20 years ago when I started working a snow day would have meant the world grinds to a halt.

Today thanks to the wonders of the electronic office I still have access to most of the corporate resources I need to be productive and I don't have to leave home... which is a good thing given the weather!

Thanks to the weather over the last few days a bunch of meetings got canceled I had a chance to catch up on some reading and play with some things...

It's times like this that remind me just what the reach of the Microsoft eco-system is. I'm not talking about the fact I can work from home but the range of tools and technologies that enable pretty much anything you want.

The video above was created in the following way

• I have a Microsoft VX7000 Webcam connected to my Windows Home Server.
• I'm running Fwink webcam software that takes a photo every minute.
• I rename and archive the images using Limagito
• I used PhotoLapse to convert 400 or so images to a video file.
• I uploaded the video to the Live Streaming Service and that gives me the Silverlight player above.

Apart from the webcam and the Home Server everything is free software. It might not be the most elegant solution but I found all the bits and got it up and running (thanks to Live Search) in about half an hour.

I think folks too often just see Microsoft as a big monolith (even some people who work there!) but it's moments like this, and sites like Microspotting and View<myWorld> and of course some of the more pragmatic 'softees that remind us there's a lot more hidden away both internally and from folks building cool stuff in the community.