Columnist helps connect the dots about Microsoft

Brier Dudley proved his point in his very first column.

After five years of covering Microsoft, Dudley felt a column would let him "help people better understand the technology business and how it affects them." He would have the flexibility to share information that would be difficult to report in the form of a traditional news story. Writing his inaugural column for the April 17 Seattle Times, he shared a suspicion that something was up with Bill Gates. The Microsoft founder was shifting more of his attention from software development to philanthropy.

"Nobody is saying that Gates is ready to give up his title as chief software architect at the company he and Paul Allen started 31 years ago, especially now, while it's trying to finish a line of major new products. But don't be surprised if his transition to philanthropist happens sooner than expected," the column said.

"There were a lot of signs that it was happening, and I had a strong sense of what was going on. As a columnist I could throw my suspicion out to readers," he said.

Dudley laid out those signs and the column was like a dot-to-dot picture. Gates connected the dots two months later, announcing that he will step aside at Microsoft over the next two years to work full time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After the announcement, Gates held individual interviews with reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and with Dudley. Our front-page story last Sunday was the result of 40 minutes Dudley spent with Gates and the two executives named to take on his technology role at Microsoft.

Dudley says he loves writing the column, which appears in The Times Business section on Mondays. During the week he writes a Web log, or blog, for seattletimes.com, and he confesses that blogging is a work in progress.

"I'm still looking for the right blog voice," he said, but he relishes the dynamic interaction with readers. "The blog is a great complement to the column. It offers people a place to challenge what I've written."

There are hundreds of hard-core tech bloggers on the Internet and the competition among them is extensive, but Dudley said they aren't his first audience. "I'm writing for people in the Northwest," he said.

For readers in Seattle, "Microsoft is more than just a company," Dudley said. He and his colleagues on The Times tech-coverage team hope to capture the many ways our lives are affected by it.

Microsoft has plans to spend $1 billion over the next three years creating space for an additional 12,000 employees. It recently announced it will spend perhaps $2 billion more than previously expected this year in new technologies. It is also building huge data warehouses in Eastern Washington.

All of that is on the heels of the biggest payout in corporate history — $76 billion in dividends and buybacks that began in 2004. And, as amazing as all of that is, it is only part of the story. The Gates Foundation is making Seattle the epicenter of worldwide initiatives to save lives and to close the gap between rich and poor countries. It has funded initiatives for child survival and maternal health, as well as breakthrough science to eradicate tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS.

What is happening here is unprecedented philanthropy, technology and global awareness coming together in ways that will profoundly change the world. The Times is committed to covering that story in all of its dimensions.

"Gender: F" is back

Thanks to your support, today we are publishing a second edition of "Gender: F — The savvy Northwest Woman's guide to doing, making, looking and feeling good."

Our trial issue in March got raves, and today's edition is even better. On the cover we invite you to vote on a question about body image. There's a twist to the vote, which is explained in the section.

The lead story is about three women with local ties who are crusading for women to have a healthier sense of their body image. There also is a reader swimsuit makeover, and Carey Quan Gelernter, who edited the section, tells me some 600 women volunteered.

Your feedback is vital to us in sustaining Gender: F as an ongoing section, so write to us at genderf@settletimes.com.

Inside The Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to seattletimes.com">mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists