This “disappearing office” prank was shown at the company meeting in 2007.

So there’s this anonymous Microsoft blogger who goes by the name of Mini-Microsoft. He’s been around for ages, grumping about Microsoft and offering his cranky advice about how the company could be improved. Mini’s gained a lot of credibility as an MSFT watchdog, and was recently featured in Business Week.

I love Mini (every enormous global company should have an anonymous bitchy blogger — seriously!) and recently added him on Facebook.

It was over on Mini’s Facebook page that I found this awesome wall posting:

Hey Mini,
I wanted to let you know that I am a recently hired level 59. I am a top student from a top program (which of course means SHIT until I start seriously producing for the company).

One of the main reasons I chose Microsoft over my other extremely gratuitous offers was because of your blog. Yes, I understand one of your overall messages involves frowning upon my entrance because I’m initially another face in the crowd who initially may not add much to the bottom line. Yes, I understand your blog magnifies and makes public many operational problems at MSFT. Yes, I understand your blog has caused many potential hires to be scared. But when I read mini-microsoft, I get excited, because I realize the problems you write about are solvable and more important they are worth solving because of the potential this company has.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is…. Thank you….

I love this! I firmly believe that the best way for any company (MSFT included) to attract smart, awesome folks is to be honest and forthcoming about its shortcomings and weak points — after all, those are the areas of the company that theoretically need the brightest superstars and problem-solvers, right?

So Mini — I salute you! Thanks for being the crabby voice that no-one wants to hear, but everyone listens to.

This is what happens to your office when you go on vacation.

I love Lucidio Mayer Kuhn Filho’s post about his daily bike commute. Lucidio is a Dev on the Microsoft Dynamics team, and judging by this picture, he is also one tough mofo who pedals 22 miles a day round trip.

My favorite part of his little FAQ is this section:

Don’t you get all sweaty?

Of course yes, but here’s one of the advantages of working at Microsoft: at-work showers. The building where I work has locker rooms with showers plus a towel service. So as soon as I get in my office, I can take a hot shower. Also, because I have my own office, I can place my bicycle in my office, or leave it in the garage, where there’s a bicycle rack.

Now, where else could I use my bicycle to work, have showers and towels waiting for me, and colleagues that think it’s perfectly normal for someone to stroll with bicycle clothes plus the bicycle itself at the corridors?

Read the rest of Lucidio’s post.

Microsoft Live Labs is a catalyst for the convergence of two critical facets of technology development. The aim is to inspire new thinking and new approaches to product innovation.
By Julie Evans

Microsoft Live Labs is going to a place where few have gone before: the intersection of basic research and pure engineering. Its mission: to drive state-of-the-art Internet technologies.

Live Labs was founded by Gary Flake, technical fellow at Microsoft, who saw the need to form a trench in the middle between the long-term nature of researchers and the near-term focus of engineers.

“… there’s an intersecting point somewhere in the middle where there’s this convergence of research and engineering where a lot of interesting things happen,” Flake said. “The notion of being a little bit in the middle is one that’s a little bit awkward for Microsoft. We wanted Live Labs to be a place that was really having a home in the middle between these extremes. We apply this pattern not just on the continuum between engineering and research, but we also think about it in terms of tactics versus strategy, long-term versus short-term, horizontal platforms versus vertical engineering. In every case, we are aspiring to try to make the market connect the dots between the two extremes.”

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