Goodbye and hello again

This week was my last at Microsoft. After six and a half years, I decided it was time to resign from the collective and seek out new opportunities.

What opportunities? Well, I have a few things in the works but for now here’s a vague Q&A using an icosahedral decision-making device:

Q Are you resigning from the WiX community as well?

A My sources say no.

Q Are you going to work for a Microsoft competitor?

A Don’t count on it.

Q Will you be available for consulting?

A You may rely on it.

Q Are you going to write a WiX book?

A Signs point to yes.

Q More than one WiX book?

A Outlook good.

Q Will you develop additional tools, custom actions, or extensions for WiX?

A Most likely.

Q Will you contribute them to the WiX project?

A Concentrate and ask again.

Q Will they all be available as open-source?

A Ask again later.

Stay tuned for details.

In closing, I’d like to thank Rob for creating WiX, doing the work to make it Microsoft’s first open-source project, and giving me an opportunity to contribute these past six-plus years. It’s safe to say it kept me moderately sane on more than one occasion. I got to know the original batch of core WiX developers and help the “next generation” come in. Along the way, I learned a lot, mostly (but not exclusively) about development, WiX, and MSI.

WiX was first released publicly a few months before I joined Microsoft and I was immediately intrigued. Then I joined Microsoft and helped ship WiX v2.0, v3.0, and v3.5. Now I’ve come back full circle, on the outside eagerly awaiting v3.6 and the opportunities it brings.