Thursday, September 22, 2005

Microsoft Company Meeting 2005

(Updated: reposted with Post-Company Meeting immediate reactions.)

Pre Company Meeting

So I'm getting ready for the Microsoft Company Meeting, ready to get to campus early and jump on a bus and get my morning box lunch, feeling deep sympathy for all the admins who get to SafeCo field sometime after 7:00 am to guard spots for their groups.

Do something nice for your admin this next week. And if you're smart, do something nice for your admin every week.

So in your dream Company Meeting, what would you like to see? Here, I'll share a few:

Dates: I said it once, I'll say it again: I want some dates for all of these innovations stuffing our pipeline. But wait, aren't date-based releases bad? Look, Vista was no longer about being a feature-based release after the Longhorn Reset. If it's not making the date, it's got a "Cut!" fate. Plus, our customer pay us good money to license our software and we need to give them value for actually getting around to shipping something on occasion.

Review System Overhaul: we announce that the "rank and yank" stack rank review system and The Curve is a thing of the past, where it belongs in the industrial era. For 2006, we'll have a new, fair, review and compensation system that is appropriate for a 21st century company that endeavors to hire the best, smartest, "A+" people. (I said endeavors.)

Management Flattening: as part of the reorganization, each of the three new businesses were taking on the mandate to flatten their organizations to reduce bureaucratic middle management and get the decision makers close to the front-line contributors.

Mea-Frickin-Culpa: no, it's not always been this way. No, it's not just that we have a culture of criticism. Yes, something has reached a critical stage where the best of Microsoft is peeling away from the company, some severely disillusioned with what a lumbering, slow beast it has become. All I'd be happy to hear is, "There is something wrong. We know what it is (tell us). We're going to fix it and here is how."

Dissent: No, I have no grand plans of organized dissent. How many dissenters are even out there? Fifty? One-hundred and fifty? A few thousand? Beats me. All I can say is don't clap if you don't want to, throw in a boo or a hiss. If something outrageously false is said, kick in with a "eeeeenk!" wrong buzzer. I guess that's my dream: when all the bogus claims of success and everything being alright is echoed through SafeCo field, the audience goes "eeeeenk!"

Post Company Meeting

One word: Wow!

Short phrase: I think our customers are going to be delighted silly this coming year!

Wishes:

  • Investors realize that we can ship and what we are shipping is well worth investing in Microsoft. It's their way of saying, "More, please!"
  • We never forget that a lot of what we're shipping is a year or even years late and commit to never letting this happen again.

I love Microsoft and I especially love the Company Meeting. I am so thankful that it's back and hopefully will happen again every year. Any vestiges of doubt or ennui get blown away once you actually see what we are on the verge of shipping. My only worry now is that we're shipping so much that some really good stuff is going to die on the vine out of lack of attention.

As for my wishes above: zip. We have Vista's ship-ish date as: before the end of next year. There was a slide showing all the software being shipped this next year, and both Vista and Office 12 were emblazoned with "Beta." Beta than nothing.

There were lots of good words from Lisa and from Steve about adjusting and what to focus on (e.g., finding your own personal mid-year review that you can do without). Good words. Actions, of course, speak louder. However, those good words can be used to your advantage to cleave through useless process and meetings and to focus on the customer and on the code.

The software looks fantastic in my opinion and I was pretty impressed that given how much they showed not much at all went wrong (the main thing that seemed problematic was Steve's clicker to advance the PPT slidedeck). The XBox 360 makes my heart beat fast and my fingers quiver. And I understand it plays games, too.

I'm probably going to stop posting here for a while just so that I can start writing my own gadgets for Start.com and look forward to them working with Vista. I'm energized and cautiously optimistic.

And I hope all the folks who do the real work of Microsoft are energized, too, and feel empowered to start managing up and kicking bureaucracy's butt around the building and to focus where we can have the best impact. We don't ship process. We don't get "Ship Its" for process. We ship software products. If whatever you're doing or required to do isn't focused on that, it can go join the old mid-year review on the junk pile. But it's up to you to start heading it towards that junk pile.

(FYI: I'm preparing for some OOF-age so updates here might be on the light-side.)

Your Wishes and Reactions?

What do you hope happens at the Company Meeting? What are your post Company Meeting thoughts?

256 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 256 of 256
Anonymous said...

Wow I copied the original post and made it my own, kind of how I operate at work. I copy other peoples work and then claim it as my own. I then talk big words and push sarcasm to make my dick feel big. Really I'm an ass lick with an attitude.

- Your average Mini-msft critic wannabe

Anonymous said...

Hey Mini,

When are you going to sign up for AdSense? You would probably actually make some money given the popularity of this site!


Mini-Microsoft Blogspot leads to Adsense

Adsense leads to financial records

Financial records leads to the dark side .... of Bill's ass ... which you'll have to kiss if don't want to get fired and get a big book deal.

Salary! Salary! Salary!

Anonymous said...

so things were/are a mess. remember this though. Bill G. and Steve B. didn't build the empire/monopoly by luck. they are shrewd businessmen willing to adapt and change. so what if Google is THE company at the moment. It's still a dot com company with one profit generating product. given the cash reservers and the product pipeline, MSFT is the horse to bet on.

Anonymous said...

" Bill G. and Steve B. didn't build the empire/monopoly by luck. they are shrewd businessmen "

You seem to think they are the only ones! There are even shrewd-er businessmen out there.

And don't forget it is the first time M$ is going into a challenge with low employee morale. And doesn't seem like they even acknowledge the problem. Makes a huge difference

Anonymous said...

Wow I copied the original post and made it my own, kind of how I operate at work. I copy other peoples work and then claim it as my own. I then talk big words and push sarcasm to make my dick feel big. Really I'm an ass lick with an attitude.

- Your average Mini-msft critic wannabe


Wow I read the original post and it made me confused, kind of how I operate at work.

Anonymous said...


Imagine if Apple suddenly decided to offer MAC OS 10 on standard Dell platforms, and when you called Dell, they asked which OS you wanted.

This will never happen. If it did, our beloved company would immediately dispatch a plane-load of goons to Austin, Texas, to re-educate Michael and his motley crew.

The bumbling DOJ notwithstanding, Dell's advertising subsidy would be immediately pulled, helping HP close the gap on Dell.

Isn't it great to work for a company that can twirl our "partners" around our fingers?

Anonymous said...

-Microsoft is the most succesfull company ever created.

-Microsoft keeps it success by doing 2 things; keeping its current products with relative innovation and crashing competitors; copying and improving what these do.

Google, as IBM, Sun, Netscape, Linux, Yahoo, Apple, etc. Will fall, you can already see how the G company is already hitting walls, let's wait a couple of years and see what happens, when was the last time you noticed some improvement on their search engine? Instead, I've been having more problems finding the results that I want. I remember that my first search engine was Yahoo, then I moved to Altavista; Search engines have a bigger history of change, as for platforms, we only know one.

Will Microsoft fall against Google?

My question is... How?
Are they going to create a new OS that can replace Windows? Mhmm... I wonder how much time it will take them to build a Windows 95. Unless they're thinking on making another linux distribution, then, they'll become nothing more than OTHER linux distribution.

Microsoft is changing, the whole world is, this blog is proof of it, if we see so many discussions here is because of this blog explosion. And this is also proof that in Microsoft everybody has its own opinion and that we have a public space to express it. This space was only a matter of time.


Welcome Steve, welcome Bill - we missed you so much here. And don't worry, we will not discuss about any unbelievable innovation comming from MS - don't worry we will not talk about that new UI in Office 12 with other 23.984 useless featuress (where each running Office app will eat 70 MB of the memory) and Office server which should be on market 5 years ago, about start.com which somebody thinks it's a breakthru and innovative in the Web technology (where you are/will be just followers), about another version XBox where you are going to lose money on each unit again (oh anyway, why those PowerPC chips inside it = will be possible to run GarageBand or iPhoto on it?), about Mobile system which has massive 3% of the market, Indigo, which is another failed dream ala .NET Remoting or DCOM, IE7 which will have tabs as the last browser on the market. And we don't even started talking about bussines division...

Pet your Windows, Office and Exchange products as much (and long) as possible. Once they are done it will be ugly...

Anonymous said...

It amazes me that Microsoft ever ships anything. Vast hours are spent trying to find and fix post-integration bugs while there is no discipline at the front-end of development. This isn't the devs fault, they are pushed by ridiculous schedules from management to skip any simple front-end methods to reduce bugs and improve the code when it is written. How many teams spend the ubiquitous dinner hours in conference rooms talking about all the simple software engineering practices that are ignored/discouraged by management? And everyone knows that it is NOT a good idea to say these things between the hours of 10am and 6pm when the managers are actually there. It's like working in the Third Reich. So many hours are wasted on, "stretch goals," that could have served so well in improving the overall quality of process and techniques, only to be have the stretch goal features dropped to make the schedule. I've never seen so many people work such long hours to achieve so little with so little appreciation of their work or how they are forced to do it.

Anonymous said...

Microsoft is much more fragile than anyone really lets on. Imagine if Apple suddenly decided to offer MAC OS 10 on standard Dell platforms

Dell platforms??? WTF? Now they own the PC platform? What about the rest of the PC makers? And the device makers? It's not only dell my friend who they have to get on their train.

Anonymous said...

where each running Office app will eat 70 MB of the memory

So, how much memory do you think that Office 97 required on its days? When PCs where shipped with 16 to 32Mb.

Now, consider that for the generation of PCs shipping when the next Office ships.

Anonymous said...

Guys,

I propose we do something a little more constructive here. Looks like we got a substantial number of regular posters here and probably many more readers who are lazy to post. Also, it seems like most of the folks who are not happy with their work environment are at the IC or Lead level. Since there are usually a couple of levels between you guys and your VP or GM, why don't you guys post their names?

If you cry about BillG and SteveB being out of touch, I don't think they will care at all. I think BillG and SteveB have developed a thick skin because of the huge amount of crap attributed to them all over the place.

On the other hand, folks below the Snr VP level rarely get much press coverage. Seems like these are also the folks that you guys are really pissed about since they are making millions at the expense of your valuable time as a Microsoft employee. So when they get any kind of substantial coverage on the internet/public space they will most probably get their act together by succumbing to the pressure.

So why don't the folks who think the middle layer should be tossed out, start putting the names of the GM or VP that you think is not contributing or not worth the millions or whatever fat salary they are getting paid? Please don't say general things like all VPs in Windows are terrible. Specific names will be really helpful since that is what is required. And, since you guys sound so bad, there is no reason to chicken out either unless you plan to blurt out your real name.

If a few names come up with substantial frequency compared to others, we can get a good idea of where the problem is most accute.

I also suggest the folks who think things are running just fine and there aren't any issues with the VPs/GMs please provide the name of the VP/GM that you are under. This will also give us a good idea of which groups have the problems sorted out.

Next, I suggest the unhappy folks start actively seek oppurtunities in the divisions where people are happy. Once there is any kind of a mass move, a hollow will be created below the GMs and VPs that aren't performing well and encouraging politics within the groups, and the these managers will crash down to earth.

Under such a situation a good rebalancing will occur and hopefully you - yes YOU the IC/Lead - can actually do something constructive to lead the way for a leaner and agile MSFT - the Mini Microsoft of your dreams.

Let me start by naming my group's GM and VP:

ERudder->BobMu->KirillT->BShah

Looking for your responses ...

Anonymous said...

Forgot to mention ... I am the one under KirillT->BShah and the group just rocks so far and I love working there.

Anonymous said...

Brianv

He needs to move on. Whats he done useful during the longhorn death spiral?

Anonymous said...

I thought BShah's group suck big time, low morale and all. One of my friend who worked there mentioned and he moved on to another group.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I'll ever be excited about Longhorn again until all those features that were cut are released. As it is, every end-user feature due late next year already exists in other products from months back.

By the way, is anyone else worried "Gadgets" will just go by the wayside, seen by most as a rip-off of Apple's widgets and Konfabulator? I think there should have at least been a less similar name like gadget...the gadget = widget similarity is pretty obvious.

Should have read the hundreds of vitriolic comments from users over at the www.microsoftgadgets.com site on its debut...admittedly, the intro was pretty lame..."super-excited" to reveal how Microsoft products are created? Everyone saw the punchline and went for it.

Anonymous said...

You guys just don't have the balls to conduct big meetings or speak things articulately. That's a gift that the VPs and GMs have. So they get rewarded for it. Just like in any other aspect of life.

You can't earn million dollars WHILE doing cool low level stuff like writing code (that you think is cool but barely usable by anyone) or debugging a problem in your own office being an introvert all year long. So get over it.

If you want to earn big bucks start getting out of your office and learn how to be a good and articulate speaker. Only then you can BS your way up to the high ranks.

Regarding the comments about SteveB's jumping around making the uptight ones feeling uncomfortable - that's his style and he admits it. He admits that to large audiences on a regular basis. The audience always applauds him. If he made everyone so uncomfortable, then the audience would have stayed all quite and not applauded since they wouldn't be appreciating it in the first place which leads to the applause. So here's a suggestion - you uptight, introverts ought to go out and get a life. SteveB isn't going to change his ways just because a few dozzens of you guys feel emabrassed by him. If thousands of employees stand up and give him a standing ovation - that means the vast majority of normal employees see things in a fairly optimistic way and are encouraged by what he is saying. He can't write code for MSFT. Writing code is not his job. His job is to provide encouragement to the IC level employees to do their best possible job. That is exactly what he does and does it quite well. So give him a break and ship out some quality products for a change instead of whinning.

fCh said...

Reading some opinions around here about how several of MSFT products/features turned into resource hogs, let me put it in a slightly different (non-Google) context:

There has been a yesterday's company whose platform runs most efficiently and effectively out there. Its customers loved it so much that they saw no need to upgrade--no, it's not about some mainframe architecture.

So, what happened? Hardware system vendors (HSV's) decided to stop offering support for the old platform. The old hardware would either crash or not interconnect with the newest hardware. In the end, customers had to jump ship. Who benefited from this? MSFT, Intel, and al other usual suspects in the HSV space. Who lost? The customers and Novell.

Fast forward (I) to the early 2000. IBM, not to be fooled twice, drops a lot of mainframe-, and new-IP, into Linux (e.g. virtualization, driver support). Not to be outdone, the rest of the HSV band (formerly, of MSFT-brothers, with the partial exception of Dell) joins IBM in supporting straight Linux, or one of its corporate flavors (Red Hat, SUSE/Novell).

Fast forward (II) to the Google's IPO. The public at large gets a taste of simple things in software.

Fast forward (final) to mini-msft blog. Engineers ponder how it is possible that their Company continues to invest in countless obscure Office-like features. Yeah guys, the genie is out, yet who knows when the turn comes for your management to think of growth alternatives to bloating software.

As end-user I've been able to tolerate MSFT annoyances up until two episodes. (1) When a customer from abroad emails me an audio-clip he made using MSFT tools, I could not play it back until Windows Media Player checked with some DRM-god on the internet. (2) Hearing the complaints of a partner (marketing-strategy type) about his Dell laptop slowing down I suggested, and then wanted to initiate, a reinstallation of the system from the vendor's CD. I was told that, because the XP version on the CD was older than the (patched) one on the laptop, I could not reinstall the system.

Why did I share the above two anecdotes with the readers here? To illustrate how MSFT-neutral customers might have grown unhappy with MSFT to the point they'd switch when alternatives show up. For the engineers writing here, such consideration should only nuance the(ir) conversation--after all, they've gotten paid their salaries from such tactics. For those in management, it is a whole different thing. It's up to them whether or not to take matters seriously, regardless of their particular tactics/biases on this forum.

Cheers, fCh http://chircu.com

Anonymous said...

Thats BS!! Many senior mgmt. are there because they got lucky too.

Do you think its as easy for a new college hire today to get to VP level as it was from them? So, get rid of your slavish mentality.

In any case I do not think whatever skill they have, they should be paid 30 times what an engineer is paid.

They are just screwing the shareholders and more so employees.

In my opinion, most big corporations are like that. But remind me if I am wrong, we used to say that MS is different.

Anonymous said...

LOL ... so now your problem is somehow someone got lucky and you didn't. And since luck just propelled the MS mgmt high up the ladder, that should be undone. LOL again.

You guys want MSFT to ship complex, innovative products on time. That needs lots of heads and lots of heads require lots of managers. When the number of heads increase, there are bound to be problems and there has to be a few bad apples ... no getting around it.

If you want to change it ... try to make your way up the ladder and bring about changes that you all dream about. Just whining about
"I want to see BrainV let off" in an anonymous message board won't solve any of your problems pals.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything the previous post says.

There are two ways:
1. rise up the ladder and bring about change

2. leave MS and go to a workplace the fits your expectations E.g. Google :-)

Well, good luck with #1. By the time you rise up, you will be so throughly compromised by the system, forget any changes. This is happens in most big orgs. MS is not the first or last!

I personally think #2 sounds lot more attractive at this point. And don't us the crap about the easy way not always being the better way.

Most people would love the easy way out as long as it makes them more money

Anonymous said...

You guys just don't have the balls to conduct big meetings or speak things articulately. That's a gift that the VPs and GMs have. So they get rewarded for it.

Everyone repeat after me:

"I'm happy I'm a Delta. Those Alphas have to work so hard."


Soma! Soma! Soma!

Anonymous said...

If Microsoft wants to save money, they should collect stats on which features of Office are actually used over the Internet.

They could then move those people to work on something that people will actually use.

A cool feature is fun to work on and your peers can appreciate your skill.

However, no one appreciates management's lack of skill in allocating resources to features people actually use.

Anonymous said...

From all incentive systems I've known, for large organizations, I had come to respect the most the one employed by McKinsey.

Consultants (at lower levels) rate their next-level-up manager/mentor anonimously, and are being rated by their manager.


If the direct reports rating their manager actually affects the manager's review score, this change to the stack ranking system would help.

Right now manager feedback is just a Monty Python I fart in your general direction salute.

Anonymous said...

Very entertaining so far.

Now - someone talked about Google doing an on-line office.

They dont have to. IBM Workplace has that already. With decent document control, security, etc - oh - and it runs on Mac and Linux clients, runs on any scalable server, runs on most RDBMS's. Oh - and its out there today.

Directly aimed at the two profitable franchises of MS. So far, MS management only see it as a ScarePoint threat. I dont think they see the bigger picture.

Remember - IBM is MS's biggest consulting partner, and OWNS the large accounts out there. Which large account wouldnt want to save 300-500 bucks a head by not paying MS any money any more ?

So - new UI on office, new features that arent required - dont address the core problem. Its too damn expensive, and too integrated with one very old operating system - windows.

I was rather hoping that the MS company meeting would re-energise MS and make it address the core problems - stagnant share price, lack of innovation, seriously bad delivery times, lack of security.

But no. The microsoft management are again focused on Windows - and office as a "fat" client thats a nightmare to install on a large customer base.

Thats soooo '90s', isnt it ?

I really feel for the very talented, hardworking guys in MS - working their asses off, but the middle management and upper management just throwing away their work, time after time.

Making exeptionally clever code, and not being rewarded for it. Ouch. Thats sooo "third-world", isnt it ?

And lets not forget BillG's common complaint that he cannot find enough talent in the US, and wants to import as many cheap programmers as he wants.

Not a good time in MS land, I fear. The "MS Gods" are in denial.


---* Bill
http://www.billbuchan.com

Anonymous said...

When you talk to people around the company while interviewing for an internal transfer, it becomes abundantly clear how much talent is just not being used by Microsoft.

One of my fellow employees used to call it a waste of human life.

(inserting flushing sound here)

Glub! Glub! Glub!

Anonymous said...

"I don't like reading stories like this about our great company in The Wall Street Journal, in Business Week, in Forbes, etc. I have a feeling that some of our young passionate up and coming superstars might be the better ones to bet on."

Agree. If that WSJ article is correct, it paints a very unflattering portrait of MSFT, its snr mgt and in particular BillG. Rather than being the one raising hell to fix the problem, he comes off as the guy who is trying to avoid fixing it while simultaneoulsy making it worse by pishing WinFS. MSFT is ultimately a software factory and as such, it needs to be the most efficient/customer focused software factory on the planet. From the sounds of this article this blog, and most empirical evidence, it's no where close. Wrose, preventing it from getting there may well be the snr-most mgt of the company.

Anonymous said...

Someone said that Microsoft is the most successful company ever. If this were said in 1999 I might agree (even then, not really). Let's review the current status of Microsoft:

Sales growth just hit the single digits, which means the stock isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The only divisions that are profitable now are the ones that were profitable in 1996.

The stock is trading at roughly 1/3 of what it was just five and a half years ago.

Microsoft offshoring it's development - biz.yahoo.com/rb/050925/india_microsoft.html?.v=1

There are companies which have been around since before the stock market was created, that's one type of success. Microsoft doesn't look like it's headed in that direction unless something drastic changes at the company.

I worked at Microsoft for several years and left, while I have no doubt that the company will maintain itself, it ain't the company it used to be. If if were just a political mess, that would be one thing, but most of the smart people there don't know how to play corporate politics, so they'll leave (as I did) and make better money elsewhere. The people staying will be the layabouts who need "job security". Welcome to being IBM in the late 80's.

fCh said...

You guys just don't have the balls to conduct big meetings or speak things articulately. That's a gift that the VPs and GMs have. So they get rewarded for it. Just like in any other aspect of life.

There is/out to be more than the ability to speak articulately in a manager. Let's call it clear thinking. Nobody should think that form is the only that matters, not that I suspect you would, else we'd be in show-biz.


You can't earn million dollars WHILE doing cool low level stuff like writing code (that you think is cool but barely usable by anyone) or debugging a problem in your own office being an introvert all year long. So get over it.

Showing more respect to the (productive) human variety would be a more sensible route. From what I've been reading here, nobody claims to want millions for writing code. Not that anybody would refuse them either, but that's a whole different story. Again, some respect would suffice. And, don't take me wrong, it's not the formulaic type HR trains untalented managers to show, 'cause, you see, MSFT has hired some smart "introverts." It's like in that movie: "Don't offend my intelligence!"-type of respect...

If you want to earn big bucks start getting out of your office and learn how to be a good and articulate speaker. Only then you can BS your way up to the high ranks.

A little socialization hasn't killed anybody, but don't make it a prerequisite for success!

Regarding the comments about SteveB's jumping around making the uptight ones feeling uncomfortable - that's his style and he admits it. [...] So here's a suggestion - you uptight, introverts ought to go out and get a life. SteveB isn't going to change his ways just because a few dozzens of you guys feel emabrassed by him. [...] He can't write code for MSFT. Writing code is not his job. His job is to provide encouragement to the IC level employees to do their best possible job. That is exactly what he does and does it quite well. So give him a break and ship out some quality products for a change instead of whinning.

I don't know Mr. Ballmer personally, but judging from his appearances (not to mention Mr. Gates'), he's not too happy in his public skin. Just an opinion. One more question, how many people had seen SteveB acting so extrovertly before becoming CEO?

Cheers, fCh. http://chircu.com

Anonymous said...

Bill G. and Steve B. didn't build the empire/monopoly by luck. they are shrewd businessmen willing to adapt and change.

No, although the original OS monopoly was founded on luck and much that has occurred subsequently flows from that position. That said, the biggest problem appears the be that Gates/Ballmer aren't willing to adapt and change . Instead, for years now they've been putting 90% of their focus and the company's resources into trying to protect MSFT's legacy positions vs finding new ones. If you look at the areas outside the core where they have invested, they've been either universal failures, perpetual laggards and/or chronic money losers. Cable? Bus Sol? Xbox? Mobile? MSN? Even when the y have a re-org, no one get's gone. Compare that to HPQ's re-org where some 15K emps are being cut. Not suggesting HPQ's approach is right but come on - zero cuts are required at MSFT as part of the re-org? There's no bloat/redundancy? Sometimes, it takes a new pair of eyes and a fresh perspective to see what's wrong and where new opportunities may lie. For MSFT, that time is more than 5 years overdue. When was the last time MSFT mgt made some strategic move that was so smart and first that the entire market applauded? When was the last time they just did something first? smart? Lately, they look like the Keystone cops - running around with their heads chopped off, saying nothing's wrong and annoucing a massive re-org a week later, always following GOOG, CRM APPL and others - never leading, always making excuses and promising that success is "right around the corner".

Take an objective look at the numbers from 00 to now:

MSFT

Those trends in rev growth, SG&A, earnings, operating margins, etc are not the hallmark of a mgt team at the top of its game and the stock has suffered grievously as a result.

Anonymous said...

Here's a very simple measure to tell you just how immature and disorganized the company is. I've been on board for 5 years and have travelled heavily during that time for the job. Every year I expect to hear from my manager what my travel budget is for the year, so that I can BUDGET accordingly, like any business. But NO. I have yet to ever have that simple conversation. Instead you just do what you do...that is until about April, when the manager starts yelling at everyone to tell them to travel less because the budget is gone. WHAT?!?!?! They can't tell you a number, but they can certainly tell you when your number is up. Extrapolate that to the way that the company does business, deals with contracts, partners, accounts for money...and you understand. Immature idiots running things and doubly so at the middle manager bloat level.

Anonymous said...

Name your group VP? Um, OK...

SanjayP - Rude, clueless, NOT diverse, self centered, need I go on? Oh, and I'm SURE he's cooking his OHI numbers

Anonymous said...

Brad ANDERSON could go back anytime. He did come to infuse brain, vision, leadership blah blah blah. I ain't seen nothing yet...

Tomorrow, with the opening bell, a stock is gonna be be shorted as fast as ETS can count. Do you want to guess which stock I'm refering to? Let me clue you in, read the WSJ article on our company.

BillG&SteveB, spend some cash to cover for that eventuality!

Anonymous said...

Services- Sharon Boland. Spells team, TE'I'M. Talk about poor OHI...BTW, why do we still have Services GM's?

Z said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Ditto on Eric Rudder -- hoping he's on the way out due to the sudden lack of directs...

Anonymous said...

When was the last time MSFT mgt made some strategic move that was so smart and first that the entire market applauded?

That's a key element. Market (or street) hates MS. That's it. I'm outsider but working for a big corp. with a size of MS (and no, it's not IBM , HP or someting like that) who has been working with Windows since version 3.0 and 3.11 for Workgroups. Things are getting worse regarding our relation to MS products and after 10 years we are in a situation that we are looking for alternative ways how to impement our core products (we run Windows 2000 and Office 97 - there is no reason for us to upgrade to the current versions not to mention Vista and Office 12).
That's the result of years and years of arrogance, ignorance and fishy tactics - don't get me wrong but we are in 2005 and there are no more Netscape - like companies which are stupid enough to fight you on your Windows platform.

Anonymous said...

Whoever said wait for tomorrow for the share to fall is totally underestimating the ability of the analysts. They often have a clearer picture of where the company is going than the average IC. They DONT have to wait for a WSJ article to open up their eyes :)

Anonymous said...

Looks like the pessimistic folks have their bretherns in Google too - http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html

Anonymous said...

True. But a lot of investors will be scared off the article. The stock most likely will fall. And then im buying call options. Hope I'm not sinking my money :-)

In any case, one WSJ article means absolutely nothing in long term. Although it is indicative of the problems and management's utter state of denial!

The stock most probably may move up next year but taking the long term view .. MS is destined to be a blue chip stock (if it is lucky!)

Anonymous said...

My buddy joined Google and says it's work env is pretty obnoxious. His team mates are snobbish towards him - a new commer - and since most are pretty young - they have some form of hatred towards anyone over 40. The most problematic thing, according to this guy - a smart guy since he became an engnn. in google in the first place - is that they use linux in their dev machines making your productivity go down the drain unless you are the kernel hacker type who love to achieve and overcome challenges while doing simple things.

While free lunches are good, his team mates being the snobbish unsocial type, never go as a group - something I really like about MS, where large groups head to lunch together.

Finally he says that for the first 2 weeks, he had barely any idea of who the manager is or what he is supposed to do since there is an extreme lack of direction. Maybe this will be heaven for the really creative folks who have awesome- yet feasible ideas, but for the avg. person like me, I am more comfortable in having my 1:1 with my mgr and the skip levels with the mgr's mgr where I know exactly who is who, how to escalate things, and what I am expected to do or achieve.

Finally, the buddy of mine apparently got assigned job in an area he totally hates. He has no idea whose decision it was to assign him into that kind of a project since he has no experience while he cannot pursue his real areas of interests in Comp Sci.

Now he basically hates his work life with:

+ No manager or mentor to take his issues upto during a 1:1

+ Snobbish Cliquish group members who try to leave him out.

+ Having to work in an area where he has no interest using primitive tools while not getting the oppurtunity to work in an area where his interests are and where he had gained much of his experience

+ Earning a salary that his only 1 grand higher (annually) than mine BUT in Bay Area where house prices are at all time highs (and almost twice that of Seattle/East Side area if he wants to live in a good neighborhood)

+ Stock options that he is worried won't get him much since the price at which he got offered was about 310 making the potential to rise much higher actually much lower.

+ Reading a constant stream of articles where Google is coming out with innovations that are bringing back no new revenue resources making them even more dependant on advertisement which Microsoft and Yahoo are actively pursuing too.

Compared to his situation at Google, I am at Microsoft where:

+ I have an awesome manager who interviewed me and gave me a clear picture of the kind of work I will be doing. He is also quite technically sound and can answer my questions.

+ My group goes out to lunch everyday - a nice social break that I enjoy

+ I am working in an area that interests me with tools I know how to use and which have plenty of documentation.

+ Earning a salary that will allow me to buy a NEW house in a nice neighborhood.

+ Stock awards which have much higher chances of rising higher than becoming worthless like options at a dizzy sky-high price.

+ Reading articles about a pipeline full of cool products which look pretty promising. I personally think having cool features in Excel or Powerpoint will help someone more than Mapping the Moon :)

So I will leave it to you to decide who is happier ;)

Anonymous said...

If this is how things are at Goole then certainly I count my blesings for being at MS :-)

However, I suspect that just like MS, the culture varies from team to team.

Someone posted this link a few posts up: http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html

What seems shocking is Google's total lack of concern for anything! They just seem to think they are above everyone else... I know I know...starting to sound like someone else we know...but they are just one level above us in evilness -)

I hope we kick their ass

Anonymous said...

I work as a software engineer at a big financial company and can assure everybody that there are companies (maybe so known) which have benefits and salaries much better then MS or Google.
And I don't need to report to clueless mng and I'm learning stuff which will help me to move to the next level of my career.
I never wanted to become 45-years old developer sitting somewhere and still hacking stuff in somke programming language. When I was 25, we got a developer guy to our team who was 44 we had a lot of fun - for us, it meant like he was a loser because who wanted to code in his/her 44 and higher. And obviously not every developer at MS can become mgt.

+ Earning a salary that will allow me to buy a NEW house in a nice neighborhood.

If you are going to cash it - OK. If you are talking about a standard mortgage, anybody can do that. That's nothing special.

Anonymous said...

+ Earning a salary that will allow me to buy a NEW house in a nice neighborhood.

If you are going to cash it - OK. If you are talking about a standard mortgage, anybody can do that. That's nothing special.

Anonymous said...

Every single brand new project started after 2000 is not profitable. As somebody mentioned - the only divisions that are profitable now are the ones that were profitable in 1996. That's what is this blog about. Expenses against profit. Simple. Even for company with 60b in cash.

Anonymous said...

>>+ Earning a salary that will allow me to buy a NEW house in a nice neighborhood.

>>If you are going to cash it - OK. If you are talking about a standard mortgage, anybody can do that. That's nothing special.

Unless you're in Hotmail in Mountain View. No google badge, no house.

Anonymous said...

"True. But a lot of investors will be scared off the article. The stock most likely will fall. And then im buying call options. Hope I'm not sinking my money :-)"

MSFT, like every other large-cap stock, is moved by institutions not the retail investor. Institutions have smart analysts who are no doubt aware of how screwed up MSFT's development is. Let's face it, who isn't aware of that? Net net, the stock may continue down but the likely catalysts will be Friday's decision not to raise the dividend (which institutions and most regular investors will hate), MSFT's truly brutal chart, and of course ongoing concerns about rev/earnings growth. That said, it's way oversold. So expect a bounce soon before the trend resumes...

Re the Calls, make them 07 or later. Ballmer et al have basically fucked 06 now - along with 05, 04, 03...

Anonymous said...

Well, one thing this blog has done for me - made me realize that I was right to leave a year ago.

I was sad to leave a company where I was initially so excited. But after several years of constant turmoil and "reorgs" (I don't know what they were, but they didn't "organize" anything), I left for another software company that is smaller, offers similar benefits, a much more positive work environment - and I love doing what I'm doing.

My parting inteview at MS was "people [who are disgruntled like you] often find that leaving here is the best thing for them." While that was an insulting was to deal with a long-term employee [do you realize how much long-term company information you were losing? No.], they were more right than they knew. It was best for me.

I've watched from outside how MS had started laying off low-level employees (NEVER a manager, of course!), reducing/eliminating "perks" like medical benefits, and have seen the rise of IM-complaining, something I never saw while I was there, and that I don't see at my current employer.

There are lots of choices for you, but your choices are significantly reduced at MS. You can stay and continue in the current style and direction of management - because you know, you really KNOW, it cannot change - or you can start to send our your resume and get a better job.

Believe me, there are lots of jobs out there. I left, and immediately started with my new employer.

I have a manager now who lets me work the hours I want. I work with people that are creative, funny, stressed - but LOVING their jobs - and at the end of the day, I don't have to feel ashamed at shipping O12 or Vista - and pretending that OpenSource isn't a huge threat.

Anonymous said...

Once, they feared you. Then they matched you. Now they are laughing at you. Soon they will ignore you. You have lost.

Anonymous said...

>>and pretending that OpenSource isn't a huge threat
>Once, they feared you. Then they matched you. Now they are laughing at you. Soon they will ignore you. You have lost.


Yeah, I think the OSS guys have lost too. When are they going to wise up that a good, healthy chunk of the decent stuff in OSS actually is the result of FTEs at IBM, Novell, Red Hat, and a handfull of other companies? Way to stick it to the "man", kids.

(I can't help but wonder if MS could somehow return the favor to these guys by funding some bit of OSS that impinges on their market? That would truly be amusing.)

Anonymous said...

Re: Google

Being from one of Google's pipeline schools (specifically, the same one as the CEOs went to,) I can definitely say the quality of people that they're hiring has gone way down. It used to be that the people they would hire were near-universally respected as brilliant. Anecdotally speaking, though, the devs they've hired recently have definitely been a cut below the ones Microsoft has been hiring. Of course, the one or two "rock star" devs end up going to Google, but for all this talk here about how Google is some sort of dev utopia, they've been filling their ranks with mediocre devs at a high rate. And of course, the pay is worse, ignoring stock -- and of course, new hires get stuck with the $315 strike price. As someone said a few posts above, you'll make far more money working for a faceless conglomerate like Oracle or doing consulting.

Of course, this isn't to say that Microsoft doesn't have problems, but the grass is always greener... and, objectively speaking from talking to people who work at both, there are definitely a couple people who are very happy, most who are okay, and a couple who hate it (although to be fair, the people who hate Microsoft seem to be mostly apathetic about doing their jobs, whereas the Google people still work overtime, but are biding their time until they cash out all of their options.)

Anonymous said...

"It used to be that the people they would hire were near-universally respected as brilliant. Anecdotally speaking, though, the devs they've hired recently have definitely been a cut below the ones Microsoft has been hiring."

This is nice MS spin, but it's simply not true. I would say that maybe 1/3 of Microsoft devs could get a job at Google if they wanted to, most of them simply wouldn't pass muster. Microsoft would love to get the talent they're hiring right now. Sounds like someone is bitter because they have a $28 Microsoft strike price and we know it'll never hit that number again. :)

Anonymous said...

Close, but no cigar... I switched away from CS to medical school, and don't have any vested interest in either. I'm just calling it as I see it, which you either may not like or may not agree with, but, well, it's what I think :)

Anonymous said...

FWIW, from looking at the people both Google and Micrsoft hired from my alma mater of the 2005 grads, I partially agree with both comments about new talent.

Among Google's hires were most of the top people that didn't choose grad school, but it also took a few it definitely wouldn't have given the time of day to pre-IPO. On the other hand, the Google hires in the latter category were comparable in caliber to the people that went to Microsoft - none of the top went to MS.

It's very possible both of the following are true:
1) Google's standards are decreasing
2) Microsoft is currently unable to attract the top x%

Anonymous said...

Just saw part of the co meeting today (was too busy working to make it on friday). For the love of Jesus and the sweet mother Mary - can someone please stop Office from using that stupid goddamn dinosaur ad? Did Office not get the memo? Everyone HATED that campaign and the press slaughtered it. Some goddamn PUM just had to sneak it in there didn't they?

Anonymous said...

"When are they going to wise up that a good, healthy chunk of the decent stuff in OSS actually is the result of FTEs at IBM, Novell, Red Hat, and a handfull of other companies?"

Come on, don't be bashful. Name a few more. There's Cisco, Linksys, Intel, Epson, etc., etc.

Seems that there's really only one major company which is too insecure to collaborate. The price of isolation is death.

Anonymous said...

About the cool code, the rah rah speeches and what your customers want. I am your customer, on two levels. First, my "day job" is for a major Enterprise customer, where we are all standardized on Office 2003, Server 2003, Exchange Server, etc. At that level, I have to say that there is at least one happy camper out here. I love your stuff, from Word to OneNote, for getting the work of business done. Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it pretty fine anyway? Yeah. I appreciate the features and flexibility, the hard work you guys put in, and especially the efforts of the "what does Lisa want in the next release" department, which I am certain, from the available evidence, does exist.
On a second level, I am a freelance developer, developing using Office VBA, Access, VB.Net, ASP, ASP.net, FrontPage, and SQL server to satisfy a variety of clients. And again, I am a happy camper. Finally, VB has the same kind of OOP tools as C, and I never did have to learn C!
I don't know how you guys on the front lines of coding or selling are compensated, but if I got a vote, it'd be pretty good. The better you work, the better I work, and I appreciate you all.

Lisa Morgan
lisamorgan@lairhaven.com

«Oldest ‹Older   201 – 256 of 256   Newer› Newest»