The views i suggest reflect only my interpretation of the common student who ONLY gets to see .Net being shown the limelight.And hence this post to remind other like me that there are loads of other avenues for research ,and not just click and drag work.

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Dear friends and fellow students,
      I spent a good amount of the weekend "soul searching" and evaluating my perception ,and those around me - regarding Microsoft Technologies. And thats when i came to know the true research thats going on at MS as the blogs of many employees suggest.

FACT 1 : People are NOT making the most of MS technologies
it aint just drag and drop ppl .Doing all that is just the tip of the iceberg. A vehicle for innovation .Its not an gr8 thing by itself.It is also true that knowing how to create applications ,however new the API or technology is still just peanuts.and whats the big deal in just knowing how to do something without understanding the underlying funda's .Now hold on here .If you think knowing how the data is represented or the various layers of business logic or knowing the syntax for compiling on the command line is is 'geeky thoery' - then you are so so wrong . Like i was .

Because like i found out later - any one with a encouraging learning curve would in a week or two be able to :

* connect to a DB and give security
* make ur app talk to a webservice
* xml feed or data representation for ur mobile devices
* windows forms !

arrghgh !!!! Please i repeat ,this is aint anywhere close to development.The only thing you will efectively do with a stint in these is to probably have a fair edge at the sniper maps in Counterstrike or so .

For all those who thought .net was all there was going on ,and that developers cant live without the wizards .Other notions that spring up are that ppl in MS have no clue of what the hell is happening outside windows, cant live without a pretty looking IDE , and are basically guys who found this the easiest thing to do .

NO ....i repeat NO way. And i wish i could explain in details with each of you who think otherwise.I'd probably try to elaborate on why i say so. Take a look at some of the developer tools ,contrary to pupoular belief that the work that happens in MS ,is done on VS.

FACT 2: Microsoft Does not revolve around .Net alone
moreover do not have any ideas of ppl in MS coding only in .net and so on . inact the command prompt of all things is used a lot ,and so many other tools,concepts and languages all which are consolidated to make .net through which u can make ur apps. Here are some development tools below.

DEVELOPMENT Tools

( NOTE : Also check out the complete list of pre-release products included in the Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 Go-Live License )

For Office and Business solutions and products tht have interesting API 's spaning across :

FACT 3: Just because MS technologies are easier to use ,doesnt mean they are any less powerful
The topics that get me really all excited are,those that are hardly known to developers - but work at the very basic kernel and system level ,such as :

* Virtual Device Drivers for MS-DOS Applications or Special Hardware
* Microsoft STI : Still Image Device
* Microsoft Windows Internals
* Writing Windows Wdm Device Drivers ( PS: you can check out more on Getting Started with Windows Drivers and the Windows Driver Model (WDM))
* Developing Drivers with the Windows Driver Development Kits(DDK's)
* Writing Windows VxDs & Device Drivers
* Hardware ,Display Compatibility Test kits & DVD Test Annex
* Windows Native API References
* Microsoft Active Accessibility 2.0 Software Development Kit Tools ( check out accesability code samples here , and a gr8 list of resources here )
* The Real-time Communications (RTC) Client
* Rotor and so on

Will take some time to go through each of the above.So while im at it , ive decided to go back in time and anayse how it all evolved. Starting with the windows version history for DOS , tried finding the first API call ever ,but i cudnt find it .

Then found this dated to 1994,that talked bout Creating Useful Native Visual Basic and Microsoft Access Functions.For Getting started with System programming in Windows ,you can check out WHDC for :

System and Device Design - Designing for Windows compatibility and reliability from the beginning prevents much rework later.

Driver Development - Microsoft provides the Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK) and a collection of testing tools to help you build reliable, stable, and secure drivers.

Logo Program Testing - To supplement your company's quality assurance practices, the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) testing programs and the Windows Hardware Compatibility Tests (HCT) will help ensure that your hardware and drivers qualify for the "Designed for Windows" logo.

Qualification Service - Windows Quality Online Services provides the Web site infrastructure that you use to qualify your products for Microsoft logo programs and to list them in product catalogs and directories.

Product Maintenance - Windows Quality Online Services offer several methods for maintaining and distributing drivers, including the ability for your company to view Windows Error Reporting (WER) data associated with driver failures.

So the next time ,someone tells you that MS is all bout clicking and dragging or wizards ,you know what they're missing out on :)

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Keep Clicking,
Bhasker , Microsoft Student Champ,
SVCE - Chennai(India)

i agree to this. some people think MS products are bloated because it gots lots of features they do not use. if they will just try to utilize these stuffs, i guess they will be more productive.

Didn't read the last few lines, but I definitly agree. When you're not only clicking and dragin stuff but actualy workin, you see what MS technologies offer. That's why I love MS :D Now I'm planing on to get Encarta, Student, Money, Works Suite & Streets and tips. Just to check the programs out and if they can be usefull for me. As I've seen the descriptions on the MS site, it's worth to take a better look.

That I don't mention that I'm getting into learning every programing language!! =)

p.s.: Some people are just to lazy to do anything else than click and drag :P

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.:. Don't hesitate to educate yourself .:.