A View from Elsewhere
John Montgomery's Weblog
Mix07 Around the Corner
I'm there. Most of my PM team is there. My PUM is there. Gee, I wonder if something is happening at...
Author: johnmont Date: 02/20/2007
Removing the Vestiges of Winter
As my team gets nearer to shipping (fingers crossed) life at home turns back to normal, which means...
Author: johnmont Date: 02/19/2007
Music and Lyrics
My wife and I went to Music and Lyrics this evening. Lighthearted romantic comedy with some cute pop...
Author: johnmont Date: 02/15/2007
Moving Off of Windows Live Spaces
A while ago I tried to split my blogging into two: one for personal, one for work. Well, I failed...
Author: johnmont Date: 02/15/2007
Traffic Volume vs. Commute Time
Warning: this is a rant. I'm not expecting people to take it seriously. All helpful suggestions and...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/22/2006
Finally: A Programming Methodology for Me
Lazy programming is getting its due.
Author: johnmont Date: 12/22/2006
Flight Tracking: Useful for Holiday Travel
There are many sites that do this, but FlightAware seems to be the one I keep coming back to.
Author: johnmont Date: 12/22/2006
Sir Ken Robinson on Education
My boss sent this my way a couple of days ago. I put off looking at it since it seemed like it would...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/21/2006
Important Information (Not Really)
How to browse Digg at work.
Author: johnmont Date: 12/21/2006
Bold Predictions
Peter O'Kelly boldly predicts there will be fewer bold predictions from analysts in the future. This...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/14/2006
RTB Finished
One of the meetings that our division inflicts regularly schedules is called "running the business"...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/14/2006
The Blogging Process
Who out there just writes and posts their blog entries, and who spends time and edits them? Just...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/13/2006
Power Outage
This morning, building 41 lost power. Steven Wilssens (one of the PMs on my team) and I were just...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/13/2006
Programmers and Coke: What Happens if You Drink a Coke Right Now
I stopped drinking Coke a long time ago, preferring to abuse my system with high levels of coffee...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/13/2006
Jon Udell at Microsoft
A long time ago, I got to be the editor of Jon Udell's BYTE column, which gave me the opportunity to...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/09/2006
At What Point Did I Become a Mister?
The mail from one of my team's recruiters today said that Mr. John Montgomery would be doing the "as...
Author: johnmont Date: 12/07/2006
Hey! Wait a Second -- I Have a Degree in Russian Lit from Harvard...
Was Joel aiming at me? Probably not, since his nemesis here is "stunningly-good-looking." Oh, and if...
Author: johnmont Date: 11/13/2006
The New Coffee, One Month Later
I've now spent over a month dabbling in the new office coffee, produced by the local Starbucks...
Author: johnmont Date: 11/13/2006
Calculating Operational Costs
One of my tasks over the weekend was to calculate how much it would cost to operate a service. I...
Author: johnmont Date: 11/13/2006
US Imagine Cup: Not Just Algorithms
One of the largest challenges facing CS students is the transition from being a CS student to...
Author: johnmont Date: 10/19/2006
The New Coffee
As part of Microsoft's efforts to make its employees happier, healthier, and generally more...
Author: johnmont Date: 09/27/2006
(In)Side Business Opportunity: Modding Microsoftie's Offices?
I've joked about this for a while, but I'm starting to believe there is a business opportunity...
Author: johnmont Date: 09/21/2006
Rail Resurgance Thanks to Wi-Fi?
Today, Glenn Fleishman posts about the broad coverage of Wi-Fi on trains and speculates, Let’s...
Author: johnmont Date: 09/21/2006
Coffee House Rock
The idea of sitting in a coffee house writing up some of the strategy and tactics documents that I'm...
Author: johnmont Date: 09/21/2006
MP4 Player Review
Gizmodo.com is often funny, but this review of an MP4 player is hysterical. As the first commenter...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/25/2006
"Social Networks are Media Networks"
I made a passing comment yesterday or the day before to Charles Fitzgerald (once described as...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/25/2006
A Feature in Vista Worth Celebrating
In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit of a skeptic about most things. Some might even say I'm a...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/24/2006
Doing the Happy Dance
After a review with SomaSe last week in which we demoed what I'll just call "our stuff" (though the...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/24/2006
Safari's Development Playground
As part of my team's work we bought a Mac for testing. Setting aside how cute that little box is and...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/24/2006
Top Eleven Google Products We'll Never See (Link)
bbSpot does it again.
Author: johnmont Date: 08/22/2006
Outlook Map Add-In
Blake's list of free Windows software reminded me about the Windows Live Local add-in for Outlook, a...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/22/2006
The Flexibility of Camtasia
If you're not familiar with Camtasia, you should be. It's a tool for capturing what Jon Udell calls...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/22/2006
Adding a New Front
After a few comments from coworkers and commenters on my blog here on MSDN, I've come to the...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/22/2006
Optiplex or Precision?
Our team is going through the exercise of purchasing new systems and we're weighing the benefits of...
Author: johnmont Date: 08/22/2006
Job Descriptions
I’ve found that writing job descriptions is harder than I thought. In particular, it’s harder...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/30/2006
Amaze Me 2
I was riding the bus into work the other day when I realized that bus route calculations are kind of...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/29/2006
NPT Team Charter
After about four months of working through some hard problems, I’ve begun to center our team on a...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/29/2006
Amaze Me
This came up in the context of the development experience we’re working on. One of the objects we...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/28/2006
What We’re Doing: Cool Tools
While I’ve been running around creating PPTs and sending email, Adam has been working on a prototype...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/27/2006
Adam Nathan Joins Non-Pro Tools Team
We have our first developer. Adam Nathan has joined us. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/27/2006
We Have a Name: NPT
We still need a name for the team. Since none of the ideas we came up with previously seemed to pass...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/26/2006
Wi-Fi Bye?
Conexxion by Boeing is an in-air 802.11 wireless service. As far as I know, it’s the ín-air 802.11...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/25/2006
The Knees Have It
My favorite tool today is… Knee pads. Not just any knee pads, though: CLC’s Gel Kneepads with...
Author: johnmont Date: 06/01/2006
De planer! De planer!
Earlier this week I ordered a 13-inch Grizzly planer-molder. Our initial job for it is to plan...
Author: johnmont Date: 05/26/2006
After HTML and Javascript, C++
Surprising factoid: after HTML and Javascript, C++ is the language most used by non-professional...
Author: johnmont Date: 05/25/2006
Amusing Advertisement
I’m not encouraging you to switch jobs, but this made me laugh.
Author: johnmont Date: 05/25/2006
A Weekend With SPSS
Let me preface everything in this post with the statement that SPSS is a remarkable tool for data...
Author: johnmont Date: 05/24/2006
Top 11 Video Games You Don’t Want Your Kids To Play
Check out Number 10. Another bbSpot special.
Author: johnmont Date: 05/24/2006
Interviews
Today I did two in-person interviews and five phone screens plus set up another four informational...
Author: johnmont Date: 05/23/2006