Where to start the HandyAndy party? Well let’s go back to the very beginning. In 1998 when Windows Small Business Server (SBS) was announced and brought to market, HandyAndy and I met via Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine where we both wrote content and drove the SBS community. I fondly remember HandyAndy consistently hosting online meetups via a BBS system (way before Zoom and Teams).
Andy “HandyAndy” Goodman recently passed away and he will be missed. During his career he chose to remain on the technical side and had less patience for marketing malarky. Fair enough. It led to some spirted conversations over the years and HandyAndy always sparred fairly.
Specific moments I recall is that HandyAndy attended the first SMB Nation Fall conference in September 2003 in Indianapolis. This was weeks before the release of SBS 2003 at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in New Orleans. I’m hard pressed to recall any major SMB Nation event that he missed.
HandyAndy took a great deal of pride, as he should, with his Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his efforts supporting SBS. This was his primary affinity group in our ecosystem. In fact, HandyAndy often teamed with other MVPs to support Jeff Middleton’s amazing SBS Swing Migration events in New Orleans followed by a global MVP tour where the team brought to event to a city near you.
So, join me in toasting to the life of times of HandyAndy!