What does MVP mean to you?To be named an MVP is a great honor. It acknowledges that my activities in the communities were recognized as helpful to the people who were involved in Microsoft products and technologies. Being named an MVP will enable more people to understand and trust my community activities.If you could ask Steve Ballmer one question about Microsoft, what would it be?It would be more like a favor than a question. I would like Mr. Ballmer to extend his thoughts to the Japanese community maybe once every three months. It would be great if he could give us his speech at an off-line event once a year, and then again at video conferences once every three months. This is because most of the Japanese users do not know that Microsoft makes products sincerely thinking about the success of Japanese users. The Japanese people, who attended MVP Global Summit or TechED, PDC, EDC held in the US are surprised to know that Microsoft takes our success into consideration. I believe this attitude is the most attractive part about Microsoft and I believe this message needs to be resonated throughout the Japanese market. Mr. Ballmer’s energy and thoughts along with Mr. Bill Gates’ wonderful presentation would help accomplish this. Many of the MVPs who attended the MVP Summit last year felt Microsoft’s real attraction for the first time because of their message and personal touch.What do you think the best software ever written was?SQL Server. SQL Server makes it possible to improve the office information processing and productivity at an appropriate price and level of technology. With SQL Server’s improvement in user-friendliness, stability, and capability, and its provision of analytical function, the database became more popular in offices and Internet environments. I hope I can introduce this wonderful software to more users through my activity in PASSJ, the SQL Server community in Japan.If you were the manager of SQL Server, what would you change?I would thoroughly consolidate the full text search function. The users want a function that can search around efficiently in the ever-expanding amount ofdigital contents, like MSN® or Google. This function would be indispensable for Website content, e-mail, BBS, blog, e-commerce, and books. Regrettably, the current SQL Server full text function does not cover these areas. We especially need a function of search for reading text in Japanese. It is difficult to search text in Japanese for three reasons. First because we do not phrase words by making spaces and secondly, we use many characters mixed in one phrase. Finally, we use both Chinese characters and Japanese characters in our written language. If the function responds to the search byreading text, I would adjust it to meet Japanese needs. | If you were given unlimited data bandwidth, what would you do with it?I would like to create server hosting that would provide a stable and easy-to-use server for home use, offices and communities for a fair price. It would be used for the Web, e-mail, and news. It would also have special functions for home users like music, photos, videos, calendars, and telephones, and functions for office users like streaming videos, on-demand video telephone conference, and a customer management system and account management system. Providing a server service which can be used for various applications, on demand, and without any concerns about backups, restores or failure measurements would be a great service to the Japanese community.What was the last book you read?The last technical book I read was Microsoft Official Instruction Manual-Debug Technique for .NET & Windows Programmers. The last general book I read was The Treasure of Samarkand. I enjoy reading good books to improve my writing skills for articles or postings in ML and blogs.What music CD do you recommend?The sound track to “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” which I have recorded in the Windows Media Player. I feel its spectacular orchestration along with Enya’s voice improves my concentration.What makes you a great MVP?Since Windows NT® was released in Japan over 10 years ago I have been continuing to create communities. I have also participated in many other communities such as NT-Committee, JWNTUG, NT-Committee2, users.gr.jp, PASSJ, and INETA Japan. I have also been an active participant in NT-Committee2 study sessions continuously for more than 10 years.What’s in your computer bag?I have QuietComfort2, with a Bose headset. This headset has noise canceling function which reduces the surrounding noise. It is expensive, ¥40,000, but I want to recommend it to everyone. I think Microsoft’s eLearnings, like Webcasts, for instance, are really important for us to improve our skills, but there are not many opportunities to listen to them. If we use a normal headset in our offices, at home, or on the trains, it would be a problem to communicate with others. However, by using the Bose headset with noise canceling function along with QuietComfort2, we can concentrate on those eLearnings and listen to others talking or hear if the phone rings at the same time. | What’s the best thing that has happened since you’ve become an MVP?The best thing is the opportunity to meet Mr. Shigeru Numaguchi, our MVP leader in Japan. With Numaguchi-san’s effort, I could meet many great Microsoft people, for example, Mr. Bill Gates, Mr. Steve Ballmer, and Mr. Gordon Mangione. Also, as the Japanese MVP program has become more stable and broad, I have enjoyed meeting the other Japanese MVPs and have been really motivated by them.What is your motto?My motto is to respond sincerely people’s needs. I try not to judge their needs based on my point of view, but try to give them the best solutions based on their background and thoughts. Through community activities, I listen to opinions from many people, and sometimes we have different views and have quarrels. Also, sometimes there are people who do not speak their mind because they are uncomfortable. However, I believe if we listen sincerely to people’s needs, appropriate solutions can be made most of the time. I feel this attitude is the key to making better products, services, and communities.Who is your hero?Each person I know is my hero, such as community participants, Microsoft people, and my family. They all have many good points which I do not have, and they have interesting knowledge, sensitivity, friends, and activities. I hope I will meet more heroes through my community, business and private activities. If I choose one hero from Microsoft, it would be Mr. Shigeru Numaguchi, our Regional Manager in Japan.What does success mean to you?My success is the success of the people around me and that extends to all aspects of my life. If my customers succeed then I have succeeded. If we could make our community more helpful to its participants, that would be a great success. Success for my family would be for them to have a happy life. When the Microsoft Community succeeds, so do I. My hope is that someday we have 500 MVPs from Japan. That would be a great success for the Japanese MVP program. |
