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After a week in the job I'll still feeling a little bit of culture shock between working in Microsoft Consulting Services and Developer and Platform Evangelism; as that settles out I write about it a bit more. One change is that instead of talking to people one at a time. I'm talking to bigger groups, like the Technet 2006 technical road show. We've just announced.

You can see from the link we've got some interesting looking venues (Inmarsat stands out for me) and I'm looking forward to meeting people. As the blurb puts it. "the day would not be complete without a Session giving you… An overview of Windows Vista. James O’Neill will show you why he is excited by this release and outline the positive impact this product will have on your life as an IT Professional."

We've given a release date for vista and we've had some criticism because it won't be in the shops before the holiday season. Brian Vallentine, who heads up the Windows group said something like "If your product is good, customers will not worry for long if it was late. They never forget a buggy product, even if it is delivered on time". I can't find anyone inside or outside Microsoft who disagrees. Though there have certainly been some folks who feel hurt by the delay (another thing about changing jobs is I have time to read what they say, and what follows on from that). Here's a snippet from one of those

Another reason -- big reason -- why the Microsoft commenters are so passionate: They give a damn. Whatever else you may think about their comments, their Give-A-Damn meter is registering in the Green. Sure, it may seem like I've got it ass backwards and they're pegged out in the dreaded Red zone.
I'm sure a few are indeed red-zoning, but what I see mostly are folks who want to to be the best. They want their team to be the best. They are proud people. They are winners. They hate the thought of losing -- in any endeavor... to any person or thing.
The people who work for Microsoft are not only some of the best minds in the computer industry, they give a damn about what they do. That is a good thing.

So if you want to hear why I "give a damn" about Vista, come along. I'm not on my own though, there are 4 other sessions.

  • 2007 Microsoft Office System – People Ready Software for the New world of work
  • Exchange 12 Overview
  • Providing Secure access to applications with ISA 2006
  • Making Your Life Easier With Windows Server 2003 R2

Those alone make it worth checking out .