Okay, I never thought this was an issue I was likely to face, but the folks in Marketing wanted to run this ad, and so I was faced with that interesting question of what we used to call “Selling Out.” (yeah, yeah, i work for Microsoft, so my radical friends would say that happened long ago!)
And, actually, that was how I decided it was fine (and very ego enhancing I admit). That is, I work for Microsoft, and specifically in this job, because I don’t have to say anything I don’t believe; and this ad doesn’t ask me to say anything I don’t believe, and wouldn’t say – in fact I say it all the time. (In fact, come to think of it, I’m not getting paid for the ad so how can this be a sell out? Hey! I wanna sell out, please?)
I do recommend Expression Blend, heartily and with no hesitation to anyone writing Silverlight applications. In fact I did a video, Green Eggs and Blend on “why I gave up a 15 year commitment to working in a single Integrated Development Environment and came to discover I do so Like Expression Blend.”
But…. since it is weird, I thought I’d post about it. Of course the biggest reaction may not be “how could you?” but rather, “who cares?” That said, to the extent that anyone does; I thought I’d say out loud that here, as with Silverlight, C# and etc.; the enthusiasm comes before the recommendation, job, book or whatever.
The picture of me, by the way, is by Rachel Liberty; age 12. Nice shot.
