Anytime anybody in the universe says something negative about Microsoft, Brad Thorne loses it. He fires up Twitter: “You’re ****ing pathetic!... You have your head so far up your ass!... I can’t wait until you eat your smug words!” Thorne, a fortyish IT manager with a preppy wardrobe and shy grin, is actually a nice guy in person. He plays golf and enjoys spending time with his wife and step kids. He works as an IT director at a nonprofit charity organization in the South that’s run by nuns. He is not religious — unless you count his relationship with Microsoft, of course.
“I’m a missionary,” says Thorne. “For me, it’s about being super passionate and super knowledgeable about their products, and not leaving that passion at the door when you leave work. You preach it all the time.”
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Anybody following tech media in the past few years would instantly recognize the Thorne type. He’s a fanboy. That is, the kind of crazily obsessed tech enthusiast who appears to have become unhinged somewhere between peeling off his smartphone’s screen protector and making his 457th comment on Android Central. He seems to love — as in, romantically love — his phone. He explodes with rage when somebody says anything less than glowingly positive about it.
