Thank You Mr. Ballmer

Today I read a great letter from a fellow Canadian IT Professional which really summed up what it means to be a technology professional here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  I have to completely agree with this anonymous contributor to Shane Shick’s Computerworld Blog.  I am not going to go into a bunch of detail of the letter, you can read the “Thank You, Steve Ballmer” letter by clicking here.

Over the past year, I have jumped on the Microsoft bandwagon and then off again.  I am not sure why I have been feeling this year about the corporation who gave me, a former Master Corporal from the Canadian military the opportunity to create a career in which I truly love.  Yes, Microsoft has their good things and then their not so good things, but what can I do?

Sure, many of my colleague will stand there and bad mouth the Redmond, WA software firm and then accept a cheque from their client to fix a Windows problem.  Isn’t this biting the hand which feeds you.  Maybe I need to get back to what I did when I had the best run of success in my career and just perhaps some of the challenges I am experiencing right now are directly related to the way I see things.

Early in my career, I was a strong advocater for Microsoft, just like I am for DELL and SonicWALL.  These are the firms I built my career on and when I was a rock in their corner, life was great.  No, I wasn’t a sell out to Microsoft.  However, I offered my insights and my critiques in such a manner which allowed one of my biggest partners to improve what they were doing in our community.  What is the old saying, you attract more bees with honey….

Sure, Microsoft, Stuart Crawford and others make mistakes…after all we are human aren’t we!  But the true success of integrity or being honourable is how you deal with mistakes.  Just like the letter states “We can be better, we can do better” comes to mind. 

I run a MacBook today, not because it is better…I am a professional and I need to understand the tools my clients run.  As I type this post I am running Windows 7 on my MacBook and using Internet Explorer 8 to write my  class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”my “>Wordpress (opensource) blog.  It is about using the correct tools to meet my needs and I need to take this thinking and ensure I practice it everyday with the clients Bulletproof InfoTech serves in Calgary and Red Deer.

It is not about being better or tooting the horn of what you are programmed to say.  It is about doing the right thing, doing it with integrity, standing behind what you say and what you do. For me, Microsoft leads by example and thank you Microsoft for allowing me to put a roof of my family’s head, food on our table and allowing my family to have the lifestyle we enjoy.

Thank you to the great people at Microsoft Canada, you guys are awesome to work with and I am proud to call you friends and be a partner in the new Microsoft Partner Network.

Windows 7 is out today…check it out and you be the judge!