Jeff Sandquist isn't a cheerleader

The geek in question: Jeff Sandquist

The job title: Senior Director, Platform Evangelism

How long have you been with the company?
I think it’s been about 12 years. I get a plaque every once and a while to remind me. I started as a contractor answering phones for Product Support Services.

So, if you’ve been here that long, you’ve gotten to witness Microsoft’s shift toward transparency — including your own “peer to peer over a beer” work with Channel 9. What are the limits of that transparency? How does it feel knowing management reads your blog?

When I first started here, I was terrified of the higher ups. They were almost like Santa Claus — these mythical figures running these billion dollar businesses. I used to be so scared of Sanjay that I would actually go down a different hallway rather than talk to him.

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Ian Ellison-Taylor

The job title: General Manager, Presentation Platform and Tools

What are you doing right now?

I’m the General Manager of Presentation Platform and Tools, which is about 170 people who work on Windows Presentation Foundation. We also have the Jolt team internally, which is all the graphical animation media parts and Silverlight. And I have a tools team called Cider that delivers tools for both those groups to use. It’s your traditional developer/test/PM kinda organization.
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Looks like Jeff Sandquist (of Channel 9 fame) is working on a new project:

A couple of nights ago Larry Larsen, Max Zuckerman and I got together to film some new content at my home for Channel 10. This will used for a new series where we go to the homes of fellow Microsoft employees and show the technology they use.

Think about it….

Channel 9 brought you inside the halls of Microsoft, now Channel 10 will take you to their homes. Yes, I know you’re probably thinking that this will be some sort of lame MTV Cribs like rip-off series.

Not the tone we’re looking for. Instead we’re honing in on the actual technology people use in their homes. [Read the rest]

I love seeing the way geeks hack their homes, so I’m totally looking forward to this. I can’t wait to see the wifi-enabled blenders and database networked bathroom fans.