Early on the morning of the 27^th of October I stumbled upon a thread simply titled “New Elite Members” and I found this interesting since it was the first time in my 5 years on the forum that new additions to the staff were being made. I opened it to see who the lucky people were. I expected a couple of lads to be added but the list had more like 12 people.

The first 3 people were all ones I knew so I skipped straight to the bottom of the page to leave a congratulatory message for them. After typing that out, I continued reading the page and to my surprise I found my name on it :-|

I was absolutely shocked. I have spent a lot of time on the forum but over the past couple of years, my post count really hasn’t moved much more than a couple of hundred. I do however spend a couple of hours every day helping out on the Messenger Plus! IRC support channel but I didn’t really think any one noticed.

I must say, I am absolutely honored. The decision was made by the staff and for the fool who voted for me, I have to say “HAHA.. you totally wasted your vote :p”. But seriously, thanks a lot guys. Feels good to be part of the “staff” of a forum with over 85,000 users for a software which has over 62 million users.

The forum and IRC have given me a lot. They have taught me most of the things I know, give me loads of friends and great experiences. And then to be made an Elite Member.. it’s an honor.

My user bio now accurately represents my status in the community

Messenger Plus! User (since v2.x)

Messenger Plus! Live Official Tester (since v3.5)
Messenger Plus! Live IRC Help Chan Op (since 2008)
Messenger Plus! Live Elite Member (since 27/10/2009)

Now to become IRC oper (I’d probably need to kill segosa for that ;p), MVP and then take over the world!

Why am I giving you stale news? Well, this isn’t really news but I applied around the first week of September got selected first as a candidate host then got a confirmed host status. Last night I got an e-mail stating my party package is on its way.

All hosts will receive:

• One limited Signature Edition Windows^® 7 Ultimate
• One Puzzle with Windows^® 7 Desktop Design
• One Poster with Windows^® 7 Desktop Design
• Ten Tote Bags with Windows^® 7 Desktop Design for hosts and guests
• One table top centerpiece for decoration
• One package of Windows^® 7 napkins

The package should arrive by this Tuesday or Wednesday. The party is planned for the 23rd of October at 7.00 PM and is an invite only party. So drop in a line and I’ll try to get people in :) After all, my room can only fit that many people in.. :P

Ask him about anything from life at Microsoft to questions on their product and business strategies. As he puts it, he will try to answer them without getting fired :P

I worked on Vista and Windows 7, and will also be working on Windows 8. Ask me anything you want about the company, culture, lifestyle, seattle, products, etc. and I’ll answer the best I can without getting fired.

He has put up some info for students looking at becoming Interns at Redmond. Most of it is the same stuff you’d read around the internet but here’s something I read for the first time and I must say, I agree with especially since this was how I got my trip to Redmond ;)

Also, there is one other way you can consider to try to get an internship. The Imagine Cup is a competition that Microsoft hosts for students. In the past, top ranked students from each region have been flown out for interviews at Redmond, skipping the whole screening process. I can’t promise that they will continue to do this, but if I ever saw a student who placed well in the imagine cup, I would definitely see it as being very positive.

I must say, the guy is brave. I think its a good move. There are a lot of misconceptions about Microsoft as a company. It isn’t (all) evil :P I wish I knew he was. I’d certainly like to meet him and have a chat :) If DrinkingKoolAid ever reads this (chances are surely slim), get in touch with me. The first round’s on me!

Microsoft has come up with the RTM for Vista SP2. They have asked manufacturers to start shipping with Vista SP2 until 7 comes out. But they seem to want to hold off the release (for some reason not clear to me) until the original release estimate they had given, the end of Q2 (end of June).

May be it has something to do with what Bill Veghte had to say..

“If you’re just starting your testing of Vista, with the release candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the release candidate, and use that going forward.”

- Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for Windows Business @ Tech Ed 2009

So I’m guessing Microsoft wants to push Windows 7 further. They are marketting it towards that set of population which didn’t like Vista, either because of the Mojave factor or its “high” hardware requirements (mostly the former I presume). As for organizations, if XP legacy is an issue, surely Windows 7′s XP Mode is there to help ;)

I still feel Vista doesn’t get its due credit, may be not as bad as Windows ME but Vista does deserve more credit. Most techies will tell you how much they love Vista but most laymen users generally prefer XP. I for one haven’t had many compatibility issues, nothing Compatibility Mode didn’t solve.

I like Windows 7 but at least for now, I shall still be in love with Windows Vista despite my systems having already moved to Windows 7. For its time, it was a truly great OS. It had tid bits of features that gave users a better UX and simultaneously had showstoppers to provide the WOW effect ;)

The one last machine I have on Vista is going to updated with SP2 tonight. I suggest you do the same :)