Originally, I was going to post about my visit last week to the
Microsoft campus in Redmond on a training course. The technical workshop
was excellent: there were some great presentations and interesting
speakers; we covered a lot of material in 3 days; there was a refreshing
lack of marketing fluff; there was a lot of hands-on practical
exercises; I learned a lot; I met some interesting people and our hosts
at Microsoft were very friendly and hospitable.
Then I was going to blog about how I was expecting the Microsoft offices
to be some fancy, modern
architecture
with lots of smoked glass, stainless steel and Japanese water features
involved. What I actually got was some sprawling 70's style University
campus with lots of anonymous, brown and grey 2 storey
buildings.
Finally I was going to make some amusing comments about people working
for Microsoft who have job titles of 'Windows Technical Evangelist' and
actually work in groups called 'Windows Evangelism' or, even better,
'Technical Diplomacy'.
But then I stumbled across Robert Scoble's (the most famous Microsoft
Evangelist) recent blog entries
about his mother who has recently
suffered
a stroke. I have never met Robert Scoble, I don't know Robert Scoble but
I feel for him and his family at this time
However, I must admit I feel slightly uncomfortable (voyeuristic)
reading Scoble opening his heart and soul out so completely (with
photos) on his blog but then again, I guess that's his choice to post it
and my choice to read it.