You probably know Brandon Paddock as the developer behind Tweetium, the very popular Windows Twitter client, but Brandon was a ‘Softie long before he was an independent developer, having left Microsoft some three years ago to strike out on his own. Since then, he’s developed a number of Windows apps like Newseen and Tweetium, and worked at Zealyst, developing mobile games for workplace engagement.
As Brandon says in a blog post this week, he’s learned a lot in the past three years, and gained a lot of valuable experiences. He also found that “you never fully appreciate what you have until it’s gone”, and after three years away, he’s accepted an offer to rejoin the Windows Shell team, where he’s impressed by the changes that have happened since he left:
Over the past couple of months I’ve discovered a Microsoft and a Windows team which is both familiar and yet substantially reinvented. They’ve begun the incredible task of changing Windows into a new kind of OS-as-a-service, which is a change to the development process and culture as much as to the code and how it’s delivered. I am very impressed with the progress they’ve made over the last couple of years, and even more impressed with the ambition to bring the best parts of the mobile + cloud delivery and user engagement models to all Windows devices. I can’t go into specifics at this time, but suffice to say that I believe the team I’m joining is crucial to this effort, and that it’s a compelling time and place to apply my strengths and experience.
As a Tweetium user, I’m grateful for the work Brandon put in to bringing Twitter to Windows Phone and the Windows apps ecosystem, and as someone who’s known Brandon since the early days of Windows Live, I’m glad he’s had the experience, and I’m glad he’s rejoining Microsoft.
As for Tweetium, Brandon has only said “we’ll see” so far. Whatever happens, we wish Brandon the best. Congrats!
