Microsoft loving U Waterloo

[Tony]

Microsoft was giving a presentation today in the University of Waterloo on how to build games with C# and DirectX. Not a Halo 3 (though they were joking about that), though they have covered a lot of fundementals from vertices to polygons to cameras and lights. Sample code for all.

Of course it's not a Microsoft presentation without something crashing. Visual Studio has managed to hang itself at a point early in the presentation

What's the point of all of this? I got a free copy of


Programming Windows with C# Core Reference ($CAN 86.99 suggested retail). Couple of t-shirts and a CD for Visual Studio Express (no big deal, Express is distributed for free online).

Also got to talk to some people from the Infusion Development. They'll be hiring in Fall, so who knows.

Now, if only I could find a Windows machine to install this Visual Studio on

Ninja Edit: Oh, MS was also ruffling out an Xbox 360.. Though they couldn't actually get a hold of one, so they gave away a gift certificate for Futureshop instead. Asking very nicely not to spend it on "something or other-stations"

[Andy]

WOW!, did everyone get that book tony? dang it i want one..

[Tony]

yeah, everyone got the book.. the place was pretty busy, they estimated 300~400 people. Most of RCH 101 was filled.

[Andy]

err do you have any friends that doesnt want their book?

[Tony]

not anyone that I know personally. Though I think that if you ask around, you could find a bunch of people who'll try to sell their copies off.

I think that UW LJ would be a good place to start.

[MysticVegeta]

heh now they want to brain drain UW.

[wtd]

This would be nothing new. Microsoft has long heavily "invested" in UW.

[Tony]

they have every interest to invest in us since they hire us. University got a pile of money to teach C#, and now we get free reference books. Score!

[wtd]

It doesn't strike you as crass?

[codemage]

It strikes me as good marketing. Crass and effective. That would be a good motto for MS: incultus quod efficax

[Dan]

U of W seems like a logical choice to me, it is a school that has a large population of sutdetns sutdying CS and other progames that they need but most importly the magoirty of them also are in it almost soley for money. You whould not whont to go to a uni where the magoirit of the peoleop in the progam are in it are local (from ontraio/canada) and probly are in it for muptial reasons and may have some ideas runing agisted M$ idelgoly.

It also helps that U of W is easy to buy out and i have hured many sotrys of profs get larg sums of money to use X textbook or teach X langue as tony was hiting at.

[bugzpodder]

One thing that strikes me is the grades of these "bright" Waterloo CS students. In a class of about 300, merely 11 scored 90% or higher on a recent CS midterm. Now, good grades doesnt necessarily translate into good developers and vice versa, but I find it disturbing at the lack of attitude and hard work that seems all too common with Waterloo CS students. I have being impressed only by a few really good CS students at waterloo, and all of them have exceptional grades of like 98% average.

Just take a recent honour roll, you can count the number of students on there, which isn't much. How hard is it to get 87% average in Waterloo? Not hard at all I'd say. But is everyone doing it? apparently not.

To prove my point, will anyone from Waterloo care to post their grades/averages?

I still fail to see the talent in majority of the CS students here at Waterloo. The only thing I see is vast majority of students struggle to get through the courses (which is mostly theory based... so that might be a reason)
How much is MS, Google, and others getting out of investing in Waterloo?

On other news, Orgami unfolded:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309/ap_on_hi_te/origami_unfolded

[wtd]

Something to consider, for those who are enthusiastic about being the recipient of so muych love from Microsoft, and the fact that Microsoft hires so many UW CS grads.

Microsoft has one of the highest new employee turnover rates in the software business. They spend huge amounts getting schools to train students in how to use today's tools, but four years later, those skills are four years out of date.

Students right now are likely being taught how to write C# 1.1 code. Guess what... Microsoft is already looking forward to C# 3.0, and it's a pretty radical departure from 1.1. Heck, even from 2.0.

By the time anyone here graduates, MS will want people who can write C# 3.0, VB9, and possibly Iron Python code. What do you think the odds are that university classes will even mention this stuff?

[codemage]

Grads shouldn't get the idea in their heads that they'll be working at MS for more than 5 years average, 10 years if they constantly upgrade their skillset (on their own time) - unless they crack management.

The brightest & best & safest from burnout are the green recruits right out of undergrad, IMSHO.

[Tony]

well that's the bottom line: University is about learning to learn, not actually learning something that will be obsolete shortly after graduation.[/b]