Mr T’s rants and ravings

This is the basic digital lifestyle sort of video. I’ve seen it a number of times and am surprised Microsoft doesn’t make more of it.

This one is a fun look at business and the new Microsoft Office.

It’s about 4.5 minutes long and you can see it here. I think its kind of funny. More on the what’s this all about here.

I’ve got a couple of browsers on my laptop. IE of course. FireFox and Safari as well. Over the weekend I installed IE 8 beta 2 to try out. And today I installed Chrome from Google. Why not? Everyone else is.

For the time being I will stay with IE 8 though. The address search on IE8 and Chrome is similar but the one on IE 8 works better for me. The tabs on Chrome are on the top of the screen which bugs me. It is not as convenient and seems to be a change for the sake of being different and not for any good reason I can see. Also Chrome does not support Silverlight and Photosynth and I need those. So major fail there. Hopefully they will fix that.

I do like the default tab on Chrome. It shows your most frequently opened pages. The default tab on IE 8 shows the pages you have most recently closed which I do find quite useful though so it is not a huge edge there for Chrome. I am used to bringing up a number of pages at once from the favorites menu. I have a couple of groups that I use for specific purposes. One hit and they all open. I haven’t figured out how to do that with Chrome or even if it is possible.

So Chrome may be the hot new thing but there are plenty of reasons for me not to use it and not really any compelling reasons to use it. Well it was worth trying.

I just came across a blog called Microspotting which is all about short interviews with Microsoft employees. The author is giving away some shirts to ’softies that say “I am the empire” which is sort of a cool idea. It sort of says “that evil empire you are talking about is me” and puts a personal face to it. I’ve suggested spelling it out and having a shirt that says “does this look like the face of evil to you?” But I’m not sure that’s exactly how I want to say it.

My job is largely to put a personal face on Microsoft - show people we’re not all bad and evil and out to take over the world. I have found that a little humor goes a long way. Some people seem not expect Microsoft employees to actually have a sense of humor. But really we do.

Normally one sees a lot of mocked up or otherwise faked “computer technology” on TV shows. Recently on CSI:NY they used some real tech from Microsoft Research – Photosynth – on the show. You can read about it and see the clip on the Virtual Earth blog. Pretty cool stuff. I can’t wait until this stuff makes it out of the labs so more people can use it for real.

Edwin Guarin is driving a bus fitted out as a high tech, lots of games and devices, digital dorm room to campuses around the NorthEast.  He’s writing about the trip on his blog.  He’s showing of computers, Zunes, Xbox 360 (apparently Rock Band is popular on the tour so far) and giving away gifts and prizes. Its a fun way to get a look at some cool technology.

The full schedule is here. Stops this week include:

• Hofstra University
• NorthEastern University
• UMASS Boston
• Bunker Hill Community College

Next week

• Bentley College (I expect reports from this stop)
• Harvard
• Boston University

Still more following that - check the schedule for schools, dates and times as some of the locations are yet to be determined. If he comes to you campus or to a campus near you stop by and tell Edwin I sent you.

I never thought I’d see Guy Kawasaki at a Microsoft event but it happened. Earlier this week Guy Kawasaki interviewed Steve Ballmer at the MIX08 event. It’s a very interesting interview and at times very funny. Usually events like this have someone tossing “softball” questions but Guy really doesn’t pull any punches.

I enjoyed the back and forth over the new light Apple laptop. I found it interesting that Guy uses the same cell phone (a Motorola Q) that I do because he depends on the connection with Exchange for email. Windows Mobile is pretty good really. Apparently Kawasaki does some work with Microsoft and he actually has nice things to say about the changes he has seen in the company.

I haven’t finished watching it yet but so far it is one of the most interesting interviews with Ballmer that I have seen.

Have you all heard about Dreamspark yet? It is a program Bill Gates announced earlier this week to allow students to get a bunch of Microsoft development software including the new Expression design and web tools, Visual Studio, Windows Server and a free membership in the XNA Creators Club.

There are more details here. Since you don’t have to dump the software after graduation even those of you close to graduation may want to get a hold of this so you can try some things out on the cheap.

There is an expression in German that translates to “work makes life sweet.” There is a corollary thought that translates to “but too much is too much.” I’m starting to feel that later expression.

Eleven days ago I left home for a business trip to Seattle. I’m still there and have two more days before I get home. And it is all starting to catch up with me. In that time I have had exactly one day off - last Saturday. Unfortunately (in some ways) I spent that day having a lot of fun. The list of things we did is embarrassingly long and started with breakfast and ended with a return to my hotel well after 1AM. Mentally relaxing but not physically.

People who don’t travel on business often don’t understand how much work it is. One generally starts with meeting people for breakfast and ends it with a long dinner also with a lot of work components. In between are meetings broken up only by more meetings. Think about having a school day that runs 14 hours long and continuing even while you are eating.

I was a little late for breakfast this morning - I just could not get up. Right now between sessions (this is a training week) I am trying to get some of my regular day job work done. There is a big party tonight (yes we do have some fun) but I’m not sure I’ll be going. If I do go I will be leaving early. The younger people and the people who only arrived this week may have energy left but I’m about spent. I am seriously looking forward to sleeping on the plane ride home on Saturday.

In the long run it is worth it of course. I am learning a lot of good things and meeting a lot of interesting people. There are 6000 people from around the world at this event and I have made some good contacts and added friends to my Facebook account. Last week was a smaller group of people and there I met new people but also reconnected with people I know from previous meetings. There are people from South America and South Africa, Japan, China, England and all over eastern and western Europe. It’s pretty cool actually.

Tomorrow I will hear Bill Gates talk to the conference and that should be interesting. But you know, part of me would like to go home tonight.

OK it’s short, very short, the whole clip is less than 2 minutes and I’m one of about four or five people in it. But for those of you who don’t know me in person or who haven’t seen me in a while - here I am.

The rest of the Channel 8 web site is more interesting.