Mystic Microsoft: A Journey of Transformation in the Halls of High Technology

by Kraig Brockschmidt

Where do you go to grow spiritually? A church? A monastery? India? Tibet? What about the heart of high-tech corporate multinationalism?

Mystic Microsoft demonstrates that with sincerity and self-offering, God can (and will) guide one’s inner growth in any setting, not just formal religious channels. Here, one of Microsoft’s most visible technology experts during its major growth years relates how his career circumstances were the vehicle through which he was inwardly transformed. With insight, wit, and colorful anecdotes about life at Microsoft, Kraig Brockschmidt shows how one’s career, such as his experience writing the Windows Calculator and his book, Inside OLE 2, are tremendous opportunities for spiritual growth. “[At Microsoft] I learned and experienced exactly what you would expect [in] a monastery or ashram...”

Mystic Microsoft offers hope to those who feel that their careers are at odds with their inner aspirations and those who seek to find a deeper meaning in their worldly responsibilities.

Softcover; PDF

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Stephanie R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to describe what this book is about, but I liked it a lot! On one level, it's about Kraig Brockschmidt and his career in the early days at Microsoft, back when Microsoft was a small company trying to win people over to Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Word, and the Internet wasn't really A Thing until the end of the book (actually, it's one of the catalysts that convince Kraig to leave Microsoft). On another level, it's about Kraig and his quest to find meaning in his life, and how he realizes that God is the answer to the meaning of life. In the process, he re-defines what God and religion mean to him, decides that organized religion is not for him and comes to his own way of living The Good Life (by spreading Love and Joy) and listening to what God is telling him. As he writes, "Microsoft was the agent through which an ordinary life lived actively for worldly gain was transformed into an equally active life lived for God alone."

It is amazing to read about how Kraig goes from not being religious in college to living a life "doing whatever God puts in front of [him]." He shows how at every step in his career at Microsoft, God was looking out for him. Every time something happens that wasn't what he wanted at the time, he shows how the alternative was better in retrospect. He even has an experience of divine inspiration that allows him to write a book to help people understand OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) technology. One of his main goals in life is to help people understand things, and writing the book helped him realize that. Finally, when Kraig is contemplating leaving Microsoft, he shows how things happened at the company that made his choice much easier than expected.

There are so many great quotes in this book, not just about spirituality, and lots of funny anecdotes about what it's like to work at Microsoft. I'll leave you with an insightful quote on software design:

"Open-source projects aside, today's software industry is mostly based on domination: millions of users are essentially at the mercy of a few powerful software companies, Microsoft being the foremost. Although these companies take enormous pains to serve customer needs, most consumers have little or no direct influence on the software that they're more or less compelled to use. That is, they really don't get software that works how they personally want it to work: they have to do things the way the software wants it done, no matter how many focus groups and customer studies went into its design. This is the fundamental reason why so many people find computers frustrating and annoying."

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since a book made me weep. This one did. It's about how God used Kraig's years at Microsoft to bring about spiritual transformation in him. Kraig grew up Missouri Synod Lutheran. Throughout his time at Microsoft, he considered himself an atheist. But by the time he left there, God had made himself known again. Though the form of his spirituality did not return to Christianity, there are still amazing things to be learned from Kraig's journey about how God works in and through the marketplace. Very well written, and a joy to read, though the editing starts getting sloppy towards the end of the book.