Tomorrow is an important day … it will be my daughter’s 18th birthday! Today was significant too … I was re-awarded as an MVP again by Microsoft. There is a kind of geeky symmetry in these two events … my award is for Visio, and Visio was the first word that my daughter learnt to read because I used to (still do) wear so many branded T-shirts. That should tell you something: I’m a cheapskate; I don’t care too much about fashion; but, more importantly, I like being associated with Visio because it is good … very good.
Some people will queue overnight to get the latest shiny fruit-named gadget, others will only play with toys that the have personally helped assemble. I am happy to be able to use, and occasionally abuse, another person’s work. I am even happier when that person will listen if I make some objective criticisms or make a few wishes. It is their prerogative to accept or reject whatever I say without it affecting our friendship. That is how I feel about my relationship with Microsoft through the MVP award program. I know that others have blogged about their disillusionment, but I am not. even though the numbers of Visio MVPs at the recent MVP Conference was reduced this year (probably the tight economic circumstances), the time we spent with the product team was precious, and worth the expense of the trip.
I am not sycophantic, as anyone who has read some of my comments recently in The Register will see for themselves ( http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=David+Parker+Visio&site=&psite=0 ), but I do feel honoured by the MVP award. So, thank you, Microsoft: long may you continue to provide useful, extendable, paradigm-shifting applications like Microsoft Visio.
P.S. Thanks for spotlighting me in the first edition of the Visio Impact Newsletter today … I thought it was an April Fool at first! (click here to subscribe).