Mike Koss had a hand in developing some of Microsoft's most important products during his 19-year career, from Excel to Outlook to Sharepoint. But the 49-year-old software developer -- who left Microsoft in 2002 to pursue his own entrepreneurial ventures -- now proudly proclaims that he's turned into a "Google fanboy." We chatted with Koss about his role as leader of Seattle's newly-formed Google Technology User Group and why he believes Microsoft has fallen behind in the innovation race. The self-titled "launch director" at Seattle software incubator StartPad.org also shared stories about his early days in the software business, including interactions with Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer.

What is StartPad? "I call it software co-working offices. If you are not involved in a software development project, you are not welcome here."

Why did you want to create a co-working space for software geeks? "It had the community aspect. After working at Microsoft for 19 years and being home alone, I kind of missed the social aspects (of software development)."

Mike Koss at StartPad headquarters. Photo/Dan Schlatter

What's the main benefit of StartPad? "When you're starting something new and on your own, there's always someone that knows more than you about different aspects of things you have to solve. And so getting access to people like that is pretty great."

Who are some of the tenants? Entertonement, RescueTime, Impresys, Sponsarus, AllSeniorHomes and Ning's Seattle development office.

Do you take equity in the companies that come through StartPad? "I am investor in RescueTime and AllSeniorHomes, but that's not really part of the business model here. And frankly, StartPad is kind of a means to an end. I didn't leave Microsoft thinking I am going to make it rich being a real estate landlord. It is just this is how I want to work and being able to find a critical mass of people who share that vision and share that desire and it enables me to do it without footing the whole bill for a space this size in downtown Seattle."

Why did you leave Microsoft? "Part of it, frankly, was that the golden handcuffs came off. The stock vesting and appreciation changed dramatically. I thought about leaving some years prior, but you'd look at it financially on paper and go: 'that's insane. I am getting so much money from the value of these vested options.' I also like starting new projects. I like building things and starting new things. And I found that increasingly difficult to do within Microsoft, and I didn't appreciate that such a large percentage of my time was spent fighting political battles within the company as compared to developing great products. My impact in the market since I left has been near zero since I left Microsoft, so you could argue I am much less effective than what I was at Microsoft."

You played a role in developing Excel, Outlook and Sharepoint. How do you feel looking back at those products now? "I feel like I had three home runs at Microsoft. It feels great. I kind of wish that the environment would have still supported that."

Do you think Microsoft today has the ability to innovate? "I maintain a pretty high level of skepticism. And actions speak louder than words. I've been out of Microsoft since 2002, and what are the really awesome products that Microsoft has shipped since I left the company? Silverlight, I really like. That is a really awesome product and shows that some people there still know how to build high performance, amazing products. I think Office has gone downhill...."

So you can't point to other successes at Microsoft in the past eight years? "No. I can't. And I have become like a huge Google fanboy since I left Microsoft. It is not intentionally, but I am starting to use all of the Google online products and Google apps. I've become a Google app engine developer and a Google Android developer."

Why? "The Google ecosystem from a developer's point of view is great. I love it. And all of the corresponding Microsoft products are much harder to get into, you feel locked into a closed system, they have draconian licensing requirements.... BizSpark I think is a good program for startups to get affordable licensing on what otherwise would be impossible to afford. In the same time period, Amazon created (Amazon Web Services) and EC2 and that great cloud framework. Google has done amazing things. And Microsoft is still trying to figure it out, from my point of view. That's just my opinion.... I now run the Google Technology Users Group in Seattle. I started it this fall with 200 members and we have monthly meetings just to talk about Google technologies."

You've been spending a lot of time working with Android, building your own app. Why are you excited about that mobile platform? "The open model for developers, and not being beholden to Apple to get your product published, is awesome. I think it has a pretty good shot at replaying the whole Windows/Macintosh story where Apple, I believe, is going to become the premium brand with 20 percent or less market share and Android will be the smartphone that everybody has with an open platform and a healthy ecosystem of software developers and vendors and carriers."

Koss' Pocket Enigma app for Android

What gets you excited? "Definitely, what drives me is that I love writing software and I love building things, and everything else is like a means to me doing that."

You've been working on Faves.com, Go2me, QuipArt, your new Android app. What's your hope for these? "I am hoping that one of them would stick and strike a nerve with people, and take off and I'd focus more of my energy on it. But I think with the Faves experience, I am a lot more leery about drinking your own Kool-Aid. Just because I love something, does not mean that everyone in the world is going to love something. And the whole route of building a big team and investing a lot of money before you ever get this product out there, I am very leery of that kind of thing."

You have a lot going on? "I do unfortunately, and part of my problem is getting distracted by the sparkly idea."

What are your thoughts on what's happening in the startup community? "I think it is really hard to build a successful business, and it is very hard to predict who is going to have that magic bullet to build a successful business."

A CLOSER LOOK AT MIKE KOSS

Age: 49

Education: Masters in Computer Science from MIT

Hobbies: Collector of vintage computers, including a German Enigma machine; wake surfing, former pilot who sits on the board of the Museum of Flight.

First Job: Worked at McDonald's as a late night cook.

Second job: Worked in Oklahoma City's first personal computer store, High Technology, in the 1970s during high school.

On meeting Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak: "We got invited to go to the very first computer electronics show where Apple showed off the Apple II, and I think that was January 1978 and I got to meet Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. It was thrilling for me as a high school student. I was a senior in high school, and Wozniak was very kind and he'd go have lunch with me and we'd talk about the geeky details of the high resolution graphics of an Apple II. Wozniak was very nice to me, Jobs was an asshole for the most part."

And you didn't want to go work for Apple? "I did. I totally wanted to work on the Macintosh.... After I graduated from MIT, I interviewed at Apple and on the same trip I interviewed at Microsoft -- it was like the Spring of 1983 -- Xerox PARC and Texas Instruments.... I got an offer from Apple, but it wasn't doing what I wanted."

On negotiating with Steve Ballmer for his first job: "It was actually my Xerox offer which was the most money, so I called Steve Ballmer and told him I was thinking about Xerox because they offered me $2,500 more than Microsoft. And so, he said, 'we will match that....' I wish I would have asked for 2,500 shares of stock, but I had no idea what a stock option was worth."

Tell us something that people don't know about you: "I got hit by a car when I was in junior high by a drunk driver, and we ended up suing him. My dad said: 'What do you want to get out of this?' And I said: 'I want an Apple II and a bicycle and a CB radio.' So, that's how we set the amount of the suit was how much I could buy, plus I think there was like $1,000 for college. And that's how I was able to afford a $1,700 machine back then and how I was able to afford an Apple II."