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Chatting about Open Source at University of Waterloo

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I was in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada last week for a day talking to the students at the University of Waterloo about the Open Source Labs at Microsoft, and about working at Microsoft as an intern or full time employee.(well, I stayed in Kitchener, the university itself is in Waterloo)  Now, I grew up in the era of computer languages coming out of the guys down there. Watcom C, C++, Fortran... ah those were the days.  I never went to no University (never took to book learnin'--out on the range, only thing you need to rustle code is your trusty Model M under your fingers) so I was actually kinda excited to see how the city-folk did it.  

I got there about a half hour before my session and setup the projector and whatnot, and the recruiter from Microsoft had a box full of goodies for me to give away after I was done--which brings me to a really good point: when Microsoft comes a-courtin', stay till the end--the prizes are often worth it. In addition to the predictable t-shirts, software, keyboards and mice, I gave away a pretty darn nice digital camera, with a bunch of accessories.  At the end of the night, I drew names, and let them pick their prize.

Now, I know that y'all in the city do things a tad different, but what happened next completely knocked me off my horse.  The first name I drew came up, looked over this items and picked... a t-shirt! ... The next one picked a copy of Expression Blend -- ok, that was cool, but still--a pretty nice digital camera. The next one picked up a keyboard and mouse combo. Finally the fourth one took the digital camera. I never thought I'd have so much trouble giving away a camera :)

I had a great time talking with the students; we covered what the OSSL lab has done, where we're headed and what can we do to get better. I got to talk about my time at Microsoft, working in the product group, and now in the OSSL.  They were very nice to me, and I think they got alot out of it too.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
    It's the University of Waterloo, not Waterloo University.  Also, UW is in Waterloo, not Kitchener. Rob

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
    My Apologies Rob--I've fixed it. That's what I get for composing when I'm flying, and publishing without verifying. :S G