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Last post Author Topic: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced  (Read 36284 times)

mouser

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Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« on: November 28, 2006, 09:35 AM »
We are very happy to announce the winner of the incredible Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Giveaway, generously donated by Chris Hanscom from Veign.com (worth over $10k).


beachs.png



The prize is going to Chaim Krause (aka Tinjaw here on the forums).
Congratulations !!!


(now make us proud and actually use it to produce some good software)




Because of the unusual nature of this prize we worked hard to try to get it into the hands of someone we thought would put it to real use.  We started by identifying a small set of people who we thought would make good use of it, based on their detailed entry submissions. And then we basically just picked a winner at random from those top contenders.  It was the fairest way we could think of to try to avoid just giving it out purely at random to someone who would not actually benefit from it.



Now if you didn't win.. Don't feel bad just yet, because you're not going to believe this but Chris has decided to give way his second copy of this as well!!!!

That's right, you heard correctly.. We are going to be giving away ANOTHER Vistual Studio Team Suite in the next 2 weeks!

« Last Edit: December 01, 2006, 03:41 PM by mouser »

Veign

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2006, 10:10 AM »
First off, Congrats to Chaim Krause on this awesome giveaway.  I would love to hear from you in the future in how you put this to use and look forward to some great apps from you posted on DonationCoder  :D

Second, I just want to say thanx to all who have submitted an entry and did not win and ensure you that I will be reviewing all entries again for the next giveaway.

And lastly, thanx to Mouse / DonationCoder for all the work he did in putting this giveaway on.

CodeTRUCKER

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2006, 03:19 PM »
Congrats to a worthy recipient!
« Last Edit: May 13, 2009, 05:46 PM by CodeTRUCKER »

f0dder

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2006, 05:06 PM »
Congrats, tinjaw!

Now send over the second copy of vs.net to me ;P
- carpe noctem

mouser

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2006, 05:08 PM »
f0dder, lol.

Deozaan

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2006, 05:47 PM »
Congratulations!

tinjaw

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2006, 06:46 PM »
First of all I would like to thank the academy. Without them none of this would have been possible. I would also like to thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for giving me the power and inspiration to click the submit button, despite all of the hardships. Hardships that have made me a better person.  :P

I am so happy to have won this prize. I want to code up an infinite recursion loop to send thanks to Veign, mouser, and the Donation Coder community. This is not only going to provide me with, literally, years of fun, but it just might be the last little boost I needed to send me down the path of developing my first "real" application for release in the commercial software market. I have been kicking around many ideas and it is time to put my prize where my mouth is!

Of course, I am going to christen this prize by building my first Donation Coder program for N.A.N.Y. I hope it will be the first of many.

Now if you please excuse me I need to start downloading a terabyte of software from Microsoft.  :D

mwb1100

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2006, 12:03 AM »
Congratulations, Tinjaw!

I can now say that given the pressure of the expectations, I'm quite glad that I didn't win (not that I really had a chance, since I didn't give any bio or indication of what my plans for the software would be...).

Being a non-winner, I can remain secure in my happy, little life of sitting back and doing nothing.  Whew!

So, Tinjaw, time to get to work!

Ruffnekk

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2006, 05:10 AM »
Congrats Tinjaw! You must be a happy man right now  ;) I’m jealous!!  :P
Regards,
RuffNekk

Programming is an art form that fights back.

Blaster

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2006, 08:34 AM »
Congratulations, Tinjaw!

tinjaw

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2006, 07:50 PM »
For those one or two of you that might be curious about what I said when asked about my programming background and how I plan to use the prize, here is a copy of my entry. (Complete with spelling errors)

My Programming Background: I started programming when I was in junior high school. Our school bought a TRS-80 Model I Level I and I taught myself how to program BASIC by staying after school while the math teacher graded homework. That same teacher asked me to teach math class one day to explain the jackpot program I wrote and how it used statistics, probability, and randomly generated numbers. I was hooked. I saved up $318 dollars, my dad matched it dollar for dollar, and I bought a TRS-80 Color Computer. I quickly learned Extended Color BASIC and wrote programs to assist me while playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. In high school, another math teacher started a BASIC programming class using the school\'s brand new Apple II computers. The first few minutes of class was instruction with the rest in the \"computer lab\". The students in the class quickly found out that I knew more than the teacher, and I asked me more questions than him. Later in life I got a job at Borland. I started there doing tech support for ReportSmith, but in a few months I had taught myself Delphi and moved over to the Delphi Developer Support team. I became a certified Delphi Client Server Programmer and wrote a chapter on building web applications in Special Edition: Using Delphi 3. I moved over to the Enterprise Developer Support team when Borland bought a company and had a CORBA product. On that team I started to learn C++ and Java because most of the developers using the CORBA product coded in those two languages. I taught myself enough Java, that when Borland participated in drafting the 0.9 version of the new Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) specification I moved to the QA team and helped build their EJB server product. While at Borland, I was asked by the former VP of marketing at Borland that launched Delphi to join the company he was then at as a technical program manager for their new Visual Designer. In that position I worked with sophisticated enterprise developers as they tackled Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) issues. It was there that I learned SQL and the use of middleware. That company, Active Software, merged with webMethods, a company who helped define B2B. It was then that I taught myself about XML, web services, WSDL, UDDI, and other related technologies. I because a Systems Engineer and managed their corporate HQ demonstration center, which meant teaching myself Linux, Solaris, HPUX, and Windows 2000 Server along with CISCO PIX firewalls, NAT, and VPNs. These days I work for Northrop Grumman on contract with the US Army at their Command and General Staff College. It is here that I taught myself BASH shell scripting, NSIS installer scripting, virtual machines using VMware, Xen, FreeVPS, and OpenVZ. Recently I have begun to teach myself Python, and have already written two utilities to assist in my work. I already have several DOS batch scripts that have been adopted as SOP by the college and I just recently wrote a small utility in Java to allow an instructor to do something with one of the simulations that he could not do with the simulation alone. He has taught four different classes now using that utility. While I wrote it I taught myself NetBeans and then Eclipse. I also needed to teach myself version control, so I learned to administer and use Subversion. I also learned to use Mantis for bug tracking and Trac to coordinate development work.

How I might put this prize to use: I have talked to a few different entities in the past nine months, and I think it is time to take the leap. I have begun working on a few projects of my own that I hope will allow me to break into the work of recreational computer wargaming as well as develop some programs for use by the US Army. It is for these projects that MS Visual Studio and MSDN would prove invaluable. I am struggling to recover from a bankruptcy and cannot afford to purchase such a high ticket item. Such a prize would allow me to upgrade from XP Home to Windows XP Professional on my laptop and get Server 2003 running on the server in my apartment. I could start to develop my wargame in C++ or C# and use Visual SourceSafe for version control. For the programs that I want to build as a defense contractor (I just started one last week!) I will need to build and test against Exchange Server and SQL Server. I have been trying to find a used copy of Visio do help with the design documents and a new copy of Visio for Enterprise Architects would be worn out within a few weeks. Not to mention all of the proposals and documentation that will be created using Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. I am sure to venture into new areas requiring MSDN. For example, just last night I was working on a side project I thought up and pitched to Northrop Grumman and IDSI. I have some working code in Python but I need to do some conversion between the standard lat-lon coordinates to the military MGRS. I found some open source code from the NGA, but it is in C. I researched and discovered SWIG that will allow me to wrap the C code and use it in my Python code. All of the examples and the default development environment is for MS Visual Studio. A product I don\'t currently own. Instant use case there!! Additionally, a close buddy of mine is developing an online Role Playing Game (RPG) game server using ASP.NET and has been asking me to work with him. With this prize I can setup a secure site for us to do development together by using IIS, ISA Server, and SharePoint Portal Server for collaboration. I can use Team Foundation Server for all of these projects and my collaborators. On top of all this, I have just pledged to join DonationCoder\'s N.A.N.Y. challenge and could use that as a great way for me to get familiar with Visual Studio and give back to the DC community.

I think I have a pretty good leg to stand on when I claim that such a prize would be fully appreciated for what it really is and used for years to come for a good cause (and to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way!!).

Just a quick note to our non-American friends: The last part is a joke that I knew mouser would understand, but you all may not. If you read what I wrote it kinda sounds like I am describing myself as Superman. Superman is a comic book super hero that was popular when I was a child. What I added was a quote from the television cartoon that I grew up watching. I was poking fun at myself. Here is a link that may put it in perspective.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2006, 08:00 PM by tinjaw »

online4cb

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Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2006, 09:49 PM »
Wow!, Chaim.  Congratulations and thanks for including your application.  I hope everything comes to fruition for you.

Todd

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2006, 02:38 PM »
Congrats! Your entry made mine look sad.  You deserve it.  Have fun with your new toy! :Thmbsup:

tinjaw

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2006, 03:57 PM »
online4cb, Todd,

Thanks! The box from Microsoft should show up right about Christmas Day!

mouser

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2006, 12:23 PM »
After some soul searching and facing-up-to-reality of not being able to afford any of these tools, I have decided to accept Chris' offer to donate the 2nd copy of the Visual Studio Suite to me and DonationCoder.com

It really wasn't an easy decision - I really did want it to go to someone on the site who could put it to good use.  And when there was only one copy available, I didn't even consider asking for it.

But it was also something that I thought DC could really really benefit from and just could not afford to buy, and so when the second copy became available, I struggled with the decision and in the end was very very grateful to accept the gift for DonationCoder.com's own use.

I can only promise that I/we will use it to create good programs for all of you.
And again, thank you Chris for this incredible gift.

-mouser (Jesse)
« Last Edit: December 08, 2006, 12:31 PM by mouser »

CodeTRUCKER

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2006, 01:14 PM »
I can only promise that I/we will use it to create good programs for all of you.
And again, thank you Chris for this incredible gift.

-mouser (Jesse)

That is a good one!  ;D
« Last Edit: May 13, 2009, 05:50 PM by CodeTRUCKER »

mouser

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2006, 01:19 PM »
It wasn't a joke!  :o

mitzevo

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2006, 01:27 PM »
Yo mouser that's a wise decision.. If no body is ok with your decision then too bad.. Clearly a lot of people benefit from your applications.. seems only logical to reward your self for such quality work, yeah yeah yada yada

go code some crazy cool apps for people to enjoy  ;D 8)
The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.

CodeTRUCKER

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #18 on: December 08, 2006, 02:33 PM »
Note to the Reader
The following posts refer to a heated debate that ensued after I was affronted by the fact that the second prize was donated to DC.  If I had it in my power, I would edit more than mine, but I do not possess it and the other posters have not felt an inclination to do so.  The Reader will be able to readily comprehend the nature of my protests by the words of rebuttal and explanation.  The main thing I wish to say is I am now happy and content that the package has found a worthy owner.  I am also content with all of those with whom I was crossways  The fact of the matter is that all is now well and the participants at DC will enjoy the benefits of Chris' (Veign) and Jessie's (Mouser) decision.

« Last Edit: May 13, 2009, 06:04 PM by CodeTRUCKER »

Veign

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2006, 02:38 PM »
To re-iterate what mouser said. 

We discussed what to do with the second giveaway extensively and kept trying to work out a way that we could give it to a person who was most deserving.  What happened was we kept running into contraints with time. See, the giveawy has to be used with in a couple weeks or it just dies.

I had offered the first giveaway to mouser a long time ago but he turned it down.  When I decided to use the second giveaway through DC I knew in the back of my mind that I really wanted DC to have it since I felt the amount of good this site does and the amount of good this site could do with the proper tools far outwayed anything else I could come up with. 

I hope everyone understands and will realize that although mouser received the giveaway, I truly feel that the members of this site will be the ones who benefit.


CodeTRUCKER

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #20 on: December 08, 2006, 02:52 PM »
[Long unecessary post deleted by author.]
« Last Edit: May 13, 2009, 06:02 PM by CodeTRUCKER »

Veign

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #21 on: December 08, 2006, 03:00 PM »
Calvin,
Chill out.  My response was composed prior your reply.  In fact, when I was writing it your post was not on the page I was looking at.

I have no issues responding to your post but it is a bit lengthy and will take some time.

« Last Edit: December 08, 2006, 03:02 PM by Veign »

mouser

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #22 on: December 08, 2006, 03:06 PM »
:(....

Calvin I can understand why you might be frustrated but let me try to expound a bit and explain exactly what happend - i think there may be some misunderstandings and things i didn't explain well.

We've been trying to run little contests and challenges since we started.  Some are just completely random things, some are just funny, and a few have been programming contests.  I don't think any of them have gone 100% smoothly.  It's mostly just me trying to put these things together, round up prizes, etc.  The Borland C++ Builder contest was postponed at least once.  The accessibility game contest currently running has been postponed twice..  So my organizational skills might not be the best.. But they have all been done with integrity and fairness and transparency, and in an honorable fashion, and i stand by that.

When Chris let me know he had a copy of Visual Studio and wanted to talk about what to do with it he offered it to me, but i thought it would be really wonderful if we could find someone to give it to instead.  But time was so limited, and we were concerned that MS would not like if we gave it away as prize in a programming contest.

So we decided put up a page and let people just submit their names to win.

But then we hit the first dilemna.  When you put up a prize worth $10k, everyone enters.  Whether they need it or not.  This is a really specialized tool and it was just breaking my heart that someone would win it who would have no use for it at all.  You may have noticed if you hang out around the forum and read what i write, that i am kind of obsessed with the idea of fairness and trying to make sure people get what they need, etc.  So I came up with the idea of asking people to write in some comments about their background and how they would use the prize, to try to narrow down the people who would enter and who we would consider to win it.  In the end chris and I made a list of who our top entrants were, based on the submissions, and chris selected the winner from the those lists. Certailny its not a perfect way to decide who should get it (i would have preferred a progamming contest), but better than just giving it out randomly.

There was never meant to be another copy given away.  That was all we ever had planned, and I think we did it well enough and did it in as best and fair a way as we could.  I never promissed Chris anything for the donation and never would, and he didn't ask for anything.  I was happy to thank him publicly for it, nothing more, nothing less.

Chris then decided that he would like to give his second copy out to me/donationcoder or else to someone else on the list who entered before, or re-open the entry forms, etc.  I thought very long and hard about it.  I could really use it, but I thought maybe we should give it away to one of the other few deserving people who entered before.  I didn't want to open up new entries again because we have new stuff we want to talk about and time was running so short that we didn't really have time to do it again (had to be given away by end of december).  So in the end it was a toss up between me accepting it as chris originally intended, or giving it away to someone else who entered the first time.  I t was a very tricky decision for me - but in the end i decided that i would accept it as a gift from chris.  I posted about it because i thought in the spirit of full disclosure that it was important to do so.

I think it's important to just reiterate one thing: We never planned on giving away the 2nd copy and the contest only ever described the one copy we were giving away.  The contest was always open to everyone and we gave away the one we intended to.  I may have wrongly given the impression in my post that we specifically gave it to a DC member.  In fact, i hope tinjaw won't feel offended, but while he was in my top 5 list of candidates, he wasn't my top recommended candidate - i had someone who had never been to the site or forum but who did some stuff on codeproject.com that i was impressed with.  I did mention at the bottom of the post when i announced tinjaw as the winner that Veign decided to give away another copy - I shoudn't have done because it may have gotten people's hopes up that they might still win a bonus second copy.  I apologize for that.

I would never do anything to risk the reputation of this site or the trust of the members; i encourage you to talk to anyone who has ever donated anything to this site for any of the contests, discounts, giveaways, etc. - i've never asked for anything in return, and the idea of taking payment or kickbacks for promoting stuff is a complete anathema to me.  I have no interest in living that kind of life.

Maybe that helps explain things a little better.  I can see why you might have had a bad reaction to it but i hope my explanation makes a little clear that this was a 2nd copy never intended to be given away, and that we ran the contest in a fair fashion, whose sole purpose was to give out an amazing prize to someone who we thought would use it most, nothing more, nothing less.  I do think these discussions are almost always healthy so i encourage anyone who thinks i/we did things wrong to make their feelings known so we can correct ourselves when we don't do things the way we should..

-mouser (Jesse)
« Last Edit: December 08, 2006, 03:20 PM by mouser »

f0dder

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #23 on: December 08, 2006, 03:19 PM »
I'm just glad you aren't stuck with Borland junk anymore now, mouser :)
- carpe noctem

mouser

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Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
« Reply #24 on: December 08, 2006, 03:22 PM »
I still love my Borland C++ Builder !!

ps. Borland paid me $20,000 to post this  :P