ServerDocument in VSTO 2005 and Adolesence

We are pushing more, and more, and more content about VSTO all of time. We just had one go live that pertains mostly to using ServerDocument in your solutions. Jason De Lorme and Lori Turner are rolling and showing some serious flex with a new article: Using the Server Capabilities in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office to Build a Benefits Registration System.

Truth be told, we're trying to have really long titles now so that they don't show up in search engines and become impossibly hard to find or describe.

Uh..I was lying in case you didn't catch the dripping sarcasm.

We're still working on early concepts of what where we will take VSTO v3. I am driving two areas of investigation (ssssshhh, one of them deals with Outlook. Shock!). Surprisingly, I attend a manageable number of meetings. What is exciting to me is that across Microsoft, I sense enthusiasm growing. When I started nearly three years ago, I heard a lot of people saying things like, "I wish we were more willing to take risks." or "We are too bound up in red tape to get anything done", and still, "Man, we just don't act like a startup, and that's what we should be doing."

The last statement hardly needs comment. I felt then (and still do) like saying, "Yeah, see, we're not acting like a startup, because we're still in business, pulling in 40 billion dollars a year from all over the world every year, have an obligation to shareholders, and are a large economic, technical, and cultural influence. We're maybe just a little different." Again, the sarcasm.

I know that some people still feel we do not take enough chances, and in some ways, I agree. On the other hand, I know we are leading in a lot of areas. Also, given our large presence, we have learned that we need to be MUCH more careful how we treat exisiting customers, the stability of their environment and so on. Yes, we need to take calculated risks, but we need to be sure that where people are is a safe, secure, stable, strong, and adaptive place to begin with before we lead them to something newer, cooler, better, more meaningful to their business.

I frequently tell my kids: what separates you from me is that I've made more mistakes.

Granted, there is more than that, but it has helped them see me as a work in progress with some wisdom I fought hard to acquire. They get it.

Microsoft is through its adolescence. We are older, wiser, but willing to take chances....the right chances (I hope!).

Rock Thought for the Day: Speaking of taking chances, I just found out in my guitar magazine that Dave Navarro, freakishly good guitar player and brief member of Red Hot Chili Peppers, can no long wear a shirt when in public because of a clause in the contract he signed with the Peppers. Wild.

Rock On

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• Anonymous
  January 18, 2006
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