A while back there was some discussion of the use by Microsofties of the word ‘So’ to prefix every statement. Apparently this is not new or unique to Microsoft. From “The New New Thing” by Michael Lewis ch. 5
When a computer programmer answers a question, he often begins with the word ‘so.’
‘Why did you come to Silicon Valley?’
‘So…I’m from this small town in Iowa…’
‘So’ cuts across the borders within the computing class just as ‘like’ cuts across the borders within the class of adolescent girls. It’s the most distinctive verbal tic manufactured by the engineering mind. Silicon Valley engineers for whom English is a second or even third language acquire it as readily as native speakers.
So… it’s how you start it that will get a good ending (sometimes).