Kick Ass Stuff at Microsoft this Week

Better Than Cellophane

Even with the threat of government mind-control clearly averted, if I were this guy, I’d be worried. Very, very worried.

Vista Non-Protest

Photo by Robert Scoble

How awesome is Vista’s Events Team? I am in complete envy. Vista team members took full advantage of a captive audience by PICKETING the streets of Microsoft campus during the morning commute, encouraging employees to download the upcoming beta as we all circled the lots hunting for parking.

Damn that’s brilliant.

I’m upgrading to Vista next week, as soon as I publish my weekly newsletters. Don’t matter where I’m working – I always lose something I can’t do without.

Grab A Pair

Photo by Robert Scoble

Again – the Vista Events Team rules. Yesterday morning the Microsoft campus soccer fields became an ocean of Vista logo beach & exercise balls. Hundreds of employee vehicles stopped and picked these up on their way into work. Not a single banner, email or announcement was to be seen. It was the single most subtle and powerful build-up event I’ve ever witnessed.

And I can’t believe there isn’t a single one listed on eBay right now. (Heh, even Scoble’s looking.)

Setting the Bar

photo from Micronews

This is Robert Scoble. For those of you who do not know The Scobelizer, he is the Official Microsoft Blogging King. I discovered him shortly after starting work here in January and about 95% of his content is Microsoft or tech-related. About 1/2 the time, I find it dry as hell. And 1/2 of the time, I learn something cool, fun, interesting and *gasp* even IMPORTANT.

By Aaron Halabe
June 2, 2006

Last April, Robert Scoble publicly questioned his employer’s decision not to support a Washington state congressional bill that would have broadened an anti-discrimination law to include gays and lesbians.

Scoble wrote the following in Scobleizer, his widely read blog about Microsoft: “I’m sad. … What if we were a company in Germany in the 1930s? Would we have taken the same position?”`

Tough stuff, but Scoble remained gainfully employed with Microsoft, and expressed satisfaction that the company later reversed its decision about the bill, which became a law in February.

An employee since 2003, Scoble – a platform technical evangelist who makes videos for MSDN’s Channel9 – started his blog five years ago while living in the Bay area. He has become one of the medium’s biggest advocates. Scoble and Shel [Israel] co-authored the widely-read book, “ Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.”

The reason this guy is a blogosphere giant is not just because his blog helps him make Microsoft human – it helps US make technology human.

His mom died last week. He blogged about the whole thing (it started three weeks ago with news of her stroke) and I am in awe not only of the honesty in his writing, but how it drew us all into the experience so closely, while illustrating the relevance of technology during a time in life when we would least think of it.

This is blogging at it’s best.