Space Elevator (Vista Edition?) Conference

Only two more days until the 2008 Space Elevator Conference begins.  It’s being sponsored, in part, by Microsoft and is being held at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, Washington.

The Microsoft connection has been noted in at least one place in the blogosphere by a Microsoft employee.  In Under an Orange Sky, blogger Cian Hayes, in a post titled ‘Windows Vista Space Elevator Edition’ notes that “The company newsletter today had a blurb about a space elevator conference being held on the microsoft campus this month.  Yes, one of those elevators.  Apparently Microsoft is sponsoring the conference, which is interesting because we’re not really known for throwing our weight behind crackpot schemes…”

GeekNews also notes the Microsoft connection.

My own Microsoft story…  I’ve never worked FOR Microsoft, but I have worked with their technical people.  My last job (before I retired) was at a Silicon-valley based company called Portal Software (now owned by Oracle).  We had product (Infranet) which Microsoft was implementing to help them bill for their Internet services.  I had to attend a meeting with the Microsoft people in Bellevue and, just the way my time/schedule worked out, I was the first person to arrive at the restaurant where the meeting was being held.  I couldn’t find where to sit down so I asked the waiter where the table was.  He asked me which company was hosting the dinner and, when I told him ‘Microsoft’, he replied ‘Oh, the Borg’.  Well, I thought it was funny…

Seriously, we’re all grateful to Microsoft for hosting this conference.  This isn’t the first time they’ve been involved with something related to the Space Elevator.  As I related in an earlier post, Bryan Laubscher once gave a presentation at Microsoft and one can only hope that they do see some long-term benefit to this.  Nothing like having one of the powers of the Universe behind you…

Only two more days – see you there!

Picture of Jean-Luc Picard from here.
Microsoft Logo from here (and yes, I think I’ve complied with all of the copyright restrictions…)