Microsoft employees vote too.

People so often think of Microsoft of this soulless, monolithic borg cube of drones. But the reality is that it’s made up of people - with everyday people concerns.
Usually any article you see with Microsoft is strictly about technology or business, so it caught my attention when I saw this piece in the NY Times:

Liberal Republican Suburb Turns Furious With G.O.P. - New York Times
Bellevue has been growing more Democratic for several years, thanks to an influx of liberal voters and a professional class that is changing teams. This year, Bellevue may send its first Democrat to Congress. Darcy Burner, who even supporters admit is inexperienced, may unseat Representative Dave Reichert, a well-liked, longtime public servant, simply because constituents want Democratic control of the House of Representatives.

“I am a Republican and have traditionally voted that way,” Tony Schuler, an operations services manager at Microsoft with a Harvard M.B.A., said as he sat with his wife, Deanna, in their home above Lake Sammamish. But Mr. Schuler abhors what he sees as a new Republican habit of meddling in private affairs.

“The Schiavo case. Tapping people without a warrant. Whether or not people are gay,” he said. “Let people be free! It’s not government’s job to interfere with those things.”

In Bellevue, the professional is political. Rather than religion or culture, what unites the diverse population — a quarter of residents are foreign born — are the values of their workplaces: technological innovation, accuracy, efficiency.

And this year, one issue incenses them above all others: restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.

For those not familiar, Bellevue is the town right next to Redmond.

I wasn’t aware that stem cell research was such a big deal up there, and for all I know it could just be overblown in this article - but still it was interesting to read about Microsoft employees in an everyday sort of way, rather than just the usual tech/biz stuff.