Microsofting Me / PART I: How we all first "met"

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PART I - how we all first "met"

Micro-soft. As soon as I remembered, that I had once (probably bored and therefore web-avanturistic) reserved myself some space on blogger.com and decided to release my IT steam, I knew that one thing was inevitable. Microsoft. Or M$ as it's commonly named in most communities I'm part of.

I'll have to write about them. About HIM. Ever since, I was somehow fighting this must-do-task, but always felt presence of that little guy saying: YOU NEED TO WRITE IT.

As I think about it now, I'm not sure why all this avoiding. Probably I'm scared, that I wont write what I really want to. Or mean to. It happened a couple of times before, when I was writing for a magazine. When article was finished, and I read it, it was simply not what I wanted. Perhaps now is the right time to face my demons ... ;-)

Why now? -Well, this time I have unlimited space and no deadline. /spits in his hands/: let's rock 'n roll!

So let's start with a bit of a history: M$ first crossed my path about 10-or-more years ago, with DOS on old AT 286, running lightning-speed @ 16Mhz (in turbo mode!). Then I saw Win 3.11 CEE edition and I thought I've seen all that (personal) computing world has to offer. -Along with famous CTRL-ALT-DEL combo, which was, btw- invented by recently retired IBMer. (Again: Thank you, IBM!)

So by the time of W95 (remember that "worst disasters" picture which included Hiroshima, Chernobyl and Win95?) I became interested in what's behind it. One visit to the library (yes, back then, young people were still reading books - not e-books, but "analog" books!) and 3 days of active studying later, I got to know BG. William Henry Gates III.

Trey's biography. Instantly, he became my idol. For a while, I even forgot about James Hetfield of Metallica! ;-) (Disclaimer: sorry guys, but I'm far better with computers than with guitars. However my ThinkPad is full of your MP3s!)

Hope our librarian doesn't read blogs (if she's still alive), but I have to admit now: book contained some pictures of Gates, Allen, Ballmer & gang. I think I ripped all the pics out - one of them - showing Gates in his office back in '91 - is still on my old workspace (scientifically called "analog desktop"). It was even visible on a picture that we used in the magazine beside my column.

One day, I was in the library - it was actually a separated visit, nothing to do with returning Gates' bio - and found a book that changed and shaped my life. Father, son and IBM. Biography of Thomas J. Watson Jr., son of IBM's founder. So suddenly I knew there was someone even more significant in the (IT) world than Gates (and Jobs!). Somewhere between 1st and 5th re-reading, I fell in love with IBM. And, though this may sound VERY WEIRD,- still liked Gates. Reason why, lies in differences: while Watsons were very "IBMish" (does that sound too amish?), Gates was more .... eeeem /scratches his head/ ... - more of a geek? Yes, that's correct word!

Ever since, my opinion hasn't changed: if one wants to be a successful businessman (or a woman like Carly, LOL), he has to find best balance of both worlds. In other words: dress the geek in elegant dark suit.


Check out the PART II of Microsofting me: Geek in an elegant dark suit!