Don Schmidt is my name. I have been signing emails with my initials for so long that some folks think “des” is my name. It all goes back to a gift my Wife bought to celebrate my first job as a Software Engineer. I showed up for a meeting in Washington, DC with a mongrammed briefcase that read DES in large orange letters … maybe that explains why I have spent most of the past 25 years designing software security systems.

During this sojurn I have had the opportunity to design distributed authentication and authorization systems at the hardware, operating system, network and application layers. I believe that in Active Directory Federation Services I finally got it right.

I am employed as a Principal Program Manager Architect by Microsoft Corporation. My postings on this blog reflect my personal opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views, opinions or plans of Microsoft Corporation or its management. Like good software, my opinions are subject to change as I gain experience.

– des