There are times when we hear that something isn't possible, that a schedule can't be met, that there's not enough time, there aren't enough resources or that's not my job. (I'm saying in general, not at Microsoft ;) There are two stories that I have followed...

In the last issue of BusinessWeek there is an article on "The Ethics of Outsourcing Customer Service " by Bruce Weinstein . "It's a familiar scenario: A product you purchased recently has developed a problem, so you call the company's toll-free...

This from Holly (hope you're well ;) "How/where do you remove an email address that automatically comes up when you type in a name? For example, somebody had a another email address that you’ve deleted and updated but, somewhere in memory it gets pulled...

An interesting article on BusinessWire (Sept 25, 2007), Survey Reveals Top 100 U.S. Online Retailers' Customer Service Shortfalls , highlights how top retailers don't live up to customer's demands when it comes to providing "an exceptional customer experience...

CNET News is providing full coverage on the launch of 'Halo 3' for the Xbox 360, on the minds of all of the kids at the bus stop today.

A question from the Technical Deep-Dive LiveMeeting today on DST and Time Zones today... "I believe Victoria, Australia will be extending daylight savings by a week (ending April 6, 2008 instead of end of March '08) is this covered [in the latest Windows...

In about an hour's time, we'll host a Technical "Deep-Dive" Webcast... Monday, September 24, 2007 at 2:00pm Pacific This LiveMeeting Webcast will be hosted by members of our Microsoft DST Team (Joel, Steve, me and a cast of many on the Question Manager...

Navarrese Héctor, Minister of Science and Technology in Venezuela, announced that the "change to Venezuelan daylight saving time requires coordinations with diverse institutions and is what we are doing." (See this link on Windows Live Translator for...

Fall is upon us, but I'm still hopeful for more summer weather. Here are a few articles from the reading file for the commute this week (thru August 23rd). As noted these are all (for the most part) available for download, making it easy to save for reading...

A few posts on DST and time zones on a few MS blogs... The Groove team covers a couple issues you should know about regarding Groove and DST . "These issues might impact you during the October 28th - November 4th window. The issues are detailed in the...

"I saw that several Indiana counties will move from the Central time zone to Eastern time. When did this happen?" This was announced yesterday by the DOT, as noted in this article ... "The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday a final rule...

And you thought it was a slow news day on the time zone front... Yes, more on Venezuela's new time zone . First it was announced that Venezuela would change their time zone by 30 minutes , by turning their clocks back on January 1, 2008... then...

New info is now available on Egyptian (in case you missed it, posted last month) and the really new KB for changes in Venezuela on the DST Hot Topics and Latest News page... Egypt 2007 Daylight Saving changes: The government of Egypt has announced on...

As I previously noted , Venezuela is changing their time zone. We were able to confirm that Venezuela time zone has been confirmed to GMT -4:30 as original planned. We now hear from government sources that the new DST change will begin Sept 24 (next...

in today's news, the EU court dismissed Microsoft appeal — $613 million fine upheld , as noted in the Seattle Times. (Also see this opinion that the EU court's Microsoft ruling could overturn regulatory landscape .) Click here for the latest news on Microsoft...

The kids are asleep and I'm catching up on my Sunday reading, mail and a few bills. I noticed as I paid the cable bill online that I received a link to a Seattle Times editorial this weekend , tackling the challenge in DC around a network neutrality bill...

In reference to the information out there on product updates for the upcoming daylight saving time changes, Larry asks... "Why are there two Windows updates for the new DST rules? Did the rules change after the first update was pushed?" Great...

If a picture's worth a thousand words, then these are priceless. Steve Justice and Joel Schaeffer, two of our incredible Escalation Engineers from Microsoft Product Support, have put together some instructional videos to assist your DST planning efforts...

Can you believe that it's already mid September? A not-so-sunny day as I take a quick break from email (and lunch finally!), with the expectation of sun this weekend. Here are a few articles from the reading file for your commute home (thru August 19th...

This morning we reprised our daylight saving time webcasts with a Webcast on (wait for it) "Preparing for Daylight Saving Time." We presented an overview of information on Microsoft products and resources available to help businesses and individuals prepare...

From my friend, Beth, over on the Exchange Team blog ... I will join the webcast as well... I wanted to let you know that there is going to be a DST related Webcast this coming Friday. Event details: Available on Friday, September 14th at 9am...

New on MScom... Microsoft Gives Customers Something to Fall Back On ... a Q&A with Rich Kaplan as he "discusses the second part of the Daylight Saving Time extension to come in North America, lessons learned from March’s “spring forward,” and the...

Remember the post at the end of August on the new DST rules in Venezuela? News from my new friend Jose Antonio in our offices in SA says that it may be earlier than reported. Originally we found in the ABN news release on the DST change that Venezuela...

This evening on CBS 60 Minutes , Steve Kroft updated his report from earlier this year and gives the Geek Squad their fifteen minutes of fame. Kroft covered the challenges and increasing complexities computers, networking devices and the myriad of consumer...

Earlier this summer, Jason Daley wrote in Popular Science (June 2007 issues) about the Worst Jobs in Science 2007 , noting that worst job #6 was that of a Microsoft Security Grunt . "Teams of Microsoft Security Response Center employees toil 365 days...