Day: 5 September 2003

After loitering around MS, we went to the Pro Sports Club just off the campus.

It has three Nautilus exercise rooms (one dark, which I found pretty novel – it’s for shy people) and five indoor pools. The locker room was actually two floors. The lower floor contains a lounge with TVs, and four whirlpools in a Roman bath style.

Membership fees could be $1,000-$2,000 a year, although I’m not sure – all Microsoft employees have access to the health club and spa, free of charge.

I don’t think I’ve been this relaxed all year.

Hello from the Microsoft Museum! It’s a pretty funky place. More importantly, they have lots of flat panel PCs for Internet access. I’ll probably hang around here, go look for the “Walk of Fame”, and then head back to downtown Seattle.

I’m impressed by the infrastructure here. MSN Internet kiosks in every lobby, parking garages at every building, free shuttles across the campus (and each one is complete with a bucket of sweets). It’s refreshing to see a company that is progressive to do whatever it takes – even if it’s pool tables or arcade games in the lobbies – to make their employees as comfortable as possible, and ergo, as productive and loyal as possible.

Shell got a 19″ Trinitron in her office, and they’ll be replacing that with a LCD flatscreen and adding a TabletPC. Sure, MS works their workers to near-death, but at least they get free pop to drink…