It really is a small world

Cyclometh — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:35:00 GMT

This morning, I received an email forwarded to me, originally from one of the folks on the OneNote team. It was basically forwarding a link to a blog entry by someone with the nom de guerre of Yivvits, a character in the Star Wars: Galaxies MMO who, in his real life, also uses OneNote and Connect. He was kind enough to say some very positive things about Microsoft Connect in his post. The email and his blog entry have been forwarded to the entire Connect Team, and I just wanted to say that we all appreciate the comments.

However, all preening aside, the real reason I posted this is because I used to play SWG myself- I had a character for quite a while. Back when I was still a very active player (this was long before I came to Microsoft), I wrote a community article on how to submit good bug reports for SWG. I just found the coincidence entertaining.

Vista Tester Event Recap

Cyclometh — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:04:00 GMT

Last week, a number of Windows Vista testers were invited out to campus by the Vista beta team. Myself and a few of my teammates were very fortunate to get a chance to attend a get-together which included the Vista testers and many of the Vista beta team and Vista product groups. I can confidently say that a good time was had by all.

I got a chance to meet Robert McLaws of longhornblogs.com fame, now windows-now.com. If you're interested in Microsoft and/or Vista, and haven't read his blog, you should. We discussed a number of issues with Connect, customer perception and reality, and the future of Connect. I was being pulled in about five directions, and hadn't eaten all day so I wasn't as focused as I should have been. (sorry about that, Robert). But he made some great points, some of which I've been making the case for internally as well. I'm sure he and I will have more conversations in the future.

I had a chance to see Dena Reiter again, and to meet her husband. Dena was kind enough to pay me a visit way back in the dim and misty- I think I'd been at Microsoft for about a month- and we had lunch while discussing Connect and customer interaction with Microsoft.

Also got a chance to meet some of the Vista testers whose names I know from the Beta newsgroups- it was great to have faces to put to names.

Every time I get a chance to meet Microsoft customers, and in particular the ones who help us beta test our products, I'm both astonished and humbled. The energy, drive and commitment to excellence you people show is truly amazing. I know you have the thanks of the Vista team, but you have mine as well.

The Feedback Loop : fun

It really is a small world

Vista Tester Event Recap