Microsoft Company Meeting

How does the largest software company in the world hold a company meeting when there's tens of thousands employees in the Puget Sound area?

Simple: they rent out SafeCo field.  Our seats weren't as good as they were on our day trip back in June, but what an event.  Attendance was around 20,000 ... and it was no secret to tell Office from MSN -- among others -- because of culture-specific garb like hats or shirts purchased for the event.

Billg opened the event, and the day proceeded with a ton of great demos.  It was fun to experience (though, I admit to being demo'd out from PDC and other campus events).   And, finally, I got to see Steveb go crazy (though I'm told this was a mild performance -- and I believe it after seeing the "Monkey Boy" video). 

What did I take away from the event?  Well, I've seen the demos several times now, I know we've got great product on the horizon -- that's nothing new.  But I can honestly say I've never seen any group of people rally behind their leadership like I saw at this meeting.  I've been a Microsoft fanboy so I assumed it was just me, but no ... the admiration, respect, and enthusiasm the audience generated was unparalleled compared to anything I've seen at any other company.  Amazing.