Microsoft Office plays detective in new novel
Like many who spend their days trapped inside a cubicle, Microsoft Office probably dreams of living a more exciting life. Perhaps, when it was just a beta, it thought maybe it would grow up to be a policeman.
Well, in "Crush," a new crime novel, the mundane piece of software gets its chance. Office, or at least one key Office document, ends up playing a central role in the pursuit of a serial killer.
Without giving away too much of the plot, it's fair to say that a certain PowerPoint file becomes a key piece of evidence, with a worker at Microsoft finding central clues within the document's metadata.
"Technology is such a part of my life," the book's author, Alan Jacobson, said in an interview. "It's part of the fabric of my life, so invariably it spills into my writing."
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(Credit:
Alan Jacobson)
Crush, which went on sale this week, is the follow-up to "The 7th Victim," another book where technology plays an important role. Both feature as the heroine Karen Vail, an FBI profiler who seems to have a knack for attracting murders.
Gadgetry infuses the pages of Crush. While Office has the starring role, a number of products make cameos, including Windows Live, Surface, Outlook and even RoundTable, which Microsoft handed off last year to Polycom. In fact, there were so many Microsoft products, I thought perhaps it was some sort of paid placement.
Jacobson assured me that he's just a fan of Microsoft, whose products he has used for the past 23 years, ever since switching from a Mac Plus to a PC when he opened his chiropractic practice. From then on, he said, he has purchased every version of Word and Office, along with many other of the company's products.
"I really appreciate what Microsoft does," Jacobson said. "They create incredibly complex software that is incredibly easy to use."
I pointed out that it is usually Apple, and not Microsoft, that earns that kind of praise. Jacobson said he is aware but puzzled by that fact. "I am surprised at the animosity that exists on the blogs (toward Microsoft). They write a lot of nasty things."
While nearly all the tech in the book is from Redmond, the main detective does spend lots of time on her BlackBerry (it seems Windows Mobile has a tough time getting market share in the fictional world too).
The Microsoft worker who helps Karen Vail is not a fictional character but rather Tomas Palmer, a real-life program manager in Microsoft's security unit. Jacobson met Palmer through an executive at Microsoft. In part to thank him for his technical assistance, Jacobson decided to have Palmer play a part in the book.
Jacobson said it makes sense that his characters turn to technology for help.
"I think that way, so some of them think that way too," said Jacobson, who worked for years as a chiropractor before finding a new way to tingle spines.
Microsoft has several tools for real-life law enforcement, including COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor), a USB key that can be used by cops to find information stored in the cache of a suspect's computer.
Jacobson said that he was introduced to a Microsoft executive during a Seattle stop on his last book tour.
"I asked if I could get a tour of the campus," Jacobson said. The executive agreed and Jacobson flew back to Seattle last December and got an in-depth look at some of the latest products Microsoft is working on.
"It was fascinating," he said. "I kept thinking Microsoft has such great technology and nobody knows about it."
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
And then you woke up (from your dream) and realized that Microsoft still makes the crappy products they made back in the '80s and that not everyone from business to government agencies use Windows and Microsoft Office as they actually have to get work done in a reliable manner (there's deadlines to meet after all)!
*sigh* I remember those days of the 90's and Apple products. It was kinda neat in a geeky sort of way.
And then I woke up from my dream and checked my email. Someone had sent me this link:
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
You are right, not all business to government agencies uses Windows and MS Office. It's more like 96%.
No offense but are you serious? Everyone I know that uses a Mac (about 5 out of every 100) is always telling me one of two things. 1. My Mac is broke. 2. I upgraded to the latest kitty cat OS and now nothing works. Don't get me wrong, Windows has its issues but let's not pretend that somehow Macs never have problems. I use both and well, I find the Mac more of a hassle than Windows. I don't think I can remember the last time I saw a Win machine crash and I can't even believe you are suggesting that people use Macs because you can't get work done on a PC. Tell me what you do on your Mac that I can't do just as fast on a PC, Leave out the useless unfounded MS hatred from your response please. I don't care about the blue screen you got in 1996.
CNET isn't. Google isn't. The vast majority of the web definitely isn't using MS's unreliable and insecure platforms.
>>>>Riiiiight. Microsoft's server platforms are so insecure that Apache gets hacked three times as much, in spite of being only twice as prevalent. Of course, we could rationalize this with the familiar, old obscurity argument, but that would bring to question your past denial of its applicability to desktop platforms. Where do you run now?
It's like reading some Tom Swift book about how the future would be.
If you enjoy a page-turning read that'll not only play to your suspense/thriller appetite, but speak to the creative side of your brain that enjoys tech, then give Crush a try. And yes...it is (or will be soon) available as an eBook on Kindle. Watch the book trailer on my website--and grab a free copy of the Personal Safety Booklet I co-wrote with FBI profiler Mark Safarik. It's free on my website, www.alanjacobson.com. Of course, there's a chapter on cybersecurity...
Have a great weekend.
- by moneyinthebizank October 25, 2009 10:43 PM PDT
- This sounds sort of fishy. I guess I need to read the novel. I wonder, though, if I went out to Redmond to visit M$, would they just invite me back out to the campus for a tour of the whole campus and the future of Micro$oft? I would think they would want something for that. You can't order champagne without... ya know. So a TOUR I might even write a book about solving crimes with docx documents. It would depend on the tour, I guess. I figure if they gave me a free gift, like a Modern Warfare 2 bundle, that would at least get them a positive comment on a board about . . . Modern Warfare 2. And prolly the Xbox. "When are we getting that blu ray add-on?" Haha, jk, I can't just let this PS3 collect dust. So, a whole book? One part writing a book would be weird, the main detective can't carry a WinMo phone, because then the story would be simply incredible. It would not be believable. Nobody does that. Give him a Treo 650 for chrissake... But I digress. I want my story to be believable, so I'll give him a Blackberry, because then he sounds business savvy, and the people will believe it. I actually clicked on this looking for articles about Office Mac 2004 support, and read to the end waiting to hear about that. Joke's on me. This was pretty funny.
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