Yesterday afternoon was the Microsoft Intern/New Grad tech fair out on one of the soccer fields on campus. Basically, they gave us a free tshirt, put out some food and had an intra-Microsoft job fair. The main event, though, was a keynote speech and Q & A session with Steve Ballmer. I have to say, I was impressed. I guess you don't get to be CEO of the largest software company in the world for being a dummy. He gave a rather informal talk on the company for about 15 minutes and then opened the floor for questions. Mr. Ballmer ... *ahem* ... Steve insisted that we call him "Steve." Anyone who referred to him as "Mr. Ballmer" or "sir" got an earful. He said it made him feel even older. After the first 3 or 4 questions, people caught on and started using his first name. He got questions from across the board, a number relating to the new "Zune" release, some about Mac compatibility, some about Google in various respects, and some cheesey "What advice do you have for us as ____" and such. He answered all of them well and with a clear grasp on the bigger picture of the company as a whole, the insdustry, and all stakeholders. I guess it's only natural that the guy in charge of all this stuff would have that kind of scope on things, but you don't really think about it when you spend all your time down here in the trenches. Anyway, I walked away from the talk thinking "OK, Bill can go give his money away, I can work for this guy."
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