My favorite Channel 9 video yet: Chris Sells -- Tour of MSDN.
This is the building where I spent most of my time during my visit back in December.
Watching the video, though, has brought something to my attention that I didn't notice while there in person.
I don't know about you, but every place I've worked, the cubicles and offices have been set up so that people standing at your door/entrance can clearly see what's on your monitor. I've always thought of it as the "We're going to keep you honest" monitor position. I guess somebody's figured that ensuring that the monitor faces the door will cut down on the amount of time employees play solitaire (with Chris' new Avalon enabled solitaire, though, we'll be able to shrink that sucker to the size of a postage stamp and still play - the pointy haired bosses of the universe will be powerless to stop us (and, yes, Chris - I'm blaming you in advance for the downfall of western civilization)).
Well, I hate it. Always have. I don't like sitting with my back to the door (many other people I've met feel the same way - don't know why). I don't like sitting in an office with the door open and hearing a large group of people walk by. I get the feeling that they're staring at me as though I'm the main attraction at a zoo. When I think it's somebody "important" coming, it will even occasionally prompt me to "look busy." Where, a few seconds prior, I was lost in thought about how to best approach a problem, hearing the "important" footsteps will cause me to bang out the entire solution right then and there so that I don't run the risk of looking like I'm not doing anything.
If you watch the video, you'll see that many of the monitors are facing away from the doors. It's almost as though Microsoft trusts its employees.
It's a small thing, but I like that a lot.