On HVLP and Longhorn

Last week was an impressive example of Microsoft in action. After the RTM of XPSP2, Brian Valentine, Jim Allchin, and David Treadwell (among others) spent a tremendous amount of time looking hard at Longhorn and what it would take to ship. The result was a series of decisions -- that we'd target 2006, that we'd take Avalon and Indigo to XP and W2K3, and that we'd delay WinFS -- that had some big implications on what we'd need to tell developers. I got to participate in a bunch of these meetings and watch how Microsoft makes big decisions. It reaffirmed my belief that I work with some pretty smart people.

In any event, it also meant that the communications folks would have to tell the world. So a bunch of us including Brad Goldberg, Neil Charney, and I spent a lot of time working through what we tell whom when. The result was a bunch of long days.

As a present to myself through this process, I bought a Porter Cable HVLP (high volume, low pressure) paint sprayer. I'd never used a paint sprayer before, but I am building a set of risers for my wife's new washer and dryer and I wanted a particular kind of paint finish that you can only get by spraying. Anyway, I just finished applying the first coat. I'll say that I've never had so much fun painting in my life and, as promised, the HVLP sprayers don't blast paint all over the place -- it's actually a pretty clean process. So I'm happy.

Time for the second coat.