Dinner with Jim Allchin

[photo taken by: Thomas Hawk of Jim Allchin]

Somehow, I got added to this very intimate list of people to go for dinner with Jim Allchin and see a demo of MS Vista yesterday evening. I didn't know who the other attendees would be, either, so the entire evening was shrouded in a sort of mystery. Then there was that deal about the blogging embargo...

When I received the invite, I knew I had to try and include my PiC somehow...mostly to help me translate what would be discussed there...but also because the work he does, both in the activist community and with his day job, directly relates to the work being presented. So, I sent an email requesting a +1. Although this wasn't the type of dinner where 'loved ones' were invited (strictly bizness), my request was an exception and Chris was added to the guestlist.

We arrived on time and saw Thomas Hawk in the lobby. The next people to arrive were Tony Gentile (Healthline), John Tokash (Homestead Technologies), Beth Goza (Second Life) and Phillip Torrone (PT from Make Magazine)...I wondered more and more why the heck I was there. When Mena Trott (Six Apart) walked in, I was sure I was in the wrong place altogether.

Nevertheless, I poured myself another glass of wine and settled in to what would be a lively and interesting discussion with senior people at Microsoft.

Like Thomas acknowledges, it is something else that Microsoft senior management actually takes the time to sit down and have frank discussions with bloggers...especially since that scary Forbes article [no link...we all know what I'm talking about]. Jim was especially open to criticism and took my frequent challenges in stride. We discussed DRM, Open Source vs. proprietary, the blogosphere and the online community in general. Thomas, being the super gadget guy, brought up the CableCard technology for Microsofts Media Mediacenter (which really led us towards the whole DRM discussion).

Yes, I put the challenge out to Jim that Microsoft, having the money and the power, should be fighting hollywood and the RIAA, but he's right...Microsoft isn't the only company backing down from that fight. Apple is definitely as guilty.

As Thomas said:

It frustrates me to no end that more people are not upset with Apple's behavior. While I can certainly see where they have a right to make a profit, they have sold *so* many iPods at this point and made *so* much money, it does seem to me that opening up their format to other players would be the right thing to do.

I guess someone has to get strategic about it. It will probably have to come from the community. I just hope that these companies stand behind the community when it does.

Then we got into the Vista demo. Here are some points to mention:

• Vista has an interesting collaborative feature built-in. You can share programs and files simply with Vista and bluetooth (or same network, I imagine). Just accept them as a contact and you can collaborate in real-time. Pretty neat.
• Vista has some cool photo editing features and tagging being built in. And...the tags created on your desktop will be automatically embedded in your EXIF data, which means that you can upload them to Riya and add to the robustness of your search.
• Not so important to me and going down a nasty path (in my opinion) are the levels of security built in for different members of the household. Sure, I would love to put a timer on Tad's videogaming now and then, but I don't like programs that do the work for me. Vista's security features are good for preventing spyware, but go a little too far...that being said, I don't think I'm their target market. I want to have my computer open up more for me, not be locked down any more.
  

After the dinner, Thomas, Chris and I went for an after-drink and discussion, where we both tried to sell him on our beloved web companies. Chris and I had the honor of being photographed in some tender moments by Thomas as well. Man, that guy has a way with a lens!

'Twas a lovely evening...and in the end, I felt like it was important to be there. Thanks to Robert for suggesting my inclusion. ;)

technorati tags: microsoft, windows, vista, geekdinner