A Little MSft News

Couple things going on with the small company I work for that I thought I'd share with you.

The Commons

Microsoft just recently opened The Commons; Microsoft's very own mall on corporate campus. That's right, Microsoft workers have their own mall now. No need to leave work to go get some outdoor sports gear. No need to leave work to get a beer. No need to leave work to get a massage. The Commons has it all including 14 restaurants, shops, soccer field, and even a pub that serves alcohol to reserved parties after 3 p.m. It is being described as a cross between the University of Washington's HUB, University Village, and Pike Place Market. There's even an area called "Pike Place @ The Commons" which has a miniature version of the red neon clock, hunks of Beecher's cheese, jars of pepper jelly, and Chukar cherries.

The Commons is located on the west part of campus and is 1.4 million square feet. It's actually less than a block down the street from my building. This is also where the huge 5,000 vehicle parking garage is that I wrote about over a year ago. There are also four office buildings that will house the company's Entertainment and Devices division, which developed Xbox and Zune. It's funny and sadly true that Mini-Microsoft points out, "Windows and Office funded this extravagant place for the folks who managed to burn through $8,000,000,000USD+ on the Xbox, be shown how it's done right from Nintendo with the Wii, dash the Zune against the juggernaut iPod, and have the iPhone drop-kick WinMobile to Mars."

I haven't checked out The Commons yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to bring my camera and take lots of pics.


Air Force XP

The Air Force just received a special version of Windows XP that locked down 600 settings and can install critical security patches in an average of 72 hours instead of 57 days. Steve Ballmer estimates that this secure version of XP will save the Air Force about $100 million in contract costs and countless hours of maintenance. I wish I had a chance to try it to see if I can hack it. I'm sure it'll get leaked somehow.

I think I interviewed at a building that was working on this back when I was searching for a job. I think it was for a test lab position, but they couldn't tell me what they were testing as it required a security clearance and the need to know. The latter of which I didn't have.


1 vs. 100

Xbox Live is bringing the short-lived NBC game show 1 vs. 100 to its service. Microsoft Studios plays a huge role in the game and I think it's really cool. If it hits big, which a lot of people are thinking it will, it will mean a lot for our building.

The hour-long show will take place on Friday and Saturday nights, and is hosted by comedian and voice actor Chris Cashman. Each installment features a player, the One, who is trying to outsmart 100 players in the Mob by rapidly answering trivia questions with multiple choice answers. The longer the player survives, the more Microsoft Points he earns when he walks away: staring at 200 Points ($2.50) and ramping up to 10000 ($125) by defeating all 100 players in the Mob. But if the Mob defeats the One, then everyone in the Mob earns an Xbox Live Arcade game. There are others players are in the Crowd, where the top 3 scorers in each game will earn the Arcade game. And each answer earns the Crowd an entry into a sweepstakes, for undisclosed huge-mega-prizes, that will be held in the middle and at the end of the season.

Microsoft earns money from this through advertisements during the game. It's a win-win for everyone. We've been doing a test version of the game for a little while now, but the official release date is Spring 2009.