Microsoft's New WiFi Shuttles

Posted Dec 17 2008 7:51 AM by Anne Cheng

By: Anne Cheng

Okay – so when I heard about the Google shuttles with WiFi and powerjacks, I was jealous! 

I live in North Seattle in a fun little neighborhood called Ballard.  We love it there, but the commute to Redmond can be a bit frustrating.  My manager was very understanding – so I have the freedom to work from home or come into work when the traffic has died down.  However, I’m more productive at work, when I'm away from my adorable dogs. 

So, I have good news that I am excited to share, since it really has made my day!  Microsoft will be offering WiFi shuttles for their employees who are driving into Redmond every day, starting this month. 

Great news for the environment, great news for me and the other employees checking email on their smartphones while on the road, and finally great news for the other drivers. 

It was also announced recently, that we will be leasing office space in Seattle for 1,400 employees.  Here's some more information about the new Connector and Seattle offices.

There are so many exciting things happening around here.  Options are good! 

- Anne

Pic of Connector courtesy of Seattle Times

10 Comments

  • Tahmid Munaz said:

    Broken Link found again .. the Link for "office space in Seattle" shows not found.

    It tries to redirect to URL:  "<a rel="nofollow" target="_new" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ControlPanel/Blogs/s"">http://blogs.msdn.com/ControlPanel/Blogs/s"</a> which is not valid yet.

  • said:

    Thanks for letting us know, Tahmid.  It's fixed!

  • Scott Galloway said:

    From what I've seen it doesn't run from north Seattle...I live and Fremont and realistically it offers 0 benefits over the 545...I see this as a way of removing our bus passes!

  • said:

    Hmmm neat!    

    So when will they change the name of the City to "GatesVille" or "Ballmer Heights".... :)

    Or is that out of this years budget?   >:)

    I think there is already an "Allen town"... So hey, 1 out of three ain't bad!

  • Anne Cheng said:

    Scott - Completly agree - hoping that Microsoft adds routes from North Seattle to Microsoft.  I wrote the post prior to finding out that the two Seattle routes are from QueenAnne/Belltown and First Hill/Capitol Hill to Redmond.  They mentioned that there will possibly be a Phase II if these initial busses are successful.  I've already sent in comments to MS benefits to suggest adding additional routes - so if you do the same, we'll be two comments closer to riding in those plush vehicles!   Email me directly internally and I can provide you the alias if you don't have it.   I see this as an add on perk - versus a replacement to our bus passes.

    Sean - No plans to change the name of the City....ever:)  But interesting suggestions!  

  • said:

    Pass it along to Mr. Ballmer.  

    I'm certain he might like the idea.   He seems to have a VERY interesting sense of humour (humor oops!).  I've seen the "tongue" picture although I'm PRETTY certain I can make THAT look normal.

    I've done WAY worse... ;)

  • migs said:

    Isnt that a photo of Amazons Seattle office?

  • Anne Cheng said:

    Nope - that's one of the buildings that will be housing Microsoft in Seattle:)

    Amazon has great offices in Seattle as well:)

  • Noticias externas said:

    Free soft drinks, while still nice, are a bit ordinary considering how creative companies have become

  • Noticias externas said:

    Dear JobsBlog: I just read the blog article Anne posted about the Connector in Seattle . I am going to

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