Willows Lodge – Woodinville, WA
This enty’s title is way too dramatic. But these are the words that many of my colleagues said as I headed off for Seattle and the Microsoft Technology Summit. And for many years, these words might have accurately expressed my sentiments regarding Microsoft. As an executive, I recognized Microsoft as a necessary part of our computing legacy. At Sprint, this meant Microsoft desktop technology, Microsoft server technology and even some Microsoft database technology.
But as a technician, I have always taken our relationship with Microsft more circumspectly. I loved it when Microsoft and IBM collaborated on OS/2. And I was both an early adopter and a late relinquisher of OS/2. So Microsoft’s erstwhile rejection of their own child seemed frustratingly odd. But I digress… The dissolution of the IBM/Microsoft relationship left a lot of bitter feelings at the table – amongs the partners and amongst their customers.
So like many other spurned lovers, I sought out the solace of another. And for the past ten years, I have cherished the warm embrace of the “community” that is “open source” (e.g. Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc). At the same time, I continued to recommend Microsoft for client technologies (i.e., the desktop, the collaboration tools and even the web page development/publishing tools).
So when I received my invitation to the first Microsoft Technology Summit, I was thrilled… and cautious. But more about the summit in another entry. For now, I am on the run between events. I am off to the Microsoft campus after some much needed rest.
But before I drop off the universe (as there is no connectivity where we are meeting), I do need to talk a tad about the accomodations. We are at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville. And this place is fabuloous! The rooms are tastefully elegant with both modern and rustic touches. They are gadget-friendly. And they put one at ease.
And now I must run… More to follow. But the brief word is… augezeichnet!