Are you up on the "Social Object" experiment?

While looking for something on my old blog I came across this.  Of course, a lot has changed at Microsoft in the past year and a half and especially in the past few weeks. However, I still know plenty of people inside of Microsoft that are trying to do the right thing.

Coincidentally, this was about the same time I signed up for Twitter. As it turns out the creator of the Blue Monster is one of the Twitterati (at least in my opinion) by the name of Hugh MacLeod. I didn’t know much about him when I saw a T-shirt at the Microsoft TechEd event, but I liked the graphic and the idea. It’s still apropos. Since then I follow Hugh on Twitter – where he goes by the alias @gapingvoid. His stuff keeps getting better, more poignant and his sardonic wit is right up my alley.

Anyway – thought you might like this. Enjoy.

From October 29 2007:
Are you up on the "Social Object" experiment?
I'm not sure Microsoft get's it, but the MS employees are trying. At least in terms of spend. MS is trying very hard to stay relevant. Part of the challenge is sheer size. They are approaching 90,000 employees. They are involved in numerous businesses that have disparate and often competing interests. I give them credit for trying to turn the aircraft carrier and to try and stay ahead of some of the waves they themselves created. Are they hitting it out of the park on all fronts? no. However, i admire their efforts and I can appreciate the challenges they face. It's very tough to stay relevant with the legacy products they need to carry as they attempt to innovate.

For those that have not seen the the Social Object call the "Blue Monster" -- it is shown below. This "Social Object" is making it's way to the commercial market in the form of wine, art and other commercial interests. I'm pretty sure this was not the original intent, but it shows how a bunch of people paying attention can adapt. For this I applaud the MS community for paying attention and glomming onto something that they did not create. 

"social objects": blue monster wine update

For reasons unknown to me, suddenly in the last week the orders for Stormhoek Blue Monster Reserve have started flooding in, especially from Microsoftees in the USA. Rock on.

Source: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/cat_microsoft_blue_monster_series.html