50th Episode of the .NET Show

It's hard to believe, but the .NET Show taped its 50th episode at Microsoft Studios yesterday afternoon, and I was fortunate enough to be a member of the live audience. I think I've seen just about every episode over the years; it's always been a fantastic way to keep on top of emerging technologies.  So it was great to be a part of this special celebration.

Erica has definitely become more comfortable in front of the camera over the years, and it was great to see her nail her news segment with such confidence. Robert taped two interview segments on The Future of the Platform. In his first segment, he talked to Brad Abrams (who maintains a fantastic blog, by the way), Michael Wallent, Steve Millet, and John Shewchuk. After taking a short break, he returned to interview Rick Rashid, the Senior VP in charge of Microsoft Research. Unlike most episodes of the .NET Show, the technical content wasn't very deep, but it was interesting to hear everyone's perspective on where they think the platform is evolving.

In the somebody@microsoft.com segment, Erica went all-out and interviewed none other than Bill Gates. She asked some fun questions, and I'm sure you'll enjoy watching it when the episode becomes available in three or four weeks.

Other than that, I spent time during the short breaks talking to Bill Hill, a fascinating individual who I'd seen before but never had the chance to talk to. He's doing some cool stuff around screen readability, typefaces, and ClearType (more here and here). I also chatted for awhile with Robert Scoble and Brad Abrams about everything from the way Microsoft produces software to blogging (of course) to search engines to transparency. All in all, it was a very satisfying afternoon.

Before I forget the most important part, congratulations to Robert and Erica on 50 episodes! Here's to many more!