A Microsoft Life

by Stephen Toulouse

With over 15 years at the Microsoft Corporation, Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse has been witness to some amazing and fun things. Enjoy a journey through the eyes of a geek working at one of the most important companies in the world as he walks you through events both large and small. Just don't get caught in the Redmond reality distortion field!

What others are saying about "A Microsoft Life":

"Any self-respecting geek needs to read this book. Stepto provides an enjoyable and entertaining insight of life inside Microsoft." - Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Director of Programming for Xbox LIVE

"Anyone who lived through the adolescent years of the computer revolution will alternate between laughing and crying (from laughing) at these great stories from inside the monolith. - Ken Denmead, NYT Bestselling Author, and editor of Geekdad.com

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Biography, Memoir

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2010

About the author

Stephen Toulouse, also known as Stepto, is the Director of Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement at Microsoft. He frequently represents Microsoft and Xbox Live in various media, including on Larry Hryb's "Major Nelson Radio" Xbox-related podcast, to discuss security and policy issues.

Prior to joining the Xbox team at Microsoft, Toulouse was the head of communications for security response with the Microsoft Security Response Center.

Reviews

[Maetrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a honest and poignant look inside the walls of that ever famous Redmond Campus. Stepto takes you on a journey on how one simple guy, through perseverance, was able to go from outsider to insider in one of the most powerful companies in our age.

The writing in the book was conversational and easy to follow along. I had the "voice" of Stephen Toulouse keep me company for my thirty hour journey as I flew to work half-way around the world. At the close of the book, I found myself with much to contemplate and it left me feeling inspired to work just that little harder for my own dreams.

This is one avid reader who will be looking for a sequel to follow this one up. Cheers, Stepto!

[Meg Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I decided to read this book because Stepto was on a nerdy cruise I went on and I'm so glad I had that motivation. I know sometimes I take on the "Microsoft is evil," "Google is evil," "Apple is evil," "okay, every big company is evil!" mentality, but I this book reminds me that the people working for these organizations are just as excited about technology as I am. Most of them don't want to ruin peoples' days. Laughter, tears (argh, I cried in a few places), and some really great information. It was especially interesting to me because I'm planning on going into the security field, but it would be a great read for almost everyone.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've even worked in a big corporate company, especially if it's IT, this is an amazing story spanning over the formative years of Microsoft's video game franchise.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of blog entries starts out fairly strong, but began to lose my interest towards the second half of the book. I found the "behind the scenes" look at life at Microsoft much more interesting than the opinion pieces on security/tech/gamer culture.

The author repeatedly tried to reinforce his belief that Microsoft is not "evil", but I couldn't help but question why he felt the need to do so with such frequency. After a while it began to feel like he was a bit unsure himself and constantly needed reassurance. If I had to speculate, I would guess the main audience for this book is someone, who like myself, is already a supporter of Microsoft and does not need to be won over. As such, these moments felt a bit awkward. However, if you are the type of person that holds the belief that Microsoft is an evil corporation, then I doubt reading a few random anecdotes is likely to sway you.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how best to describe A Microsoft Life. It's a collection of essays, recollections, speeches, and other written content of Stephen 'Stepto' Toulouse, all loosely relating to his time spent as an employee at Microsoft.

It's not a long read, but a very enjoyable one. Stepto really sucks you into each experience and describes it in vivid detail (some may argue too much at times) and leaves you laughing or smiling or crying by the end.

I really can't recommend this enough if you're a geek or a gamer or a technophile. So please, do yourself a favor and go pick it up.

[Jim Heivilin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories from his blog. The stories are great and I found myself thinking of similar events from my own life. It doesn't portray Microsoft as "The Great Evil" that some people believe it to be, it shows what life is like within a large corporation, similar to any other large organization.

It's a fairly quick read and his writing is easy to read and understand. There is some tech lingo but he explains it sufficiently for non-tech people to get his meaning.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing what life is like inside Microsoft or to gamers. :)

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this in three days and enjoyed it largely due to Stephen Toulouse's conversational voice. Sometimes I felt like he was being diplomatic, but I'm not sure if that's because it's his nature or if it's because so much of his writing focuses on Microsoft, where he still works. The book, like its author, is genuinely likable, if not life-altering.

[Jorge Pinto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Queda claro cuando un libro lo escribe alguien que no es escritor. Esto se siente como una compilacion de blog posts amateur (que de hecho creo que lo es). Anécdotas y chismes que parece que no tocaron el escritorio de un editor. Vanity press, casi. Algunos pedazos interesantes de información sobre la vida y filosofía de Microsoft, pero nada que valga la pena.

[John Girgis]

Interesting book. A little of it was written in a very cringe-worthy way, and I'm not sure I got a lot more out of it than I would have just reading StepTo's blog. That said, it's an interesting look at the progression of life inside a corporate career at Microsoft, than it is an exploration of what makes Microsoft Microsoft.

[Taylor Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look in side Microsoft from a man who's worked in the trenches there for years. I haven't really read Stepto's blog, so this was all new material to me and I enjoyed it. It is pretty short and a very quick read for a short trip.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun behind the scenes look at what goes on inside the most confused IT company in the world.

[John Walkenford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geek credentials certified. Got misty-eyed during the PAX chapter. Great book about 15 good years at Microsoft.

[Ali Maggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun look at life inside Microsoft. The Xbox stuff was the most interesting element but there's a lot of good, funny and sometimes inspirational stories.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of often isolated stories following Stepto's progression through Microsoft. has some funny anecdotes and insight into the company.

[Matti Paksula · Rating 1 out of 5]

one of the worst books that i've ever tried to read.

[Jason David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this right after reading GATES. It's a great follow-up book. You get a clear window into Microsoft from the bottom up. Like GATES, it's very sympathetic to the man and the company.

[Abdulfattah Popoola · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't really teach anything.

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written blog collection of essays about his contented life working at Microsoft for 16 years. Of course, I discovered he left Microsoft soon after he published this book, so how contented was he truly?