Microsoft's version of the Darwin Award...

   Well, it's official:  Richard Gregg has been sentenced to 2 years in one of Washington State's fine correctional facilities for the crime of tragic stupidity.  This is really a shame - Richard is a very likable fellow who had run the software library for the Windows Application Compatibility Testing Team, first as a contractor and later as a full-time employee, since the days of Windows '97 "Memphis" (later known to the world as "Windows '98" because we shipped late).  Given that a large part of his job was to buy MS and 3rd-party software, his management chain had been shuffled a half-dozen times over the years, and the inadequacy of our controls on the internal software purchasing system, I can see why it would have been easy for his activities to go undetected and unquestioned for quite some time.  Two years plus full restitution is a stiff penalty, but I'm really glad to see that he's had the courage to own up to this rather than going the way of the dude...

-Bryce