Stefan Constantinescu: “I am a self-proclaimed RSS addict now, working with two guys at Elwoh Software to see if we can build an RSS reader that will stand out from the others.”

It is very gratifying to hear this kind of response to my writing (Stefan talks about how he wants to be a Microsoft employee after seeing Channel 9 and the writings of Microsoft’s more than 2,000 bloggers).

While getting a tour of Microsoft Ireland last night I heard again that my videos are highly watched inside the company as well. Microsoft is such a big place that the videos let employees get an idea of what other groups are doing.

I also want to call out Charles Torre, my partner in crime on Channel 9. He’s been posting videos while I’ve been over here in Europe. Some really great ones including Mary Snapp, VP and Deputy General Counsel (Jennifer Ritzinger is the interviewer there and is the driving force behind our new “women in technology” show) and going deep stuff like a discussion of Windows Vista’s Transactional File System.

And with that, we’re off to Paris…

Gary Price is a librarian, but also writes over on SearchEngineWatch, and today has an article about ebrary and NetLibrary. More than 25,000 full text books in a single database.

Hope you’re having a good weekend. We leave in a few minutes for Paris. Talk to you soon!

Paschal Leloup took us out for a wonderful dinner tonight. I forget where we ate but after we ate we walked around downtown Dublin and he finally gave into my request to hear some traditional Irish music. He took us to O’Donoghues Bar.

It reminded me instantly of New Orleans’ Preservation Hall. Authentic music being played without amplification in a corner of the bar with only locals in sight.

I quickly made my way right next to the band (I sat right next to the violin player) and started talking with the locals. Turns out music has been played every weekend in this corner for more than 40 years. One local I talked to said seeing Americans was rare: “how did you find your way to this place?” I pointed to Paschal and said a local had brought me. He told me I had found the real thing, not the commercialized thing which other pubs hire.

I looked around and there was tons of Guinness being served (and the band was well lubricated too, or as one of them put it, they were “pissed”).

Hope your Friday evening is going as well.