Definition of the Word “Irony”
Posted by Alan on March 17, 2009
Given recent events and a hectic schedule I have not had a lot of free time to update the blog. However this post has been on my mind for a while and I figured it would be a good topic for today.
If you have ever been at a loss for a real-life example of what the word “irony” means, continue reading and prepare to be enlightened…
On the same day that Microsoft decided to announce the death of PerformancePoint, I received an email from Microsoft congratulating me on being nominated as a Microsoft MVP for the PerformancePoint product.
That, my friends, is the definition of the word “irony”.
I am totally serious. It actually happened. I am sure if you saw me read the email after I had just learned the news you would have seen a look of stunned amazement on my face followed shortly thereafter by hysterical laughing. I can’t tell you how totally surreal it is to be recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on a product that just ceased to exist! It still cracks me up and I still shake my head when I think about it.
My understanding is that since PPS is now gone, the MVP award nominees are being grouped in with the SQL Server nominees. I am not exactly sure of the inner workings on this but I am told that I still have a chance to be awarded the designation. It would be totally cool as I love the whole concept of what the MVP program is all about. However, all my knowledge is PPS and although you had to learn SQL and SSAS for PerformancePoint, those were not my speciality — so I am not too optimistic on the outcome. They are scheduled to announce the winners on April 1st which also would carry some degrey of irony as well.
Wish me luck!
Alan Whitehouse's Ramblings 
PeterEb said
ha, funny. I hope that helps put to rest the conspiracy theories that the Planning announcement was thought out well in advance and didn’t surprise even some insiders.
Good Luck, at the very least because of pain and suffering they should give you SQL MVP status for a year. (You might also consider asking about SharePoint MVP as being related to PPS M&A etc)
Alan said
Good point about the conspiracy Peter — but how do we know that you are not part of the conspiracy also and just posted here to try to aid in the cover-up… 😉
Matt said
Congrats on the award. I’ll be sure to direct any future SQL Server questions to you. If there is anything I learned while at MSFT it is that killing a product is really hard to do and is often times done for all the wrong reasons. I’m sure your expertise will be of value for a while or perhaps even longer if you have the ‘right’ employee turnover/promotions and the code-base were to get revisited.
Alan said
Bring on the SQL questions! Just so you know, my philosophy is never write a query or stored procedure using just 3 lines when 27 will work just as well…