In what is seen as a monumental shift in strategy, Microsoft has announced plans to open source the entire .NET stack. In addition, the company is going to give developers a way to use .NET and Visual Studio to develop software that runs not only on Windows, but also on Mac OSX, Android, Linux and iOS.

Prior to this, you could only build apps with .NET for Windows desktops and servers. If you wanted to run .NET on other platforms like OSX, Linux, iOS and Android, you had to use a third party run time called Mono. While it was a good compromise, native .NET development on these platforms is going to be significantly better.

Microsoft is also releasing a fully featured Community version of Visual Studio 2013 which will be free to use for indie devs, students and small companies. The version will include access to thousands of plugins, Resharper and other tools that were previously behind a paywall. The familiar and quite feature-limited Express versions of Visual Studio will eventually be replaced by the Community edition.

The company has also released previews for Visual Studio 2015 and .NET 2015. New additions in the feature set will make it easy for developers to write apps that run on Android, Windows and iOS.

The changes come after Satya Nadella took over as CEO, and are part of a broader strategy shift that aims to put the focus on cloud and mobile solutions. Traditional money makers like Windows and Office has been undergoing major changes, with Office being offered for free for Android and iOS recently.

Overall, this is a huge deal. Microsoft’s software development platforms and developer tools are absolutely amazing, as anyone who has worked with them will tell you. By allowing them to be used for development for other platforms, Microsoft is making a lot of developers very happy. It also shows that the company is leaving its legacy roots behind and embracing the requirements of the new internet age.

via ProPakistani.PK

It is unfortunate to report that Shayan Akhtar, the self proclaimed world record holder for Youngest Microsoft professional, is a fraud told me officials from Microsoft.

Shayan Akhtar, a student from Okara, recently claimed that he has set a new world record by scoring 998 marks out of total 1,000 in a Microsoft Professional Certificate programme.

Furthermore Shayan had claimed that Bill Gates has invited him for one to one meeting in July 2012.

Microsoft officials from Pakistan as well as United States, who wanted to remain unnamed, confirmed ProPakistani that Shayan is fabricating facts and communication records to gain popularity for reasons not known to them.

Shayan Akhtar was never invited by Bill Gates, commented company officials.

Microsoft officials also maintained that Microsoft doesn’t keep track of age for its certified professionals anymore. Hence there’s no point of claiming being youngest or oldest certified professional.

When we asked from Shayan about the same, he said that Microsoft could be lying to ProPakistani, and that he was indeed invited by Bill Gates for which he is visiting US in December 2012. He said he could show us the email invitation as well. (We will update this post, when and if we get the scan of invitation)

He also claimed that his name will appear in next publication of Guinness Book of World Record, for his extraordinary achievement. He was of the view that his certification (in November 2011) was a recent record that is why his name isn’t appearing in online search for world records on Guinness website.

Shayan’s father didn’t take our call.

Microsoft didn’t comment when we asked if company is considering any legal action against Shayan for the propaganda.

It merits mentioning here that Punjab government was considering to honor Shayan by throwing a ceremony which of course isn’t happening now.

It maybe recalled that Ammar Afzal, a student from Okara too, was involved in such kind of fraud as well. He had claimed similar kind of records in various certifications, which were later found out to be fake.

Update:

Shayan has tried to fabricate emails, exactly like what Microsoft officials claimed earlier. Just five minutes ago, I received an email from “Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation”. Here is what the email reads:

We’ve just contacted Shayan Anique to confirm his Bill Gates Invitation. He is invited by Mr Gates to visit Microsoft Corporation in November because of the work he had done in the field of Microsoft Technologies like ASP.NET, MVC, .NET FRAMEWORK and WINDOWS PHONE.

He is also a youngest MCPD in Windows Phone and Web Development 4. Although we have sent his world Records Documents for Verification to Guinness. We have also verified his MCP Transcript from Microsoft. It is totally valid.

We will inform you as soon as we receive reply from Guinness.

Your’s Sincerely,

–
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Main Office
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102

Check below screen shot of email header:

via ProPakistani.PK

Arfa Karim, the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), lost the battle of life after remaining admitted at a Lahore hospital on Saturday night, Geo News reported.

Arfa Karim’s funeral prayers will be held on Sunday at 10 AM in Cantt area.