John Mendez

Well the year is pretty much over and I wanted to see what I actually got accomplished for the year 2009 when it comes to personal projects. The list below is what I wanted to get done:

• Silverlight 3.0 Photo Album - will be open source
• Mobile version of my contact software I made for XDev Software - internal for XDev
• Rewrite and make Xtra Knowledge Open Source (would like a Silverlight 3 version and ASP.NET 4.0 version)
• Create a Windows Media Center Plug-In/Extension for browing my media
• Silverlight 3.0 Video Player (this will be v2.0 of xLite Player) - will be open source
• Sign up for Facebook so I can play with there API
• Twitter Client for Windows Mobile 6 Professional (probably just on my HTC Touch Pro for right now) called SlimTwit
• Move FootballAlumni.com to a new hosting configuration - internal for XDev
• Make PayPal IPN Class Open Source on CodePlex (http://paypalipnclass.codeplex.com/)
• Go to market with Club Dynamix

OK so for the projects I did finish this year:

1. Silverlight 3.0 Video Player (this will be v2.0 of xLite Player) - will be open source
2. Sign up for Facebook so I can play with there API
3. Twitter Client for Windows Mobile 6 Professional (probably just on my HTC Touch Pro for right now) called SlimTwit
4. Move FootballAlumni.com to a new hosting configuration - internal for XDev
5. Make PayPal IPN Class Open Source on CodePlex
6. Go to market with Club Dynamix

Well I can tell you #6 took most of my time from June till now.  I had much to do to get that product ready for market. I would say 90% of what I did from June till now had nothing to do with programming either. I didn't get any time to create anything with the Facebook API, although I marked it as finished because at least I'm on there now :)  

The FootballAlumni.com was interesting to do because of my hosting situation.  I had to basically had to cancel one hosting account, move my DB it uses into another one with a different schema and configure other parts of the app to use the new setup.  

The PayPalIPN class has turned out well I think.  It's had a consistent amount of downloads (not tons) and got used in another open source project as well.  That was good to see.  Glad I was able to help another open source project out there.  

#1 turned out well too.  It ended up being part of Club Dynamix.  The video player was a 100% improvement over the first version. Mostly because it is written in Silverlight 3, instead of Silverlight 1!

My SlimTwit program will stay where it's at right now.  Windows Mobile has been a pain to work with and their presence in the market is not all that great...but we knew that didn't we.

Now for the projects I didn't get too or partially started:

1. Silverlight 3.0 Photo Album - will be open source
2. Mobile version of my contact software I made for XDev Software - internal for XDev
3. Rewrite and make Xtra Knowledge Open Source (would like a Silverlight 3 version and ASP.NET 4.0 version)
4. Create a Windows Media Center Plug-In/Extension for browing my media

#1, the photo album, I simply ran out of time. I had some great UI designs and functionality (well I think I did), but it will have to wait.

#2 will probably still be way down on the list because I'm still figuring out my contact DB as I go.  I keep adding new attributes custom to what I need for Club Dynamix.  

#3 will probably be pushed to one or two next year on my list. I will wait for .NET 4.0 to be officially released and will probably use SL3, unless SL4 is released soon after .NET 4.

#4 will wait to whenever. I started it and liked it, but I will be upgrading to Windows 7 soon so I'll switch SDK's when programming this one.

Overall I was very satisfied with my year. I hopped on the Twitter bandwagon, (which has been a tremendous resource and fun as well), got started with participating in the open source world, learned some new technology, got my product ready for market, and enjoyed programming as usual. On to the next year!

Now I need to update My Projects page :)

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all

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