Free from Redmond’s shackles, Don Dodge is enjoying his time in this, the year 2007.Going from fired to hired can be a whirlwind experience. Especially when your new job comes with so many cool toys.Last week, when Microsoft fired Don Dodge as part of a larger round of layoffs tech blogs were quick to pounce on what they saw as a huge mistake. Dodge, Redmond’s “ambassador to startups,” was for many the face of Microsoft. Now, less than a week after getting the ax Dodge has been hired by Google.That means that Dodge, a tech guru, now actually gets to use the products denied to him during his time at Microsoft. The same products your aunt who still stubbornly clings to her land line adopted years ago.On his blog, Dodge speaks the glory of breaking with the Microsoft products he’s used for years. Including ditching Outlook for this new e-mail feature called G…Mail? Did we say that right?I made the switch to Gmail last week and it has been awesome! Outlook has been an old familiar friend for years, but it was getting kind of tired. Gmail is new, fast, web based, and has all the features I need. I especially like the way it threads conversations making it easy to keep everything in context. And of course the search capabilities are world class. One other subtle thing…no spam. I never realized how much corporate spam invaded my Microsoft inbox.Well that just about seals it. Dodge has now confirmed that the last person to know a Microsoft product sucks is a Microsoft employee. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s layoff another 800 people in hopes that one of them will tell us all about this great new product called the iPhone!