Behind the Page

I’m the last person you’d expect to be writing a blog entry for MSDN Magazine. I can’t write code, and when I experience computer “issues” I get easily frustrated, and the root cause is usually an unplugged cable. So why the heck are you still reading this? Well, it turns out, scarily enough, that I do contribute to MSDN Magazine. OK, don’t get frightened—I’m not posing as an expert author in the latest issue.

So what do I do and why should you care? Imagine me as the editorial quality control person who walks around the office with a cattle prod in one hand and sweets in the other. I make sure that each article contains all of its necessary elements (edit reads, tech reads, author review, tech review, and so on) and that we’re on schedule to deliver pages to the printer. I slap the invisible “inspector #5” sticker on each issue you receive. And I won’t bore you with all the nitty-gritty details of what that involves.

I don’t know what the equivalent would be in your world, but sometimes we have very serious email exchanges about things like: should we hyphenate “pre-configured”? I know, I know--you’re on the edge of your seat.

But to make it more relevant to your experience as a reader, you should know that a lot of thought and effort goes into every page of the magazine. Obviously, we try to catch as many errors as we can, but sometimes things slip through. So if you think you’ve found an error, please send us a note at mmombud@microsoft.com.

You can also use the mmeditor@microsoft.com address to send us ideas about what kinds of things you’d like to see in the magazine. We’re thinking of doing some short 1-page columns and have been batting around ideas, but we’d love to hear what kinds of things you’d like to see in the space of a single page. Puzzles?  Coding questions? Common PSS issues and resolutions? A developer horoscope page? Just let us know.

Peace out,
Etya