Greenskull
August 27th, 2007, 02:13 AM
For Ready Up Live's first interview, I interviewed litheon, the guy behind Major Nelson's popular website (www.majornelson.com (http://www.majornelson.com)). The interview was conducted a while ago so if some things sound odd that's why. Now without further adieu, here's the interview.
Introduce yourself and tell me what exactly do you do?
Well as you know my gamertag is litheon, and I’m a Microsoft Xbox MVP. I was given the opportunity to be a Microsoft MVP in October of 2004, and accepted the award at the age of 15. I’ve been an Xbox MVP since then, and through the MVP program I actually connected with Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) and began working on his site around November of 2004. Since then I’ve done a myriad of work revolving around MajorNelson.com from installing server software and patches, performing a wide-variety of upgrades, and developing new functionality. I’ve also become accustom to deploying new servers, whether that be a development server on my local network, to actual server software (such as SQL Server 2005, or Windows Server 2003). As you might have guessed I’m fairly fluent in Microsoft technologies, although I started out most of my web development using PHP, MySQL, and Apache HTTPd.
Wow! MVP at 15! That must have felt good! How often do you work on the site?
Usually numerous times a day, but that has been known to vary a bit due to extenuating circumstances (wlmailhtml:{900E86B2-3CF2-49DF-9003-E5FC3D142883}mid://00000049/!x-usc:http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/03/28/blog-speed-or-lack-thereof.aspx). Basically, I’m working on it at least somewhat whenever I’ m in front of a computer that has an internet connection although I will occasionally work on it when I don’t have an internet connection via a copy of the server software and database schema installed onto a Windows Server 2003 Virtual PC.[/font]
What is it like working with Major Nelson?
It is, for lack of a better word, pretty cool. We’re able to chat on Windows Live Messenger just about every day discussing anything from the site, to the forums, to the community as a whole. We usually play some Live, or at least do a private chat every once and a while as well; we also might be guilty boosting each other’s Halo 2 Vista achievements. It also has it’s little perks as well, but that’s an entirely different conversation.
Very cool. Major Nelson is a great guy! Do you have your own website?
Not really, I have a blog on spaces.msn.com and I actually have my own subdomain at MajorNelson.com; however, I don’t really find the time to post on either of them due to being busy with working on things while online. I might however be posting in some form or another in the not-so-distant future.
What made you want to start coding websites?
The curiosity inherent in human nature. I’ve always found computers fascinating, and the more and more I’ve learned about them the more that enticed me to continue learning. I started creating simple programs in BASIC quite a long time ago, and the more technology became available to make developing code understandable the more I wanted to. Creating and coding websites was one of the many aspects of continuing that learning process.
What do you do when you're not making sites?
There are a wide variety of different things I do on the Xbox Forums from writing FAQs, to moderating the forums, to helping gamers who may have a question or a problem. I usually check out digg, Joystiq, and Xbox 360 Fanboy at least once a day as well. When I’m not doing anything on a computer I’m usually doing something away from home, whether that be golfing, snowboarding, and just about anything the average person my age goes out to do.
As of right now, what is your favourite Xbox 360 game?
Gears of War hands down. The graphics alone are amazing, and the game play is something that’s yet to be matched by any other game. I will admit though I haven’t really gone through the single player campaign, as I usually spend my time playing ranked matches over live.
What is your most anticipated Xbox 360 game?
BioShock, mainly because of the water.
As I'm sure you are very busy, how often do you get to game?
I game in one form or another at least every couple of days, but I usually make time to play something on Xbox Live at least once a week.
Out of all the achievements you've earned, what was the most difficult to get?
Honestly I have no idea. I don’t actively pursue achievements; I usually just play the game and hope the developer was kind enough to include achievements indicative of my progress in the game.
What do you recommend to aspiring website coders?
Stay dedicated, and learn for yourself. Don’t ask for help when you can figure it out on your own, that mentality will get you a long way.
So true. I learned almost all I know by just messing around. Feels good once you figure it out! Any words of wisdom for Ready Up Live?
The same advice I would give to any starting website, bring something to the table that no other website offers. There are so many websites out there that simply just repost news located in other places instead of actually being dedicated enough to gain their website popularity.
Thanks man!
No Problem. ;)
Introduce yourself and tell me what exactly do you do?
Well as you know my gamertag is litheon, and I’m a Microsoft Xbox MVP. I was given the opportunity to be a Microsoft MVP in October of 2004, and accepted the award at the age of 15. I’ve been an Xbox MVP since then, and through the MVP program I actually connected with Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) and began working on his site around November of 2004. Since then I’ve done a myriad of work revolving around MajorNelson.com from installing server software and patches, performing a wide-variety of upgrades, and developing new functionality. I’ve also become accustom to deploying new servers, whether that be a development server on my local network, to actual server software (such as SQL Server 2005, or Windows Server 2003). As you might have guessed I’m fairly fluent in Microsoft technologies, although I started out most of my web development using PHP, MySQL, and Apache HTTPd.
Wow! MVP at 15! That must have felt good! How often do you work on the site?
Usually numerous times a day, but that has been known to vary a bit due to extenuating circumstances (wlmailhtml:{900E86B2-3CF2-49DF-9003-E5FC3D142883}mid://00000049/!x-usc:http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/03/28/blog-speed-or-lack-thereof.aspx). Basically, I’m working on it at least somewhat whenever I’ m in front of a computer that has an internet connection although I will occasionally work on it when I don’t have an internet connection via a copy of the server software and database schema installed onto a Windows Server 2003 Virtual PC.[/font]
What is it like working with Major Nelson?
It is, for lack of a better word, pretty cool. We’re able to chat on Windows Live Messenger just about every day discussing anything from the site, to the forums, to the community as a whole. We usually play some Live, or at least do a private chat every once and a while as well; we also might be guilty boosting each other’s Halo 2 Vista achievements. It also has it’s little perks as well, but that’s an entirely different conversation.
Very cool. Major Nelson is a great guy! Do you have your own website?
Not really, I have a blog on spaces.msn.com and I actually have my own subdomain at MajorNelson.com; however, I don’t really find the time to post on either of them due to being busy with working on things while online. I might however be posting in some form or another in the not-so-distant future.
What made you want to start coding websites?
The curiosity inherent in human nature. I’ve always found computers fascinating, and the more and more I’ve learned about them the more that enticed me to continue learning. I started creating simple programs in BASIC quite a long time ago, and the more technology became available to make developing code understandable the more I wanted to. Creating and coding websites was one of the many aspects of continuing that learning process.
What do you do when you're not making sites?
There are a wide variety of different things I do on the Xbox Forums from writing FAQs, to moderating the forums, to helping gamers who may have a question or a problem. I usually check out digg, Joystiq, and Xbox 360 Fanboy at least once a day as well. When I’m not doing anything on a computer I’m usually doing something away from home, whether that be golfing, snowboarding, and just about anything the average person my age goes out to do.
As of right now, what is your favourite Xbox 360 game?
Gears of War hands down. The graphics alone are amazing, and the game play is something that’s yet to be matched by any other game. I will admit though I haven’t really gone through the single player campaign, as I usually spend my time playing ranked matches over live.
What is your most anticipated Xbox 360 game?
BioShock, mainly because of the water.
As I'm sure you are very busy, how often do you get to game?
I game in one form or another at least every couple of days, but I usually make time to play something on Xbox Live at least once a week.
Out of all the achievements you've earned, what was the most difficult to get?
Honestly I have no idea. I don’t actively pursue achievements; I usually just play the game and hope the developer was kind enough to include achievements indicative of my progress in the game.
What do you recommend to aspiring website coders?
Stay dedicated, and learn for yourself. Don’t ask for help when you can figure it out on your own, that mentality will get you a long way.
So true. I learned almost all I know by just messing around. Feels good once you figure it out! Any words of wisdom for Ready Up Live?
The same advice I would give to any starting website, bring something to the table that no other website offers. There are so many websites out there that simply just repost news located in other places instead of actually being dedicated enough to gain their website popularity.
Thanks man!
No Problem. ;)