About
(short version)
Who are you?
Bishop, BishopNeo, Pramekhan, Lord Bishop, etc… I’ve been know by a lot of name over the years. Originally beginning my net.life as Bishop over 15 years ago (god I’m getting old!) on AOL using a 14.4 modem playing on several BBS and telnet chat sites.
Early in 1995 I got involved in the Linux/Open Source movement and became part of that life, helping to forward such sites as Slashdot, Freshmeat, the site formerly known as themes.org, Linux.com and several others, as well as projects such as MySQL, Slackware and Merlin.
Make no mistake, not only did I work on those sites (and in the case of t.o. rebuilt them from scratch more than once), but worked for the company that at one point owned, maintained, expanded and promoted them, Andover.Net (which later was bought by VA Linux, later named VA Systems, later named something else…)
That, however, is a story for another time.
A few years ago, after losing several jobs because of the ‘tech bubble bursting’ and other monetary cutbacks (various reasons, I was actually affected by 9/11) I went dark and dropped off the grid for a couple years. I resurfaced in 2004, took up the cause of ColdFusion, started my own consulting company (Manghia) and am currently living happily ever after.
What do you do?
Everything. Including Windows. I was an anomaly amongst the OSS crowd, I felt even then that you use the best tool for the job. Graphics, use a Mac. Server, use a unix variant. Make money from software, write on Windows. Feel like being a real rebel, play on OS/2.
Now, I write in Coldfusion, PHP, Perl, C, C++ (though badly) and starting to dabble in Java. I use Flash/Flex and Actionscript, Javascript, ASP (though I’m not overly fond of it), and several other scripting and tag based languages. A digital renaissance man if you will.
What have you done?
Lead Front-End Developer for Blue Egg and Green Building Blocks, the largest online resource for residential green building and remodeling, featuring more than 1,500 enviro-friendly products and a national directory of 2,900 green building professionals.
Lead Developer for Aberdeen Group.
I worked with MasterCard Worldwide to develop the Purchase Optimizer. A semi-organic survey type application that is capable of responding to a variety of user input and information.
Other than that there isn’t much you can see. 90% of all the design and code that I have done over the years is either gone because the companies that I worked for are gone, the sites have been rebuilt, absorbed or simply died from abandonment or the code is locked under NDA’s or proprietary use. I have several samples of code tucked away for safe keeping but only a few I can post online. You can find some of my graphic work and what code I do have in my Portfolio once I get it finished.
Noisy bugger aren’t you? Well, the short list is… nothing. I’m currently working for a company in Watertown, MA called Molecular. They are a consulting firm that is just getting started in the Flash and Flex arena. I’m helping them join the modern era with application development using RIA technologies (Flash, Flex, AJAX, Coldfusion, ASP, etc…)
Outside of that I haven’t been working on any other projects on my own. Part of that is because I’m re-evaluating what I want to work on and part is because I’ve been working on personal, non-tech issues. Mainly getting my head on straight and undoing the damage done during my childhood.
Ok, so any future plans?
Are you serious? Do *I* have plans? That’s like asking a cow if it plans to eat grass. I’m boiling over with ideas and plans and such. So many things, so little money. I’m still trying to sort out my organization methods, specifically a reliable way or keeping track of my ideas and thoughts. One of these days, everything will fall into place at the right time and I will be able to make my proverbial ‘left turn’.
So in that vein I have several projects and plans in motion. So I hope to make money, others I’m doing simply because I want to. For now, the (*extremely*) truncated list is:
- Writing - I currently have say 5-6 story ideas running around in my head.
- I’m currently writing a TV show. I don’t ever expect it to be produced, if it is it will have to be by me and posted to YouTube. Problem with that is, as usual, money. Or lack thereof. I’m mostly doing it for fun. I’m writing it in script form because that’s how I see it in my head.
- Games- I have 3-4 Flash games I’m going to be working on again. Bubble Defender is getting resurrected and ASDefender is getting re-written using, what else, AS 3.
- New company. I’m not going to talk much about this right now because I believe it to be my left turn, but I will say it’s extremely exciting!!
- Writing a book. Actually 2. More on this later.
- Reviving Project: Magnus. Again.
Okay. That’s enough for now. Add to that the fact that we are planning to drive around the US this summer and it’s going to be a busy year. Mind you, I’m not expecting or planning to do *all* this in ‘08. But it will be fun to try.
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-Bishop