core.net

Had a meeting with a famous restaurant chain owner who wanted to get an application developed from scratch and replace his existing touch-system Point-of-Sale (POS) system with a (Multi-modal) POS Speech Application. He needed a demo to see first-hand how Speech works in a business environment. So I've started working on a new demo which I have chosen to call "FoodTalks.NET". This application would, for the first time ever, also include the logo for Voicability, my latest business venture.

Business Tip: Demos have been instrumental in securing software projects. So a good demo is not sufficient; you need to come up with a GREAT demo; one that does not satisfy the customers, but delights them. So take your time when you are developing a sample or demo application and pay special attention to the GUI, since it would largely impact and influence the customer's decision-making within the first 5 minutes of your demonstration meeting. An attractive GUI is of paramount importance.

FlightEnquiry.NET is a small ASP.NET project that demonstrates best practices for accessing data stored in SQL Server 2000 by means of the Microsoft Data Access Application Block. The project was actually developed to showcase the Mcrosoft Speech Application SDK (SASDK) by showing ease-of-use of the SASDK (at the Microsoft ISV Community Days at Karachi and Lahore on March 18 and March 19, 2005 respectively), by speech-enabling the FlightEnquiry.NET application.

My laptop started functioning again (thanks to my brother) I have uploaded the FlightEnquiry.NET source code to the core.net User Group site on Yahoo.

My laptop suddenly decided to stop working when I returned from Islamabad. So I haven't been able to upload the code for the FlightEnquiry.NET application I demonstrated at the Microsoft ISV Community Days event and at the AIOU seminar. Will do so as soon my notebook becomes functional.

(The following is a poem I wrote back in 2000; I am yet to have my vengence.)

There will be another time.
There will be another battle.
You'll meet your doom
and suffer the pain,
you'll bear the scars
when I'm through with you.
There will be triumph,
and there will be glory,
but all for me
and none for you,
for I will strike
and you will perish.
There will be a funeral.
There will be a grave,
Beneath it you would rot.
Above, I would rejoice.
Not one soul would mourn,
beside your decaying corpse.
There will be a consequence.
There will be a fatality.
Suffer you will, suffer you must.
Hail my words friend my foe,
'There will be another time,
and there will be another battle.'

Had a fun-filled week that took me from Karachi, passing through Lahore, all the way to Islamabad. The reason, Microsoft ISV Community Days. After conducting a session on "Microsoft Speech Application SDK" at Sheraton Karachi on March 18, proceeded to Lahore alongside Mr. Saqib Ilyas, and conducted the same session at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on March 19. Went on to Islamabad from there. An INETA seminar was arranged in a hurry on March 24 at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) comprising 2 sessions; "Introduction to INETA and the Microsoft .NET Framework" and "Developing Speech Applications in .NET". INETA Pakistan has already had a strong presence at Karachi. Now, Islamabad is on fire !