Update: via a recent email from David Carlisle (used with permission),

I recognized that name when it came up in the feed titles, Andy Kimball
used to post regularly to xsl-list and was largely responsible for
giving the impression that not everyone at MS was fully signed up to te
evil empire, and that there were in fact real people there and that
msxsl would eventually turn out to be a good thing…

David continues with a couple of links [1,2], the second of which links to the following,

Hi all,

I’m Andy Kimball, the Microsoft XSL developer. After today’s “nested
template abomination” discussion, I had a couple of comments. First,
Microsoft is committed to delivering a conformant XSLT processor. ….

[1] http://www.biglist.com/cgi-bin/wilma/wilma_glimpse/xsl-list?query=Andy+Kimball
[2] http://www.biglist.com/lists/xsl-list/archives/200003/msg00614.html

I have to stand by David’s comments. Andy is definitely one of the good guys. And if you have ever used any of MSFT’s XSLT processors (in particular MSXML and .NET 2.0 System.Xml.XslCompiledTransform) you know just as well as the rest of us…

Andy knows how to write *BLAZING FAST* code! Smart kid, that Andy Kimball ;-) :D

Thanks for the info, David!

[Original Post]
So the craziest email arrived in my inbox yesterday evening. It begins,

I’m not 100% sure that you are my old friend from the 90’s, given that you seem to go by M. David Peterson now, but I thought I’d email you and see. If you are Mark Peterson, who worked at Microsoft in the 90’s as an “Independent Contractor”, and knew a couple of guys named Andy Kimball and Brandon Hall, then let me know.

I’ve already responded to Andy to let him know that yes, in fact, it is I that is he (M. David Peterson == Mark David Peterson for those unaware.) The reason for writing this post, however, is to point out something I didn’t know until just now. Andy continues,

It would be quite a coincidence if indeed you were that Mark Peterson, as you seem to be very gung-ho on Xml and Xslt, which is my specialty.

He continues to describe his involvement with XML and XSLT at Microsoft.

- Member of the Core XML team for MSFT for almost 10 years.
- One of the developers of the MSXML processor.
- Ditto on the XSLT Processor in .NET 2.0
- Currently a member of the Linq To Xml team

ABSOLUTE CRAZINESS! Some background,

Andy, Brandon, myself, and Kerry Woolsey (Brandon and I were roommates in my condo in Woodinville; Andy and I were close to roommates until he decided that he preferred the thought of getting married and living with his wife instead of me (the nerve! ;-)) were, at various stages of the early to mid to late 90’s, basically inseparable, known to terrorize the Greater Seattle area with whatever it was we felt sounded like fun on any given night. In fact, I couldn’t even count the number of nights we came back to MSFT campus after doing whatever it was that we did (nothing bad, nothing illegal, just four 20 somethings doing what 20 somethings will do on any given night) and would sit in one of the conference rooms in building 10 (which is the building I was in at the time), drink chocolate milk, and debate our various opinions (and let me tell ya — between Kerry, Andy, Brandon, and myself we offer up quite the perspective of various persuasions on life) on the various subject matters that at the time seemed important enough to stay up until 4 am to debate.

Good times, good times. ;-)

So anyway, here’s my question: How is it that two friends from years gone past — Andy’s marriage kind of put a damper on our “Late Night Debates in Building 10″ and the various other activities we did throughout the mid-90’s (oh the stories I could tell — err, wait… Oh the stories *he* could tell! Andy, I pay top-dollar for “lost memories” from around that time frame ;-)), and around that same time I took some time off of contracting and spent my time instead hanging out over at the Sonics training facility chasing a long time dream of mine — could, for all intents and purposes, go down the exact same technical career path and yet somehow never stumble upon each others presence until about 8 years later?

Craziness, I tell ya… Absolute craziness!

It’s great to be back in contact with ya, Andy! Had I known you were on the XML/XSLT team at MSFT before now I assure ya > you would have heard from me (just ask Mike Champion ;-)), and without a doubt… You’ll be hearing from me again *soon* (only to catch up on old times, of course. I would never even think of trying to persuade your line of thinking in regards to supporting any particular technology or anything. Again… Just ask Mike. He knows. ;-)