Now on Facebook

After months of friend’s telling me I should join Facebook, I have finally caved. Heath Stewart is now on Facebook. Tracy is too.

I have to say, though, it is quite nice. It’s much easier to use than Live Spaces, faster with the update (a problem with slow corporate giants), and lately I have had problems with Live Spaces. I won’t go into details because their support staff handle the situation quickly, though I did start my frantic quest for support internally since I work at Microsoft who owns Live Spaces.

I will still blog here but it will be reflected in my Notes application on Facebook. Frankly, Facebook just got social networking right (not that I’m a social butterfly). And tagging is a cinch – often even automatic. Tagging helps keep things organized and discoverable without a lot of fuss and is a major component of Web 2.0 (if you’re been wondering what that is).

If you’re not on Facebook I encourage you to join. You don’t have to publish your life like on I do on this blog, which I mainly do only for family and friends, but it does give you a place to tie your relationships together and even post little blurbs on your Wall which is kind of like blogging but is used more for little blurbs like that I got Adobe Photoshop CS3 – THE premier 2D graphics editing application – for a mere $50 through a mutual friend who works at Adobe.

Microsoft Leadership Award

A week or so ago I was awarded by our team with the

Microsoft Leadership award, given for now only working hard to push our team in

the right direction through education and being an expert in our domain of

Windows Installer, but also for pushing the company. Lately I’ve been working

almost singularly to get a major issue resolved for Windows XP and 2003 – on

which most of our customers on – fixed by teams in the Windows division. This

issue affects serviceability of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio, though it

took some time to portray just how badly.

That notion was underscored by our Product Unit Manager (PUM) when he mentioned

I was the most vocal of the group. What can I say? I’m relentless and a real

stinker. But, I did come to this company to note only work with the biggest and

best software manufacturer in the world, but also to change the world; and, I’m

in a team with plenty of opportunity to do just that.

For a glimpse at what I do, hop over to http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths.

Much of that information is inspired by internal issues and questions on an

internal distribution list for Windows Installer – the technology with which we

work the most – as well as problems encountered by our team. I even use it as a

training aide.

My New Office

With only about a year and a half at Microsoft, I have enough seniority to get a window office in building 41 – one of the taller buildings that sits in Bellevue with a taller height cap than in Redmond, up until recently. That means I get a nice view the higher up I am, and being on the side facing the Cascades the view is very nice, indeed!

Where Do We Work?

With the new Bird’s Eye View in Windows Live Local (formerly MSN Virtual Earth) you can get a good view of where we work:

• JC Penney in Bellevue where Tracy works
• Building 41 at Microsoft in Bellevue where I work

Take that, Google Maps!