Email Etiquette: Avoid BCC’ing large distribution lists

While Microsoft corporate culture has evolved over the years, and the last twenty years have seen the introduction of new mass communication mechanisms like Yammer and Teams, we remain an email heavy company. Many product teams have related “Selfhost” or “Discussions” aliases (aka “Discussion Lists” or DLs) to which thousands of employees subscribe so theyContinue reading “Email Etiquette: Avoid BCC’ing large distribution lists”

Microsoft Employee’s Guide to Maximizing Donations

Perhaps the most impactful perk for employees of Microsoft is that the company will match charitable donations up to a pretty high annual limit ($15K/year), and will also match volunteering time with a donation at a solid hourly rate up to that same cap. Years ago, I volunteered at a food bank in Seattle, butContinue reading “Microsoft Employee’s Guide to Maximizing Donations”

My Next Opportunity

This is the farewell email I sent to my Edge teammates yesterday. IWebBrowser3::BeforeNavigate() When I left the Internet Explorer team in 2012 to work on Fiddler full-time, I did so with a measure of heartbreak, absolutely certain that I would never be quite as good at anything else. When I came back to the EdgeContinue reading “My Next Opportunity”

Thoughts on Impact

In this post, I talk a lot about Microsoft, but it’s not only applicable to Microsoft. Last update: 5 November 2024 It’s once again “Connect Season” at Microsoft, a biannual-ish period when Microsoft employees are tasked with filling out a document about their core priorities, key deliverables, and accomplishments over the past year, concluding withContinue reading “Thoughts on Impact”

Do Not Lie to Users

Multiple people working on Outlook.com thought this was a reasonable design. After a user deletes an email, then manually goes into the Deleted Items folder, then clicks Delete again, then acknowledges that they wish to Permanently Delete the deleted item: … the item is still not deleted. You can “Recover deleted items” from your Deleted items folder:Continue reading “Do Not Lie to Users”

DotNet Makes Me Sad, In Pictures

.NET Framework KB 3088956: Ouch, that sounds pretty severe. I guess I’d better go manually install a hotfix? Seriously? An email address and a CAPTCHA? Fine. Oh, an email delivered HTTP URL pointed at an executable file? That seems totes legit. Yup, definitely legit, it says “Microsoft” right there at the top! Sure, let’s putContinue reading “DotNet Makes Me Sad, In Pictures”