I had to do some begging =:) but I got Ramil to give me an exclusive interview for this newsletter. I think you will enjoy it.
RAMIL INTERVIEW
1. How old were you when you got started into programming/computers?
My parents bought me a computer when I was 13-14 years old. It was a Soviet ZX Spektrum (it's analogue Atari) and it was in early 1990s. It used a TV-set for display and a tape recorder for data storage. I would put a compact cassette with about 10-15 games in the tape recorder, listen to fax-like sounds for about 5 minutes just to get one ~160Kb game loaded. Often it ended with, "R Tape Loading Error" and I would have to start over several times to get my Galaxians or Exolon loaded.
At that time, foreign language teaching in schools wasn't prominent so my parents took me to a two month summer class for Express English. I improved my English skills a bit and my classmates started to think I could speak it fluently (though I couldn't).
During the personal computer's era (1995-96), a lot of programs weren't localized and system troubles were in English. Because of my limited Express English, people were asking: "Hey, Ramil, can you help us? It stopped working!" The error message would be something like: "Press any key to continue..." (As I mentioned 99% of my companions couldn't speak or read English). After reading the message, I would hit the key and everyone started to believe I was a computer genius (though I obviously wasn't).
When I became a programmer in 2007, I bought my first vldPersonals. For me, PHP was just another foreign language to learn. Today, I still look at "vocabularies" (php manuals) to accomplish certain programming tasks. I bet some of you think I'm a very good programmer - I'm not (Vlad is).
2. How did you learn about vldPersonals and when did you first buy it.
I became addicted to the internet in 2001. That is when I started thinking about how to make people's life better. My first project was www.olen.kz, joomla based kazakh song lyrics archive (no, I don't like Joomla). I discovered that kazak "love.com" (mahabbat.kz) was free, I registered it and tried to use it with white label solution, without any success. Nobody needed another major dating site's db interface. You could not control content or code the language. I needed another solution and started searching for a standalone script. After days of searching and finding lots of crappy software (hello Dolphin!), in early 2007 I discovered vldPersonals. God bless the children of Canada! Ha-ha.
3. How do you know Vlad?
He is a very closed guy. I don't know anything personal about Vlad, but what I do know is that he is a real gentleman, honest, clever and not very emotional. You can read more about him from this interview: http://www.usualdating.com/interview-with-vldpersonals-lead-developer/
4. Besides vldPesonals, what is your favorite software?
Not sure I can call this software, but these are my favorites: Windows XP, Gmail, Firefox, CodeIgniter and Jquery.
5. Tell us a little about your interests, your family, work, your home, etc.
I married a beautiful woman and we live in capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana. We dream of country home, somewhere in Florida (US), not far from Dan (db3204), or in suburbs of Sydney, not far from Oleg (Inatmo), or in Thailand, not far from Dragon :) or in the cold of Toronto not far from vldInteractive.
6. How did you come up with the name Radioact?
It was suppose to be Radioactive, but the input field has max length of 8 characters so I came up with Radioact =:). I was born 130km away from the main Soviet nuclear testing ground, in the town Semipalatinsk. In 1949 to 1989, they did more than half thousand open-air and underground explosions. When my father was a child, he could watch nuclear explosion mushroom with his own eyes. I paid the consequences by having four medical surgeries during my youth. Hands off the donation button at vldCrowd! I'm fine! Oh I don't have that button there? That's even better =:)
7. What do you like the most about vldPersonals, like the least? What is the biggest improvement you think it needs?
I like the clean coding, how well it is organized and how easy it is to understand. The script is friendly and adaptable to many types of community software. Thanks to Vlad developing team, it constantly evolves and gets better with each new version. There are tons of features for any consumer to build their own dating empire! If you have a strong niche, you can be successful if you have the will and make the effort. Even the best software won't save a drowning ship if the user does not take action.
I think vldPersonals could improve it's marketing and official website design (it looks a bit web1.0 now). In my opinion, Vlad is quite busy with custom work or other official jobs, which drains his juices. I think it would be beneficial, if he spent some efforts, resources for re-branding.
Vlad could create a new social or dating oriented fork and call it something trendy (i.e. DizzyD, HumpiKumpi, Umpa, Lumpa, Kandy). He could also create three slightly or highly different products orientated towards a social environment with good results. vldPersonals members are so loyal I believe they would buy what he has to offer. I know I would.
8. What is your plans for vldCrowd? What is your personal plans?
I would like to develop a Classified mods directory, with pictures, instructions etc. We need to classify and sort the mods developed at vldCrowd. I don't want to reveal my personal plans cause I want them all to come true some day -- if not, I don't want people laugh at me :) Ok, I want to rule the world! Kidding. To create a simple but efficient web-based service that makes me rich some day.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks Ramil for some insight into who Radioact is. Keep up the good work and just like vldPersonals, I’m sure your loyal following of vldCrowd will keep growing.
Cheers
Dan
Comments are welcomed at: http://www.vldcrowd.com/news/view/6/
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