I’m two days behind in sharing these posts, but here we are again. Today I’ll do my best — as far as my words and keyboard cooperate — to tell you what happened on August 5. The day kicked off with Windows Technical Evangelist İbrahim Kıvanç. In his opening he talked about the stages and experiences he went through to get here, about being a Microsoft Student Partner, and his Imagine Cup wins from his MSP days. We also discovered just how much he loves Konya — and Rumi 😀
Before moving on to the next item, I want to share something personal. August 5 was my birthday, and just before Microsoft’s Erol Can Hacısüleyman started his talk, Behice Funda called me on stage.
She then announced — in front of everyone — that I was late to every session the previous day. I just stood there frozen 😀 For a moment I genuinely wondered whether I had actually been late. But then she brought me to the front of the stage, told everyone it was my birthday, and we all realized it was a joke. Our intern Dilara giggling while I was getting “told off” on the board and taking a photo at that very moment had already given me a hint, but anyway 😀 I won’t tell anyone 😀 Thank you again, Behice hocam, and everyone there 🙂 There’s more to come at the end of the post 🙂
After that lovely moment, back to our speakers: Microsoft’s Erol Can Hacısüleyman walked us through topics like Scrum and Visual Studio Online. The collaborative project management piece was genuinely interesting. He also went over the Visual Studio tooling that ties into those online services.
Just before lunch, Microsoft Türkiye Deputy GM Onur Koç joined us. He gave an informative talk on how Microsoft technologies will make our lives easier, what the future might look like, and how important big data is going to become.
After lunch, Kıvanç was back with us. This time, the topic was Microsoft technologies. He showered us with the latest on Windows 10, Cortana, Skype Translator, HoloLens and Windows Edge 🙂
Friends who didn’t get to present on day one took their place on stage to deliver their pitches. On top of that, those blue t-shirts Joe Belfiore wore at Windows Build were also handed out to us as gifts. The story behind those t-shirts ties into the question of why it’s Windows 10 and not Windows 9. And just like that we reached the end of another day. But — as I mentioned earlier — today was my birthday, and I want to thank everyone who was with me that evening to cut the cake, and everyone who wished me a happy birthday (or didn’t!) throughout the day.
At the end of the day we headed to a café in Beşiktaş, and I want to thank all my MSP and Summer School friends who sneakily bought me a cake and pulled off the surprise. The “Aboneyim Abone” song and the “don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube” message on the cake were a really nice touch. Thank you, one by one, all over again. Long story short: I love you guys. Thank you 😀 I don’t know what else to say, can’t find the words. Thanks again for such a moment and for the happiness 🙂
