Winhost customer spotlight: Jeremy Foster

Jeremy Foster works for Microsoft as a Developer Evangelist in Seattle, WA. By way of introduction he says, “It is my job to connect with developers in our northwest region – to inform and inspire them in the use of Microsoft’s amazing development tools and frameworks. I use my own website codefoster.com to blog and stay connected with the development community. I plan to expand it in the future to include robust developer resources, screencasts, podcasts, and more.”

When did you first become interested in web technologies?

I started doing software development in the early 90’s and built my first website around ’93. It was an exciting venture at the time to create a personal place on the web that was visible to the world. It was a venture that I have never really shaken. Around ’97 I started working with programmatic, data-driven website applications and it has been a strong part of my career track ever since.

Which technologies are you using for your web site?

I’m a big fan of ASP.NET MVC. I like using MS SQL for the data and usually interact with it using Entity Framework code first, although at this point my site doesn’t have any database dependencies.

How long have you hosted your site with Winhost?

I’ve been using Winhost for a few months – perhaps half a year, but I’ve only recently (February 2012) begun working at Microsoft and started up my codefoster.com site to support that.

Why did you choose Winhost?

I believe I found some positive reviews and was enough dismayed by my former host and enough attracted by the low introductory rates to just give it a try.

Thanks, we’re glad you did. What do you consider to be the key benefits of using Winhost?

Winhost has impressed me all around. The control panel seems more unified and intuitive than most, the temporary site URLs are good, and the support has been great (one time responding within an hour on a weekend).

What future plans do you have for your web site?

I will likely be adding test and demo apps within my site for educational purposes and will continue to flesh out the codefoster.com main site in whatever ways will best support my audience.

Which future technologies or trends are you most excited about?

I am very excited about Windows 8 and cloud computing. With Windows 8 I get to take my many years of web application development experience into the client platform that’s already installed on hundreds of millions of computers.

What do you like to do when you aren’t up to your neck in technology?

I really enjoy getting out on the water sailing or under the water scuba diving in the Pacific Northwest. My wife and I also enjoy hiking, traveling, and finding good happy hour restaurants in Seattle.

Thanks, Jeremy, for being the first Winhost customer spotlight interview, we really appreciate it.