Nerd Grammy

My gifts for the MVP award came while I was in Cambridge and it was a big heavy box that the kids wanted me to open. So I did it awhile back with the little ones and unpacked my award.

Here it is, christened the "Nerd Grammy" by my oldest son.

I thought that was a pretty good description of what I received this year. I appreciate the recognition, and it was nice to get something from Microsoft, but I honestly don't need stuff like this and I soon recycled it.

Last year MVPs received a certificate and then a set of bluetooth devices. We got headphones and a bluetooth credit card mouse. The headphones were pretty cool, with an adapter for any headphone jack, but since I had to charge both the adapter and the headphones with one cord (alternating), it was a pain. They also didn't seem to have great battery life, and connectivity was flaky for me. I never used the mouse, but it was a cool idea.

I think Microsoft wants to do something memorable for MVPs. After all we provide a lot of community support that promotes their products. However what should they do? I think they'd be better off just giving MVPs a little more "Microsoft money" and letting them pick what they wanted from the Microsoft store. Picking gifts yourself is guaranteed to upset some people, and make no impact on others. A few will appreciate it, but why not just let them pick what they want.