Special people: Azri

A week ago I introduced Micheaux to you. Today I would like you to meet another special person in my contact list.

Almost a year ago, to be precisely November 2005, Azri reported a problem on Skype’s Support Forum. A problem that couldn’t be solved straight away. It took a long time until he could use his account again. I dealt mostly with Azri and he became more ore less my Forum Protégée. I added him to my personal account to make sure he wasn’t forgotten.

And why did I do that? Because Azri was and still is one of the most polite, kind and friendly people I know, with a great and appealing sense of humour. He never got angry and was very patient. He impressed me.

Azri was born 21 years ago Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia as the youngest son of a family of 8: father (retired), mother (“mom is still keeping the cooking pots hot. Haha”), brother (MD) and 4 sisters, all happily married. Azri’s girlfriend Aleeya lives in New Zealand.

He moved to London at the age of 8. “Since I was little, I have been travelling all over the world. This summer I’ve been to Indonesia, Thailand, all around Malaysia, and soon Paris & Amsterdam (mid September). I am heading back to London on the 9th of September where I am studying accounting and finance but law was a subject I had last semester.”

Apart from studying, Azri also has a few hobbies such as Golf, the occasional shopping spree and buying cars. His brother in law owns a Honda 3S (Sales, Service, Sparepart) dealership in Kuala Lumpur and this year Azri has been appointed the Director of Operations. Reason for him to go back to Malaysia more often in the future.
Not a lazy man our Azri!

I asked him when he started to use Skype. “I was quite active in the Cyber Games scene back in 2001 and we used Ventrillo, MSN, Team-speak for voice communication during games.

A friend of mine, Ralf, introduced Skype to a group of us. His father was first to find out about it.

We use it for a while but it wasn’t the best method. I had Skype installed but rarely used it for about a year or so but started using it again in Sept 2004.

Since then, I have introduced Skype to the following:
My online friends, my girlfriend in October 2005, my sister and brother in law in Malaysia in December 2004, my sister and brother in law in London in January 2005, my mom who is completely new to computers, in March 2006 and my friend in Singapore early 2005”

Do you only use Skype to keep in touch with your family and friends?
“No, also for my study (group projects and asking for help from others) and my work.
I also use it to keep track of my staff: video conferencing with my sales manager and supervisors in Kuala Lumpur almost every day.”

Azri definitely makes good use of Skype, a loyal customer. What are his thoughts about Skype?

“From what is see, people do try and download Skype, but then they fail to use it as a general tool for communication.

SkypeOut was the influencing factor which made me stick to Skype. I have used Callserve, and various others Internet calling apps to make cheaper international calls but they all used to have a $50 limit per day.

Skype’s ongoing improvements and new added features are so important to make sure the program will cater for all.”

Azri, thank you ever so much for your precious time. I wish you good luck with your study and your job(s) and hope to be the witness of your successful life. A hug for you and your family, especially your parents; they raised a wonderful “kid”!