Chris Henley is a fun and energetic representative of Microsoft. He works on the Developer Platform Evangelist team at Microsoft as an IT Professional Evangelist in the western region and is the co-author of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Administration Instant Reference from Sybex press. Chris is a regular speaker and presenter at user groups, Technet events, and major conferences around the US.
He has extensive experience in the world of computer networks. He is passionate about the way that technology helps people. He has an entertaining and insightful style of communicating technical information and of making difficult concepts easy to understand. He is an expert in server architecture and network design. He loves to push the envelope of what we think about computers, and what software can do. Chris spends his spare time playing XBOX360 with his wife and kids, fly fishing, camping, hiking, and searching for the best chocolate cake on planet earth.
2500 years ago the Greek poet Pindar wrote
“Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.”
I have always loved the power of words. The right words carefully chosen and skillfully delivered at the right place, at the right time, and in the right way can attain immortality.
“I have a dream…”
“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“When in the course of human events…”
“Four Score and seven years ago…”
“That’s one small step for man…”
Our culture is filled with, and sometimes defined by our choice of words. Unfortunately the love of words seems to have waned in the latter half of the last century and the early part of this century. Our human need for communication has taken on a new form; Television.
So What……
So I was thinking about the new Microsoft Operating System Windows Vista™. Vista is a really great word! According to Merriam Webster Vista actually finds its roots in the Italian language descending from the verb vedere whose past participle visto means to see. It has 2 listed definitions in the English language
1 : a distant view through or along an avenue or opening 2 : an extensive mental view (as over a stretch of time or a series of events)
Associated words include vision, prospect, and wit, all finding their roots in the Italian vedere, or its Latin form Videre.
Kudos to Brian Valentine and his team at Microsoft™ for delivering what looks to be a great operating system, and having the foresight (pun intended) to give it a great name. Windows 2003 was a great operating system! Its name said nothing about its potential. Now we have an operating system with a great name, and a large set of expectations to go along with it. Vision is a highly regarded trait in our world. To see across time and use that knowledge as a platform for great things is both noble and heroic.
Yesterday Microsoft™ announced the Beta 1 release of Windows Vista™ to a minimum amount of hype and fanfare. Will Windows Vista™ change our world? The answer is yes! The question at this point is “How?” And the answer depends on you.
For TechNet Plus subscribers Windows Vista™ Beta 1 will ship in the September boxes. Enjoy!!!
Hasta La Vista! Baby!