Farewell Bill
I have a little over an hour here in the office - yes its my last day at Microsoft. Many people over that last week have told me they thought I was 'a lifer' and to be honest until 6 weeks ago I did too. Once you get a spark of an idea like this in your head, and you convince yourself that its actually something that is physically and financially possible its hard to go back. I probably wouldn't have been much of an employee going forward thinking 'what if' all the time.
I'm a big MS proponent, always have been even before I worked here and probably always will be. For me working here was like a rocket scientist getting a job at NASA, or a musician playing in the London Philharmonic - no matter what the few bad things are, you know that you have worked at a place that is simply the best in its domain. Is it perfect? Guess what - no its not. But I'm still very happy I got the chance. Maybe I will be back in 12 months - keep my seat warm.
I will be relaxing for a few weeks enjoying whatever summer we get in Seattle, then I'm speaking at Portland Code Camp at the end of the month, then I will be attending Microsoft Meltdown and then "the experiment" will be into full speed.
Also, thanks to all those who sent kind words. Send the blog to all your friends.....