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Local resident goes inside Windows 10

Jenny Rink was one of 10 people chosen to give input directly to Microsoft on their new Windows 10 operating system, which is being released today.

VAIL — When Microsoft releases Windows 10 to the world Wednesday, at least one local resident will already be quite familiar with the new operating system.

Part-time Eagle County resident Jenny Rink was chosen as a grand prize winner for the Windows Insider program this year. She was flown out to Microsoft’s Redmond Campus in Washington and given a grand tour. They also threw in a brand new laptop and tablet.

“In March I downloaded Windows 10 and became what they called a Windows Insider,” Rink explained. “They said if you want to come out to Washington for a few days, all you have to do is submit a video about why you like the new Windows program.”



Jenny Rink’s husband Joe Rink, a former public speaker, was quick to offer his help.

“I told him to go play golf,” she said.

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Microsoft received about 1,000 videos, Rink said, but finally narrowed it down to 10 finalists. Seven of the ten applicants were 24 years of age or younger. Eight of those 10 were from other countries.

“I think they chose me because they wanted to get an old lady in there,” Rink said with a laugh.

VETERAN WINDOWS USER

At 74 years of age, Rink has been using Windows for as long as many of those other grand prize winners were alive.

“I started with Windows 3.1,” she said.

That was the early ’90s.

Since then, she’s helped more than 500 people resolve computer issues on Windows machines.

While at Microsoft’s Redmond Campus, she met with senior Windows leaders, got an up-close look at the Windows design process, toured their hardware design labs and learned about the evolution of Windows leading up to today’s Windows 10 release.

“They’re never going to come out with an 11 or 12,” Rink said. “They’re just going to keep upgrading 10.”

Rink met with senior Windows leaders including Terry Myerson, Joe Belfiore and Engineering General Manager Gabe Aul.

“It was exciting and immensely humbling for all of us to meet these Insiders face-to-face and take in the energy, enthusiasm and insights that they bring to Windows,” Aul said.

DREAM COME TRUE

When her tour was over, Rink was asked to keep today’s date open. She wasn’t told why.

Last week, she learned that Microsoft had one more gift for their grand-prize winning Insiders.

“They’re flying Joe and I out to New York City to celebrate the release,” she said.

Joe Rink says he learned everything he knows about computers from Jenny.

“That’s how we met, actually, she was teaching me the computer,” he said.

Jenny says the Windows Insider grand prize tour has been beyond what she could have ever imagined from Microsoft.

“The whole experience has been a dream come true,” she said. “But beyond that, I learned that Microsoft is really a forward thinking company. They really wanted to hear what I needed out of this operating system.”


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