How Microsoft has impacted my life and how I plan to bring a change to the society being a Microsoft Student Associate?

Hey there, I am Irfan Hussain from Awantipora J&K majoring in Computer Science (MCA) at Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST) Awantipora J&K. I am here to express the impact of Microsoft on my life and How I am now planning to bring a change to the society being a Microsoft Student Associate as depicted by the title. Here is my story:

Microsoft in itself is really big name in the computer industry from last 35 years. It has evolved from being an OS developing company to a giant in Technology. There are several products of Microsoft which are used worldwide to utilize the power of computer to full extent.From Windows in 1985 to XBOX, Surface and Windows Phone, Microsoft has not only changed the way people live but have invented a new way of computing reason being the user-friendly environment and ease of use of its products. It will be freaky wrong to say that there would have been such use of computers in daily life as it is currently in the world without the technology giant-Microsoft helping people to reach what they want and what they need.

Microsoft hasn't only impacted my life but of millions and billions of people around the world. It introduced such technologies to the masses which could have been a dream for people. People would have been still using "Pen & Paper" to accomplish their work but Microsoft being a well-wisher of the people almost kept that apart and defined new ways to work with computers easily and effectively.

I remember when I was a kid (not a kid indeed but a kid in using a computer), I used to write my name in Office Word and play with it by changing its colours, styles, fonts though not being a playing app tool for kids but it would please me and make me happy that time. I used to praise Office Word in my own style before my colleagues and friends and tell them the impossible things it can do with just a click or so as it wasn't a common thing in our lives or anyone's but Microsoft with its innovative and incredible efforts has reached the heights that even an 8 year old kid now knows what Microsoft has done for the sake of technology. I used to create paintings and all that in Paint instead of going out and play. It was impact of Microsoft on me being a kid. With the time I grown up and got to know more about Microsoft and the fields Microsoft is consistently contributing to. I was limited to Office and Windows products of Microsoft until there was advent of Internet in my life. After that internet revolution I got to know about more Microsoft products and services which include MSN,Hotmail, Bing and SkyDrive (now OneDrive) at a later stage.These prodcuts changed the way I live, explore, learn and innovate.

When Microsoft revolutionized and changed the way of work in Offices, Teaching and Learning in Schools, Entertainment in Homes through Windows Desktop OS it was a great time to reach pockets of people to bring another revolution to the computing world by introducing Windows in pocket, Sorry! Windows in Phone, Oh-Gosh! Windows Phone. At the time of introduction of Windows Phone nobody thought it would be a success. It first introduced Windows Phone 7 by partnering with some hardware manufacturing giants like Samsung, HTC and Nokia at a later stage which was a total success for Microsoft. I got an early opportunity to get my hands on Windows Phone and have a sneak into some latest by Microsoft, believe me the experience was really out of this world. Above all the features of the OS the Metro style UI and Live tiles on start screen was totally incredible.

The thing which added sugar to the tea was the release of Windows Phone 8 which pleased me and I could easily substitute my Laptop with my Windows Phone. My focus is on learning more programming languages (JAVA,.Net,C#), Web Technologies (JavaScript, ASP & PHP) and I am now starting to learn Windows App development by using Visual Studio (Thanks to DreamSpark for free Visual Studio) so that I can pursue to an innovative and creative carrier in Microsoft Technologies alongside my academics. 

Unfortunately I didn't ever got a chance to get my hands on some other products of Microsoft- XBOX and Surface because of the limited economical resources but I hope the time will not be so far.

How I plan to bring a change in the society being a Microsoft Student Associate (MSA)?

I want people to love technology as much as I love it. Being a Microsoft Student Associate I will keep exploring and learning more about technology and would love to spread and communicate the information about Microsoft products and technologies to my colleagues, friends and all those who can make most of it by organizing events, seminars and various sessions in my institute and outside it as well. I want everyone to be more enthusiastic and kind to technology and use it in every walk of their lives. I will definitely work for it to happen. I have participated in several workshops, seminars, tech events and also volunteered  and helped in organizing DreamSpark 2012 & DreamSpark 2013 in Srinagar. I will keep organizing such events  and use the experience in getting most out of it

This is Irfan, Signing off! Bye Bye.

Connect with me: http://erfaanhussain.com
Email: me@erfaanhussain.com

Blog also on: http://erfaanhussain.com/mic_blog.html

Post by ErFaan Hussain.

Aakash 2 launched, available to students for Rs 1,130

Right on cue, on the occasion of National Education Day yesterday, President Pranab Mukherjee and the Human Resources and Development (HRD) minister, MM Pallam Raju, launched the Aakash 2 tablet at Vigyan Bhawan, putting an end to months of speculation surrounding the launch of the tablet. The upgraded tablet will be made available to students in India at a subsidised price of Rs 1,130. According to reports, Aakash 2 will be made available to engineering college students and universities for starters, and will be subsequently distributed to others.

Datawind CEO with the newly-launched Aakash 2 tablet

The Aakash 2 tablet has been designed, developed, and manufactured by DataWind Ltd for supply to IIT Bombay under the Human Resources and Development ministry’s National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT). The launch was part of a two-day workshop conducted by IIT Bombay for teaching faculties in engineering colleges using remote training applications developed at IIT Bombay’s Open Source development lab.  Over the last many months, IIT Bombay has developed unique and compelling applications for engineering students on the Aakash2 platform, which include 3D-modelling, C++ programming, remote and collaborative training applications, robotic control and live assessment tools.  IIT Bombay has partnered with the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), to assist with the hardware testing and logistics.

The Subrao Nilekani Chair Professor at IIT Bombay, Dr. Deepak B. Phatak, heads the project at IIT Bombay with the support of C-DAC.  Professor Phatak was quoted as saying, “I'm not only confident, but sure that Aakash 2.0 is here to stay.” In the first phase, DataWind is to supply 100,000 units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay, which intends to distribute them to Engineering University and College students. NME-ICT Director, N.K.Sinha said, “We envision all 220 million students across India to be enabled by low cost Aakash devices in the coming years.”

The Aakash 2 is a significant upgrade over the original Aakash tablet. The initial version of the tablet had a 7-inch resistive touchscreen, which struggled to respond to touch. It ran Android v2.2 on a 366MHz processor, based on an older ARM architecture. The Aakash 2 tablet is likely to be replaced by a successor, which will have a dual-core Cortex - A9 processor by the end of this year.

Speaking on the launch of Aakash 2, DataWind CEO, Suneet Singh Tuli said, “We wish to use technology to fight poverty with a passion.  Access to computers and internet will help deliver a better quality education and level the playing field for all Indians”.

The Aakash 2 takes forward the nation’s ambitions of making quality education affordable to the have-nots in the country. Over the past month, even as scores of students in the nation awaited the launch and availability of the Aakash 2 tablet, several units were sent across to all ministers as well as state chief ministers for their feedback recently.

As per reports, roughly 22 crore students across the nation will get the device in the next five to six years. In fact reports suggest that by Monday alone, 20,000 devices are expected to reach out to the students.

At the launch

HRD Ministry officials shared that the device can not only run on Linux operating system, it can also do Aadhar authentication and control a robot from a distance.

In the later half of September this year, Datawind started supplying units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay. In fact in an earlier statement, the company revealed that an October launch of the tablet was likely. Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told PTI, “Supplies are on to IIT Bombay. In the next few weeks, it should be launched. I do not have the exact date, but HRD Minister (Kapil Sibal) has said he wants to launch on the anniversary date which is October 5”. However, Tuli added that the launch would depend on Sibal’s schedule.

Recently, two units of the upgraded version of the Aakash tablet were presented to the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi by Kapil Sibal. The ministry is reportedly toying with the idea of sending units of the Aakash 2 to all state chief ministers for feedback, a move particularly strange considering the tablet is yet to make its way to several of its pre-designated locations. India’s attempt at low-cost computing has primarily been one to ensure quality education is made available to those who earlier found it beyond their means. Despite criticism, there still is a lot of optimism surrounding the low-cost tablet.