The saga of Microsoft and the evolution of the industry in parallel narrate the story of many brilliant minds that have been in the forefront, driving innovation and expanding the technology frontiers. Dr. S. Somasegar, Senior Vice President of the Developer Division at Microsoft Corporation spearheads many innovations that play a crucial role in the development of the company in particular and the developer community in general. He joined Microsoft way back in 1989 as a Software Design Engineer and moved up the ladder, contributing significantly to the development of operating systems at Microsoft. He was the man behind setting up the Microsoft India Development Center in Hyderabad, which is the software giant’s largest development center outside its headquarters in the U.S.A.

Recently, the Chinese Institute of Engineers, U.S.A., awarded Dr. S. Somasegar the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award for 2008. The award was a recognition of his contribution to Microsoft and the developer community.

In an exclusive interview with Silicon India, Dr. Somasegar speaks with relentless energy, recalling what it took him to be recognized as one among the 15 outstanding Asian American professionals.

As a techie hailed for the significant contributions made to the developer community, what are some of the initiatives you have undertaken?
At Microsoft, we have several programs to encourage innovation among budding developers as well as for experienced techies. We recently launched a new program called DreamSpark which aims at building excitement from the ground level and helps developers adopt new technologies and tools. DreamSpark gives students free access to the developer application environment. The availability of Microsoft developer and designer tools such as Visual Studio Professional, Expression Studio, and XNA Game Studio helps students build and develop great applications.

We closely listen to the developer community and conduct surveys to understand their requirements. MSDN and TechNet are great communication channels for us to connect with the developer community and help them be successful using Microsoft technologies. I myself blog actively on http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/ and pay close attention to the feedback from readers.