More Office, Less Vlad

I am not sure how people get the idea I work for Microsoft but let me again state that despite the countless shiny blue, green and purple Microsoft logos and acronyms I do not work for Microsoft. Microsoft works for me. Opinions here are my own and heavily influenced by the feedback from my partners and customers. Few Microsoft folks wondered how I can be so happy with Microsoft one minute and take an axe to it the next. Let's see, how do I put this plainly. Think about Microsoft Outlook. Happy feeling, isn't it? All mail in one place, contacts a click away and its mobile too. God bless Bill Gates! Now think Software Assurance. Think Genuine Advantage and MAPS on eBay. Think WMF exploit unpatched for two weeks. Think Origami. What type of a feeling does that evoke? Thats right, honey string up the guillotine! So there you go. Microsoft technology… good. Microsoft Licensing… bad. Microsoft legal… worse. Microsoft Financial… evil. Microsoft Dynamics… *^&$^%^&*& Same company, different people. You cannot judge the whole company on the behavior of just one of its arms and you cannot expect admiration and love for the entire company, especially when you spent six hours in the line waiting for the Xbox. I will set my bitterness aside for a second and leave it at the fact that not all decisions Microsoft makes are good ones. Now on to the brighter side of the equation, new screenshots for Office 12 are up there! Check them out, sadly no Outlook.