Richard Sprague WebLog : Microsoft

Do you know any scientists?

sprague — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:16:07 GMT

Now this is sad…

Only 18 percent of us know a scientist personally, according to a 2005 survey (subscription required), and when asked in 2007 to name scientific "role models," the results were dismal. Forty-four percent of Americans couldn't come up with a name at all, and among those few who did, their top answers were either not scientists or not alive: Bill Gates, Al Gore, Albert Einstein.

[from Slate]

I work in Building 99, the main offices for Microsoft Research, which is packed with scientists (one reason I like it here). But it’s too bad that the rest of America has so little face-to-face interaction with practicing scientists.

It’s also a shame, because scientists in my opinion tend to be very interesting people. Maybe somebody should set up a social networking system to let more people meet scientists. How about you? Do you know any scientists?

Microsoft Startup Zone

sprague — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:55:01 GMT

I remember during the Tech Crash earlier this decade, a lot of my friends took advantage of the downturn to start a new company, many of which formed the seeds of what we now call Web2.0. Just in time for today's economic downturn, Microsoft has started a new initiative, BizSpark, that gets you all the software tools needed for your new business -- for free.

You have to meet a few basic qualifications (e.g. you can't have more than $1M revenue), but when I talked to the team yesterday it was clear they are trying to target a LOT of startups. This is not some secret, hard-to-join program. If you're a start-up doing software development, you'll want to apply. It basically means you get all the powerful Microsoft software you want, for the same price you previously paid for all that open source software. Actually, the MS stuff (I claim) is cheaper because it's commercial-grade software that won't require a lot of your time to find and install.

I used to post all my startup ideas online, but I haven't kept it up. Maybe I'll dust off some of my ideas and post them to my personal blog so you can copy me freely and start your own business!

Upgrading my Tilt to WM6.1

sprague — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:59:32 GMT

Sometimes you upgrade a device because you have to in order to get a bug fix. Sometimes you upgrade because you want to, in order to get some cool new feature. But sometimes, as in the case of my WM6.1 upgrade this weekend, you do it because it just feels good to be running the latest-latest software.

I had been waiting for the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade to be available for the AT&T Tilt, but M3's post was the first time I saw that it was actually available. He said it was easy, so I figured on Labor Day Weekend I may as well go for it. He was right. The whole process for me took less than an hour, including reconfiguring my device the way I like it (email accounts, ringtones, bluetooth, etc.).

Now I have a fancy new WM6.1 interface...and what else? Well, it's nice to run the latest software although it doesn't feel like a critical upgrade. I think calling it a dot-one release is the right call. M3 says he gets better battery life, but I'm not sure I notice anything. One thing that's very nice is the new zoom feature on Internet Explorer. There are other intriguing features, like the Remote Desktop Monitor that I can't wait to try. But all-in-all it just feels good to be running the latest software, and it was a very painless upgrade, so I'm happy.

The Future Bill Gates

sprague — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:35:08 GMT

Lots of news this week about Bill Gates' last day at Microsoft, but most people don't realize how un-Bill and un-Microsoft it is to spend time reflecting on the past, so the goodbye meeting I went to on Friday morning was a little out-of-character. (Tears?!)

The most interesting parts, in fact, were the discussion about the future. Bill noted that he expects his priorities at the Foundation to remain roughly constant for the next 30 years! Global Health, U.S. Education, and Global Development.

Speaking of the future, my team had some interesting interactions with him this week that we'll be talking about soon. Stay tuned.

OneNote Powertoys

sprague — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:32:57 GMT

As a proud and daily user of OneNote, I was happy to see Terry Gold's summary of his favorite OneNote features. Well today Chuck Opperman reminded me to check out the latest OneNote powertoys, which add some even niftier features. While you're at it, check out Blake Handler's incredible list of all known Office 2007 add-ins.

My favorite is the OneNote Calendar, that shows a calendar view of all your notes. Very cool.