Tibor Schiemann is the president and managing partner of TuneUp. He is primarily responsible for technical product management and executive management, and is the driving force behind the TuneUp Blog about Windows’ creative team. His expertise is in the areas of software and Web development, GUI design and user experience. Tibor is also on the cutting edge of Windows architecture and knows all the ins and outs of XP, Vista and 7.
Tibor has nearly 20 years of experience in developing software for a variety of computers and operating systems. His passion for PC optimization started in the early days of computing when there was only a command line for configuring, starting applications and development.
In late 1995, Tibor Schiemann and his business partner, Christoph Laumann, decided to bundle their extensive experience with the optimization and maintenance of operating systems, which led to the development of the first Windows tuning suite available in the German market, TuneUp 97. Schiemann and Laumann
founded TuneUp in 1997 and have grown the company to more than 100 employees over the past 14 years. TuneUp Utilities is now used by more than 20 million people worldwide, and is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Japanese and Russian.
What are you working on right now?
The TuneUp team and I have been busy working on (and are getting very excited about) the next version of TuneUp Utilities. Our user experience team recently finished some usability tests, and we are now in the beta testing phase with more than 3000 end users. It’s always very exciting for me to get direct
feedback from these testers and integrate it into the new release.
What does your typical day look like?
At the office, my typical day is focused mostly on product development. I spend a lot of time gathering and documenting ideas for new features, and I often have meetings with my team members to answer questions around these ideas and provide feedback on prototypes and first implementations.
That being said, I’m still a developer at heart. Whenever a release date comes close, and I see that my team is struggling with a tough technical problem, I love to turn on some electronic music, roll up my sleeves and help them out. This is still as fun as it was in the early days of TuneUp!
3 trends that excite you?
The future of Windows and other operating systems, the rise of other form factors / mobile computing (e.g. smartphone and tablet uptake), and the impact of cloud computing on software business models and the way we perceive and use computing devices.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Communication is the key factor here – I usually bring ideas to life through close collaboration with my team, customers, beta testers, other software developers and Windows experts. In my experience, this is the best way to quickly see all relevant aspects of an idea and find the best solutions.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think that there are great opportunities in the area of augmented reality. Today, almost everybody carries a smartphone around at all times, and these devices are able to communicate with each other. I would love to have an application where you can allow your smartphone to broadcast who you are and what you have to offer (like on XING or LinkedIn). Other people who are at the same location (whether it’s a conference, meeting, restaurant, club, etc.) could then just pull out their smartphones and see a live view of the room with information about the people around them. That would be a great way to get
directly in touch with other interesting people.
What do you read every day, and why?
My first move every day is to grab my iPad, check my e-mail and then browse through the approx. 400 news articles from my subscribed RSS feeds. Reading about technological trends and evolutions is one of my main sources of inspiration.
What is your favorite gadget, app or piece of software that helps you every day?
It’s actually a combination of three: the fabulous “Reeder” app, my iPad and my Nespresso machine. If one of them wasn’t available, I guess I would just fall asleep again.
Three people we should follow on Twitter, and why?
Although I’m a news addict, I don’t use Twitter. 140 character messages somehow aren’t enough to keep me reading.
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
Fabian Hansmann, the co-founder of Steganos and FoundersLink. He started in the IT business as early as I did. In his current company, FoundersLink, he helps entrepreneurs to start up and run their businesses by bringing the right people and business ideas together.
Connect :
TuneUp’s website URL is www.tune-up.com, and for detailed Windows tips and tricks, visit the TuneUp Blog about Windows at . I can be reached at [email protected].
TuneUp’s Twitter channel is: @TuneUp4Windows;
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.