Posted on 11/08/2005 11:00:52 PM PST by nickcarraway
For nearly 30 years, Michael Schroeder, a computer research scientist, has been a loyal fan of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. He is so devoted that in July 2001, when he was interviewing for a job with Microsoft, he flew from Medford, Ore., to San Francisco one morning and hurried back to Ashland for that evening's performance of "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
Mr. Schroeder ended up taking the Microsoft job. A couple of summers later, when he attended a donors dinner in Ashland, he asked if the festival would be interested in receiving software along with his usual cash contribution.
The response was quick and enthusiastic: absolutely. The result: Ashland has become the envy of other regional theaters around the country.
"All of a sudden it was like angels came flying down," Bruce Wand, the festival's director of information technology services, said of Mr. Schroeder and two of Mr. Schroeder's longtime colleagues, Andrew Birrell and Edward Wobber, who also work at Microsoft and were regular contributors to Ashland.
The festival's technical staff put together a lengthy wish list of software, some of it basic operating system software, some of it more specialized, and far more expensive. Mr. Schroeder investigated Microsoft's gift-matching policies and found that if the three men each gave $2,000, the company would match the cash donations with enough software for the festival to have everything on its wish list. The retail value was estimated at $150,000.
By late 2003, the first software donation was in place. New computers were purchased, and a wireless network was built. A small group of programmers at the festival was able to write customized software to cue lights, position scenery, keep track of props and costumes, project synchronized video, sell tickets and administer the database of members.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I'm surprised the Commies in Ashland would have anything to do with Microsoft.
LOL - 'Tis too funny - my laughter runneth over!
Shocking!
Speaking of irony, how about a fairy named "Wand?"
Does this mean theater majors have even more time on their hands? Unless there is a waiter shortage, that can't be a good thing.
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