Small Fry
[![Photo caption for Windows Phone 7 Launch Stephen Fry quote. " I want biodiversity, the more players there are the more it drives creativity and innovation, the more thrilling the space becomes. Will I be using my Windows Phone 7? Yes." "I am genuinely thrilled. I never thought this day would come to stand on this stage and praise Microsoft for doing somthing they can be pround of" "I have felt enormous pleasure using this phone" "You have to be stonely hearted to not welcome a new player" "I am genuinely thriled “Stephen Fry gives the thumbs up to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s new mobile phone operating system. A series of new handsets, powered by Windows Phone 7 will be on sale in the UK from 21 October. “ Call 3 Monkeys Communications on 020 7009 3100 Angie Moxham on 07889 209 950 Tristan Pineiro on 07803 158 783 Stuart Yeardsley on 07889 183 317 Katie Boulton on 07747 777359 Angie Moxham Chief Monkey cid:3366958124_110956 cid:3366958124_106447 cid:3366958124_82721 ](https://msdntnarchive.blob.core.windows.net/media/MSDNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.msdn.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/39/61/metablogapi/4274.Windows7_Fry_1_thumb_54ECF424.jpg "Photo caption for Windows Phone 7 Launch Stephen Fry quote. " I want biodiversity, the more players there are the more it drives creativity and innovation, the more thrilling the space becomes. Will I be using my Windows Phone 7? Yes."
"I am genuinely thrilled. I never thought this day would come to stand on this stage and praise Microsoft for doing somthing they can be pround of" "I have felt enormous pleasure using this phone" "You have to be stonely hearted to not welcome a new player" "I am genuinely thriled
“Stephen Fry gives the thumbs up to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s new mobile phone operating system. A series of new handsets, powered by Windows Phone 7 will be on sale in the UK from 21 October. “
Call 3 Monkeys Communications on 020 7009 3100
Angie Moxham on 07889 209 950
Tristan Pineiro on 07803 158 783
Stuart Yeardsley on 07889 183 317
Katie Boulton on 07747 777359
Angie Moxham Chief Monkey cid:3366958124_110956 cid:3366958124_106447 cid:3366958124_82721 ")](https://msdntnarchive.blob.core.windows.net/media/MSDNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.msdn.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/39/61/metablogapi/0878.Windows7_Fry_1_44651F03.jpg)
Late last year, my pal Mel Carson dropped me a line and asked if I fancied showing Stephen Fry some of our technology. Naturally I leapt at the chance and a month or so later, Mel and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes with Stephen and I toured him through Worldwide Telescope, Seadragon, Pivot, Bing Maps, Windows Live Photo Gallery, my Vaio X running Windows 7 and an Asus tablet PC. I knew of Stephen’s fondness for all things Apple and was pleased to hear him talk about a need for biodiversity in the technology ecosystem – essentially saying competition was great for everyone as it meant greater innovation.
As we sipped the of our tea and biscuits, Stephen admitted to being disappointed in having to leave for a lunch engagement and as he walked out of the door he turned to Mel and uttered a sentence I’ll not forget in a while. It was a fun 90 minutes in the company of Lord Melchett and Mel and I sat back afterwards and wondered if it has all just happened. We’d spent a good while with a thoroughly decent, funny and tech loving chap and been delighted in his response.
Fast forward several months and another friend James Tutt picked up the baton and asked Stephen if he’s like to join us for the Windows Phone 7 launch. What followed was covered admirably last week by folks like Rory Cellan Jones, Charles Arthur and Jemima Kiss and Stephen cracked a few memorable one liners. Hats off to James for pursuing a somewhat risky strategy and to Mel for getting Stephen in to our offices in the first place. Definitely one of my more memorable days at Microsoft.
What I enjoyed most about this whole episode Stephen’s approach – his ears, literally and figuratively, are bigger than his mouth. He’s clearly a technology enthusiast and contrary my own impression that he’d be bloody hard to shift from a world of Apple he was remarkably open, charming, fun and intrigued with everything we had to say. He displayed no bias, no need for an angle or an axe to grind. Just honest-to-goodness enthusiasm for tech and an ability to make it of interest to the average person.
I have much to learn.