Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!
2007.
It certainly sounded like Microsoft leadership committed to us, our customers, our partners, and our shareholders that Vista would be out in 2006.
Slip!
We should have asked for more details around the "or else" part of that commitment.
I was upset at missing the back-to-school market. Now we're missing the holiday sales market. All of those laptops and PCs are going to have XP on it. What percentage will upgrade to Vista? Well, I guess that's the little dream that I need to give up on. Vista's deployment is going to come from people buying CPUs with the OS pre-installed, not dancing down the CompUSA aisle as they clutch that boxed version of Vista to their loving chest. So not only did we miss last year's opportunity, we're missing this year's opportunity, too. With the convergence of high-tech media, this holiday season would have been an explosive nodal point to get Vista out for a compounded effect.
Personally, I've been holding off of buying a laptop and a new mega-big-iron PC until Vista is done. I'm super-excited to get Vista Ultimate on that new PC and be able to hook Media Center up to my Xbox 360. And now I'll wait.
In my afternoon daydream, after Allchin's email went out, I imagined all the L68+ partners from the Windows division gathered together and told, "You are our leadership. When we succeed, it is directly because of how you lead and manage your teams. When we fail, it is directly because of how you lead and manage your teams. We've had enough of failure and we've had enough of you. Drop off your badge on the way out. Your personal belongings will be dropped off at your house. Now get out of my sight."
Sigh. Well, I'd settle for the version: "... When we fail, it is directly because of how you lead and manage your teams. We reward success. We do not reward failure, especially sustained failure that has directly affected this company, its future, and its stock price. You will not receive any incentives this year. You will not receive a bonus. You will not get a raise. You will not be awarded stock."
People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?
Discussions elsewhere:
In the meantime, the discussion of how you'd sell Vista in 30-seconds to a non-techy consumer hasn't come up with much Abbie-understandable reasons other than "cooler games!" Sure, Abbie probably spends a lot of time with solitaire and minesweeper, so that's good. But most of it focuses either on issues so deep and technical that the average consumer is going to shrug and say, "Hell, I don't think I need any of that!" or on issues that make you think that XP is a ticking time-bomb of unstable code ready to explode 1s and 0s over anyone who looks at it wrong. And as for Alpha Geeks and super-users, it sounds like LUA is going to be a daily pain in the patootie.
The good news? Well, we've got plenty of time to conjure up reasons why Vista is going to be better than XP in a way that anyone can understand and agree with. Plus $500 million to spend doing it.
Oy. Oy. Oy.
Updated: added the Channel9 link.
601 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 601 Newer› Newest»ballmer: fired!
allchin: fired!
valentine: fired!
jones: fired!
partners at windows division: fired!
windows does need a clean start. it's a no brainer at this point!
and if the company doesn’t have what it takes to send you out without a job, you should be seriously thinking about leaving your chair to smarter, more motivated people.
we cannot ship our OS. this is not a joke. if we don't take some radical decisions, the company is over.
I think you should add Rob Bennett to the list of people to be fired.
I think you should rob Bennett to that list of people to be fired.
please add the channel 9 discussion of this:
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=174087
(over 1000 views) to your list mini
Only 24 hours to go. Your wish is coming true in many ways....
Bill, get rid of the Windows mafia, or be ready to lose your good employees. This is just unacceptable. It can’t be happening. It can’t be real. This is not Microsoft. I need to see people getting fired. I have to see people being kicked out of the door. I don’t know where the motivation is going to come from, if some justice is not applied.
THEY HAVE TO LEAVE.
Fer cripes sake, just get a Mac already.
The culture isn't accountable. Clamoring for a bunch of people getting fired is a waste of time. It’s OUR fault that this company is a disaster. You know who is responsible for our mess, US. It’s your fault. Take responsibility and stop being a bunch of front line victims. It’s pathetic.
Being a 10+ year vet I feel ashamed and sad. This company is a mess on so many levels.
Most of the technical types I know(and I am talking about people who generally like MS stuff) can't think of a good reason to buy Vista.
Heck, I do 3d graphic design in my spare time, and all I can think about is what a bloated hunk of code I am gonna have to strip down to run my applications at their fastest.
The problem is that after WINFS and a number of other "promised features" were gutted, we honestly can't think of a reason to justify actually spending the money on Vista. XP works, we like it a lot...and we don't see any reason (especially in a corporate environment) to change.
You want to know the truth? To us techie types outside of Microsoft who are in the IT industry...Vista is a joke. Our nickname for it is "Windows Vista Vaporware", or "Longwait".
At this stage, until I see a confirmed release date on Amazon, or I walk into Circuit City and see it on the shelf...Vista is as much Vaporware as Duke Nukem Forever.
Yep, it's time for a shareholder revolt. Vista is the biggest software development failure of all time, outside of the federal government. IBM's office vision was the previous record holder, with $900M spent.
What's the cost of Vista to date? Five, six billion in direct costs, and maybe another hundred in opportunity costs?
MSFT shareholders need to start rolling some heads, starting with the monkey-boy.
Windows Leadership - Where does accountability fit on your review criteria?!
I just submitted my resignation from Microsoft today - not because of this news, it just happened that I found a great opportunity outside of msft and got tired of salary compression and review system.
So now I am speaking just as a shareholder - please change the management in Windows division. Promote some people that are hungry for success and are not 'resting and vesting'!!!!
"January has emerged as almost a second Christmas, with gift cards, sales, etc. It's a new trend,"
Taken from one of the linked articles.
This is just pathetic.
Jones should resign if he has any shame. So should Khaki and every partner PM.
You know, I've pondered for years what MS would do in this situation, when it became clear that the OS was a complete train wreck.
Apple was able to buy NeXT, but MS has killed off all of their viable replacements. OS/2, BeOS, PenPoint? All strangled by MS's anti-competitive (and illegal) tactics.
So, here's the way out: MS should swallow real hard, ante up half of what they blew on Longwind, and buy an OS X license from Apple. That would be about $10B up-front, and a hefty royalty. MS would have to assume the burden of making it run on all the crapbox PCs out there, which have had all the quality squeezed out of them, due to MS's having sucked up the lion's share of the profit from all PCs for the last 20 years or so.
The benefit is that MS could finally ship a securable OS, and the users wouldn't have to lose countless hours trying to work around the malware. Meanwhile, the only semi-competent part of the company, the Mac Business Unit, would take the lead in Apps development.
Ballmer was in New York last week pitching MSFT to Wall Street. He did an interview on CNBC which you can watch here:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=bde48829-fe74-4834-9497-94ee5a4b021d&t=&f=15/64&p=
It's pretty painful anytime you have to watch Ballmer do an interview or give a speech, so save yourself some of the agony and fast forward to about 2:05 into the video. He is asked point blank about Vista being delayed.
The culture isn't accountable. Clamoring for a bunch of people getting fired is a waste of time. It’s OUR fault that this company is a disaster. You know who is responsible for our mess, US. It’s your fault. Take responsibility and stop being a bunch of front line victims. It’s pathetic.
Being a 10+ year vet I feel ashamed and sad. This company is a mess on so many levels.
In the sense that you are supporting management's dysfunction by continuing to work at Microsoft, you are correct; you are partially responsible for the mess.
So, clean it up and quit.
Management certainly is not going anywhere.
Well, whoever you are, Mini, you just proved you don't work in Windows.
If you had spent the last 5 years of your life grinding away to get this thing out the door, you would have realized the only thing worse than slipping the date, would have been to lay a turd in August. Those of us in the trenches (front-line L61 PM here, on a real feature set, not one of those useless COSD bureaucrats) see exactly what bugs are between us and shipping.
And did you actually read the PR piece in detail before spouting off? "with business availability in November 2006 and broad consumer availability in January 2007". This means SPECIFICALLY getting the OS out in time to be able to sell to business before end of the calendar year (which many companies align with the fiscal year) and then January (so that all the post-holiday sales will have Vista loaded on them.
I certainly agree that lots of mistakes were made, all the way up and down the chain. And that Allchin should have booted out the door right at the LH reset. But we'll be living with the Vista codebase for a long, long time. This is the right thing to do for the product. There will be short-term $ pain, short-term stockholder and stock price pain, and if there's any justice, some heads will roll. But in the longer view, 2, 3, 5 years from now... this will have been the right call.
Put it to you this way. At the end of this year, do you want Vista? Or do you want XP SP2 ME? 'Cause it's goddamned impossible to deliver Vista by August... but we sure as heck can give ya XP SP2 ME any time.
People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?
You will see the accountability this August when reviews are handed out to junior employees.
If you think things are bad; wait and see.
Sure, it's embarassing to slip, but seriously, who really cares when you have a monopoly? Instead of the OEM paying $50 or whatever for a copy of Vista for each machine sold, they're paying $50 per copy of XP. Boo hoo.
The problem is that after WINFS and a number of other "promised features" were gutted, we honestly can't think of a reason to justify actually spending the money on Vista. XP works, we like it a lot...and we don't see any reason (especially in a corporate environment) to change.
The migration to Vista will be a passive one, as someone else previously mentioned; appearing on new computers bought by companies.
The same for home users; a lot of people do not know enough to figure out what hardware upgrades they need ; so again, it will appear on new computers.
How fast does hardware turnover in business in the United States? Will business ask that an older version of the operating system be installed when they buy new hardware?
To the L61 PM who posted earlier, you have GOT to be kidding me. We're releasing in November to enterprise customers. Why not to consumers and OEMs (for consumers then)? Because on a 5 year dev cycle someone actually thinks they can make a last minute impact in the last 6-7 weeks pushing into January? That reeks of schedule and PM failure starting at the top all the way down to you...sorry, it just does. If there is something you guys are saving until December, you SUCK. Did you see our stock after the bell? That's YOUR FAULT!!!!! I am dreading to see the shares tomorrow. My only consolation, that the Q1 ESPP purchase will be a little lower. SON OF A BITCH BALLMER, WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE FOR YOU TO RECYCLE YOUR EXECS?????
People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?
You will see the accountability this August when reviews are handed out to junior employees.
If you think things are bad; wait and see.
They do have a lot more applicants than positions but you also hear the complaints that there are few good applicants that they want to hire.
So, punishing junior employees for management's mistakes is another bonehead move on management's part.
One more reason to quit and not waste your life working for those who can't possibly admit they might have something to do with the current problems.
Say there "front-line L61 PM",
It may or may not surprise you to know that there are still people who insist that Apple could have shipped Copland. As an Apple shareholder, I'm very happy that nearly all of them left Apple in a huff by mid-1998, but there are still a few of them in the company. Thank goodness not a one of them will ever be promoted again.
Vista is a disaster. The "reset" you mention is nothing less than a FAILURE to SHIP. What you're working on now isn't Longhorn, it's SP4. Don't kid yourself.
If you want to salvage your career, flee to Office, or better yet, get the heck out of the company before it all collapses.
When we fail, it is directly because of low level employees. We reward success and failure. We do reward failure but only for partners. We hold low level people directly accountable for sustained failure that has directly affected this company, its future, and its stock price. Low level employees will not receive any incentives this year. You will be fired in large numbers once vista ships. Many partners will get golden parachutes.
I dont know what the big deal is here. You get your Vista bits 6 months later, it is not the end of the world like you know.
It is a giant company, and frankly I am impressed that they will deliver despite sloppy management up and down the chain. Oh yeah sloppy, rich and arrogant.
The ship is heavy, hard to steer and will keep going, when it stops it will turn around or may be it will go down, maybe it will be for the better, who knows.
Ballmer cracks me up. The emperor has no undies. Ballmer is incompetent. The interview mentioned previously is terrible. Ballmer has presided over the fall of Microsoft. He sucks. When are internal folks going to stop falling for this mythological aristocracy? He and Bill are just weak men who aren’t in control. They desire power and no longer care about software.
“Best and brightest” my back-side. He has morons on search. The product sucks! Market share is falling daily. Innovation is minimal. The new Live is like giving msn the paddles while the lips are turning blue.
“We are doing a great job innovating.” Bull! You copy and use your monopoly power to leverage others our of markets that they created. A polite way of saying it is that you are a “fast follower.”
Ballmer’s days are numbered.
What's the big deal? IIRC Windows 2000 was 3 years late too.
There has never been a better illustration of the Peter Principle than Steve Ballmer. If he hadn't been a buddy of Bill's, he wouldn't have even made it into management in any Fortune-500 company.
Microsoft is depriving some village of its idiot. Send him home.
The migration to Vista will be a passive one, as someone else previously mentioned; appearing on new computers bought by companies.
The same for home users; a lot of people do not know enough to figure out what hardware upgrades they need ; so again, it will appear on new computers.
Is this what Windows has become? An upgrade no one wants, forced upon them because the new hardware they're buying doesn't support anything less?
Compare this to OS X, where people fall all over themselves trying to get the newest version running on their old hardware because there's actual value in the new features.
So Vista has its guts ripped out, slips, and we wait another 5 years for a potentially insipring version of Windows, meanwhile Apple ships another 3 updates to OS X.
I hope to God Office 12 steps up and kicks some ass.
Ok let's take a look back at the great mgmt decisions in one Windows test org: Not an important group; just appcompat. (It's not like anyone really cares about appcompat - who cares if customers' 3rd party apps (and especially MS apps) really don't work that well on this new fustercluck.
In the last 18 months this org:
1) Cut the number of testers (several times) from approx 50 to now much less than a dozen. Of course, many top performers also left MS entirely because of middle mgmt in this org.
2) Hired more PMs
3) Cut the scope of testing (anyone done any real code coverage testing lately?)
4) Cut the number of promotions in the test orgs - nothing like a little 'de-incentivization' to increase 'bad attrition'
5) Dictate that everything can and should be automated. (Ignore that eyeballs catch more in less time...) way to go Darren. Of course, you were probably lied to by your underlings, so it's not entirely your fault. Uhh, yes it is - you made the call.
6) Hire only a small handful of devs to write automation code. Oh, and don't forget to swamp them with added process and have embittered leads review their code...
7) Hire more PMs
8) Outsource all testing to non-accountable and barely trained CSG firms overseas (Ever try to translate/clarify a bug written not by a tester, but by their lead based on notes? )
9) Limit the number of heads the abovementioned overseas firms can use. > Fewer testers, less experienced, with little training, a much (ahem) 'slower' approach to testing.
Results: Client appcompat % hovering at <40% (GASP - INTERNAL INFO... better moderate this one out!!!!)
Here's an anomaly for PM's to 'splain away. If automation is such a great tool, why is it not finding more bugs than a small handful of testers in a lab on the other side of the planet?
Mgmt Response:
(CRICKETS chirping)
Prediction:
In an amazingly fortuitous time frame (say, just before some upper mgmt BOTL really is), a new and more insightful way of looking at the raw numbers will reveal that the appcompat % is actually >75%. No, wait, did I say 75? I meant 85. At RTM it will be 95.6, or whatever other arbitrary happy-happy number they came up with like last time. In reality, last go-around, the appcompat % was quite high, despite the PM lies, just not as high as they claimed.
What? You're going to dispute the numbers that some lower functionaries spun up through the labyrinthine PM food chain? At each 'filter' point one gets to improve his own rep by making his ownership area look better. What's a few % points between bureaucrats?
While I'm in rant mode, why exactly IS MCE so bad? Didn't anyone test this puppy before kicking it out the door and having another PM party?
A brand new Dell with full OEM installed load and almost nothing works in the expected 'just plug it in Dad and it works'.
Sure is great he has a son who works at MS. Oh, no he doesn't. His son left.
Vista - I wouldn't buy it with someone else's money. Then again What do I know, I've only been testing the dog for the last 2-3 yrs...
My bet: No one over level 68 gets fired. Allchin leaves at the end of the year as expected. Jawad continues to be the poster child for why there's no accountability in management. BrianV may or may not leave. I hope to dog I'm wrong and Kevin cleans house, but I'm not holding my breath.
The slip is a good thing for product quality, because although mr. level 61 PM strikes me as a jerk, he's right in that you can always get ME, but you can't always get XP or Server 2k3. Even with this slip of the launch dates (notice the RTM date isn't mentioned?) Vista is coming in hot and it remains to be seen if they can get things shaped up fast enough.
On the "Why should I buy Vista?" topic, those EXACT same arguments were made against XP back in 2001. Nobody gave a shit that it had memory protection, real pre-emptive multitasking, NTFS, etc. etc. Yes, in hindsight it's SOOOOO much better than WinME or Win98 that the purchase is a no brainer, but back then it was a hard sell to most people. In a stunning (NOT) display of incompetence, the management of Windows marketing was more worried about leaks of the UI (which "everyone" hated) than they were about explaining the benefits and value of the product.
Folks, the only difference between Vista and prior releases (back to at least NT4/Windows 2000) is the size of the fuck up. It's been business as usual with resets, lack of planning, disdain for project management techniques used outside MS, and deathmarches throughout. The only thing that will REALLY cause lasting change is a significant (>10%) in the market share of Windows. A down quarter or two would do more to affect real change than all the EE in the world.
On the internecine warfare topic, all three disciplines are important and necessary to deliver complex software products. Calling each other idiots doesn't solve anything, and doesn't ship anything either. Fix it, stop bitching about it.
God, we look like DEC more and more every day.
Dance monkey boy!
Want to see Vista ship?
Get rid of 90% of the Process that goes between writing the code and getting it checked in.
Get rid of the developer-hosted test boxes, get rid of prefast and quality gates, get rid of the process that has people working at 3AM on Sunday morning NOT to fix bugs, NOT to write features, NOT to make the product more stable, but only to move marbles from one coffee can to another coffee can... er, uh, I mean, for FIs and RIs.
Because that's where all the time is going, and that's why people working on Vista are closing their doors and literally weeping in frustration at their desks.
Get rid of 90% of the Process that goes between writing the code and getting it checked in
amen.
Actually, I think delaying it more is good. There's nothing more shitty for a dev to check in poorly tested code to meet some arbitrary date.
Productivity hampering processes that suck life out of everyone in Windows and ultra-bad planning are another thing entirely. Heads should roll for those.
But as a dev, I would really appreciate if our management here had balls to push the schedule out by a week or two so that I have time to at least integrate with other pieces properly without locking myself up in the office and working 16 hour days towards the end of the milestone.
We could and should have shipped sooner with 20% of the current feature set. Seriously, what makes people think that anyone cares about all of these other features beyond the bullet points that will sell the product.
This slippage is flat out appalling. It’s only March and these weasels are pushing back. Next, it’ll be the fabled Q1!
Frankly, I’d like to hear a lot less of the “innovating” buzzword being bandied about and a lot more of the word “delivering.” Yes, we will deliver on what we say. Yes, we will deliver on our commitments. This is outrageous!
"We could and should have shipped sooner with 20% of the current feature set. Seriously, what makes people think that anyone cares about all of these other features beyond the bullet points that will sell the product"
EXACTLY... It's about time we face the fact that the OS is nothing more than a hosting platform for REAL apps. Just like IE is for cool websites. We don't need apps on there done by us...calc and notepad are it. Let someone else "skin" Windows, let someone else write the stupid solitaire and let's do the security, kernel and move on. You honestly think anyone sits there wondering at the marvel that is Windows Explorer? No, they go in long enough to open an app or a file. Who gives a f--k what the folders look like, stop pretending that is important and requires a date slip.
Oh, and how about we mitigate our plummeting stock price tomorrow with some VERY PUBLIC firings of some execs to show that the market cap our partners are losing MATTERS TO US....This slip and lack of accountability is a clear violation of the company values.
Is there a hidden meaning from the fact that KevinJo sends out a division-wide mail in Comic Sans font?
I just heard that the slip will be blamed on WTT?
Dictate that everything can and should be automated. (Ignore that eyeballs catch more in less time...) way to go Darren.
Be fair, now. Darren HAS built a successful career for himself and some other folks in the TLT with the Save The World With Automation campaign. (And we are told that its our responsibility to advance oue own careers). Just don't sneak up behind him and yell "THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!!" - he doesn't find it funny.
Interesting news, IF true.
"The delay comes as Microsoft this week is expected to name Steve Sinofsky, a senior vice president, as head of the division that oversees Windows, according to people familiar with the matter."
Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114298146031604537-lMyQjAxMDE2NDIyMjkyODIxWj.html
What is with Kevin Johnson's mail? Does anyone know what is the speculation about personnel that he was referring to? Thanks.
Why all the shock and righteous indignation? Anyone who thought it would ship earlier was just kidding themselves. I even wonder about the end of the year. Is 6 months of widespread beta really enough for a new system?
Sinofsky coming in. I don't know. I thought Valentine was going to shake things up five years ago when he came in, but Moshe was the only one to go. All the rest - especially Jawad (hello all you Jawad fans) - stayed put. And Longhorn is an even bigger fustercluck than Whistler.
If Allchin is this cycle's Moshe, and the rest of the *cough*cough* Windows leadership remains, Sinofsky will fail too.
My barometer will be whether 10 or 15 VPs and GMs are somewhere else by Memorial Day.
I aint counting on it, but it makes a purdy picture.
Everyone in Microsoft should be keenly aware now that all of the security consulting groups are going to be scrutinizing vista with a fine toothed comb to find the first security bugs as soon as possible. I am sure they are already scrutinizing the betas.
Any bets on how long it will take for the first announcement?
Weeks?
Days?
Hours?
Each one of these says "Microsoft claimed that this was the most secure version of Windows, but it still sucks."
Jim Alchin, Brian Valentine, Partners in Windows, please show the world that you trust Vista's security...put your social security number, personal bank account numbers, and personal credit card numbers a on a Vista machine configured by Dell with a publically accessible and un-firewalled IP address and announce that IP address to the world.
Anyone with brains doesn't trust you anymore. Show us. The world isn't drinking your kool-aid.
I have been reading this blog for the past few months and I must say that I really appreciate its existance mainly because I know that there are other employees who feel the same frustration that I do.
My comments will echo those of other people but for the record, I have been at MSFT for almost 8 years and have played lots of roles, tester, dev, PM and my observations are as follows:
Things in the late 90's were much more entrepreneurial, people really seemed to love their jobs and if you went out of your way to develop a new test harness or enhance a feature it wasn't frowned upon. People also willingly helped out other groups when in need. At that time I was in Windows and I can remember BrianV standing up to give his weekly world news report with the nice buffet of food on Friday afternoons. Ahh those were the days.. Fast forward to 2006 and things in my world are completely different. Speaking of morale, my old manager left our group and we all had to pay our own way for a goodbye lunch because there was no morale budget (there was just 6 of us). It almost feels like the cement of bureaucracy has set in at all levels. Its unbelievable how much of a pain in the butt it is to get anything done. If you need a bug fixed and its in you team you usually have a small fight to put up, but God help you if that bug is in another team and you are dependant on the fix. Forget about usability, or doing whats best for the user experience, its all about doing less work and managing perception to the upper brass. Thank you for letting me vent.
In regards to the Vista issue, if the upper management is changed, they will not be fired rather they will be "reassigned" take a look at Gord Magione (I think that was his name) of SQL Server, that product took 5 years to ship and did they fire him? Hell no, he "took on a different challenge", once you are a 67+ you are part of the good old boys network.
In closing I must the say, the best thing about MSFT as an employee is its health benefit. I know the time will come when they will hack this away as well and when they do I really have no other incentive to hang around. I want to leave you with a comment by my professor in one of my MBA classes, "Everytime a company changes its benefits plan, it is almost always a detriment to the employee" Think about this the next time you read the subject line, "Benefits Change" in your inbox.
I really hope MSFT turns itself around, I hope for the best but realize that I have absolutely lost faith in all the levels of upper management. This Vista issue is just icing on the cake.
I don't know if this is a disaster in the long view -- it's not like all those companies are going to switch to Linux in those few weeks or something -- but from a PR POV, this is going to be as bad as it can get short of canceling Vista altogether. I took part in a computer trade show early this month in Germany, and Microsoft was showing Vista, and the Microsoft fans were saying it looks like OS X (Apple wasn't there). Apple is on a roll, and we've just given them enough time to get the next version of OS X out the door (whatever animal name it is going to be). And we can guess right now what their marketing push will be: Stop waiting for those guys who can't even copy our old stuff in time. Get the original from us -- we ship on time, we're shipping right now.
The PR is going to be really, really bad. And it's going to stay with Microsoft for quite a long time. The only good news I have is that Office is really looking like a rear-kicker. But then, Office runs on OS X, too. That doesn't really help.
I agree that some head should roll for this. Amazing that the shareholders have kept still this long anyway.
It’s not that easy to judge things from Europe, but it seems to me that something has went totally wrong in Redmond over past 5-6 years. MS is a big company and its getting ever bigger. Computer and software industry have to be quick and adaptable otherwise the inner bureaucratic mechanism will destroy the machine from inside. The managers are sitting in their ebony towers and deny the fact that there is a problem. That SteveB interview was nonsense, there were a lot of words, but no content (as usual with him I think). There is no innovation. Period. There is a process drived desperate attempts to ship something. The focus lies on process itself, because management (from low- to upper level) does not produce anything, simply put: the cannot code. There’s no focus on customers, that’s plain and simple, And they are holding onto their seats, we all have mortgages etc, so that’s understandable. Interesting, MS has almost the same top management as in 2000. Am I wrong? That self defending bunch of incompetent guys must go. Especially that SteveB boy. Its funny, all this reminds me Apple before Steve Jobs rejoined the company. And the Apple’s Copland story. Vista is somewhat similar to Copland. There is hardly anything new under the Sun …
This is simply another example that the top-down "quality" process put into place during Vista development was a hideous mistake.
Quality has gone down, not up, since the emphasis was changed from individual developer accountability to heavy-handed process initatives that allow little time for real work on improving quality.
It doesn't help that many test teams were decimated by an ill-considered "automation uber alles" ideology, either.
It's sad - BrianV was a hero of mine for good reason after he took over Windows development, but somehow after XP he let it all slip away...
To those who are wanting to "vent" - If you guys are so frustrated with the situation at Microsoft, why don't you get the hell out and get a real job somewhere else. That company needs people who will survive the "tough times". And tought times are times any organization goes through. Be the rats to jump off the ship, except that ship ain't sinking, because it's too big.
You guys had me worried about the slip for a minute or two. Just checked by spreadsheet and things are looking good!
All us partners were awarded our humungous SPSA grants 8/2003. They vest this August. For some reason I thought they were going to vest a little later, closer to the november original date.
For me, I collect 68,000 shares on 8/29 so I hope the slip hype blows over quickly. I'll take my $1.8m this August, then get pumped and help push this bad boy out the door!
November would have been pushing it for me anyway cause my house in tuscany is supposed to be done late october and we were planning on spending a month there once its ready.
-a distinguished partner
p.s. - go ask your vp if you think I am being a bs/troll. this is real. the spsa program is huge awards tied to company performance, BUT does anyone honestly think that bill/steve have the balls to say that since our performance has been shit that the multiplier is 0? See ya in tuscany!
I sometimes think the company wants the stock to stay flat. Whenever it looks like it's on the way up, they announce something that'll bring it down. The company has more to lose if it goes up - more will cash out, retire and leave. Really, what is the few weeks going to buy, and what does MS have to lose? So it slips a few weeks, big deal the money still comes in. As someone else posted, tf it's ready for business then why not the consumer? Maybe there's a bigger slip coming and pushing it to January will ease things just enough to keep the stock flat. BTW, we did just reach that first underwater stock grant period didn't we? All those options expired. When enough of them expire and MS feels safe with new blood unable to retire off of the new awards, I bet the price will go up. Think about it. Comp and awards are low because MS doesn't want it's key talent retiring on them when things turn for the upside. They lost a LOT of key talent because of this in the past. I heard Ballmer stated that giving out options was one of the worst things they did.
I wonder how many employees at PC hardware companies are wishing they had some way to call up Apple and license OS X for Intel. They could have 10.4 "Tiger" on PC hardware in a matter of weeks.
Sure, it's no drop-in XP replacement, but at what point do you ask "huh, maybe it would be nice if there was actually OS competition in the marketplace again".
Anyone else remember the first IBM PC's and the choice of three OS's to run on them? I do.
After three weeks of 9-to-9 plus an occasional weekend, today I've been informed it was too late for me to catch the would-be-last RI for B2. It was gut-wrenching, unbelievably frustrating and I felt dejected.
Not an hour later, Brian V sent his email and I found out there would be slippage and more RIs.
You know what? That felt right. It's just not ready - just as my stuff isn't ready, shell isn't ready, the drivers, the perf.. The screw up did not occur now, not one year ago but way before that. Making Xmas with what we have now would be disastruous, moreso than being late. If you're late, you miss a few hundred millions in sales - maybe. If the crap that I self-host now, which blinks my screen with such ferocity that my head aches, can't find audio/nic drivers, loses windows messages and sends emails without me wanting to - if this would ship, it would cost a lot more to fix, besides showing the world we're incompetent.
We can get it right, and believe you me the management team isn't as casual on the inside as they appear to be in the press.
Why, you ask, wasn't my stuff ready on time? Because everybody works the same way, only intensifying their efforts around milestones. Tests weren't run, bugs were laying dormant, people were allocated to side, pet projects and vendors only pay attention to pri 0 bugs older than 2 weeks (if not longer). It all shows up now, and it's all important. Yes, it's my fault for not screaming earlier, but there must be at least two of us, 'cause I didn't write Vista by me onesy. It's also the manager's fault, for he didn't take steps to streamline my work. It's his manager's fault, too, 'cause he didn't infer from the greater picture that things are not moving progressively. See where I'm going? It's all of us, and the higher the rung we're clinging to, the greater the responsibility.
Punt bugs to Wien, punt to RC1 but at some point you're punting stuff that needs to be fixed. So the delay was necessary.
Firing a number of people now won't do the least bit of good. As far as I see, everyone is serious, concerned and focused. They might have made mistakes in the past, but now we don't have time for this. Now we fix the crap, ship it and only then behead those who slept on the job. A massive re-org would create even more unease in the audience (press, schmanalysts), would introduce more distractions in the ranks and is downright risky. Where do you find the "good" leader? He might come with different ideas, processes, he might have a hidden agenda or he might be just as (or more) incompetent than those before him. We know what we have to do, and we're pretty much in fire drill mode now - we don't need new management to tell us that. What we need is time, and unfortunately for our reputation, we got it today.
When Vista is done, by all means, find those behind alphaLH and fire them in the worst way possible. Publicly ridicule them. Never mention whatever good they've done in the past, it's all negated by their ulterior screw-ups. Regardless of how rich they might be, they'll still have to look in the mirror and see a persona non grata for the rest of their lives. Can't see more appropriate punishment.
My naive wish is that we don't let up the rhythm, now that we've got an extension. I hope we get angry, finish the job and beat the new RTM date. That'll be a first and who knows, maybe one of the haters will say "not bad, MS.." Doesn't that motivate you?
Boy, this is pretty bad news. I wonder how big (if any) the shake-up will be, but bottom line is, nobody wins. The stock was looking good, at over $28, the Xbox 360 news were positive, we just got some good word from Rick Sherlund, and then BAM! Vista delayed again.
Oh well, I guess once the stock goes to about $25, I can get some more ESPP shares at the end of March. :\
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114298146031604537-RGHR7E3hLWieTP504Xy25cZLJ0U_20060421.html?mod=tff_article
hi there, nice blog. Today's announcement is of course no surprise to anyone inside MS. The only surprise is that it was such a short delay announced.
Basically we do not believe Vista will make January 2007 or even March 2007. Anyone with any access knows what a frankenstein's monster NT is on the inside. At some point there is a law of diminishing returns trying to do anything to it at all, it seems like that limit is being reached today. The release is pushed back because of bugs but fixing those bugs will create more bugs. It is just godawful to be honest. And the process gets in the way at every step.
At some point we will have to do something and i know at least some in my team privately agree with me. We will have to throw out everything and start again. This is what Apple did with OSX, and sure it was painful, but it worked and now they're kicking our asses. We should have done that in 2000. Now it is even more obvious we should do it. Start again and just run a compatibility layer on top. Apple did it with classic why can't we???
IF we manage to ship vista at ALL then it is a miracle and the absolute last rev we can possible do working like this. It is insane the manhours wasted rearranging a house of cards. We need to START AGAIN PEOPLE.
After vista if we don't do this i am outta here. For every step forward there is a step back. After 5 years who can be proud of the actual distance forward they have come??
I didn't sign up for this BS. And you know the rumors that apple has a full DBFS for 10.5. I want to be working on that, i need to feel like i'm creating something good, not fighting 10 years old cruft every step of the way. I know i am not the only person who feels this way!!
And BTW mini PLEASE enable https on your comments page. You would have to be nuts to post here from inside the network via plain http. Anyone else wants to do it, do what i do, email the comment (encrypted) to a friend and get him to post it. Anyone who thinks SMG doesn't have a filter looking at anything to or from minimsft is kidding themselves.
OH and "PM61" give me a break. No-one is personally criticising you or saying you are a bad person. I don't hate my colleagues and we are all in the same boat. It is easy to lose sight of the big picture after 5 years but just try to zoom out and look at the outcome, no-one should be proud of this. Just imagine what we all could have done if we were truly free to code our hearts out and create the next generation. Just imagine what you would have achieved in five years working for Apple. I don't hate MS but everything is so tangled up now. We need to change because eventually we will be so tangled up we can't do anything at all, and that's the end of that. I honestly do not believe we can ship another OS in this way. Either we do an OSX or Vista is the end of the line, YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!!!
it's the media center and digital media teams fault for the slip
just askt them why ....further why they could not ship the "crap" causing the delay OOB..
thanks JoeB
Here's a freebie from a former softie about reasons for schedule delays:
What I saw in MS was PM's pushing hard for features:
* even if it meant that the test combinations would be very large, so the product couldn't not be tested properly.
* even if it couldn't be done properly in the time allocated. After all an estimate of time was made, now all of those features mus go in the product evne if things are taking longer than expected.
* even if the product was falling apart at the seems b/c every other pm was doing the same thing.
In fact, people often played schedule chicken. It didn't matter if you were running late by the metric of the day as long as another group was running later. (Apply this to any metric at almost any level. For example: metric = bugs, group = single dev, or dev lead with a few reports, or dev mgr or GM comparing against other dev mgrs or GM).
There is lip service to work/life balance in teams, but it is quickly counter acted with how we need to push harder and how we need to do more (get features done faster, fix more bugs, etc. than before).
Dev leads with easier areas would look good as their dev could fix bug more quickly and then bargain to make their devs look good at review tiem by graciously taking on other simple bugs from more loaded groups. It was always begruding and always made to seem like this huge thing -- no team spirit or comradery.
When I hear the folks above talk about buckling down and working hard, they sound like suckers. In a few months (maybe even 8 months), they will look back and realize that they got hoodwinked. Why? Well, what did it accomplish. At best, they got promoted and got 10K more/year. Not that much considering the many 80 (or more) hr weeks that they put in. Not that much considering the fellow down the hall who managed to isolate himself better and still within a few percent on all awards and who still gets to revel in shipping the product. Not that much considering the vp's and partners who got huger stock awards for getting for poor person to work so hard for so little, dangling some small carrot in front of them. So sad. So true.
Now get back to work. Vista and Office have to ship asap. I sitll have some msft stock that I would like to make some profit on one day.
If you want to get some insight into Sinofsky, just read his blog (google for tech talk), to let his record speak for him. Don't bother leaving a comment there that refers to this blog. It won't be left there. He will not allow any comments that somehow refer to this blog -- even comments that refer to blogs which refer to this blog! He blames it on the anonymous nature of the blog (google "ad hominem").
What's the difference between OS X and Vista?
Microsoft employees are excited about OS X...
I hope to God Office 12 steps up and kicks some ass.
Office 12 adoption is also more likely to happen when hardware turns over.
Microsoft looks to partners to force Office upgrades
While Microsoft claims 600 million Office users analysts estimate 30% are still running Office 1997, having skipped Office 2000 and Office XP.
The prime reason is Office 97 is "good enough" for these users' needs.
That's a worrying fact for Microsoft which is now working on the successor to Office 2003, codenamed Office 12, which is due in the second half of 2006.
Management Update: Enterprisewide Open-Source Office Adoption Will Be Difficult
But with Office 2000 supported by Microsoft into 2009, most companies don't need to be in a hurry to migrate to anything, if their primary goal is to remain in a supported state.
Put Scott Guthrie in charge, he's the only one who consistantly ships great stufff (ASP, now Atlas) ahead of time and with features ahead of the competition
I want to leave you with a comment by my professor in one of my MBA classes, "Everytime a company changes its benefits plan, it is almost always a detriment to the employee" Think about this the next time you read the subject line, "Benefits Change" in your inbox.
Watch Office Space again. The staplers were some of the first office supplies to disappear.
Why don't you go to http://research.microsoft.com/users/amitabhs/ and see what he has accomplished relative to these other VPs?
There are a lot of accomplished people at Microsoft.
Personality cults and fads occur more frequently in homogeneous populations.
Calculated attempts to start one in a heterogenous population fall on deaf ears for the most part.
For your particular kind of manipulation, I suggest looking at the traits of the key decision makers at Microsoft and adjusting your marketing plan accordingly.
However, anyone who has worked at Microsoft for any length of time can spot these transparent attempts at marketing someone. Frankly, it is boring.
Example Marketing Plan
Japan is a high-context culture with relatively homogeneous population, compared to the United States which is a low-context, heterogeneous culture. Pepcid AC has proven to be successful in the United States. Takada and Jain's research suggests that the product's diffusion processes are likely to be much faster in Japan based on a homogeneous population, culture, and communication patterns.
p.s. - go ask your vp if you think I am being a bs/troll. this is real. the spsa program is huge awards tied to company performance, BUT does anyone honestly think that bill/steve have the balls to say that since our performance has been shit that the multiplier is 0? See ya in tuscany!
Visit the Island of Giglio while you are there.
'Giglio' is from the greek 'Aegilion' (goat).
It too has a history of being infested with pirates.
Someone mentioned in a previous post that, despite "stock buybacks", the actual number of Microsoft shares has not really decreased by much. The proceeds are mostly going to executive compensation.
Make that Windows(tm) Yonder(tm).
And did you actually read the PR piece in detail before spouting off? "with business availability in November 2006 and broad consumer availability in January 2007". This means SPECIFICALLY getting the OS out in time to be able to sell to business before end of the calendar year (which many companies align with the fiscal year) ...
As a software purchaser in a Fortune 50 compnay, no way in hell are we putting Vista on ANY worker's desktop if it isn't good enough for consumer use. They know that no business is going to buy more than evaluation copies.
This is a ghost launch.
What's the difference between OS X and Vista?
Microsoft employees are excited about OS X...
HA! I love this...I know its how I feel.
After reading all this, what can an IC do? Where's that employee survey when we need it?
At what point can people "on the ground" communicate the fact that Microsoft is losing it? We should be focusing on getting our products out to education systems, emerging markets (ASPAC), and working together nicely with other software systems.
The bet on our customers running a be homogenous software environment implies it has to be all Microsoft. Wake up! People want choice, and as consumers and companies mature and understand how/why the internet works, they'll find out loosely coupled heterogenous systems have way more advantages than a monolithic top-to-bottom, one vendor solution.
That will be a painful day at Microsoft. (Almost as painful as the next slip announcement for Vista.)
Question: If there is enough of a "security and quality" issue with VISTA to delay it, will delaying a few weeks really solve things? And can I ask, will it be renamed so that Ballmer can claim the MS OS was not delayed?
On a side note, i just saw an article where BillyG was mocking MIT and others in trying to build a $100 laptop for the developing worlds. Should he really be doing that ? My question to everyone what is more comical, MIT building a $100 laptop or Microsoft doing the same thing, call it Origami and charging over $500 for it. Yes, BillyG can laugh about MIT's laptop but at least it will work and not crash, can he really say the same thing about Origami ?
It is funny how in the last few week MS execs have been going around promoting and saying that exciting things will be coming out of MS soon, but knowing full well that your MAJOR and MOST IMPORTANT release will be pushed back.
Another Question: How come no one is being fired ? Do you think this would happen at Apple ? MS has been constantly promising new features, new releases, new improvements, new ship dates but has not delivered on any of it. Will features in VISTA (insert new name of OS when SteveB renames it so he can claim it shipped on time) be scaled back again to meet the JAN 2007 release? Releasing it in VERY late 2006 was pretty bad, but another delay come on.
This will fix everything...
From the WSJ..
---------------------
Tapping Mr. Sinofsky, 40 years old, adds an executive from Microsoft's Office group to the Windows division. Mr. Sinofsky, who joined Microsoft in 1989 and served as a technical assistant to Chairman Bill Gates, has earned a reputation in his current role as head of the Office product group as a no-nonsense manager willing to push back against engineers, according to people familiar with the executive.
--------------------
Those darn engineers are the cause of all these problems.
This is so sad since its been so obvious since last spring. No one here wants to see reality any more.
VISTA is secure, it's new, it's improved, it has more features, it's innovative.... blah, blah, blah.
All you need to know and all people know is that: IT IS LATE AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN
50+ million lines of code: Goodness, are you guys building an OS or preparing to setup shop on MARS
Here is some food for thought: Adobe Photoshop CS2 is considered by many to be the most complex application ever written. The user permutations are infinite and deep.
How is it that Adobe can ship this product, fully tested, to a wide user base of extremely technical and demanding people who, in many cases, base their very careers on the application ON TIME AND SOLID?
My point is that it can be done, just not by Microsoft. Shipping very complex software is possible.
And for those of you who will respond that Vista is WAY more complex than Photoshop, you have clearly never used the product.
As a lowly "in front of customers all day" sales rep, I just have to say this is a huge, huge, huge embarrassment and disappointment.
What will happen is that our customers will (quite reasonably imho)delay renewing agreements based on this and we as the sales force will get slapped (and worse) for missing our numbers. Ballmer will do the slapping.
To the guy who posted about Photoshop being more complex...
The real miracle is that Adobe can actually get it to work on XP. Now that is a marvel in itself.
It too has a history of being infested with pirates.
You are implying that I am a pirate? i worked my ass off at Microsoft making it BILLIONS along the way. I am being paid fairly for my work and intend to enjoy it.
Whats sad is that those who have followed in my footsteps can't seem to stomach the hard work of developing an operating system. What a bunch of cry babies!
Vista is late mainly because you devs, that think you walk on water can't seem to produce quality functional code any more. Pathetic!
Yes, I am going to italy this fall, and while I am there will decide what I am going to do with the rest of my life. I honestly am not sure if I want to come back to Microsoft and be surrounded by a whining bunch of pathetic coders like you. Hard to say.
I was hoping to bring a Vista tablet, and use media center to power my 60" runco plasma, but for the first time in my career, I am seriously contemplating powering my life and home with Apple products. I don't see their engineers crying about how hard it is to keep their strings in the allocated buffer, or how hard it is making a system that looks nice and can run a laptop for more than 90min. They just buckle down and execute!
To the guy who posted about Photoshop being more complex...
The real miracle is that Adobe can actually get it to work on XP. Now that is a marvel in itself.
Yeah really. If willyg were running things, he would have claimed that to move the system forward you would need to first invent:
- a new file system (winfs)
- a new rendering platform (avalon)
- port to a new oo runtime (.net)
Wonder how they managed to get a complicated app running without first inventing this key infrastructure for this monumental release?
Bill is a geek infatuated with cool sounding technology. He thinks he is an engineer/architect, but has not touched a debugger or text editor in decades. What kind of company promotes someone so out of touch with reality into a role as their "Chief Software Architect"?
I expect an architect to be able to code, debug, build, solve problems not just blow hot air and pontificate on technical strategey.
Bill is the one that f***ed this release. He set the original high level direction wasting man years of effort. It is because of him that we have had to dig out, and even in digging out he is f***ing the system. He is "Chief Figurehead" and should accept this role. He should stay far away from architecture and technical strategey.
I am in 100% agreement that Microsoft needs new management, clear down to the product team leadership level.
This continuing slippage and lengthy product update lifecycles just opens the door to other companies to sell their products to the enterprise.
I've already been blogging on this subject for quite some time.
Just as one example, it has taken FIVE YEARS to "update" Internet Explorer. Look at the number of incremental upgrades Opera has done over the same period. You could even throw Foxfire into the mix.
Microsoft needs quality, innovation and the ability to rapidly respond to the market.
These long product cycles and now the slippage of Windows Vista hurt everyone.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 is considered by many to be the most complex application ever written.
Perhaps by the ignorant but no one else.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 is considered by many to be the most complex application ever written.
Perhaps by the ignorant but no one else.
You must be a democrat.
Care to enlighten us? Ignorant of what?
Just saw this comment on scoble's blog
Steveb said that he is planning to jump on sony’s ps3 slip and try to pump xbox 360.
I wonder what the other steve is planning? How about this, mobilize his forces to make sure that dell, hp, etc. can run OSX on their PC’s in time for back-to-school 2006? Why not. Apple has already done most of the hard work, AND all the PC vendors are having to adjust their componetry a little to account for Vista demands. Why not align with Apple on 20% of their lines? This will wake up Microsoft, and Apples stock will double on the rumor alone.