GAMTUG: Rave

Community @ Work

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:55:32 GMT

It's not every day that you get to meet a truly great community leader but I did last Friday. Meet Brendan Smith a tireless leader on the DERI outreach program.

I had been hearing about the great work Brendan was doing with the schools and in particular his efforts to make the Asylum seekers feel welcome in Galway [setting up an Internet facility to make their communication with home less stressful]. It was a real pleasure to meet him in person.

Check out his Blog [Speedie's] in the blog list to the left

Salute to the Background Workers

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:38:50 GMT

Taken from GAMTUG: A Night at the Cinema

Just like the Background Worker Component in framework 2 [which is used to put long running activities into background threads ] user groups rely heavily on background workers who display (inter alia) the following characteristics

fantastic creativity
immense organizational skills
ability to fade into the background
never seek credit - even when it's patently overdue

Meet Fergal and Barry from Irish Dev to whom we in MTUG owe an immense debt of gratitude - if it were in my power I would nominate them both for Irish Internet People of the year.

This Developer Community Works

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:18:42 GMT

Taken from GAMTUG: MTUG Community Leaders

Meet David Houston - Small Business Server Community Leader MTUG. - a true Community practitioner.I met David at this year's annual User Group Leader summit .

Remember in "2007-2008 Season - What's the Lineup" I said ...

So why not join us at our community meetings and let's start sharing knowledge - it's not what you know - it's knowing who has the answer to your current show stopper.
You never know when you need to call on someone - Today my SBS server decided to cease cooperating with me. I remembered that David told me to call him anytime if I had a problem with SBS. Being a developer , I know nothing about Servers - to me they're akin to black magic /voodoo - it's like owning a car - I can drive it but don't ask me to change the oil.

So , paint the picture , I'm sitting at my desk as I try to access the Internet - nothing doing - I use it exclusively to support my clients - Monday morning first thing I have a client coming on for a software update. It's Saturday 11:45 am where am I going to get IT support. I check the server and sure enough I have access from there - but there's an ISA server error showing up in my event logs.
The awful thought goes thru' my mind - I'll have to re-install Small Business Server - there goes Sunday.In desperation I contact David . In 4 minutes by a series of astute questions my problem is solved - download the latest service pack for ISA server - I thought I had auto updates enabled but as that wise Connemara women would say "Na bi Ceapadh - bi cinnte" Never Assume also Ensure.

Thanks DAVID for making my day - you're the reason I'm glad to be part of this fantastic community MTUG

Martha's Silverlight Tour

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:11:32 GMT

Taken from GAMTUG: Bar Camp Galway 2007

Those lucky few with a valid ticket for tonight's Silverlight sparks ignite RIA (SOLD OUT) will be able to tell their grandchildren - I was there when Martha presented her Silverlight talk. This show has been playing off 'Broadway' for the last week [5 presentations in 3 days] to a much appreciative and captivated audience here in the West of Ireland.Martha has brought the sparkle back into programming to both Student and practitioner alike - don't be fooled by her quiet delivery - this Lady knows her product - every sentence is measured and precise - and every now and then the passion she feels for her subject bubbles to the surface.

It's not often that you get to see a ROCK STAR in action - don't be late - halo 3 launch party pales in comparison

A major loss for the Silverlight team - a major gain for the Developer community in Ireland - DPE Ireland Rocks!!