VFP MVPs announced for 2003-2004 6

[rgbean]

Because there are a few of us that hang out on Tek-Tips, I thought you might be interested in this message posted this afternoon by Ken Levy:

As of today (October 1, 2003), there is an updated list of Microsoft MVPs (Most Valued Professionals). Below is the new list of MVPs, and I listed the new VFP MVPs below as well.

New VFP MVP list (10/1/03-09/30/04):

Alex Feldstein
Anders Altberg
Andy Kramek
Barbara Peisch
Barbara Paltiel
Carl Warner
Cathy Pountney
Cetin Basoz
Christof Lange
Cindy Winegarden
Claudio Lassala
Craig Berntson
Dan Freeman
David Frankenbach
Doug Hennig
Ed Leafe
Eric den Doop
Fred Taylor
Frédéric Steczycki
Garrett Fitzgerald
George Tasker
Holger Vorberg
Igor Vit
Isaac Venegas
Jim Duffy
José Marcenaro
Juergen Wondzinski
Les Pinter
Marcia Akins
Mark McCasland
Michel Fournier
Pablo Roca Rozas
Rainer Becker
Richard Schummer
Rick Bean
Sergey Berezniker
Tamar Granor

New MVPs in the list above:

Anders Altberg
Cathy Pountney
Dan Freeman
Eric den Doop
Garrett Fitzgerald
Les Pinter
Rick Bean

Former VFP MVPs who are now .NET MVPs:
Cathi Gero
Kevin McNeish
Markus Egger
Rick Strahl
Ken Levy
VS Data Product Manager
Microsoft

http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro

http://foxcentral.net

 

[ramani]

HI Rick,

Is that you, Rick Bean
Congrats. It is just one word, But I cant explain my happiness when a known person from this forum getting selected.


ramani
(Subramanian.G)

http://winnersoft.coolfreepages.com/

 

[rgbean]

Ramani,
Yup, that's me - I'm really honored to join this very elite group for the first time. There are others on the list that have also posted here in the last couple months. (I have the advantage of having met most all those on the list over the past 13-14 years, so I recognized thier names as they answered questions.) As you can see Dan is new this year too, and Craig, Marcia and the other Rick (Richard) have been on the list for multiple years. Now that I'm "in", I'm going to make sure Microsoft is aware of Tek-Tips and all the good support that you, Mike, Mike, Chris, Dave and others are providing here.

For more on the MVP program, check out

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/.

Rick

 

[ramani]

That is great Rick

ramani
(Subramanian.G)

http://winnersoft.coolfreepages.com/

 

[DSummZZZ]

Congrats Rick!
(By not specifically mentioning the rest of you folks on the list, I'm not any less impressed you are on there. But, Rick started the thread. )
As far as I'm concerned, it is a feather in the cap worth wearing.
I recognize a good portion of the names and though I haven't met many of them personally, I have read their work or attended their seminars. This is a very knowlegable bunch and are to be commended.
I also think it's cool that so many of the 'in' crowd likes to hang out here on Tek-Tips!


-Dave S.-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Congratualtion Rick, I hope you don't forget about use "down here".


Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[craigsboyd]

Congrats Rick! So how exactly does Microsoft pick the MVPs? What was it that you did that got their attention?

Slighthaze = NULL

[ul][li]FAQ184-2483
An excellent guide to getting a fast and accurate response to your questions in this forum.[/li][/ul]

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

Congrats Rick!

Well deserved and about time.

Remember us all to Bill Gates when you bump into him.

FAQ184-2483 - the answer to getting answered.​

Chris

http://www.pdfcommander.co.uk

 

[monikai]

And I am joining to congratulations !!!

Regards from Monika (Warszawa - Poland)
(monikai@yahoo.com)

 

[craigber]

Rick:
MS is aware of Tek-Tips. I've talked to Ken about it before.

Slighthaze:
You can find out about the MVP program at

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[craigsboyd]

Thanks Craig. I've read all of the stuff available out at the MS site regarding the MVP Program, or at aleast I think I have. It doesn't really say which forums they are watching (though I have seen the list of links that they provide, and based on those I didn't think they were aware of tek-tips so I was glad to hear that you had alerted them). I was curious what Rick had done to get their attention. Maybe he doesn't know. I'm thinking based on most of the VFP MVPs in the list that writing a book and hosting a website gets Microsoft's attention. Was just wondering if there was anything else a person could do to increase his/her chances. I would find that information useful and maybe others would too.

Slighthaze = NULL

[ul][li]FAQ184-2483
An excellent guide to getting a fast and accurate response to your questions in this forum.[/li][/ul]

 

[Mike Gagnon]

SlightHaze

You'd be surprised where you find Rick. Beside Tek-Tips, I have seen him post in all VFP related Microsoft NewsGroup (even a French VFP NewsGroup from Europe one of his posts appeared) and UniversalThread. And probably some I haven't been to.

Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[rgbean]

Mike (and Slighthaze),
You are right, the newsgroups are where I've spent most of my time historically - both the MS ones (~20 FoxPro forums are currently available), comp.databases.xbase.fox (many ISPs mirror this one), and vfp.general on news.devx.com. I also visit and contribute on the Universal Thread (

http://www.universalthread.com/),

VFUG (

http://vfug.org/),

FoxWiki (

http://fox.wikis.com)

and even occassionally go back to the CompuServe Fox forums.

I've been a President of our local FoxPro user group for 8+ years (and a member of three others!). I've also attended 12 FP DevCons in the last 13 years, which is where I have met many of the other MVPs, some MS employees, and heard a lot of great speakers. I've even managed to get some tips published in FP Advisor, and provided unofficial editorial support for a couple FP books, articles and conference presentations.

Of course working with dBase II, III, III+ and IV, Foxbase, FoxPro and VFP for almost 20 years, and programming for 37+ years, can provide you with a bit more experience and perspective when understanding and answering questions.

Bottomline, is that you can't "campaign" for this award, you just have to be around and useful to the user community, and then you'll probably be noticed.

Rick

 

[craigsboyd]

Rick,

Thank you. That's quite an impressive list of things you've done or been involved in. Certainly worthy of a VFP MVP award. Glad to have you with us and know that your help is greatly appreciated. They said on the MS site that you might receive some software as part of the MVP award, so did you get anything?

Slighthaze = NULL

[ul][li]FAQ184-2483
An excellent guide to getting a fast and accurate response to your questions in this forum.[/li][/ul]

 

[Dan Freeman]

That's correct, Rick. And you can lose the designation if you "go inactive" for a time. As I did. I was an MVP from the 2nd year of the program up until 2 years ago. It's good to be back! ;-)

There's not really any campaigning that can be done. Just be a helpful member of the community.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Slighthaze, the award package this year included a choice of a free year of MSDN Universal or TechNet Premium. (And a nifty backpack with the MVP logo.)

It also came with an allowance at the MS Company Store.

In earlier years, we also got free MSN memberships but they discontinued that a few years ago.

 

[craigsboyd]

Dan,

Thanks for the informative reply. Congratulations to you on your renewed MVP status. The award package also comes with a star here at tek-tips.

Slighthaze = NULL

[ul][li]FAQ184-2483
An excellent guide to getting a fast and accurate response to your questions in this forum.[/li][/ul]

 

[TheRambler]

Carve your name on hearts and not on marble.
- Charles Spurgeon

It might be good to get the recognition from MS, so I congratulate and thank you Rick for the help received.

To Slighthaze, Ramani and the others, consider the quotation, our recognition might be good as well.

 

[craigber]

slighthaze:

The qualification to be an MVP differs slighty from one group to the next, and each group will watch different online forums. For example, the Fox group primarily watches the UT and Microsoft newsgroups, but does take into consideration other forums. The UT won't even figure into things for the Windows group.

Also, any current MVP can nominate someone to be an MVP, at which point MS may start watching their posts to determine eligibility.

Other things that can be considered for nomination: speaking at conferences, writing books and magazine articles, being considered a "mover" in the Fox community.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[ramani]

One good thing is that a major number of VFP MVPs are contributing in this forum and that is going to help this foxpro community here. The footer showing MVP (or such qualities and attributes) is going to help members attach values to their suggestions besides improving the members KB. Good news/expectations.


ramani
(Subramanian.G)

http://winnersoft.coolfreepages.com/