1. Your name, rank and file please, sir.
2. How long has this department/section of Microsoft existed? Give us some examples of what you term as "success stories" as far as your department is concerned since you've been there.
3. Could you provide a brief explanation of how it all actually works? If I have a development house and is looking for a publisher, how does your department come into the picture? How do you pick-and-choose development houses for consideration of such a Microsoft-developer partnership?
* question assumes explanation of his job spec in brief in question #1
4. Is there a XBOX console equivalent of what you do for Windows in Microsoft? If yes, what are the notable differences and similiarities between the two?
5. Is your job strictly promoting Windows as the primary PC gaming platform, or are you also involved in the support side as well? Or is the latter handled by the actual Microsoft Developer Relations department proper? What differentiates your department from the Developer Relations department?
6. With games come gaming peripherals, like game controllers. Are you involved in that aspect as well when it comes to evangelizing Windows as the premier PC gaming platform?
7. What tempted you away from NVIDIA? You'd told me (some 3 years back) that your position as a Developer Relations Manager at NVIDIA was a enjoyable one but you also mentioned that you wanted to go back to making games... ?
8. I would assume that a huge part of your job requires a lot of interaction with ISVs/developers. There are developers, and there are "
Garage Developers", a group of people you described as "building games for the right reason". How often, in your line of work, have you interacted with these sort of for-the-love-of-gaming developers? What differentiates them from developers whose real passion is making profits?
9. DirectX has improved exponentially over the years, to the point where it has converted some "die-hard" OpenGL enthusiasts. How would you convince someone -- whether a hobbyist or does it for a living -- who has been programming in OpenGL to switch to DirectX? For example, there's a general notion that DirectX is about
universality whereas OpenGL is about
flexibility, taking into context the timeframe between API versions...
10. What's with John Carmack and his aversion to DirectX anyway? Why haven't you been able to work on him successfully?
Personally, he appears to be rather open to concepts and especially to emerging technologies... so what's holding him back from going DirectX?
11. Can you tell us if proprietary API functions like OpenGL's vendor-specific extensions are a good or bad idea from all viewpoints (API developers, software developers and software/hardware purchasers)? This relates to the previous question's comment about universality and/versus flexibility.
12. Microsoft's DirectX developer team works very closely with IHVs like NVIDIA and ATI to shape the next DirectX version. What type of involvement/interaction do you have with the IHVs as well as your company's DirectX development department?
