To start my collection of random quotes, I offer this from one seven-year-old boy at the end of the new movie Iron Man just as the closing credits rolled. It’s a testament to his proficiency on Guitar Hero and eclectic music library:
"Is that Black Sabbath? I love Ozzy Osborne."
That’s what you get when you hang around with the good folks like Kevin, Jay, Vinnie — and especially his guitar teacher and bassist extrordinaire ‘E’ — at Northwest Guitars.
Tags: articles, photos, quotes, music
Sad day.
According to news reports today, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the widow of television director/producer/writer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, died today (December 18, 2008) as a result of complications from leukemia. You may remember her as the first officer from the original Star Trek pilot and then from the series as Nurse Christine Chapel.
Tags: Majel Barrett, Star Trek.
A new site has hit Microsoft.com, in support of our customers: the new community on the Microsoft Answers Site, Microsoft’s first consumer-focused support community. Chris Kilbourn (the Lead Site Manager for TechNet) posted today about the launch…
“A few times in my career, I’ve been lucky enough to have been involved with the turn-up of some major web sites. Today marks another one of those events.
“I am very pleased to announce that my team, in coordination with many others across Microsoft, has just launched Microsoft Answers Beta for Windows Vista!
“It is a web site for everyone who uses Windows Vista at home, and has questions about using or fixing problems with Vista. With community-driven forums, it is a place for Microsoft customers to discuss and ask questions about Vista.
“Take a look, and leave us know what you think in the Microsoft Answers Beta feedback forum.”
The Microsoft Answers Site is an interactive community self-help experience moderated by dedicated support engineers and (from my Windows POV) provides a place for consumers to quickly and easily find all sorts of Windows Vista support content. Microsoft Answers is available today as a beta release, and I found that the Windows Vista section is where you can post your questions and answer some, too.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen a number of customer interactions being fielded about Windows Vista and many of our products across a wide variety of communities (including various comments posted on Twitter, and deeper exchanges on Get Satisfaction and the green button to name a few).
This latest effort should help connect consumers within a Microsoft forum, in a way that we’ve seen through the communities that we have for developers and IT professionals in MSDN and TechNet. I like the structure that Microsoft Connect has brought to the pre-release and beta process. It’s good to see that we have an interactive effort to connect consumers with our employees in more than an ad hoc way (such as through blog feedback and comments, which I get from time to time).
Microsoft Answers is available today as a beta release. For more, please visit http://answers.microsoft.com/windows and provide your feedback on the experience.
Added 12/16/08: I’m reminded by my friend Matt that ahead of Microsoft Answers, I need to provide a tip of the hat to Windows Live. We also recently launched support for Windows Live customers at http://windowslivehelp.com/:
Windows Live Solution Center is the first fully integrated online consumer support experience for Windows Live. Combining topic-driven blogs, technical solutions and community conversations, the Windows Live Solution Center offers dynamic support for Windows Live services.
More on this one asap.
Tags: Microsoft, customer support, feedback, customer service, Windows Vista.
I just received this from my incomparable friend, JuliAnn: the Wisdom Book movie: it seemed appropriate to include it here:
Please watch this video. Then take a deep breath and a few glorious minutes to take it in. Ask yourself- "What is the wisdom I carry to share with the world, what would I say if asked to share in this book?"
On my way to a meeting, but first: this top of the hat to Steve Clayton.
As Steve posted and Tweeted today (you can see that for yourself here), Hugh MacLeod is a Comic Genius. (More on his work briefly in a pastpost and on his blog/ site at http://www.gapingvoid.com/.)
I have to agree.
"I was reminded last night how much I miss having Hugh around…so I went and checked out his archive of comics and an hour later was still there. Above is a small collection of some of my favourites…including my absolute favourite (discounting Blue Monster and Cloud)."
My personal favourite:
And this from his new series:
+1 for a Hugh book.