsoft UK also took the opportunity to address the attendees. Briefly, he highlighted to app developers the potential of Windows 8, and also the benefits of being in the Elite programme, which includes exclusive invitations to many networking and app developer events in the UK. One of the highlights is to meet Steve Ballmer in person on the 7 Nov 2012. There were also opportunities for us to promote and showcase our apps, which is absolutely amazing! Since a picture speaks a thousand words, I’ll let them do the talking! In the meantime, if you happen to be in London from now till end of the year, be sure to check out some of these free-to-attend camps and workshops to provide you with resources to create your very own Windows 8 apps. And, if you’re in Singapore, do join us for WOWZAPP 2012: Worldwide Hackathon for Windows! This event is also held worldwide. ...

I’ve embarked on the above-described 12-week Intern to MACH programme in the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) team, and no doubt it has been an awesome and rewarding journey! In fact, I’ve come on board during one of the most exciting times, as Windows 8 is the upcoming platform that Microsoft is launching on 26th October later this year. [caption id=“attachment_11024” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“A Microsoft Employee - Intern to MACH”][/caption] My role as a Developer Evangelist included the planning and execution of Windows 8 developer campaigns for the breadth and academic audience, increasing awareness within & engaging the developer community, driving adoption & application development on the platform and ramping up Windows 8 development skills. Life in DPE was totally awesome. Apart from a nice and flexible working environment, lots of sugar rush from the drinks in the pantry, most importantly, there were lots of nice and talented people in the DPE team. On the day where I first met my hiring manager, he tasked me to develop Windows 8 Metro-style apps by the end of that week. Despite having no prior experience to Windows 8 development (i.e. C# or .NET), I managed to develop 2 apps fairly easily, thanks to the flexibility of Windows 8 which allows me to make use of my web design and HTML5 + JavaScript skills. Through this process, I developed a very good understanding of the Windows 8 development process, a knowledge which every Developer Evangelist requires! I also attended a Premier Field Engineer Excellence Lab and obtained a token (worth $60) for my apps, which gave me a free access to upload my apps into the Windows Store! Soon after, I took ownership of managing the PFE labs, and assisted developers to attend the sessions! Check out my PFE Lab experiences and see for yourself what other developers have to say about their experiences. It’s really not very hard to develop Windows 8 apps, so why not join in the fun? :) What I really liked about my role is that despite being only an intern, I was trusted with the responsibility as a full-time employee. Not only do I get to manage and use a given budget (an amount more than what I have in my bank account :p), I enjoyed the autonomy over the conceptualization and execution of my projects and events. I suppose one of the highlights of my internship would be the Dream.Build.Launch - Hackathon 2012 event which I organized 2 weeks into my internship with the given budget. The first of a kind in Singapore, this event aims to provide students with the opportunity with meeting like-minded people who love technology, exchange ideas, experience ‘working’ in Microsoft for a day, and ultimately learn and create a Metro style Windows 8 app in teams of two! [caption id=“attachment_11009” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The opening for the Dream . Build . Launch - Hackathon 2012”][/caption] From the overwhelming responses, my team subsequently organized a series of Hack Weekends (Hack Weekend 1, Hack Weekend 2 & NDP Special) which took place fortnightly. Through these Hack Weekends, developers with a Windows 8 app idea were given some time to share them and gather interested team members to work on it together. Participants were also able to share and ‘show off’ their hard work during the Show-n-Tell. It was extremely heart-warming to see many familiar faces coming back, and I also took the opportunity to make friends with many of them! [caption id=“attachment_11018” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The awesome friends I’ve made from the Hack Weekends (NDP Special)”][/caption] A project which I also really enjoyed was the Windows 8 Workshop and Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) tours for schools. Working closely with my scholarship board, the Infocomm Developer Authority of Singapore (IDA), I’ve linked up with many Infocomm Clubs of Secondary Schools, Polytechnics and Junior Colleges, and invited them down to our very own Microsoft Singapore office in One Marina Boulevard. Through these in-house workshops, I shared with students and teachers the potential and cool features of Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Subsequently, I also introduced to them the Microsoft business, and treated them to a guided tour around our office and the Microsoft Technology Center. Personally, I believe this would expose them to the Microsoft’s business and culture, help them understand a Developer Evangelist’s work life in the business, and allow them to experience first-hand the cool gadgets we have here! I really enjoyed the interaction with the participants. Not only did they offer me great insights (check out the students’ comments) from their perspective and takeaways, I also felt young once again :) [caption id=“attachment_11020” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Students and teacher enjoying themselves in the Microsoft Technology Center tour”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11021” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Students having a tour - In a Microsoft conference board room”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11072” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Excited students embarking on the Microsoft tour - Outside the Microsoft auditorium”][/caption] Apart from working solely with my DPE team, I also had the opportunity to work with fellow interns from different departments and countries. Through Protégé, an internal marketing case competition, I worked very closely with other Intern to MACHs from all over the Asia Pacific region, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia etc. Each of us were provided with a Nokia Lumia 800 device which we had to market to the student community. My fellow Intern to MACHs in the DPE team from different countries/subsidiaries also took the opportunity to learn from one another, to see how we can possibly work together to achieve our common goals. [caption id=“attachment_11029” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“WinMark8 - My awesome Protégé team”][/caption] As a developer evangelist, I was given many opportunities to meet lots of awesome people and be involved in lots of events. To name a few, I was offered a VIP pass to the Infocomm Professional Development Forum, where I learnt that as IT professionals, we must always be aware of the rapid changes in the IT industry, and to constantly keep up in order not to be obsolete. Echelon was also another event where I had the chance to promote Windows 8 to the start-up communities, and meet lots of innovative people and listen to their ideas! It was also really cool to finally meet Darth Vader and catch him “black” handed! [caption id=“attachment_11031” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“I caught Darth Vader ‘black’-handed at our Microsoft booth”][/caption] On top of these, I also had the rare opportunity to work very closely with our Singapore Microsoft Student Partners, and got to know some of them at a personal level. I was also fortunate enough to be the unofficial acting lead during my short stay here! Awesome friends I’ve made! :) [caption id=“attachment_11032” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The NYP Microsoft Student Partners team”][/caption] Who says life in Microsoft is solely about work. Speaking of work-life balance, employees at Microsoft and the DPE Team sure knows it well! Since a picture speaks a thousand words, I’ll let them do the talking :) [caption id=“attachment_11026” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“An Intern to MACH day-outing at University Studios Singapore - with the Singapore Subsidiary MACH Interns”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11044” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Our DPE Offsite where we watched The Amazing Spiderman and celebrated Kyzer’s birthday!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11067” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Chilling out with Spiffy Writers & DPE Team after work”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11027” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“A paintball match with the DPE team”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11028” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“When we thought paintball was all, nerf guns and ‘olympic’ shootouts were soon introduced into the team!”][/caption] Towards the end of our programme, we Singapore Subsidiary Intern to MACHs had the rarest opportunity to present and share our findings and take-away with the panel of Microsoft Singapore Senior Leadership and Executive Team. Sounds pretty intimidating right? As I head back to Carnegie Mellon to complete my studies, I’ll bring back these wonderful memories. Thanks everyone for making this a positive and memorable experience, and hope to see everyone again soon after I graduate! [caption id=“attachment_11036” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The awesome DPE Team!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_11046” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Thank you DPE Team :)”][/caption]

2 weeks earlier, Microsoft announced the new Outlook, which has more than 10 million sign ups till date. Today, Skydrive too has been given a makeover with a modern web design. It is designed with a new modern design for desktop and tablet browsers with instant search, contextual toolbar, thumbnail multi-select, drag-and-drop organization and HTML5 sorting! It also integrates social networking similar to outlook.com so you can easily share content with your friends. That’s not all! More refined SkyDrive apps have been launched for PCs and Macs, which allow faster uploads for users after tons of bugs and performance improvements. Windows Phone and iPhone users can access SkyDrive via their mobile phones since December 2011. Now, a new SkyDrive app will soon be introduced for Android devices, which will allow Android users to upload, share and retrieve content from SkyDrive. Developers too, have not been forgotten. Using SkyDrive’s API to build apps, developers can now store or access any type of file in a person’s SkyDrive. There’s also a newer and easier to use file picker API for websites, which will be familiar to our users who used the Windows 8 apps file picker. There will no longer be a restriction on the types of files that an application can upload to SkyDrive! Be sure to check out the full “Inside SkyDrive” story on the Windows Team Blog by SkyDrive group program managers, Omar Shahine and Mike Torres_,_ which includes full coverage, videos and screenshots.

Microsoft is rebranding the Hotmail service, moving it to Outlook.com. In this new interface, the design and layout of Hotmail has been changed to bring it more in line with the minimalist design aesthetic of Windows 8 Metro and Windows Phone, which emphasizes on straight lines, thin fonts and white spaces. It only shows up a simple “compose a new message” if you have nothing selected, and you get a suite of action commands at the top once a message is selected. One of the most breathtaking features in Outlook is that it brings in social integration too! Depending on who you are conversing with, Outlook can automatically import their recent tweets and Facebook updates, including a link to their profile, if you allow it to. As you click on an email that is from another person, the ads at right panel goes away, and is immediately replaced by links to the person’s Facebook and Twitter profiles as well as his/her latest updates. You may even like, comment or retweet right from this panel. You may also call up a chat window any time by simply clicking the speech balloon at the top. Microsoft also says Skype will be integrated in Outlook. :) Be sure to check out the Outlook.com preview :) Find out more on the Outlook blog, written by Chris Jones.

The 4th Infocomm Professional Development Forum 2012 was held on 27th July in Hotel Rendezvous. Through this half day session, industry leaders shared their insights on IT talent management and also the latest technical expertise for participants’ professional development. The theme of the event was “Staying current and empowering tomorrow”. Our guest-of-honor was Mr. Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Infocomm Development Authority Singapore. The event was kick-started by Mr. Chak Kong Soon, President Singapore Computer Society. Through his opening address, he highlighted the importance of training and also the commitment of SCS’s support through the certification programme, which include the Certification in IT Project Management and Certification in Business Continuity Management. Mr. Chak also took the opportunity to welcome Infopier, the 1st ICT professional registry in Singapore, as a co-organizer, and also to welcome IT professionals to join the network and exchange ideas. Our GOH, Mr. Tay, gave his address with an interesting analogy. As a Rear Admiral, he mentioned how the current is constantly against us IT professionals in the rapid changing IT industry. Hence, the challenge for IT professionals is the need to constantly ‘paddle’ in order to stay current. In his inspiring speech, he also highlighted that Singapore has experienced the strongest growth in Infocomm in 5 years, and there is a changing need in the skillsets in today’s IT industry. Ms. Janet Ang, Managing Director IBM Singapore, provided a keynote address on “Identifying and Nurturing Talents”, and how IBM recognizes talents in the company by identifying key success factors for employees. Leveraging on to what Mr. Tay mentioned earlier, she also highlighted that there is a need to integrate IT and domain expertise. A humorous speaker, Ms. Ang got the audience into laughter as she consistently insisted how she will stay 39 years old forever, and also how her first 2 daughters chose digital art courses over IT-related ones. She emphasized that technology is a key driver that can impact change, and her biggest takeaway for the audience is for everyone to think how we as IT professionals impact that change. The last keynote speaker of the day was Mr. Gerry Chng, Partner, Ernst & Young Advisory. In his presentation, he highlighted that today’s world brings about new opportunities in the technology scene. He brought up examples of how even a 3-year-old kid plays with an iPad, and how technology is used today to enable businesses in what they want to achieve. He gave many insights on how technology is used in leapfrogging, its ability to scale, and how it can be used to solve seasonal problems. The event quickly transited into a panel discussion on “Building a Vibrant Community of IT Talent”, facilitated by Mr. Swaran, Executive Sub-editor, The Business Times. Some issues discussed included foreign as talents as part of our vibrant community, to portraying the image that IT is a fun industry to be in. Participants were treated to an awesome tea reception, followed by 3 tracks of professional workshops, namely Networking & Infrastructure, Business Analytics and Industry-centric IT domains. The event is organized by Singapore Computer Society and Infopier and supported by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Partners include Cloud Security Alliance, Global Science & Technology Forum, Information Technology Standards Committee, IT Management Association, Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation and PMI Student Chapter.

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of the Windows and Windows Live Division, has just announced at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting that customers will be able to get Windows 8 starting 26th October 2012, just in time for Christmas :) It will be available on PC hardware and also software upgrades. This new operating system, used in most of the world’s computer systems will be adapted to the tablets, including the Microsoft Surface. In the meantime, if you can’t wait to see for yourself how fast, fluid and beautiful Windows 8 is, you can download the Windows 8 Release Preview. If you’re planning to buy a computer in the meantime, we’ve got you covered, as Microsoft is offering a Windows Upgrade Offer. Be sure not to miss out on this!

[caption id=“attachment_10030” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Hackweekend Begins”][/caption] Last Saturday marked our very first Hack Weekend, with 50 developers who came down to meet new friends and share their ideas. Hack Weekend is not a competition, but rather an opportunity for our developers to have a nice relaxed weekend to pursue their passion in programming in the nice Microsoft environment. [caption id=“attachment_10031” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Chun Siong, our Developer Evangelist, introducing Hackweekend”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10033” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Speaking about effectively prototyping your metro style apps”][/caption] Our developers were welcomed with a sumptuous breakfast, followed by an install fest by our helpful developer evangelists on site to get everyone quickly synced-up for development. Soon after, the event was kick-started by Chun Siong, our Developer Evangelist, who shared with the developers the nature of and what to expect from the event, as well as the growing market potential of our Windows 8 platform! Subsequently, Joyce, a member of our Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Audience Marketing Team, gave an introduction to designing and prototyping apps, and also provided everyone with resources with their app design. [caption id=“attachment_10038” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Li Huan pitching his idea for a Windows 8 App, Facecard”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10036” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Pitching his idea for a sports application tracker”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10037” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Dennis pitching his idea for a video streaming app that allows you to annotate frames”][/caption] The exciting moment came when developers finally took the stage and shared with everyone their app idea. Many of their ideas were very fresh and unique, and some of these ideas included an alarm clock, a finance manager, a slot machine game, a message board etc. Developers who pitched their ideas were awarded with a t-shirt, and subsequently teamed up with members who were either interested in their ideas, or had similar ideas to them. A startup team from CloudyRec also shared about their platform, which serves as a Backend as a Service, and provides a database for apps. [caption id=“attachment_10040” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Nars, showing his prototype for the application”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10042” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Demoing - My Finance app that looked very metrolicious!”][/caption] As the event coincides with the National Day Parade Rehearsal, one of the highlights of the event included the fireworks show. Our Microsoft Office overlooks the Marina Bay Reservoir and the floating platform, which gives an awesome view of the fireworks. During dinner time, the developers packed the viewing gallery at Olio, which provided an awesome view. After the fireworks ended, 15 developers had the opportunity to showcase and demo their prototypes. Many of the ideas were brilliant, even though they may not be fully completed. [caption id=“attachment_10032” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“A fruitful weekend with awesome developers and fireworks!”][/caption] It’s great to see so many of our developers talking to each other, working with friends they have just met and having fun hacking. We’re looking forward to our next Hack Weekend, and having a great time together again! If you are interested to attend our next Hack Weekend on July 28th, please register at http://bit.ly/win8hacksg Find more photos from the event here. Here are some application ideas from this Hackweekend: CardWallet - an electronic organizer of business cards, offering screen captures and tags of the cards. You can search your cards based on categories such as groups or company. CC Messenger - A closed circuit message board is an easy-to-use metro style collaboration app that can be used among closed groups - perfect for friends, family and colleagues. Tiny Quests - A casual RPG game that uses slots game mechanics to complete the game so that users can play on the go (perfect for when you are eating lunch and don’t have too many free fingers. My Finance - A finance tracking application that allows you to keep track of your investment portfolio, CPF contribution, Gold and stock prices and many more. And many more! Download the Windows 8 Release Preview ...

We’re excited to announce that we are opening up exclusive Premier Field Engineer (PFE) consultation sessions for Windows 8 applications with high potential on the Windows Store towards the last few weeks of July. In a 2-hour session, our Microsoft Engineer will provide you with comprehensive consultation services and feedback on your application’s design, user experience and attend to any of your questions on Windows 8 development. Once your application has been certified by our engineer, you will receive a free and early Windows store developer token to publish your app on the Windows Store. Send in an email to win8sg@microsoft.com if you’re interested and we’d love to meet you! When I first started learning development for Windows 8 apps, I was a little intimidated as I thought I would be faced with a steep learning curve. I wanted to create 2 Windows 8 apps, and subsequently attend 2 PFE sessions the following week. Despite only some background with web design, HTML and JavaScript, it turned out that my skills actually came in handy and that writing a Windows 8 app isn’t that hard after all! During the PFE consultation sessions, I worked closely with an engineer from Philippines, where she gave me lots of advice on how I can improve my user interface to make it more appealing to users. She was extremely detailed in her feedback, and even suggested to me how large and where a font should be placed. When she suggested adding in more Windows 8 features such as the Privacy Policy and also to conform to different resolutions screens, she was patient enough to show me how to obtain the code when I mentioned that I had no idea how to do it. It was an extremely casual session, and I felt that I could connect with her very easily when talking ’tech’ terms. I was extremely thrilled when I received and earned my first Windows store developer token shortly after the session. Through the PFE sessions, I made a friend, learned a lot about Windows 8 apps development and earned a free token to have my apps published in the Windows Store. :) After getting to know other developers through the Windows 8 Dream Build Launch hackathon, here’s what they have to share about their PFE experiences: ...

After all our participants’ hard work last weekend, our judges too, have worked very hard this whole afternoon to decide on the top 10 apps submitted for the competition. There were a total of 47 apps submitted (many of which were really awesome), and our judges had a to make very difficult choices today to decide the winners. A special mention award was specially created too! Once again, the prizes include: - Dell Inspiron 14R Special Edition Laptop (1st prize) - Nokia Lumia 900 (2nd prize) - Xbox 360 4GB Kinect Bundle (3rd prize) - Limited Edition Microsoft Arc Mouse (4th-10th prize) Prizes are awarded to each member of the winning team (up to two members per team). We will also be notifying potential developers for free consultation sessions with our Premier Field Engineers, and also free and priority access into our Windows Store. Results will be revealed from 21 June 2012 (Thursday) 12pm onwards. Top 10 List ...