Acknowledgments
Figuring out what you want to be when you grow up often depends on the level of encouragement that you receive from the people in your life. Many years ago, a family friend named Marlene Parr witnessed my then-teenage curiosity over a wondrous new invention called the IBM Personal Computer. Watching how I navigated this new device with ease only mere moments after she had given me a demonstration, Marlene allowed me the ongoing use of the PC that she had purchased for her business. I’ve always been grateful for this early opportunity to hear my calling, especially at a time in my youth when I could never have afforded such a wonderful machine of my own. Marlene’s encouragement awakened and affirmed in me a passion for technology and software that has since become my life’s work. Technology is about much more than just gadgets. It can improve the lives of millions of people all around the globe. It is my sincere hope that young people of today’s generation will have similar opportunities to discover what’s possible and what they’re good at—no matter what the brand or tribe that may stand behind the various technologies they find exciting.
On a no less personal level, I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to April Lubag Rodgers, Dale Sylvain, and Anneliese Wirth for their longtime friendship, unfailing support, and genuine encouragement—not only during this particular project, but also throughout several of the most eventful and meaningful chapters of my life.
Aside from an assumed interest in technology, the success of a technical writer is shaped by the many people that he or she meets and learns from. When I reflect on my own journey through this profession, I must immediately acknowledge Nona Allison and Holly Thomas as two of the most experienced and insightful technical editors that I have had the good fortune to meet and work with during my career. Over the years, I have never taken their generous mentorship for granted, nor will I ever forget the many valuable things that I have learned from both of them.
On the OneNote team at Microsoft, I would like to thank Olya Veselova, Alex Simmons, Daniel Escapa, and David Rasmussen for being the talented, fun, and caring people that they are and whom I’ve come to respect and trust over the past few years. Each of them has played an instrumental part in the original design and direction of OneNote. It’s really wonderful to see the fruits of their labor rewarded by the explosive success of OneNote 2010 and through the sheer love that people all over the world continue to express for this software every day.
My sincere thanks also go out to Jessica Reading for green-lighting this project without hesitation and cheering me on; to Sonia Atchison, who thought of me when talk of a OneNote book first came up; and to my excellent acquisitions editor, Loretta Yates, for making this project a pleasant and rewarding experience right from the start.
Finally, no software product can reach its potential without the continual testing, feedback, kudos, gripes, discussions, and ideas by the millions of people who use and experience it on a daily basis. I would like to acknowledge and thank the many loyal fans of OneNote in every corner of the world, all of whom have in some way helped us to improve our favorite program.
—Michael C. Oldenburg