Microsoft Layoff 2009 Completes Last Milestone and Ships!
With today's 800 Microsoft layoffs, Microsoft Layoff 2009 has reached its final milestone and shipped, exceeded expectations of 5,000 with 5,800 reduced positions.
Err... yay?
Last week during the Town Hall Mr. Ballmer confirmed there would be one more iteration on the layoffs. And after that? Who knows. More to come? Maybe. Booga booga!
You know, we have people working for Microsoft (or, at least did, I don't know, maybe no longer) responsible for driving executive leadership education and growth at Microsoft. This is their friggin' job. Develop Microsoft Leadership at the executive and L68+ levels. So, has anyone hemmed and hawed in-front of Mr. Ballmer and mentioned that this nickel and diming layoff approach is at the worst case end of the layoff management scale?
The looming threat of continuing RIFs and layoffs indicates that Microsoft is just too big for its leadership. It is beyond their capabilities to wrap their minds around everything Microsoft is doing. It has gotten away from them. What needs to go? Hell, I don't know even what all these people do, and you want to decide who stays and goes?
Yes.
Cut deep. Cut once. Get on with it and say, "We're done. We have aligned our company to be efficient and effective within this new global economic climate and are ready to focus on returning to profits and market share growth."
Done.
Coverage I've noticed today on the outside:
- Mr. Brier Dudley's blog Microsoft cuts 800 more jobs, including 200 in Puget Sound Seattle Times Newspaper
- Mr. Joe Wilcox: Is there any sense to Microsoft's 800 layoffs Betanews and Former Microsofties, Can I Tell Your Story « Oddly Together
- Mr. Nick Eaton Microsoft laying off 800 more
- Ms. Mary Jo Foley Are the Microsoft layoffs over now All about Microsoft ZDNet.com
- Mr. Joseph Tartakoff Microsoft Cuts 800 More Positions paidContent
On Don Dodge:
- Mr. Michael Arrington: Microsoft Loses Don Dodge. This Is A Huge Mistake
- Nick Eaton Startup guru Don Dodge among Microsoft layoffs
- John Cook Startup guru Don Dodge among those let go in Microsoft cuts
And, bummers for me given that she interviewed me for Microspotting, Ms. Ariel Stallings tweet about being caught up in this layoff round.
Coverage from the inside? No email. Quiet. Quite dysfunctional. There was something linked off of the MSW site and it also had a FAQ document that had to be one of the worse FAQs I've ever read. There is an "A" portion to an FAQ and in this case some of the questions were great but the answers looked like they were generated from some sort of English obfuscation Perl script 3rd place prize winner.
So, I'm going through about sixty comments now on the older post. I think it was necessary for Microsoft to have layoffs due to the mismanaged growth and lack of focus and direction our Senior Leadership Team has given us. But it should have been twice as much, done all at once. Now we dither.
Were you affected by the layoff or know someone who was? I'd be interested in knowing which groups and organizations are affected.
911 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 801 – 911 of 911Did anyone notice- Bill Veghte is gone.. No announcement - all very quite... when will Ron Markezich leave- so we can actually get on with the business of engineering service versus spinning stories
Going to Google -- enough is enough of this crap.
Bill Veghte exits stage left. And SteveB, up to his usual oratorical standards states "Bill has indicated a desire to run a business in a more end-to-end fashion and continue to explore new areas in the broad technology, communications and services sectors"
Well at least he is not leaving to spend more time with his family, and the dreaded cliche "mixed emotions" was happily absent.
Translation: much like Chris Liddell, Jeff Raikes, Kevin Johnson, and others, SteveB's stubborn insistence in staying on means no-one's moving up. Certainly not BillV. I am personally waiting for Steve, like Caligula, to promote his horse to the Board. Which would be a welcome change given the number of asses there today.
I don't understand all this Office Labs bashing. It is a special lab. They provide artistic visions. They provide alternative experiences. They think different.
Re: VLSC. No big surprises there. The new release deadline and budget took priority over the quality bar needed to meet the needs of the business. This has always been a common problem in MSIT but made massively worse now that slash and burn cost cutting is rewarded. Resources aren't there to test adequately and anyone who even thinks about sticking their neck out to prevent disasters quickly finds themselves labeled as not "being on board". In an org where who you know trumps what you get done, that's the equivalent of a career death sentence.
Users of internal apps know this problem all too well. It just happens to be that VLSC got press coverage. The problem is chronic. Just audit the availability data.
KT needs to drill down a bit here and double check the "facts" he's being fed in his IT business reviews. It's all a smokescreen to paint a picture quite different than reality. Data doesn't lie but the people putting in front of execs do.
For anyone who hasn't actually read "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" (describing Ballmer's irrational leadership style back in 1985..
"Ballmer's modus operandi for dealing with technical issues was to pound on the developers until they caved to his own unrealistic expectations of what the ship date should be. This, on top of the fact that engineers are overly optimistic by nature, was a prescription for disaster."
it continues after he fires the technical manager and takes over Windows development himself ...
In addition to being a technical boomer in the woods, Ballmer was rarely around. A businessman, not a developer, he was always off talking to companies like IBM, and yet he insisted on being involved in every decision.
"Nobody makes any decisions without checking with me first" Ballmer told the group. "If you're going to change the interfaces or anything for that matter, you have to talk to me in order to get them approved. We'll improve communications that way."
On a good week, Ballmer might be in his office one day, maybe two. The rest of the time he was on the road selling.
...
"To a few people, Ballmer said no just to prove he was top dog. But that was not the only way he would strive to mark his territory. On Easter Sunday, 1985, Ballmer called a meeting.
"The energy was up, everyone was committed, it was great", Ballmer fondly recalled. He seemed to regard it as one of the highlights of his career. Eller and the others would remember it a bit differently.
"Be there, nine A.M." Ballmer ordered. And he didn't mean just the managers, he summoned the whole group.
"But that's Easter Sunday" Eller said. "Some folks might want to go to church."
"Too bad" Ballmer said, "We have to have a status meeting."
Ballmer made it painfully clear that the only purpose of the status meeting was to see who was committed to the project and who wasn't. He also let it be known that he'd be taking down the names of those who showed up for this strange little ecumenical service and those who didn't.
On Easter morning, roughly twenty-five people dragged their butts into the conference room. They weren't happy as they sat down with Ballmer to go over the features list.
"So how's the status of Windows?" Ballmer asked.
"Not much different than it was last night, Steve," Eller assured him. "We're still working on the same things we were working on at midnight last night."
"Okay," Ballmer said "Good then. Press on."
Not even Catbert, Evil HR Director, could have topped this one.
Apple announces earnings on January 25. Microsoft announces earnings on January 28. In between, Apple is rumored to have a special evant to announce their new 'tablet' product.
Predictions?
Mine:
Apple will have another blowout quarter.
Microsoft will announce improved (but somewhat disappointing to wall street) earnings. Windows sales improved, margins a bit lower.
The special event? It will occur, and Jobs will have some surprises. I would not bet against him.
C'mon guys, don't be so pathetic!
Who da'Punk "has left the building" since a long time ago.
It doesn't matter if he was RIFfed, resigned or he was a fraud since the beginning; the fact is that he's no longer interested in maintaining a blog that doesn't provide true insight about Microsoft anymore.
If the owner of this space isn't posting is because there's NOTHING to talk about...and it is very sad when the main subject is the biggest software company in the world.
For those who remain working @ MSFT: Go back to your work and concentrate your efforts in trying to turn the company products in something meaningful for the IT market instead of losing your time here, because the party is over. I encourage you to really think outside the Windows/Office Box and erradicate the "me too" way of thinking for anyone of your products. If you want Microsoft to prevail, you have to make worth for something your intellectual capital .
For those lucky ones who are no longer working at one of the many Fiefdoms that Microsoft is made of, try not to repeat your same mistakes and, for the love of God, move on...
">> Wow! I can see now why MSR is so completely ineffectual.
Who said it's "ineffectual"? Like I said, just because you work in a group that doesn't need MSR doesn't mean it's "ineffectual" for other groups."
Actually, I said 'ineffectual'. And with good reason. It does not matter how many brainiacs are sitting around, forming their own mutual appreciation society and wah-wah-wahing about how nobody is paying attention to their brilliance. Where is the impact? Fact is, MSR has done zip for the stock price. So why have them/you around?
re: the size of the Longhorn team as a % of the company: Allchin's org in the heydey of Longhorn was ~27K people; HeadTrax had the data. The company hadn't hit 90K back then, it was well under 80K, maybe under 70K. (The company added a staggering number of people in the second half of the decade.) So, you can do the math... the percentage of the company flailing away at Longhorn was not a small part of the company... even tho not all of Allchin's org was on Longhorn, 10-12K were.
Re VLSC Crap
The entire team of Dev,Test ,Solution Managers ,Release Managers,Support should be fired for this fiasco.
But we know that many of them will be awarded with GOLD STAR for creating and then trying to resolve the issue
It's been said before but given the tone of certain comments it needs to be said again. Unless you're a partner do not think for a second that you'll be able to have any influence on Microsoft's future. The problem is at the top. You might design impressive features, write awesone code, or find bugs before they hit your customers... it doesn't matter. There are enough layers of inept management above you to sabotage your efforts. And in the best of cases you'll be rewarded with pathetically small amounts of a falling stock. Worst case scenario you'll piss someone off and get canned.
If you have any skills whatsoever get out. I can tell you from experience that once you get to enjoy the outside world your only regret will be for not having left sooner.
"Who da'Punk "has left the building" since a long time ago. "
Not true - My comment was not posted on this blog which was a short poem. So he is at least monitoring which comments should get posted
layoffs "barely dented the size of the org"
To all those posters that actually think the layoffs were "token" or low impact, you clearly did not work in one of the groups that had a hiring freeze well before the layoffs started. Some groups have not hired a head in years. I kid you not. You have to consider the layoff + the hiring freezes to really see the full impact of these decisions.
And you also have to look at the residual effects of the layoffs + freeze. When 10% of MCS was RIF'd back in the 90s, another 30% headed for the door because the job was no longer secure. There is a huge knock-on effect when you layoff. Microsoft is no longer considered to be a secure work environment. That's not a deragatory statement, that's just a fact.
I can hear the upper management saying "Great, that was the point!" but do you think families are going to move here from India so dad can take a job here knowing what can happen? Do you think hotshot grads from Stanford are going to consider Microsoft as an employer? The caliber of people that are willing to work under such conditions are much lower than the caliber of people that worked here in the heyday (when we broke ground with a server operating system, a database system, etc.).
The hiring freeze specifically hurt our ability to deliver Pink. That is well known. Commenters that think it was just a token act, or not partially responsible for our mobile decline CLEARLY do not work here. Go to hell Trolls.
Can Microsoft mark RIFed employees as no-rehire?
What was the "MYR" meeting at the Hyatt about?
It's interesting that they did a good job of not making it obvious that it was Microsoft. For example, the company name did not appear on any of the signage for the event, which instead said "MYR". What gave it away was the list of breakout rooms that included such well-known acronyms as MSIT, DPE, STB and so on.
I had multiple "almost hired" chances in the 60 day search as one of the 1400. It appears about 100 got internal search then, and although hopeful of securing a new spot, nothing came of it.
How do you know that only about 100 out of the 1400 got the internal search opportunity? Not refuting your statistics, just wondering why the remaining 1300 were not given that opportunity. Weren't they all RIF'd, not fired?
I think Mini got hit by a chair thrown by Ballmer...he quiet even on Twiiter!
To the H1B haters who often post on this blog -
I was on H1B and I was laid off among the first 1400. I know many more FTEs on H1B who were laid off. We studied in the US, got advanced degrees from US universities, paid taxes for 6-8 years, usually more than citizens because we were eligible for fewer deductions. Our legal immigration applications were pending for many years (while illegal immigrants were able to get in). We had to forego promotions and better job opportunities, because our visas and immigration status restricted us. We lived away from family. We never receive any social security or medicare benefits, despite paying these taxes in the US. The moment we lost our jobs, we were out of visa status. The next day, we had to leave the country. We sold our homes in the US at a fire-sale price, abandoned our cars, and flew out of the US, to avoid illegal status. And you are complaining about what?
Check your data before you condemn a section of humanity who lost and suffered more than you did. Everyone lost their jobs or is at risk of losing their jobs, H1B or not. It was the economy and bad staffing management at the company. Those whose ancestors got easy entry and legal status in the US should not be condemning the H1B people. As your Senators and Congressmen to reform the H1B system, so that employers cannot exploit these foreigners and so that employers cannot hurt US citizens. Focus on the H1B rules, not on the foreigners, in your criticism.
if there is so much problem who asked you to come to USA and work here on H1B. you come here because in the end you get more money and better life here. If you find there are problems than go back to your country. there are lot of citizens who need job and cant get that because of you
To H1B Anonymous:
Only the stupid hate H1Bs as a group. They hate the fact that corrupt companies use you.
Personally I'm in favor of automatic green card + fast track to citizenship for anyone who gets a 4 year degree or higher. Then companies couldn't use your visa status as a way of enslaving you for more money.
I wish the best of luck finding new opportunities.
"The hiring freeze specifically hurt our ability to deliver Pink. That is well known. Commenters that think it was just a token act, or not partially responsible for our mobile decline CLEARLY do not work here."
Really? How big is the Pink team and how long have they been at it compared to Palm's Pre group that delivered an entire OS which is getting better reviews than any WinMo version? What about the entire Pink/Danger/WinMO teams compared to Apple's iPhone team which took one year to destroy MS's nine year head start? Google's Android team, which in its first year is also poised to surpass nearly a decade of MS effort? I'm willing to bet that in each case MS has far more people assigned and is spending more. The thing holding the company back isn't lack of people or investment. It's poor leadership that has repeatedly underestimated the competition, a business model that no longer makes sense as is, and the worst execution bar none of any group in the top five.
Relative to MS's size and miserable overall performance, the layoffs absolutely were a token gesture. And the hiring freeze was long overdue following what can only be classified as an insane hiring spree that began mid-decade and continued right up to December of last year, a YEAR after the recession began.
So keep complaining about resourcing and the very modest steps management has finally taken to operate in a more fiscally responsible manner. Meanwhile your competitors are busy doing much more with less and handing MS its ass.
I understand there have been changes to calibration procedures for the just-launched MYCD. Can anyone state what will be different this time?
Can Microsoft mark RIFed employees as no-rehire?
Sunday, January 17, 2010 10:05:00 PM
yes. Anyone can be marked no hire, just depends on how big a turd your manager is. In fact the company can stop your getting a v- if they want to be extra nasty. And there is not thing-one you can do about it. Request your personnel file not sure if that discloses your rehire eligibility.
Fact is, MSR... So why have them/you around?
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
A few years ago, though we were reigning in expenses, research spending increased.
I don't necessarily believe MSR is bad nor has not made some products better. I believe msft wastes their work by not putting more of MSR's efforts in to shipping products.
I was on H1B and I was laid off among the first 1400. The next day, we had to leave the country.
Really? H1B's I've talked to said if they were to lose their job, they would have a short period of time to find another position. Was it a couple of weeks to 30 days?
> The moment we lost our jobs, we
> were out of visa status. The next
> day, we had to leave the country.
Immigration services will usually grant you a grace period of 10 days or so. And if I remember well Microsoft is leagally obligated to pay for your ticket home.
> We sold our homes in the US at a
> fire-sale price,
As a former H1B myself I can't understand why someone would buy a home when coming here under such a visa. The deal is clear, your visa is valid for 3 years and renewable once. Why the flagnard would you make a financial commitment for 15 to 30 years? What kind of bank would even approve such a loan? Oh, yeah... right... never mind.
"Anyone can be marked no hire, just depends on how big a turd your manager is. In fact the company can stop your getting a v- if they want to be extra nasty."
Or if you actually were let go because you should never have been hired in the first place... or if you were dishonest, or if you sexually harassed someone, or if you were universally loathed by the teams you worked with, or if you created a hostile work environment, etc. etc.
Do let's remember that frequently people are flagged as ineligible for rehire because they should not, indeed, be rehired. Not everyone is a victim.
I was on H1B and I was laid off among the first 1400. The next day, we had to leave the country.
Really? H1B's I've talked to said if they were to lose their job, they would have a short period of time to find another position. Was it a couple of weeks to 30 days?
----------------
Among the many disturbing things I learned during a (short) revisit to MS was the use of the "creative job title". I remember looking at a whole new job title and going "tell me again why they aren't just program managers or account managers" ...
It's because, when your visa is sponsored by a corporation, it's sponsored for a specific industry job title. And if they decide to just make something up, and you bite for a nice high salary, then they have you by the balls. Make even the slightest noise - you're not just gone, you're deported.
I have no issue with H1B workers, they get mistreated way worse than the rest of us.
Re VLSC Crap
The entire team of Dev,Test ,Solution Managers ,Release Managers,Support should be fired for this fiasco.
But we know that many of them will be awarded with GOLD STAR for creating and then trying to resolve the issue
Absolutely true.
Operations is giving too many of the awards.
Just wondering why the award when this is their job just like launches. Aren't they paid to do the job? The communication to the customers also sucks. The regions are not taking care of the customers response well.
Below are some irate customers voices:(. bet they still claim a job well done.
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 3:50 PM by Laura
I can login and finally have my email registered, but none of my Open License or Volume License Agreements show up.
I'd contact the agreement administrator, but I am the agreement administrator.
Gave up after a morning on hold.
No reply to my emails.
Partner vendor and Sales Rep tried to help but couldn't.
Waiting for me refund now.
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:41 PM by J.P.
I quit..... This is insane.
I don't know about all of you, but I'm getting sick of being held hostage because Microsoft has a VLSC brain fart.
I'd like to tell ol Stevie boy sitting up there on his golden toilet that Microsoft can't make any money for a few weeks because I can't get any support help to get numbers for his own products.
Let's see how far that pig flies.
FIX IT or DUMP IT...
BUT JUST DO IT RIGHT and LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE.
INSANE......STUPID......
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Thursday, January 14, 2010 10:10 AM by Fred Levay
Although I'm administrator of my agreements, I'm not able to access the SA Benefits section.
I keep getting this error message :
"We are unable to complete your request at this time. Please close the browser and try again."
All other sections are working fine : product keys, product downloads, ...
Called Microsoft support to sort this out. Their answer : you have to request permission to the administrator !
I'm the administrator !
Is someone encountering the same issue ?
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Thursday, January 14, 2010 3:21 PM by Dan Anderson
Same issues as others. I can access my old agreements, but not the newest one. I called MVLS tech support for the third time, and they are going to email product keys since they are unable to fix the system at this time "due to high call volumes".
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Sunday, January 17, 2010 6:21 PM by Jamie
WTF!!! I don't usually complain and I know upgrades don't always go according to plan but really......this is a joke - I swear any money we ever make off microsoft we lose again by this crap from a reseller point of view.
If you have any skills whatsoever get out. I can tell you from experience that once you get to enjoy the outside world your only regret will be for not having left sooner.
I can surely agree with that. I always thought Microsoft os the best company but after seeing how the management works, I left and have never regretted as well. Many of the people who are still hanging on is primarily becasue they do not have the skill set and/or is enjoying the high pay which they will never get elsewhere with their skill set. As such, the company is not progressing. This is definitely true in operations.
Is operations included in the Feb '10 rif?
E&D is going through the biggest re-org the division has ever had. ERod has decided to pursue other opportunities effective immediately. TVM is no more. Windows Mobile is heading out of E&D and into Windows because Sinofsky pointed out Robbie’s continued failure in the mobile space during the December strategy review.
focus on the h1b rules
I agree with you. The herd behavior is always operative in the human mind. Assuming the contribution of H1 is negative (which is debatable), it is far less negative than wall st bankers taking million dollars bonuses out of tax payers money. How many blogs are dedicated to h1 bashing vs bankers bashing ?
Herds always dislike an outside member who does less harm than an inside member who does more harm. Creating hatred for the outside member is one of the easiest to unite/satisfy/distract the herd members
if there is so much problem who asked you to come to USA and work here on H1B. you come here because in the end you get more money and better life here. If you find there are problems than go back to your country. there are lot of citizens who need job and cant get that because of you
This is the kind of ranting that devalues the US. The H1Bs with advanced degrees and talent are not stealing jobs from citizens. Look at any US university graduate program in sciences, engineering and math. The majority of the classes have foreign students. On the other hand, most liberal arts and linguistics courses have citizens. We need these talented individuals in the US. They come to the US, not for money or better lives (they would be treated as kings in their home countries with their foreign degrees), but rather for the opportunity to apply their knowledge and to be part of the creative product development processes. People such as the Anonymous H1B hater who posted the above quote is not representative of the US.
What must be stopped is H1B fraud, people without the talent who seek money, and employers who exploit them.
In addition, the myth that most H1B employers pay H1B employees less than citizens is only partly true. Most H1B employees are paid the same as US citizens for the same job. However, in FTE roles, H1B employees work harder and smarter and longer hours than citizens. They do this to keep their jobs. In other words, for the quality and quantity of work they do, they are underpaid. In addition, they increase competition in the workplace. The employer gets more profits as a result.
To the original H1B poster who presented the human angle to the layoffs, I wish to you the best. For the next 100 years, the rest of the world is likely to progress faster than the US can. Some day, the H1B-people haters will need a job in your country. I hope you can deny the H1B-people haters a work visa to your country.
Well, E&D finally did something right. They blew up the TVM org yesterday. CVP Enrique Rodriguez and Marketing GM Christine Heckart were given the boot. When is the last time you saw that at those levels? The Zune, Media Center and MediaRoom teams are being merged into other parts of E&D. No other lower level layoffs are planned apparently.
Nice to see Microsoft finally stop protecting ineffective (in fact damaging), narcissistic, nepotistic, execs.
I can hear the upper management saying "Great, that was the point!" but do you think families are going to move here from India so dad can take a job here knowing what can happen?
If that's the case then that's something good for a change from upper management. Our import contingent can still have the benefit of our stock trading mailing lists from home.
Really? H1B's I've talked to said if they were to lose their job, they would have a short period of time to find another position. Was it a couple of weeks to 30 days?
That is incorrect information. The USCIS provides no grace period for H1B's. They are out of legal status at the end of the day that they are laid off. Tell your H1B friends to consult a good attorney, or they could be in trouble if they get laid off.
Some H1B's find another job within 30-45 days after losing a job. They do this using a loophole, which could be considered illegal. They show their paystubs, which are often available only monthly or bimonthly.
For example, suppose you were a Microsoft FTE on H1B and you laid off on November 4. You will get your pay for the duration November 1-4 on November 15. If you have a vacation cash-out, you will get another paystub November 30. Even on December 14, you will still have your last 2 paystubs. The H1B's sometimes land a new job by December 14, and claim that they were still employed with Microsoft until the date of filing for a new H1B to join the new employer. They show their last 2 paystubs from Microsoft to prove this claim. Of course, the discerning USCIS officer would reject such H1B's and send them off to their home countries. However, in many cases, the H1B's who do this get away with it. In addition, Microsoft usually reports the layoff of H1B's about 60 days later, which gives some H1B's the ability to stick around in the US until then. However, this is not legal.
The honest H1B's leave the country right away, as soon as they lose their jobs. They are usually the honest and talented ones.
>> So why have them/you around?
Technically, I'm no longer "around". Left for greener pastures a while ago (after a decade at MSFT), and thanks to my MSR experience, the pastures are much greener indeed.
E&D is going through the biggest re-org the division has ever had. ERod has decided to pursue other opportunities effective immediately. TVM is no more. Windows Mobile is heading out of E&D and into Windows because Sinofsky pointed out Robbie’s continued failure in the mobile space during the December strategy review.
This is only partially true. Yes, ERod is out as head of TVMP, but the Mediaroom group is actually on the fast track, now. It is interesting that you throw in all this other crap that isn't true. I wonder why...
Well, E&D finally did something right. They blew up the TVM org yesterday. CVP Enrique Rodriguez and Marketing GM Christine Heckart were given the boot. When is the last time you saw that at those levels? The Zune, Media Center and MediaRoom teams are being merged into other parts of E&D. No other lower level layoffs are planned apparently.
Nice to see Microsoft finally stop protecting ineffective (in fact damaging), narcissistic, nepotistic, execs.
Well, as someone who has been at TVM for a while, I can say that Enrique was a great VP, and really turned the group around. Finally, we had a VP who understood business and how to get customers!
I think the future is pretty strong for the TVM team, and they had a great presence at CES. A lot of their success is due to Enrique and the people he put in charge (Andreas, for example). I wish him well.
"Nice to see Microsoft finally stop protecting ineffective (in fact damaging), narcissistic, nepotistic, execs."
Really?... so finally Ballmer would be next to be kick out?... I don't think so, regardless how much we want it and how much we need it.
["But that's Easter Sunday" Eller said. "Some folks might want to go to church."
"Too bad" Ballmer said, "We have to have a status meeting."]
well this stupid, insensitive, maniac way to force people still latent today in the company, ask the MSLI/VLO people who worked during the legal Christmas Holidays and New Year.
Forced because if they don't do it... they would not show long term commitment and will become 10%percenters... ready to be layoff on the next "Wave" (Coming Soon)
quote: "Anonymous said...
Is operations included in the Feb '10 rif?
Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:51:00 AM"
Sure thing, in february... and also during the next rif after that as well. 5%-10% of the company would be "released" every year. And considering the multiple outsourcing process like Fada... job cuts will continue for quite a while.
Anonymous said...
The issue is that new "wave" is coming for 2010. It seems that this Layoff are becoming an "institution" and will be at least 2 regular waves per year
Great. There's too much dead wood around, dinosaurs with old ideas and no vision, and people with 'attitudes' that need to go. Having two waves of layoffs per year is a healthy thing for the company and goes along well with the objectives of this blog.
Monday, December 07, 2009 11:24:00 AM
- - - -
You are right... lets begin by kicking Balmer out. Is time to stop executing stupid corporate decisions to waste millions of dollars on acquiring crappy products that don't add much value, knowlege or market share. So your description of our CEO is good "too much dead wood around, dinosaurs with old ideas and no vision, ..." lets start with the worst of them... our 'Useless' leader (BALMER) must go, even the WS will love when he leaves.
>Palm's Pre group that delivered an entire OS
>delivered an entire OS
>an entire OS
Please tell me you don't work at Microsoft or even any of our competitors.
there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
Just gross... Christine Heckart's Facebook profile is of her with Stephen W. Hawking.
Don't our highly compensated, and formerly-valued, employees have better things to be doing?
E&D is full of over-leveled individuals... one can only wonder what would happen if the company found a way to "calibrate" across the entire FTE base, instead of per-org, where you get pockets of suck and rock.
>Well, as someone who has been at TVM for a while, I can say that Enrique was a great VP, and really turned the group around.
Are you located at SVC? Here in Redmond, there was a strong dislike for Enrique. When it came to communication, there was none. He did not share strategy, or direction, with his directs. His failure to communicate was the primary reason for his removal. He was offered a lower position to run MediaRoom and turned it down.
The attitude in Studio D, since the announcement, has been ding dong the witch is gone.
He calibrated the principal band prior to the review process starting. He abused the Gold Star program. He used Gold Stars to make up for the lack of merit last years to keep certain people happy. I suppose I can't complain, he gave me both the cash and stock GS award.
>Finally, we had a VP who understood business and how to get customers!
LOL!
>A lot of their success is due to Enrique and the people he put in charge.
BS!
EROD, don't let the door hit you in the...
Great!!! We are driving customers to our competitors. The region support is so fantastic as to make the customers pay for the software even though it is our system fails. KT should be happy.
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 9:42 AM by cmb
RE: Eris Ligman
I hate to break it to you, but your linked instructions on how to add new agreements does NOT work, as many of us have tried this! I have an Open License, I am the Admin, and I even went through the ridiculous process of requesting permission from MYSELF, and I still get an error every time. NEW agreements cannot be added! Other than calling in, which I will eventually do, do you have any other suggestions on how to get new agreements added, which actually work?
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 1:34 AM by Spotty
Update to my Jan 5 comment
The Good:
I somehow got an email for MSDN access last week, so now I can at least access the actual products (VSPro + MSDNPro Open License). It's a decent win.
The Bad:
1. VLSC still thinks "The business email address provided during registration is not affiliated with an Open License....."; so no VLSC access.
2. MSDN thinks my address is in Austria; it's actually Australia.
3. DVD media fulfillment: UPS tracking number in email yesterday, 3 weeks after requesting it.... but wait for it.... the package was sent to Austria. When in Austria, UPS discovered the address problem and has now redirected it here to Australia. Thanks UPS!
4. Related to 3. if I could get access to VLSC I might be able to correct the Austria/Australia problem. What I don't get, is how that little error crept in; my purchase order confirmation from Microsoft does state my address as in Australia. Seems like a bit of manual data entry doesn't it?
Yes, I've been on the phone with VLSC support, today aswell. Good times, good times.
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 11:47 PM by Charles
You have entered incorrect information and have been locked out of registration as a security measure. Please contact support.
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:05 PM by Ian Chin
We've been unable to login for about 9 weeks now... locked out. They can't seem to clear our account.
We've called, numerous times only to be met with hours of wait times and no resolution when we do get through. Our VAR (CDW) isn't of any help either, passing the buck over to MSFT.
So instead of downloading the media, we had to pay Microsoft to ship it... they wouldn't ship it for free.
Worst licensing experience ever...
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Friday, January 22, 2010 11:39 AM by Darren Wiebe
Yeah, it's pretty bad. We're a VAR with numerous clients locked out as well as ourselves. One if them is a government agency under a state level licensing program. I had a guy on the phone yesterday who was actually a little bit helpful but most of them are useless to put it nicely.
I'll maybe try submitting a request through Erics site but it's hard to know if it's worth it. I've had enough tickets opened and escalated but I never hear back from them except for requests for the exact information I just sent. It's obvious they don't read the emails we submit.
Maybe there will be a gain here though, I'm not a real lover of Microsoft products and stupid, stupid screwups like this show how "professional" and "world class" Microsoft is. It makes it easier to recommend alternatives such as Linux. Thanks MS!
"Windows Mobile is heading out of E&D and into Windows because Sinofsky pointed out Robbie’s continued failure in the mobile space during the December strategy review."
The scary thing is that he would have to point it out. Wasn't it sufficiently obvious already? I keep asking but noone has an answer: What has Robbie every succeeded at? Playsforsure, lost to iPod. Zune hardware, lost again to iPod. Mediaroom, four million subscribers after ten years. Media Center, lost all leadership and momentum. Retail, blown out by Apple stores. Xbox, six billion dollars in the hole. MBU, less relevant. Mobile, destroyed.
What are the successes I'm missing that override all of that? Robbie excels at talking a good story, self-promotion, self-enrichment (aces that one), and staying in Ballmer's good graces. On everything else performance related his record is ridiculously bad and he should have been replaced years ago.
Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
Office Labs is run by a visionary genius. He made all the Office GPMs stand in front of his door. They seek his vision and guidance. Heck, even the presidents of different divisions seek his advice.
[Anonymous said...
there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
Friday, January 22, 2010 12:10:00 AM]
just wait until February. Take a screenshot from headtrax's head count today, and take one at the end of February. The layoffs will occur over several weeks in February.
What happens if you can't stand your GM? In our case, the guy is a Machiavellian crook.
>Office Labs is run by a visionary genius.
Hahaha yet and still no one has pointed out a single thing this entire group has done. Not one, 0, nada, zilch. By the way random, unverifiable claims like they are 'visionary' (how so? Please give examples of vision) or they are 'nurturing future leaders' (again, how so? Where is proof of this? Where are these future leaders? The rest of Microsoft sure could use them...any time now) are ignored as they are as vacuous as the heads of the people in this group. All I want is a single example, I mean even if I don't agree with its 'visionary awesomeness' just one single, solitary verifiable example of SOMETHING this group has actually done...ever. That would be awesome!
regarding the layoff rumors, from the last years comment at this time, the only comment which was correct was the one which was to the point.
one of the commentators wrote that we will announce the earning in the morning with the layoffs. i have an inclination that that was somebody from the slt because the comment was to the point.
>What happens if you can't stand your GM? In our case, the guy is a Machiavellian crook.
Is this the OfficeLabs dude?
>Hahaha yet and still no one has pointed out a single thing this entire group has done. Not one, 0, nada, zilch.
You are going to offend a lot of OfficeLabs people with these comments. Every office product has embedded OfficeLabs vision.
"can you mark a former employee as no-hire for the future?"
yes, but this has nothing to do with layoffs. it happens from time to time, but rarely. it doesn't happen just because a manager doesn't like you.
"What is 'MYR'?"
MYR is midyear review. It's what the sales people do every January. They put together scorecards about their sales work, their bosses come and look at it, and they figure out what to do going forward. It's a stressful time for the sales groups.
"Hiring freeze affected Pink.."
Hiring freeze affected the entire company, but we've still shipped lots of new stuff. Pink's problems run deeper. Don't use a hiring freeze as an excuse not to do great work.
"No layoffs in 2010"
Don't be naive. Layoffs will continue, just as they did for years. Look toward the end of Q1.
The next RIF announcement will be made the morning of the earnings call on Jan 28. Announced target will be another 3,000, to be completed by February 15. The main targeted groups will be Office, Windows, worldwide partner group,E&D and C&O.
Well, as someone who has been at TVM for a while, I can say that Enrique was a great VP, and really turned the group around. Finally, we had a VP who understood business and how to get customers!
Enrique was a remarkably poor judge of skill and character. He frequently promoted people to positions they weren't capable of holding, and 'held court' among his group of 'insiders'.
Not a loss for MS.
"one of the commentators wrote that we will announce the earning in the morning with the layoffs."
Companies don't normally announce layoffs coincident with earnings. Layoffs = worry. Earnings are meant to = confidence. An exception is if earnings are significantly weaker than expected and you're hoping the layoffs will mitigate the subsequent stock decline and calls for your resignation.
"delivered an entire OS
>an entire OS
Please tell me you don't work at Microsoft or even any of our competitors."
What part of that are you struggling with? They delivered an entire OS. One which received better reviews that any WinMo version. Yes, it leverages Linux for the kernel. So what? Please tell me you don't work in a MS product group still clinging to that outdated notion that delivering something new means writing it all from scratch?
>Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
> Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
I confirm this.
> Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
> Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
I deny this.
"Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
Can anyone else confirm/deny this?"
Does anyone really care any more?
Seriously -- the last 18 months should have shown every Microsoft employee that there is no such thing as guaranteed employment and that everyone should keep their resumes current *at all times*.
In the modern era you will be best served by living your life as if the layoff hammer could fall at any time -- in this way you won't need to worry about the constant rumors whipped-up by people who have nothing better to do.
I have to agree with @Anonymous, Friday, January 22, 2010 7:38:00 AM about TVM. As someone who has worked in that group for a long time I agree EROD was a horrible manager with no leadership skills whatsoever. A total empty suit. He could manage up well (but obviously only to a point) but could not run a business for crap. He was way over his head. He was non-existent to most people in the business, even when it was just MediaRoom. No vision, no leadership, no ability to execute.
Heckart was just as bad. Hired ineffective drones who followed her from company to company, advantaged women over men, was "creative" in truly scary and bizarre ways, and is so obsequiously political and passive/aggressive that no one trusted her.
I don't know anyone in TVM who isn't rejoicing this week.
> Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
> Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
You're fired.
mario goertzel needs a reset and collapse that system center team up.
"but the Mediaroom group is actually on the fast track, now"
Your optimism is encouraging, but we've been hearing similar promises every year since the Tiger servers were launched back in 1994. Seventeen years later, after nearly ten billion of written off indirect investments in cable companies and God knows how much in direct costs (wages, expenses, R&D), what do we have? Less than 5M subscribers, which probably isn't sufficient to generate a profit far less one that would matter to MS's overall, and a brand new and expensive lawsuit with Tivo.
When is E&D going to learn that promising success isn't an acceptable substitute for delivering it?
"Enrique was a remarkably poor judge of skill and character. He frequently promoted people to positions they weren't capable of holding, and 'held court' among his group of 'insiders'."
So that's what, about half a dozen senior managers in E&D that didn't stack up and shouldn't have been promoted, including the entire former leadership of Mobile? Tell me, who promoted all of them? Oh right, Bach. And who promoted Bach? Oh right, Ballmer. So why are these criticisms always aimed at the sockpuppets and never at the puppet masters who perpetuate the cycle?
Reg: there are no layoffs in FY 2010.
Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
In the last 10 years and maybe longer we've always had some yearly "good" attrition not of the individuals choosing within the bottom 10% of the stack ranking. Timing is post mid-year and annual reviews.
Things appear over-negative IMO here. I can understand, esp if coming from people under the stress of De Axe. I have friends at HP and Google, and some colleagues at IBM. Trust me, the morale there is way lower.
I may be over-optimistic, but the big picture is that we have a huge patent portfolio, are actively competing in 5+ fields, and have a whole bunch of talented folks (most I've met, probably I'm lucky).
Not sure I want to trade places with any of my friends at the moment. A heads up among all the doom and gloom.
Positive developments for Bing:
- talks with Apple
- Verizon/Blackberry
- other non Android OS based devices (Palm?)
- google selling Nexus
- google in China?
Apple and google are now big rivals, how about Palm? Maybe google is feeling a bit too powerful and arrogant this time?
Opportunities for Bing?
- hard to break into google search list and getting harder and costlier
- search results are one thing, but being able to be found for the numerous small companies is another
- adwords aren't cheap
If it is true that Winmo will go to Sinofsky then you can shut that business down. Sinofsky is great at running a monopoly type of business that you inherit. He is a genius at running a large ship, taking few risks, and lowering the costs. That is honestly not an easy thing.
But innovation? Look at office they only did web support after he left. What is really new in Win7 other than cleaning up from Vista. Windows live he has had the UI team for almost 4 years and I have seen nothing new really from those 1,000 people. He had search for one year and did nothing. I worked in search at that time and all he talked about was titles, feature teams, standards, blah, blah. When you have <15% share all of that means very little.
Windows live should be given to OSD and Satya who can innovate.
I may be over-optimistic, but the big picture is that we have a huge patent portfolio, are actively competing in 5+ fields, and have a whole bunch of talented folks (most I've met, probably I'm lucky).
I'm not sure how much revenue the patent portfolio is drawing but Microsoft has been in hot water lately over IP. There was the China copyright issue and the i4i disaster. And IP licensing isn't going to win hearts and minds--people think of it as a tax.
As for competing on 5+ fronts, sure, but with mixed success. Windows Mobile has record low market share and the worst customer satisfaction poll numbers. IE has record low market share and is arguably no longer the most popular browser. (And of course there's the latest security travesty that resulted in Germany and France recommending to their citizens that they use alternative browsers.) Windows itself has been losing market share and depending on who you ask, Apple now has over 10% market share for the first time in a long time. XBox is the only Microsoft product I can think of that may be competing well and gaining market share; I don't know the numbers.
I don't think this blog is being overly negative. There's basically nothing to be positive about. Microsoft has become bloated and complacent over the past 10+ years and is now paying the price. We're profitable now, and will be for a long time to come, but make no mistake, the trajectory is 'fail.'
" Please tell me you don't work in a MS product group still clinging to that outdated notion that delivering something new means writing it all from scratch?"
Well said. Though I think Apple uses BSD as the core not Linux across the OS.
What brilliant mind came up with the concept of having a GUI that supports CLI rather than vice versa? Maybe it was my dear and frequent correspondent from MSR... I mean Linux and Mac OS bolt a GUI on top of a rock solid OS. Imagine if MS had followed that route, instead of a stupid focus on the plumbing? Now the server family is shipping with the PowerShell to compensate. What a mess.
What's up with the EE team? I was listening to a presentation by Alan & most of his ideas are old
Late comment, but I missed this when it came up. Alan (I think he's a partner, so I guess it's ok to mention his name) is one of the only people in EE I (and my team) respect in EE. I know of dozens of testers who stayed, and are staying in test because of his work, and he's the best advocate by far for MS testing *outside* of the company.
He's also one of the only people I know who can connect equally well with test leadership and the frontline testers. If he's someone worth griping about, MS may have hope after all.
Companies don't normally announce layoffs coincident with earnings. Layoffs = worry. Earnings are meant to = confidence. An exception is if earnings are significantly weaker than expected and you're hoping the layoffs will mitigate the subsequent stock decline and calls for your resignation.
After the stunning earnings announcements by companies like Intel and Apple, Ballmer and Co. know that the MS announcement is going to look pathetic by comparison. Hence the "earnings are significantly weaker than expected and you're hoping the layoffs will mitigate the subsequent stock decline" scenario.
Re: "As for competing on 5+ fronts, sure, but with mixed success."
Agreed. Point taken.
But, what is the model company we're looking up too, seriously? Apple? Have you heard how they treat their employees (fairly OK, but nothing spectacular)? Google? I don't want to work on improving web-based email, their only pony is search, and a few people make an impact there. Tweaking Google Maps? Free food is very cool, going home at a reasonable time is cooler for me though. Wouldn't mind free lunch though.
Oracle would be a reasonable role model, but having worked there, it doesn't feel any better/worse than MS. IBM? My wife works there and she complains more than I do?
SAP? Maybe, I have heard good things, but I don't know anyone that works there.
Adobe? Love their products, would be cool to work on Photoshop. Don't know what the working conditions are like though.
Who are the role models? I struggle with this too.
Apple is now a $50 billion run-rate company, is growing faster than us, is better positioned than us, has fewer employees than us, spends way less on R&D than us, and has more cash. Within a year they will probably be larger than us in revenue and more valuable. All this while starting from near death ten years ago, while we were still dominant.
Ballmer, please just quit.
Apple announced great earning ($50BB company, nearly 9MM iphones sold, sharply increased mac results) and a product pipeline people deeply care about.
Apple's R&D is 20% of Microsoft. But their revenue is 80% of Microsoft's.
Apple is the new MSFT. Wallstreet will soon come to this same conclusion. Microsoft needs a new leader soon.
You know what, the OfficeLabs guy might not have done anything useful in his life. He has figured how to milk the system. For that, you need to bow to the man.
"Well said. Though I think Apple uses BSD as the core not Linux across the OS."
It was about the Palm Pre, therefore WebOS.
Ballmer, please just quit.
He won't. Ballmer is to Microsoft what Chavez is to Venezuela, what Fidel is to Cuba, what Kim Jong-il is to N. Korea ... absolute megalomaniacs.
>> I have friends at HP and Google, and some
>> colleagues at IBM. Trust me, the morale there
>> is way lower.
Horseshit. HP and IBM, maybe, but I have a couple of friends at Google and they just won't shut up about how much they're loving it there.
"Free food is very cool, going home at a reasonable time is cooler for me though. Wouldn't mind free lunch though."
LOL. In what org are you working in?
Who are the role models? I struggle with this too.
That's a very personal question. For me, I want people to rave about my product to each other. I want to make people happy and make their lives better and that's worth a certain amount of salary, benefits, etc. Right now, if you work for Apple, or, to a lesser extent, Google, you can walk into any coffee shop, restaurant, or bar in the WORLD and find a dozen people talking about how great your company's products are. That must be amazing.
People mostly complain about Microsoft's products, or talk about how they're somewhat better than other Microsoft products (i.e., Win7 vs. Vista). If you have the skill and talent and experience to work for any company, why would you accept that kind of morale failure?
Basically, if my work experience is going to be s*** either way, with stack ranks and budget cuts and whatnot, I would rather be working for Apple or Google vs. Microsoft, Oracle, etc.
Ballmer compared Firefox to an OS, secretly taking over your computer, when he gave his keynote in Sydney, Australia in '08.
How can this guy lead MSFT?! FF has no filesystem or kernel! Isn't the Windows version of Firefox (and Chrome) preventing people from fleeing Windows?! Why bash free software that's helping keep the public on your platform?!
Free food is very cool, going home at a reasonable time is cooler for me though.
I never recall being able to go home at a reasonable time -- until Jan. 22, 2009. Now I understand: Working my ass off cost me my job. Glad you slackoffs are still riding high.
Interesting comparison between AAPL and MSFT:
Quarterly rev growth
AAPL +25%, MSFT -14.2%
Quarterly earnings growth
AAPl +46%, MSFT -18.3
While a rising tide lifts all boats, MSFT stock price has increased 67% while APPL is up 127%. What is surprising is that a lot of AAPL's growth is out of Asia aka emerging markets.
Sure looks like all that R&D spending by Microsoft has not resulted in anything except an accelerating decline. Ballmer's trash talking/patronizing of competitors is not helping either.
"I may be over-optimistic, but the big picture is that we have a huge patent portfolio, are actively competing in 5+ fields, and have a whole bunch of talented folks (most I've met, probably I'm lucky)."
No, that's the small picture. The big picture is that MS is adrift, and still hasn't acknowledged that its macro business strategies of the last ten years have failed. Massive R&D spending has resulted in a large patent portfolio, but few innovative products and zero successful new businesses. Meanwhile others have spent a fraction of that and created profitable new segments that now rival Windows in size. The company is competing in 5+ fields and losing share or money in all of them. And while the company still has a lot of talented people, it has repeatedly failed to take advantage of them either through world class innovation or execution. One of capitalism's most powerful forces is creative destruction, the process by which entrepreneurs create new value through innovation even as they destroy established companies. MS is slowly being destroyed and has been for at least five years. And the worst part about that is most of it was self-inflicted.
I'm all excited that Apple's tablet merely appears to be pretty cool and not life changing.
Kind of a sad commentary that not being embarrassed again about MSs execution is dictated by competitors.
What brilliant mind came up with the concept of having a GUI that supports CLI rather than vice versa? Maybe it was my dear and frequent correspondent from MSR...
Is this a serious comment? Dave Cutler is the father of NT and the "idiot" that you're alluding to.
Really... get a clue man. You need to drop your opinion of how smart you are down by a few notches and try to listen and learn more.
The basic point is right - that delivering an entire OS from scratch is no longer relevant. And this is the real threat to MSFT. That Google or Palm (or anyone) can easily coopt the OSS movement and leverage it for commercial gain by starting with the solid Linux base. This was ALWAYS the real threat of OSS.
Apple is working off the Darwin work Jobs did on top of BSD in the ancient days when he founded NeXT.
The main theme is that in both cases you have a solid and portable *NIX core with flexible API support on top being leveraged across multiple devices with a low cost of implementation and support and a short time to market.
This has nothing to do with GUI vs CLI or whatever crap you're rambling about.
NT has a solid core and Cutler's original vision was to make it portable. Cutler has more knowledge about OS internals in the head of his man parts than you have in the one on your shoulders.
The problem isnt NT, the problem is SB. MSFT could have *long ago* done the minwin work and made NT more modular and easily adaptable and portable. If they had, today they'd be enjoying the benefits of being able to quickly move a "free" and stable core around to different form factors the way everyone else can thanks to *NIX.
Instead, time was wasted on creating parallel fiefdoms like CE, the XB OS, etc. When monopoly money is rolling in and the company is a collection of internally facing, waring, fiefdoms, it is easy to make bad decisions. The company should have been broken up. It would have, ironically, been FAR better for MSFT and for the Windows platform.
Today there are a lot of bright spots, but the window of opportunity is closing and there is the added complexity of the massive loss of mindshare and damage to the brand. Plus, MSFT *still* cant get out of its own way and is *still* afraid to cannibalize a monopoly that is slowly dying anyway.
Apple is now a $50 billion run-rate company, is growing faster than us, is better positioned than us, has fewer employees than us, spends way less on R&D than us, and has more cash. Within a year they will probably be larger than us in revenue and more valuable. All this while starting from near death ten years ago, while we were still dominant.
Ballmer, please just quit.
Add in that Google has achieved nearly all of the same by creating a completely disruptive business model and starting from *scratch* a little over ten years ago, and that pretty much sums things up.
That both of these strong competitors are targeting different ends of the "80/20" of the MSFT biz is sobering indeed. If there is no significant change in SLT, expect MSFT share to shrink to a "middle 60". The top 20% of general computing devices will be Apple and the bottom 20 will be Chrome/Chromium/Android. The middle 60 will be Windows. In the mobile space (which as time goes on will show growth while the traditional space stagnates) we are now likely looking at a basically Android/iPhone world split probably 80/20.
The fact is that there are MANY ways MSFT can *thrive* in even the worst case platform scenarios, but Ballmer seems to be aware of NONE of them. His *only* sweet spot seems to be keeping "full steam ahead" on a standing monopoly. NOT good.
But, what is the model company we're looking up too, seriously? Apple? ...
Google? ...
Oracle?...
IBM?...
SAP?...
Adobe?...
How about: An engineering company with credible technical and business leadership. Credible technical leaders understand the importance of credible business leadership, and vice versa. Both are needed.
Since we apparently no longer have credible technical leadership and vision, we don't have credible business leadership either.
What we do have (and have had)is a bunch of great game players spending vast sums of money:
- Ill-conceived new projects that in almost all cases have failed
- Acquisitions that have been squandered
- Second-rate "me too" ventures that have fizzled out without even denting the products they emulated
The company is seriously ready for the BOD to bring on that Jack Welch or Lou Gerstner moment, before we get to the point where even the now-elderly cash cows can no longer be maintained.
Now what happened to SaaS? Salesforce.com have made a success of it, it seems...
Interestingly, Salesforce now has engineering operations right here in Seattle. They know that now is a great time to extract some of the talent from Microsoft and actually do something useful with it. (No, I don't work there).
OK, I'm done now.
If it is true that Winmo will go to Sinofsky then you can shut that business down. Sinofsky is great at running a monopoly type of business that you inherit. He is a genius at running a large ship, taking few risks, and lowering the costs. That is honestly not an easy thing.
But innovation? Look at office they only did web support after he left. What is really new in Win7 other than cleaning up from Vista. Windows live he has had the UI team for almost 4 years and I have seen nothing new really from those 1,000 people. He had search for one year and did nothing. I worked in search at that time and all he talked about was titles, feature teams, standards, blah, blah. When you have <15% share all of that means very little.
Thank you. I thought it was just me.
Windows live should be given to OSD and Satya who can innovate.
Satya? Really? Gonna have to disagree with you on that one.
This has nothing to do with GUI vs CLI or whatever crap you're rambling about.
The fact is that there's a tremendous amount of Unix (POSIX) software out there, mostly command line stuff, that's incredibly useful and valuable and Microsoft is more or less cut off from it since running POSIX stuff on NT is difficulty and kludgy.
If you get the Linux kernel running on a piece of hardware (e.g., a new cell phone), then you can immediately do almost anything with it right out of the box. If you get the NT kernel running, then what do you have? Access to a handful of million-year-old DOS commands? No wonder Apple, Google, and Palm can turn around new mobile environments in a year or two while Microsoft can barely get Windows to run on netbooks.
Regarding the small number of people granted internal search in the 1400 and where I get my approx. number of 100: HR said "very, very few people were given internal search" in my meeting with them, and later on, HR said that there were 10 people working with those who had internal search, and each had about 10 people in their set.
A number of people I talked with later on at the outplacement center - they had their notice on 1/22, exited the building after turning in all their hardware and losing intranet access on end of afternoon 1/23, got their 60 days of WARN notice pay, their severance a bit later, and never heard another thing from their former pals and managers. No internal search. They could apply like any new person, but no opp to do so from inside during the 60 days. Did talk to two guys who actually found something during their internal search, then got canned again.
Being let go during this past year, whether you call it RIF, layoff, or kicked to the curb - there's not a lot of chance of a new opportunity in Microsoft. How many of you have rehired someone who was laid off from the company in the last year? I bet very few. It is what it is.
Apple is working off the Darwin work Jobs did on top of BSD in the ancient days when he founded NeXT.
That would be CMU Mach, rather than BSD. BSD was monolithic and Mach went to a microkernel architecture.
"I may be over-optimistic, but the big picture is that we have a huge patent portfolio, are actively competing in 5+ fields, and have a whole bunch of talented folks (most I've met, probably I'm lucky)."
"No, that's the small picture. The big picture is that MS is adrift, and still hasn't acknowledged that its macro business strategies of the last ten years have failed. Massive R&D spending has resulted in a large patent portfolio, but few innovative products and zero successful new businesses. "
The Xbox entrance was quite successful. It took on Sony and Nintendo nicely. That's a clear innovation that requires vision and to a degree, patience.
Azure will be similar I feel. SQL Server has always been a great product, nicely competing against IBM and Oracle.
Windows and Office are in "keep steady mode". They support the many failing projects (and the few like the above that succeed). It's the typical S-curve, what's new?
H1B discussion should not be off limits here. The issue people have with employing any H1Bs when there are educated, experienced US citizens available and/or being laid off from companies who then hire H1Bs is this: The purpose of this visa program is bring in expertise and education that is NOT AVAILABLE within the population of US citizens and other legally work-eligible permanent residents. If there are US workers available, H1Bs are NOT to be requested or used.
The H1B is a visa that provides temporary work status, with a beginning and an end, and it is to be requested by employers ONLY when they cannot obtain the expertise needed from US citizens and legal residents authorized to work in the US. There is a limit to how many H1B work visas can be granted each year (US gov website says 65,000 for 2010, with some field exceptions).
It just plain looks bad when companies like Microsoft bring in more people through this visa process, while not employing the educated, expert citizens and legal work-eligible permanent residents (green card).
From the US Citizens and Immigration Services website: "The H-1B visa program is used by some U.S.employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in a specialized field and a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. Typical H-1B occupations include architects, engineers, computer programmers, accountants, doctors and college professors."
H1B is for a "specialty occupation", with specific educational requirements defined at: www.uscis.gov as:
AND HERE IS THE BIGGEST POINT: You cannot use an H1B if there is a qualified US Citizen or permanent resident available.
A couple more things from the US Gov website:
Employer of an H1B must attest (as in promise, vow, and swear) that:
It has taken good faith steps to recruit U.S. workers using industry-wide standards and offering compensation that is at least as great as those offered to the H-1B nonimmigrant;
It has offered the job to any U.S. worker who applies and is equally or better qualified for the job that is intended for the H-1B nonimmigrant;
It has not “displaced” any U.S. worker employed within the period beginning 90 days prior to the filing of the H-1B petition and ending 90 days after its filing. A U.S. worker is displaced if the worker is laid off from a job that is essentially the equivalent of the job for which an H-1B nonimmigrant is sought; and
It will not place an H-1B worker to work for another employer unless it has inquired whether the other employer has displaced or will displace a U.S. worker within 90 days before or after the placement of the H-1B worker.
>> That would be CMU Mach, rather than BSD.
>> BSD was monolithic and Mach went to a
>> microkernel architecture
It's actually both. It's a modified Mach microkernel (even on the iPhone and iPod touch, BTW), with BSD userland on top.
Funny thing is, Mach was originally designed and developed by Rick Rashid, who now runs MSR. It will be quite ironic if Mach beats NT into the ground within the next 5 years.
Don't be insulting President Chavez by comparing him to Balmer.
Chavez is popularly elected by the voters. Also, it could be much worse. Look at Yahoo with Terry Semel a couple years ago. That guy took some $500M from Yahoo and destroy it in the process.
Re VLSC Crap
The entire team of Dev,Test ,Solution Managers ,Release Managers,Support should be fired for this fiasco.
But we know that many of them will be awarded with GOLD STAR for creating and then trying to resolve the issue
Very true
Just heard that Principal engineer LPO has been nominated for Gold Star for solving VLSC problem
VLSC Crap
Who was nominated the gold star award? We need to send this to the leadership team Kevin and Ballmer
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 1:09 PM by MRS
Glad there are others out there, I kind of felt like I was the only one (as MS support led me to believe). It's been 7 weeks since I've first contacted MVLS support; the past 4 years of agreements are totally gone. I'm unable to add any new agreements. I'm the admin and there is only one live ID tied to our account. The last rep asked me to send screenshots and then I was supposed to contacted by a senior support member within 24 hours. It's been 5 days since that call and e-mail.
Talk about brutal...please roll back this useless upgrade (not that the other site was any better, but at least it worked and was accurate)!!!
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 2:13 PM by Eric Ligman
If you are still having issues and wish to submit them for me to look at, please submit the information requested on my Blog post at: http://bit.ly/4EiLF6
Thank you,
Eric Ligman
# re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 7:22 AM by Chris
Its an abortion. Try to view a product key and you get errors. Navigation is a disaster. The information displayed is nonsensical.
It is the Vista of license management.
Nice work Microsoft.
Re VLSC Crap
Who was nominated the gold star award? We need to send this to the leadership team Kevin and Ballmer
Sal Mosca nominated by Rick Stover
@Re VLSC Crap
Microsoft, shame on you...rather than learning something out of VLSC, you are nominating people for GOLD Star awards.
MS should fire all the people first who worked on VLSC top to bottom. We really got all the bad name in the market and most of our VLSC customers must be completely frustrated by now.
Re VLSC Crap
Who was nominated the gold star award? We need to send this to the leadership team Kevin and Ballmer
Sal Mosca nominated by Rick Stover
Those two guys are emblematic of the lowering of hiring standards that was the hallmark of Microsoft in the boom from 1995 - 2000. They are tools who would never cut it in the product group and whose primary skills are "managing up", Powerpoint, Excel, and Scorecards. Stover is very good at putting a positive spin on things though...I can just picture him shrugging his shoulders at the failure of VLSC and justifying a gold star for someone who helped with damage control and fallout management.
@Re VLSC Crap
See what people are going to do. Can someone write to KT and Ballmer?
re: So how's your eOpen/VLSC/MVLS experience?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 4:32 PM by Justin
How soon before a class action lawsuit beings how Microsoft has our money and we have no product going on 40+ days now??
Was there a layoff thid February '10?
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