Online Extra: A Rendezvous With Microsoft's Deep Throat

I didn't have to change cabs twice and slip into the shadows of a suburban parking garage at 2 in the morning. Instead, we agreed to meet at a Starbucks at 5:45 pm. The signal: My contact would have a copy of Microserfs, the legendary 1995 book about employee life in the early days of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ). Sure enough, when I walked in the door, the book was sitting on the table to my right. My heart raced. "Mini," I said, extending my hand. "It's great to put a face with a name."

The proprietor of the Web log called Mini-Microsoft may be the most notorious blogger on corporate life. For more than a year, Mini has been a thorn in the side of the software giant, posting a stream of anonymous critiques of the company, Mini's employer. Mini pulls no punches, calling Microsoft a "passionless, process-ridden, lumbering idiot," in a Sept. 4 posting. Yet the blog is also chock full of humor, intelligence, and earnest suggestions for fixing Microsoft.