front matter
preface
There’s a peculiar phenomenon related to Microsoft called the Microsoft Echo Chamber. Microsoft is a huge organization, and the surrounding ecosystem of Microsoft Certified Partners multiplies that size by orders of magnitude. If you’re sufficiently embedded in this ecosystem, it can be hard to see past its boundaries. Whenever you look for a solution to a problem with a Microsoft product or technology, you’re likely to find an answer that involves throwing even more Microsoft products at it. No matter what you yell within the echo chamber, the answer is Microsoft!
When Microsoft hired me (Mark) in 2003, I was already firmly embedded in the echo chamber, having worked for Microsoft Certified Partners for years—and I loved it! They soon shipped me off to an internal tech conference in New Orleans to learn about the latest and greatest Microsoft technology.
Today, I can’t recall any of the Microsoft product sessions I attended—but I do remember the last day. On that day, having failed to experience any sessions that could satisfy my hunger for cool tech, I was mostly looking forward to flying home to Denmark. My top priority was to find a place to sit so I could attend to my email, so I chose a session that seemed marginally relevant for me and fired up my laptop.