As Richard posted today, no school in the Puget Sound area today . I'm thankful today for Outlook Web Access and Live Meeting today as it allows us to dial in for broad meetings that we've had on that schedule for months now. Now back to our regularly...

J Allard -- one of the few people with a name shorter than mine -- is featured along with several others Microsoftie execs in BusinessWeek . Doug Hebenthal says in the article: "In every case in which I work with J, there is a mountain to climb, there...

Update 12/31/2010: If you're visiting here for the first time and interested in helping the less fortunate, please see this information on The Seattle Times Fund For The Needy . "Since 1979, the Fund For The Needy has helped support some of the most...

A little post for a light Thanksgiving. ;) Keep in mind that the descriptions come often are taken directly from the articles. Here's some light reading on How Microsoft Runs: eWEEK Special Reports . eWEEK.com's Special Report dissects the inner workings...

Of interest from BetaNews ... very cool and not far off of the config I thought about for a wicked new Windows Vista PC... Microsoft recently partnered with Dell to create a special edition PC to commemorate the launch of Windows Vista. Only a few...

Another top ten list, this time from Technet on 10 Things You Need to Know about Deploying Windows Vista . Windows Vista Images Are Bigger : With Windows Vista, image size begins at about 2GB—compressed and often around 5GB or more when deployed...

Informationweek has an article this week that gives "a quick scan of recent events, which have roiled the privacy waters at AOL, at the FBI, and in Europe. Here's a quick collection of some recent reportage on data breaches, customer-data concerns, and...

Here's a brief list of the articles on my PDA this past week for the commute and weekend reading. It's a slow week as many people are taking holidays: a good opportunity to get a few things done and spend quality time with the kids on holiday... you know...

This week Seth Godin writes about lambchops , specifically "The lambchop theory of success." First, his definition: Lambchop: "A kind, thoughtful person. Someone who keeps her promises. Someone who does great work but doesn't always brag about...

The list of articles I've read thsi week so far... Microsoft Goes MuniFi with MetroFi Google… the OS for Advertising (GigaOM) "If you read through all the announcements and analyses about their recent deals and initiatives,...

Of interest is this item on Lifehacker.com, just in time for the holidays, "Geek to Live: A meaty Thanksgiving download." In a 17MB download, it promises that they will "save you the trouble of chasing down half a dozen PC fix-it tools in the midst of...

Last night, at the end of NBC Nightly News broadcast, anchor Brian Williams announced the launch of the new Nightly News Podcast, which he said is available for iPod and Microsoft’s new Zune… this from the Nightly News web page … Nightly...

What do consumers think about the Zune? How does the public perceive Microsoft's Zune? CNET News.com's Erica Ogg talks to consumers at Best Buy in San Francisco about Microsoft's newest digital audio player. (2 minutes) And this coverage on Can...

Of interest: the Mercury News' Podcasts online , from from San Jose Mercury News writers and guests, with a few of the latest posted: Riya founder Munjal Shah discusses the launch of Like.com Interview with JotSpot founder Joe Kraus Interview...

The opening of the Zune. I went through the "out of box experience" ("OOBE" as it's called) tonight on a new retail Zune. It was like opening an origami box, 'though this one was made in China and used four pieces of adhesive tape as I counted....

Here the list of what I had the chance to go through so far. Yes, it's a lot, but it's amazing what you can do when you a) have a case of insomnia, b) are up hours before the kids, and c) teeing up content to help make the commute go a little faster:...

Seems that someone at BestBuy didn't read the memo... http://www.flx-tech.net/2006/11/zune_on_early_sale_at_bestbuy_1.html "By coincidence i got my hands early on an Microsoft Zune, bought as a regular customer at BestBuy... "They dont seem...

The Seattle times has an article this Sunday on navigating corporate automated-phone-system mazes: "A year ago, The Seattle Times compiled a list of shortcuts for thwarting the phone systems at 60 local and national companies and government agencies...

The Seattle Times has an article today on the new ways that web companies are devising ways "to mine human intelligence" through te semantic web, or Web 3.0. Here I was, thinking that Web 2.0 was the razor's edge... "Their goal is to add a layer...

Thsi week in Patrick Marshall's Q&A column on technology, there are two items that struck home for me: Reinstalling Windows to recover lost files: The first was Mr. Marchall's advice on "reinstalling Windows may help retrieve photos." A reader...

There's an interesting but brief interview in PC Magazine with Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO. John Batelle interviewed Schmidt, and asked him among other things about Google's "office suite" which includes Google Docs and Spreadsheets. "Schmidt took...

Jack Palance passed away, and that is a real passing on many levels. Briefly, I'll mention one anedote that I recall more often to people, one item that I think mention most often. Yes, it's the "one thing" from City Slickers . OK, sounds trivial...

Yesterday I sat in part of Bob McDowell's session at MS101, our internal orientation for new hires. (There's also an MS101 now offered to our external partners.) Bob is arguably one of the most dynamic speakers at the company. MS101 attendees gave him...

Want to know some of the companies moving to Vista? Here's a look at one well-known company, Trek Bikes . There's a new case study now available , just posted on the Microsoft Case Studies site. If you don't know Trek, they are a major manufacturer and...

It's official: Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing : "As Microsoft Windows Vista is released to manufacturing (RTM) today — a significant milestone for Microsoft and its partners — anticipation is building around that all-important...