Tech Luminaries: Interview withChris Wilson

Photo cropped from “Cross-browser JSON request” by Niall Kennedy

Chris Wilson is the Platform Architect of Internet Explorer, but has been involved in web browsers from close to the very beginning having worked on the original NCSA Mosaic. He sat down with us at the Ajax Experience conference in 2007 and kindly let us barrage him with a series of questions, like:

- How did you get your start in computers?
- How much of a role did math specialization in your schooling play in your software career?
- Would you recommend college?
- Would you study computer science if you went back to school today?
- You started out with BASIC; how did you make the leap to more advanced programming languages?
- How did you make the transition to architect from programmer?
- How did you get from NCSA to Microsoft?
- You’ve worked for small start-ups and one of the largest companies in the world; which environment do you prefer?
- How do you manage a code base like IE?
- What are some of your regrets?
- What’s the back-story on CSS?
- Are you sad about any of the Web’s missed opportunities?
- Any features that you’re surprised people aren’t using?

We hope you enjoy this episode. Note: Sorry about the cell phone interference in the beginning of the podcast; it clears up just a few minutes into the show.