One Microsoft Way actually does
exist.
The main
Microsoft campus, in
Redmond, is actually a
triangle. Three streets form this
triangle: 156th Ave N.E., N.E. 40th St., and Bel-Red Rd. (as the
hypotenuse). One Microsoft way is almost not in
Redmond. It is about an eigth of a mile from the
Bellevue town line.
Most of all the streets in
Washington are
numbered, even in-between streets.
One Microsoft Way is between NE 39th street and cuts in at the intersection and heads on to an intersection with 156th. (Look on
MapQuest for a little better
directions, and placement info).
What will you find on One Microsoft Way? A few things. Driving off of 39th street, you'll be driving past Building 16 to your left, and Building 19 (
recruiting) to your right. Following through the
intersection, you will see on your left a really nice
Soccer /
Baseball field (with
volleyball court in the far corner). On any given weekend day, employees bring their families to the field to play. It's quite a nice little park they have. On your right is an odd looking (relative to the rest of MS)
Building 11, and
Building 11a.
After the soccer field, you will come up to an unintentionally
famous site. It is the picture of
Microsoft you see on the news: a large
Microsoft logo in the side of a rock (
brick?) face, with the
MS product flags flown above it. Whenever they speak of "the
software giant Microsoft", you will see that photo, as it makes the campus looks as spacious as
possible (across the fields, buildings in the distance, etc).
One Microsoft Way is a
symbolic address, as mail is obviously not received there (I have no idea where). The road is too small, and there are no
loading docks there. It is probably handled in one of the many
satellite campuses at Microsoft. It is more a symbol of life in the Pacific Northwest; a token of the small culture of people that has sprung up inside of the Microsoft "community" and the many companies that serve the corporate entity, and their employees.
Legal disclaimer: I am not divulging any confidential information, or in any way violating my NDA in this writeup. You could get any of this by driving through there. Any taxi driver knows how to find their way to any of the buildings (which by the way are marked). The function of Building 19, recruiting, is written on the sign on the corner.