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Shijaz Abdulla on 04.11.2008 at 15:40
The IT Evolution 08 event was held today at the Corniche Sheraton, Abu Dhabi. There were several informative sessions on Microsoft Virtualization technologies in the IT Pro track such as Hyper-V and Application Virtualization with SoftGrid/MDOP. The developer track included presentations on SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio .NET 2008 and Silverlight.
Partner presence included HP, Dell and Citrix. Yusuf Bismilla, Anton Delsink, Shahid Gaglani, and Amr El Garhy of Microsoft presented various topics.
Attendees were also given a chance to have their picture taken with the gaming character Master Chief from the Halo 3 game from Microsoft Game Studios.
Me with Master Chief of Halo 3 (left)
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Shijaz Abdulla on 21.10.2008 at 09:17
Been to Gitex yesterday.
Nothing worth writing home about. It was just another ordinary exhibition – lots of small and medium IT companies running very generic PowerPoints at their stalls. A few big players showing off some of their stuff – to me it was all kind of deja vu.
The Chinese pavilion looked… um… red… and colorful with all the blinking LEDs, gadgets, motherboards and stuff. In consumer electronics, Sanyo had this camcorder that you can dip into water, and Sony had the largest High definition plasma. This was impressive.
But I still don’t understand how products can be promoted by model girls wearing heavy makeup and skimpy clothes simply dancing around to music on an open stage waving notebooks, camcorders and gadgets. I don’t know – but the last time I checked – people buy notebooks and cameras by evaluating the specification!
Many visitors poured in to browse everything in general. Some others strolling around looking for stalls with specific interests. Some others were there just to collect the goodie bags loaded with cheap freebies.
For the two hours I spent driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, the further one hour I spent looking for a parking spot (only to find one in the rear end of Parking C – which is the farthest), and for the kilometer I walked in the sun to reach the exhibition hall, and later on – for the two hours I spent in the Dubai traffic jam to get back on the highway, and for the 2 hours back to Abu Dhabi….
… I really don’t think it was worth it.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 20.10.2008 at 09:46
Coming to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar on the dates below. Register now by clicking on the link below.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 10.08.2008 at 08:12
Yesterday, I delivered the last session of the two-day workshop at the Summer Shade camp for teenagers. The audience consisted of students from grade 8 to 12.
I provided an insight on the various career options in the field of Information Technology, gave details on various degree courses that can be pursued. It was more of a career planning session that helped students interested in pursuing an IT career to make decisions. I also explained the need for certifications and the various industry certifications available. The career planning session received good interest and it was very interactive.
After the session, we all sat down to eat delicious Bahraini Machboos – and I also got a picture taken with some of the attendees 
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Shijaz Abdulla on 08.08.2008 at 09:40
Yesterday I delivered a session on “Information Technology – Use & Misuse” at Al Furqan Center in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It was very interactive and we had a good time discussing the uses as well as threats of modern technology.
We discussed the security and privacy issues on the internet and how we can protect ourselves from software and human threats and have a good overall online experience. A security awareness was emphasized around online interactions and conversations by use of instant messaging, social networking, and other internet tools. We also discussed why security is important, even at home and simple tools that can be used to ensure privacy. An awareness was created around internet child abuse and the ill-effects of pornography.
We discussed how one can be a good netizen, and how we can take advantage of technology, but at the same time prevent its use for illegitimate purposes. The discussions on illegitimate use of the Internet where in light of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and included issues surrounding pornography, privacy, social networking, multimedia technology, etc.
This is a picture of me wearing a Dishdasha!
See Also: Day 2 – IT Career Planning
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Shijaz Abdulla on 04.08.2008 at 10:14
I will be delivering two sessions at a Teenagers Summer Camp Program in Bahrain on 7th and 9th of August 2008. The ‘Summer Shade 2008′ is being organized by Al Furqan Centre, Bahrain (Bahrain Indian Islahi Centre).
Details of the sessions:
Session 1: Information Technology: Use & Misuse
Information Technology is a two-edged sword. In this interactive session, I will discuss how we can put IT to good use and become responsible “netizens”.
Date & Time: Thursday, 7th August 2008, 4.00 PM – 6:00 PM
Venue: Al Furqan Center – Lecture Hall
Language: English
Session 2: Careers in Information Technology
Career Orientation for students aspiring to enter the Information Technology field – what courses to do – certifications – career paths – IT job roles – tips from the industry.
Date & Time: Saturday, 9th August 2008, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Venue: Al Furqan Centre – Lecture Hall
Language: English
Registration is required for this event. Those interested in attending these sessions should contact Al Furqan Centre on +973 3985-7414.
See also: Session at Bahrain: Information Technology – Use & Misuse
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Shijaz Abdulla on 15.04.2008 at 19:16
You may have noticed the recent “Culminis Speaker Program Member” logo on my blog.
It simply means: I enjoy having a good technical discussion and I’d be honoured to speak at your user group event. So if you’re running a user group and you’re looking for an IT Pro speaker you can give me a shout.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 31.03.2008 at 16:01
Slide decks: Click here to download the slide deck (.ppt format)
I had a great time at Kuwait, at the Microsoft Technology Day 2008 held on March 30, 2008. There were around 300 attendees, 20 speakers and 42 sessions on various Microsoft technologies. Speakers comprised of MVPs, Microsoft employees and trainers from Infocenter Kuwait, who are also the key sponsors of the event. Sureen Aslavi, MVP from Kuwait played an important role in organizing this event.
Amr El Garhy from Microsoft Gulf who is our MVP Tech Lead and Developer Evangelist kicked off the session with a lively keynote session. He took the audience on a tour of Photosynth and explained some of the exciting areas that Microsoft is currently focusing on.
Keynote session: Amr El Garhy, Microsoft Gulf
Ruari Plint, the MVP MEA Program Manager from Microsoft, joined us in a videoconferencing session from South Africa.
Live from South Africa – Ruari Plint, MEA MVP Program Manager, Microsoft
This was followed by our technical sessions. The sessions were very lively and I enjoyed interacting with the Kuwaiti IT professional community. They were a great audience and I believe they benefited from the sessions we delivered.
On the request of those who attended the event, and for those who missed the event, I am uploading the slide decks for all four of my presentations:
Session1 – Managing Virtualization with SCVMM
Summary:
Discussed Microsoft’s Dynamic Systems Initiative, the need for virtualization and how SCVMM can be used to gain better control over a virtualized datacenter. Session included Live Demos.
Session 2 – Windows Server 2008 Server Core
Summary:
Discussed the advantages of running Windows Server 2008 Server Core. The session was intensive with live demos on how to set up a DHCP server on Server Core from scratch. This session was very interactive and had a large number of attendees. Almost every attendee actively participated in this session. As promised, I will also post an article describing all the commands that we explored during the session. Watch this blog!
Session 3 – Top 10 mistakes while configuring ISA Server
Summary:
Discussed some of the most common mistakes that administrators make while configuring ISA Server. The session had a full house, and it was humerous and interactive, with attendees sharing some of their own ISA Server bloopers.
Session 4 – Identity Lifecycle Management
Summary:
Explained the importance of Identity Lifecycle management in the enterprise. Attendees were fewer than the other sessions. The audience included managers, decision makers and HRMS administrators. I explained how Identity Lifecycle Management can be applied in a real world scenario and how Microsoft ILM can help in various scenarios.
Slide decks:
Click here to download the slide deck (.ppt format)
Feedback:
If you have been to any of my sessions, I would like to welcome your feedback as a comment to this post or by email.
See also: Destination Kuwait!
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Shijaz Abdulla on 29.03.2008 at 22:03
Ready for a great day ahead
The Liberation Tower, Kuwait
receiving appreciation from Sureen Aslavi (Kuwait MVP)
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Shijaz Abdulla on 27.03.2008 at 23:11
Hmmm… I was feeling real sleepy when I suddenly thought of writing this. So please excuse me if you see something here that doesn’t make sense.
I’ve always wondered why do more people turn up at an event conducted by a vendor like Microsoft or Cisco, but very few people turn up at events that are conducted by a user group. I guess the reasons could be many – ranging from quality of the venue to meeting expectations.
Let’s take a closer look:
Why do more people prefer to attend an event conducted by a vendor compared to an event conducted by a user group?
1. More publicity: Vendor events come with a big bang and more dollars are spend marketing the event itself. A lot of excitement is incited is done through mailers, etc and registrations start pouring in.
2. Direct interaction with vendor: Vendors, no doubt, are the most accurate and up-to-date source of information of their own products. Events conducted by the vendor rarely fail to meet expectations and are very informative and this attracts more attendees.
3. Building relationships with vendor: Sometimes customers attend vendor events to get closer with the vendor so that they can build a better relationship and receive better support for their running systems.
4. Decision makers: Business decision makers and other individuals who have an interest in the money aspects of things (RoI, slides filled with Gartner facts, charts & figures, product features, licensing) find the kind of information they need at vendor events. IT Managers and others who are not ‘hands-on’ on technology will also find a genuine interest in these events.
5. Because everybody’s there: ‘Tom, Dick and Harry are going, so I guess I should be there too.’ It is a sort of misguided perception of professional networking. This is not common, but it nevertheless could be a reason why some people prefer to ‘be there’.
6. Better venue, free give-aways and a great lunch
Now for the other side of the coin: How can a user group event be better than a vendor event?
1. Money doesn’t talk: Speakers in user group events are usually community members. Most of the time, these are ordinary people/volunteers who are end customers of the product being discussed. The presenter talks about the technology *only*. The oft-annoying ‘sales pitch’ is absent in a user group presentation and it suddenly becomes a techie’s delight!
2. Speaker’s job not at stake: A user group speaker does not work for the company that made the product, nor is he paid by them. This makes him neutral in his views and opinions. In light of their experiences with the product, user group speakers may also speak about the weaker points of a well-established product that the vendor’s representative may try to avoid or shy away.
3. More interaction: User group meetings are usually small, informal gatherings and a higher level of interaction between attendees is achieved. Experiences, views and ideas are often shared. Real world expertise is one of the key things to look out for in a user group meeting.
4. Professional networking: User groups meetings are usually held regularly and group convenes at an agreed location each time. By attending regular events, you get to know other people in the same profession and this builds your professional network. You are no longer an “island” and you can call fellow member Harry anytime to ask about that wierd problem on your Exchange cluster and in the process, you might give Harry a tip on his recipient policies!
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