Russell Beattie

I've got an announcement to make: Thanks to some help from Robert Scoble and some contacts I made while attending Microsoft's Mobile DevCon last week, I've received and accepted an offer to become a technical evangelist for Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform!

Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Russ, but you hate Microsoft!" Yes, that was true, but they offered me a bundle of money and the opportunity to lie to millions of developers about how great the .Net platform is, so I couldn't pass it up. Despite the fact that Microsoft's mobile technologies are way behind where Symbian is and that Microsoft's has a mobile market presence that's statistically around 0% of handheld shipments, they are putting so much money into the area that eventually they have to win, right? Exactly, I am *so* backing the winner on this one.

Yes, I understand my salary will come from the same pool of cash that help fund SCO's attacks on Linux and open source, but hey! I'm working for Microsoft now, so that's cool! Yes, my job is going to require that I move my family from the fantastic Bay Area to drizzly cold Seattle, but man, you should see the zeros on that signing bonus!

Really, when it comes down to it, I'm at heart a Microsoft man: I'm totally about sacrificing ethics and quality for money. Woohoo! I can't wait to start "innovating" and copying a bunch of stuff that Symbian and Sun are doing now.

Okay - so more info later about this move, today's very busy. Microsoft has my lobotomy scheduled for 12:30 and later on we sacrifice small animals at sunset. I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in!

-Russ

For the slow witted out there: This was an April Fool's joke.