Microsoft FY11Q2 Results
A quick check from the last Quarterly Results leading up to today's Microsoft Quarterly Results:
- What's great: Kinect. We sold millions of Kinects and it's full of cool! And we have a 93% customer satisfaction rate with Windows Phone 7. Looking around, I think that's also assuming that 93% of Windows Phone 7 handsets sold are the Samsung Focus.
- What's good: our reputation is working through the bothersome-hated-defeated-spurned-ignored-renewed-respected cycle compared to Google.
- What's okay: Windows Phone 7: we sold some to non-employees and two-million licenses are in the channel. I have no idea what that means with-respect-to actually sold hardware. But it's no KIN, so... success! Yeah.
- What's really, really bad: the iPad is gnawing away our laptop market. And a new version is coming out soon.
Hungry Hungry Cannibals: reading Ms. Friar's last beat-the-hell out of Microsoft Goldman-Sachs report just about made me permanently hungry for human flesh given the repeated fixation on cannibalization. I swear, I'd look up from my print-out occasionally and longingly eye my more fit co-workers.
It's the iPad baby, and - booga booga - it's going to destroy Microsoft. Well, at least destroy Windows.
First all: sure, Microsoft leadership deserves all the head-bashing it gets for both mobile and small form-factor markets. We had the jump on these markets with inelegant, uninspired devices that never had a chance of taking off with consumers and no one was bold enough to reboot the product line without successful leadership from Apple showing us the way.
Next: our iPad-compete strategy is unspoken. For good reason. Just about any application developer at Microsoft can tell you that it's a secret wrapped in red. Most Microsoft-observers have put the pieces together and figured out our strategy could be and realize who could be on point to deliver something exceptionally cool to compete with Apple. This will certainly could be our bet-the-company chance to validate the tortoise-vs-the-hare fable.
How have our past tortoises fared? I can think of three recent late to market responses: Zune HD (iPod - remember those?), Kinect (Wii), and Windows Phone 7 (iPhone / Android). All great devices. In order for our possible iPad compete story to be a success, it has to pull a Kinect and be beyond the competition vs. a me-too or, well, me-kinda-sorta.
CEO Changes: Mr. Ballmer's respect meter in the ephemeral tech-business... news (?) world is still low. Kinect has helped, but questions linger regarding what he's doing with his leadership team given Muglia's upcoming departure. I had always remarked to folks that Bob's a survivor. His time just finally ran out. It will be intriguing to see what leadership steps in or up and what happens to Bob's current team. And who might be next. Bets? Unless HR is about to unleash something huge that's been in the making my first bet is on LisaB. Also, Craig, I'd love to know what successes you've brought to the company as of late.
In the midst of Google and Apple going through leadership changes, you've got to ask: who is on the bench to replace Mr. Ballmer? What is the Board's plan? I have to reject Ms. Foley's point of view that there is no-one that can replace Ballmer. That's a too big to fail leadership jail sentence. Perhaps the decision is that his departure immediately results in a broken up Microsoft and the presidents he is putting in place now would be quite capable of running those sister corporations. Given the convergence and consolidation that is happening internally on a number of fronts for future development, such sister corporations would be much more dependent on each other, so it's not as whacky - or dog-eat-dog cannibalistic - as it might have seemed in the past. Given that the consent decree is considered over, Microsoft self-breaking itself up will certainly help prevent penalties when the inevitable violation occurs.
From another angle: if the Sinofskyfication of the company continues (IEB now with its massive re-org complete, post-Muglia Server & Tools next?) then Mr. Sinofsky ascending over a whole Microsoft will be a moot decision.
Interesting coverage after the results:
- Amazon adds thousands more workers; Microsoft still cautious - Mr. Todd Bishop looks at the hiring trend of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Want to find a new job? Knock on Amazon or Google's door. Microsoft is pretty much a flat-line.
- Microsoft tops estimates; Kinect fuels Xbox; Windows 7 hits 300M - Mr. Todd Bishop again.
- Microsoft Sees Business Tech Spending Continuing to Rebound, Benefiting Office and Windows Ina Fried Mobilized AllThingsD - Ms. Ina Fried
- Microsoft’s Results Easily Beat Expectations paidContent - Mr. Joseph Tartakoff
- Microsoft Q2 2011 by the numbers Record $19.95B revenue, 77 cents EPS Betanews - Mr. Joe Wilcox.
- Microsoft Beats The Street, But Not By Enough To Send Stock Soaring - Mr. Matt Rosoff
- Why Microsoft Desperately Needs To Become More Acquisitive - Mr. Robin Wauters. Dude. More acquisitions? Really. aQuantive still blows my six billion dollar mind. Can someone help me remember some of the recent good acquisitions that Microsoft has made. Is it better to make none or risk some of these money vaporization deals we've done (stupid billion dollar bat).
In general, no surprise to people that Windows/Live was down and that Entertainment was up on the Kinect. Online (aka Bing aka Partner-Level-Palooza) lost over half-a-billion dollars. And gained a bit of market share.
Pulling out my crystal ball that's covered with dust along with all the other Mini implements used to write this blog (oooo, an unopened bottle of Col Solare! Score!): Microsoft product groups should feel good about WP7 and the influence Metro is having around the company. Like I said, there's a big convergence ahead of us, and it will be good to start aligning a simpler development story, both for Microsoft and its partners. The biggest obvious concern is the development path for the mobile platform compared to the development path for Windows, but even there you can squint and see on the horizon the possibility for that to be successful, too.
IE9 is great technology that yes, has a way to go to score some high compliance number across a bunch of random folk's assessment sites. Still: wow. WP7 is a modern joy to use and is slowly building an app catalog. Kinect. And a whole bunch of developers hunched over and hammering bits to create the next big "Wow." Yeah, "Wow" might be inscribed on the back of a tortoise, but sometimes... the tortoise wins in the end.
The only thing that concerns me right now is (and you're going to love this): hiring. We've got great successes that excite people about working at Microsoft, but really, how many more people are we hiring to work on Kinect? My friends and I have never been so courted by other companies. Not since 2000. And I've got to say, the culture that Ballmer and LisaB have created is really weary. It's enlightened for the mid-1980s. But if crazy stock price jumps are no longer enthusing your employees, you've got to reboot the culture.
715 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 600 of 715 Newer› Newest»Baller makes how much? The man is clearly an idiot, but is making obscene amounts of money on the backs of countless peon SDEs who comparatively are being paid in peanuts.
Sure, but give me a break. You signed an agreement to do certain work for a certain amount of money. Nothing in your employment contract says that Ballmer has to share profits with you in a way that you consider "fair."
If you don't like your agreement with Microsoft then you're free to switch to a different company. It's not like you're working in a Chicago meat packing plant in the early 1900s. Google and Facebook are paying what it takes to hire top talent. If you can't get a different job that pays better, though, you need to consider the possibility that you're getting paid what you're worth. (Or more.)
Different post:
Seriously? Are you even awake? Have you checked the number of Americans on food stamps and other government assistance? ... Capitalism has been long dead. 90K IS nothing
I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or if you live in such an insulated world that you actually believe what you're writing. Do you even know anybody who doesn't work for Microsoft? Talk about class warfare. If you're making $90k that puts you in the top ~20% of household incomes in the Seattle metro area, and that's just from one job. And you think that making more than 4 out of 5 people in Seattle is "nothing." Yes, there is a huge disparity between classes in the US but I have news for you: you land squarely in the "rich" camp. If you don't realize that, you need to reconsider your perspective.
So I just did my mandatory "M - G transition" interview. Ummm. I think I'll stay and be unhappy for now versus accept the 10 year time warp and move to Mt View.
FYI - I am not in a technical role.
Pro
- viewed as being aggressive and up-and-coming (where's the salary especially with a move to CA)
- Still viewed as a place of the "elite" (as we were once upon a time)
- you can feel a sense of "family" and sense of pride with being a G FTE
- free lunch (but it was pretty bland and boring... know your Cafe's sandwich maker/sever and you'll get hooked up every time)
Cons
- a bunch of college kids running a company (I have never seen trash overflowing onto the floors at any MS building nor have I ever see the drink coolers not look like a frat party's just happened... it was total chaos... yes its small but its a reflection of the company's image)
- no class (wow... the recruiter and two of the interviewers may be good at what they do but come on I was not coming out of college and do know BS when i see it... i already work at MS so yes I know a thing or two as well)
- somewhat lousy benefits for families (well um... we still have at least two years and nine months of good benefits I think)
- cash, cash, cash (I remember my NEO session and the HR rep said "do things right and you will build wealth at MS" it did not appear as though this was a focus at G – “at G you get free food, and free drinks and we have cool bicycles and a cool bus system and you can't find that just anywhere” ummm ok)
BTW - I am not a prima donna :)
However I have worked at other large companies before coming to MS many, many years ago and I believe that while G may work for the fresh faced grad, that within 2 to 4 years these new grads will be asking “what's next” when they decide to get married, buy a house, start a family and as I see it G is not mature enough to offer insights on these matter for their FTEs. And it will be this lack of answers for a maturing workforce that will begin to eat away at the morale of G FTEs :(
Signed
Looking elsewhere yet again
Anonymous wrote, "Welcome to the club, it only takes one bad managment chain wipe out gold stars and 6 years of quota over-achievement."
+1. I stand by my opinion that that kind of review after a management change should be an instant ticket to "permission to interview" with the bad review not visible to hiring managers, and the current manager not contactable by the hiring manager, due to the likelihood of disinformation.
As we all know, though, the reverse happens. You are marooned under the bad management chain until you are managed out or leave in disgust. Even if you do succeed in getting permission to interview, your manager will slime you to any hiring manager brave enough to consider bringing you on to his or her team.
LisaB should be releived of her position immediately. Here are some ways she has helped Microsoft. With this kind of help, she qualifies for a paycheck from Apple and Google.
She helped brew a toxic environment. The HR group is now very large with several VPs, GMs and directors. Thank you LisaB! The stack ranking review process is not sane, people are paid to put down others.
10 Steps to a Better Microsoft
I left Microsoft 6 months ago, after 14 years, to join a finance sector ISV. Microsoft has a special place in my heart, and I'd dearly love to see MS return to a preeminent position. But a lot of things need to change before that will happen, and here are 10 suggestions on what could be done:
1. Flatten the organization; insist on span of control and organizational depth metrics to GREATLY reduce the management overhead in the company.
2. Get back to basics – if you don’t write code, and you don’t sell & support products with customers, just what exactly do you do? Empower the front-line in development and sales to get on with their jobs, eliminate all but the bare minimum headquarters staff, and right-size support functions for a customer-centric, entrepreneurial organization.
3. Eliminate the curve, creating a review system which properly rewards people on their individual contribution (irrespective of what others around them are doing) and CELEBRATE TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE (which is what made Microsoft great in the first place).
4. Ditch the scorecard, with its DISASTROUS internal focus on fixing metrics. Insist that customer and employee satisfaction surveys are entirely removed from any form of scorecard metric – either you want to know what people think, or you want to create a tool to measure management’s ability to manipulate results - you cannot do both.
5. Get into the PC/tablet hardware business. Microsoft’s OEM partners, for so long a source of strength for the company, are becoming a liability as the world moves to user experiences that tightly integrate hardware & software (Xbox shows the way!)
6. Get into the desktop service delivery business. Microsoft’s outsourcing partners emerged to tackle the huge cost of operating the corporate PC desktop. Our enterprise customers will not stand this overhead in the future, and the answer is for Microsoft to remove most of these costs by engineering cloud-delivered management services. Microsoft is uniquely positioned to do this work, and to capture a huge amount of value in the process.
7. Get out of (or spin off) the Online Services business, unless there’s a convincing business plan that demonstrates real return soon.
8. Spin off the Entertainment business, returning value to long-suffering Microsoft shareholders while freeing this potentially GREAT business from the Microsoft corporate overhead.
9. Focus on the customer – get people out of the (overly) comfortable MS offices and into the customers, REALLY understanding what it’s like to be a Microsoft customer and doing something about improving things (licencing simplification anyone?)
10. Steve, you’re a great guy in many ways, but as CEO you’ve been promoted to your level of incompetence and beyond. After a decade in charge it’s time to move on, and in the name of God, take KT out the door with you. Bill, it’s time to do something – if you can spare Jeff Raikes from the Foundation, he’d get my vote.
For anyone considering a move from Microsoft, I'd say do it, given the right opportunity. The tech industry is huge and employs a lot of mediocre people. If you're at MS today, you're probably MUCH better than you realise, and likely to be highly appreciated on the outside.
Apparently Microsoft is making a "big announcement" on March 15. Hopefully it's about Ballmer leaving.
http://www.techeye.net/software/microsoft-preparing-mysterious-announcement
and
http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/home-it/45617-microsoft-to-make-major-announcement-march-15
The trade press is all agog about MSFT paying $1billion to Nokia. So what? The marketing/advertising campaign for WP7 was reportedly $500mill. So far the results of said investment have been negligible. It seems to make more sense to pay a major player double that to make some headway. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen. If it does not happen, one person who will not be accountable is SteveB. Teflon-Steve : nothing sticks.
So let's do the math. $500mill + 1billion to NOK is $1.5billion. Assuming WP7 licenses are $10 each (probably less), to break even will require sales of 150 million WP7 licenses in strictly cash terms. That would mean WP7 multiplying its market share by a large integer. Doubt that is going to happen, since Windows Mobile is outselling WP7 ...
Seriously? Are you even awake? Have you checked the number of Americans on food stamps and other government assistance? Havae you heard of a little something called inflation. Theoretically, we are capitalist society - but we are not in Kansas anymore toto. Capitalism has been long dead. 90K IS nothing, if you include rent/house/daycare/food/energy costs/clothing/dental
Not OP, but yes, seriously. Assuming you fund your 401(k) about 10k pre-tax (recommend more, but realize most people don't max it out), this leaves 80k pre-tax. The effective federal tax rate at this level is about 21%, which means about $5266 after-tax income per month. WA has no state income tax. The rentometer.com claims that $1500 is about the median rent for a 2br apt in Kirkland. The remaining $3700 should be plenty to live on, if not, you're doing something wrong. Learn to cook (rice and bread flour are cheap, and a roasting a chicken is fast and easy and provides leftovers), cut back on the non-essentials. Or, let me put this another way, I know families that live on less in the SF Bay Area, which is more expensive and has state income taxes and higher sales tax.
I gets 80K in salary bfore bonus. This is below the median household income in Redmond. I put 8% in 401 plan. I saves 10% in ESPP. I pays 7.4% fica tax and 900 in rent. I am single and pays 12000 in federal income tax. Leaves me with 45K to live on. I have no boyfriend or girlfriend. I am 26. It is not great.
I left MS 4 years ago. Got a call from an MS recruiter the other day. When I told my spouse that I was going to meet the guy she reacted worse than if I had told her I was quitting my job to become a dope dealer.
Here is a suggestion for face saving exit for Ballder: Gates announces that after a decade of "wonderful" (read dreadful) contribution to MSFT Ballder has decided that it is time to focus on philanthropy and will now head Gates Foundation as CEO. And Raikes has graciously accepted the board request to lead MSFT as CEO. I want to thank Ballder for a decade of destruction at MSFT and wish the best for Raikes as the only hope for MSFT to get back on track. BTW: this also continues with my tradition of believing in nepotism over competence except that with Raikes I am getting both nepotism AND competence for a change.
I heard from a trusted source in OSD that Bing gave most of its employees a 20% hike during the MYCD. Can someone from the Bing team confirm this?
>The Win32 "magic parameters" are there for extensibility.
Illusory, show me one API that started with 'reserved' parameters where those parameters later changed and were used for something? If anything you will show me an API that had 'reserved' parameters that were always used internally and privately for people 'in the now' and were documented eventually due to the consent decree. The idea of adding placeholder parameters for 'extensibility' is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. What are the types of most of them? INT? void*? Brilliant! How brilliantly extensible when I need some more INTs to do my job.
>f you can't write fairly complicated code on the whiteboard in the interview setting and convincingly discuss obscure topics in computer science and systems design.
They need that for Google Wave and their upcoming massive fail, I mean WIN, in the social space!! Googlez is the smartests peoplez evers!!! Are they still hanging posters begging people not to go to Facebook?
The infected core
I have followed Mini-msft – both post and comments for quite a while now. I have to admit, I don’t whole-heartedly agree with everything that is said here on blog where people pass judgment, personal vendetta or talk about firing a particular individuals. So, I’d try and stay away from all of those things in my post here and only list data for consideration.
I must also note that I have been a MS believer; I consider MS to be a large (elephant), it takes a while to slow down, turn around and then incrementally pick up speed in another direction. But once it’s running full throttle nothing can stop it. Countering the threat of Google Apps, KINECT success, partnerships with Yahoo & Nokia are a few great examples in this regard.
Mini must be a happy person now that Microsoft is tightening its belt for a while, flattening the organization, and moving to verticals in engineering – welcome move MS. But hey, what happened to all the PUMs, GMs, GPMs, Test director, Test manager who lost their current roles? Well, those who had strong connections have found jobs within the company as leads and ICs. That’s good, someone might ask – we have experienced people working in these roles. Has someone thought about how would these people do the jobs they did 10 years ago? Are they qualified to do that role? Are they motivated and passionate about that role? Is there enough scope for each one of these individuals? OR is this just a “parking spot” for them?
What does it do to people who are smart, motivated and burning their night oil? Well, they are getting the message - you can’t grow because there is no room for you to increase your scope of influence. You better find another job. Your lead is doing everything that he can and barely justifying his own title. Smoking crack, am I - small data exercise for MS FTE – what % of total PM in Windows Phone Services PM team are principle and above? Wouldn’t you be glad if you knew the background of these people as well? Let’s ask slightly different data question – how many partners does it take to run Windows Phone Services Test team?
Test leads have been Test manager for the longest part of their career and goodness me don’t understand anything about technical aspects. But so what, that doesn’t stop them from promoting someone to Senior even though the IC SDET hasn’t made a single code checkin in last 5 months (sorry can't share specifics that'll reveal my identity)
Well, shouldn’t I be complaining this to someone in my ORG. Sorry no can do – CVP seems to okay with the idea of a top-heavy org so my first stop is President. Yeah, right like that’s going to fly.
I give it a few more months then I start looking...
Since Who da'Punk has apparently retired, (not letting comments through on his blog often enough to foster discussion), are there other such blogs where discussions on Microsoft can be carried on?
Sure, you can create a blog yourself.
I created one at http://newmicrosoft.blogspot.com.
If Who da'Punk let this comment pass through (he blocked my previous attempt to post the link in comments here), go there and feel free to post the comment. I allowed unmoderated posting there, for start.
Thanks for the pointer. I'll check it out.
> Bing gave most of its employees a 20% hike during the MYCD
b.s.
Leaves me with 45K to live on. I have no boyfriend or girlfriend. I am 26. It is not great.
Actually it is pretty great. You're sad because your life isn't like Entourage, but you need to get out more and see how other people are living. Join some social groups and meet some young people in Seattle and see what you think of your "not great" salary then.
Billions of dollars of profit each quarter should be enough to pay for some nice benefits for the employees. With $18.76 Billion net income through June 2010, and $6.63 Billion net income in the last quarter, could someone please explain why the Walmartization of MSFT really truly requires cutting employee health coverage in the next couple of years? Netting anything starting with a "B" as opposed to hundreds/thousands/millions - it just really is a lot of money. Does someone have a real explanation that is justified under the numbers that keep being reported? How many million Kinnect units would we need to sell before employees could see a nice additional stock grant outside of review cycles, or something crazy like $10,000 spot bonus to everyone, just to get the economy rolling and all that? At 89,000ish employees x $10,000, that would be $890,000,000, if my high school math is holding up. Less than one billion. Which would stick the net income down not even quite as low as the prior quarter. Billions here, billions there, and when does it land in my pocket? Or if you don't want to waste actual cash in providing bonuses, how about adding up all the stolent stock grants of people who have been canned, and just divide that up amongst everyone left standing? Friend who was cut last Wednesday said he is leaving behind a mere 4500 or so shares in stock grant amounts - so let's use him as an example. Multipy that by an example 6000 employees, and we get 27,000,000 in unvested stock grant shares that MSFT was able to retain by canning 6000 people. Some had a lot more stock waiting to vest, some had less.
Subtract all the partners from the headcount, and then divide that number into the shares, and cough some up for the masses here. Or don't go to all this trouble, just pick a nice chunky number like 1,000 shares and give it on out to everyone, perhaps with an accelerated vesting schedule, or no vesting at all. My point is there should be enough cash, or enough stock that came back into the bucket, to give out some tidy amount to the employees, give the local economy a bit of a boost like the Boeing bonus money in February, and make everyone a bit happier.
Of course, all those arriving at 9:00 and leaving at 5:30, totally clogging the local streets while you bail early, you should get less. Me, I should get a lot.
And yes, I did once work somewhere where stray bonuses were handed out, like every time you did something good. It was fun. They were bought out by big corporate, so none of that goes on there anymore, so I have to live on the memory.
>> Are they still hanging posters begging people
No. A 25% raise in base pay took care of that pretty handily. People leave Google mostly for two reasons:
1. They're rich beyond belief and don't have to work anymore. This is getting rare.
2. They're not smart enough to compete with their peers. This is quite common. The raise is mostly to keep these folks around. They're still great in absolute terms, just not as great as their peers.
We may or may not win in Social or browsers or Android or whatever else, but at least we're giving it our best shot. And our best shot is an order of magnitude better than anything Microsoft is able to muster on the web or in Mobile. Not even mentioning Social, because Microsoft conceded defeat there years ago.
Where is the WP7 NoDo update? I'm pretty sure the original update was slated to be earlier in the year, but it got pushed to early March, and now to late March (http://www.examiner.com/gadgets-in-san-francisco/windows-phone-7-nodo-update-delayed-1).
Perhaps there are legitimate internal reasons for this new deadline, but why so aggressive about making empty promises in the first place? I understand the company is way behind in the mobile space, and is in desperation mode, but can it even afford gaffes such as this? This is very discouraging for me as a WP7 user, and makes me question even more Microsoft's overall mobile strategy (or whether it even has a future).
What the heck happened to Jason Kalich who was canned without explanation this week?
# This blog is nothing more than an anti-Microsoft bash fest.
Guess what happens when the official message is all rah-rah? Remember the iPhone funeral?
Asus Eee Slate weighs 2.6 lbs - exactly twice as heavy as iPad 2. Battery life? 4-5 hours vs iPad's 9-10. If that's supposed to be our cavalry, things are really bad.
# You say 'the way any sane person would write one', this implies that the team had the option of completely re-writing/re-architecting what must be massive amounts of existing code to be more WPF-ey. This seems unlikely given what I know about large scale (Microsoft) software engineering and the actual act of delivering software with fixed resources and on a given time schedule.
You miss the point, which is - why do a major rewrite to WPF in the first place, if you're going to be half-assed about it? The whole point of WPF is that it's a new, better designed UI framework that lets you write better (and less) code. So where's that better code?
Meanwhile user experience also plummeted, because WPF plainly sucks over RDP (passed as bitmap not vector... 'nuff said) compared to vanilla Win32 apps. Native theming gone also. Dozens of Connect bugs on crappy text rendering.
So: major dev effort spent on rewriting lots of things to where they are now, but resulting future-proofing (code maintainability etc) is minimal. No real benefits.
And for extra chuckles, it looks like Silverlight is now the sugar baby (WP7! rah-rah!), and WPF is getting moved onto life support sooner rather than later.
Pointing fingers and calling people idiots is left as an exercise for the reader.
"Where is the WP7 NoDo update?"
Check the WP7 blog. Oh, that's right, they aren't communicating jack shit about the status. Instead they're talking about what a busy quarter it has been, well internally of course. Externally fuck all has been happening for those stupid enough to take one more gamble on MS in mobile. And who is overseeing mobile directly? Why none other than the guy who committed to early march: Steve the incompetent ballmer.
"My point is there should be enough cash, or enough stock that came back into the bucket, to give out some tidy amount to the employees, give the local economy a bit of a boost like the Boeing bonus money in February, and make everyone a bit happier"
Take a look at what the stock has done this year, last year, or over the last eleven, and then tell me how you plan on selling your "plan" to shareholders. Because right about now I don't think they're going to be too receptive.
Re: the Xoom
Don't want to turn this into a tech-fest but I think it's significant that there's no Flash support announced for the Xoom yet.
The feeling is that Flash might well compromise the Xoom's battery life.
Microsoft is like a large ship in the ocean that is slowly taking on water. Some people on board see the leak and know that they ship will sink before it reaches shore. Wall Street are the passengers that see this happening, which is why the stock does not move despite strong revenue performance. They know that revenue alone will not stop the leak – the leak being competing in a non-PC world. A small number of employees see the leak and are leaving the company, especially with the current toxic culture. The vast majority of employees, whether they see the leak or not, refuse to acknowledge it, so they choose to ignore it thinking the ship will reach the shore and not sink. Real panic will not set in until the ship takes on enough water where high- to senior-level leaders have to make changes, which will come in headcount reductions, further benefit cuts, vendor utilization, etc. Better yet, the board will have to act because of institutional shareholder revolt, which means Ballmer must go. After the ship sinks, an outside leader will have to salvage the wreck, raise it to the surface and reposition the ship for sailing. The ship will look much different this time around though. Much smaller. Much nimbler. Much less reliant on Office and Windows. It will be much faster to compete with its faster, younger and agile competitors.
Chris Liddell is out at GM. I hope he's heading back to MSFT. B. Kevin Turner needs to go.
From a stock holder since the 1990's.
"So let's do the math. $500mill + 1billion to NOK is $1.5billion. Assuming WP7 licenses are $10 each (probably less), to break even will require sales of 150 million WP7 licenses in strictly cash terms."
LisaB should be releived of her position immediately. Here are some ways she has helped Microsoft. With this kind of help, she qualifies for a paycheck from Apple and Google.
She helped brew a toxic environment. The HR group is now very large with several VPs, GMs and directors. Thank you LisaB! The stack ranking review process is not sane, people are paid to put down others.
LisaB did not start the toxic environment. She is a product of it. It worked for her.
Instead of changing it, she just helped Steve Ballmer relabel it.
When you combine Microsoft's high-school bell curve with their "up or out" policy and their verbal gymnastics trying to avoid explaining what is really happening, it is designed to create a toxic place to work.
You have people on H1-B visas and other visas who want to stay in the U.S. for one reason or another. They are going to do what they can to stay here.
You have people who are pissed off someone is here on an H1-B visa and their friend can't get a job at Microsoft.
You have people with Ivy League degrees who think people without Ivy League degrees don't belong at Microsoft.
With Microsoft's "up or out" policy, as you age, there are fewer positions in the company for you as you move up in the org chart. It is a handy way of getting rid of older workers. Management could just say they're making room for new graduates and for others to get promoted but they don't. Instead, they try to manage people out by various methods and come up with some really comical excuses for what they put on reviews.
Microsoft's culture is set up where criticism of a product is seen as a reason to get rid of someone instead of making a better product.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck describes this "mindset" as seeing intelligence as a fixed quantity and any criticism as saying they are less intelligent.
The system at Microsoft created by Steve Ballmer has just reached a concentration of people who view the world this way that is resulting in some really bad product decisions.
Microsoft still has a lot of cash so it can try to get by on buying products (e.g Kinect) instead of developing them internally for a while.
MSFT vs AMZN 5 year chart
"So let's do the math. $500mill + 1billion to NOK is $1.5billion. Assuming WP7 licenses are $10 each (probably less), to break even will require sales of 150 million WP7 licenses in strictly cash terms."
You math makes sense. So how long will it take MSFT to sell 150 million WP7 licenses?
I don't understand why some people here are talking like Google is completely chock full of geniuses. I'll be honest, I've met some pretty stupid Googlers. Even in years past, when Google was more prestigious than it is today, a good chunk of folks I knew who went there were dumb people I wouldn't really want to work with.
Of course, that doesn't make softies smart or my own work environment any less toxic.
Had an interesting conversation with a couple of recent grads, new to the workforce. One works at Amazon. She was recommended for a position at MS, but HR didn't even notice her early graduation date. By the time they called her, she had graduated, had been hired by Amazon and was packing to move to Seattle. She said she has heard from co-workers that when she wants to have a family she should come work at MS because the maternity benefits are better. The other, a recent grad w/PhD, was recruited, interviewed and had an offer from MS. She thought it was good until she talked to her friends - who told her to keep looking. She did, and landed a much higher paying job at Google. Said the MS offer was pretty insulting when compared to what both Amazon and Google offered her. The really distressing piece of information in this conversation was that these grads, who had interned together, stay in touch and freely share advice on where they should be looking for work. MS is low on that list.
Interesting that Chris Liddell resigned from GM today.
- And you think that making more than 4 out of 5 people in Seattle is "nothing."
- Join some social groups and meet some young people in Seattle and see what you think of your "not great" salary then.
Then it’s probably better to go to Southern Sudan or Zimbabwe to get familiar with your future standard of living.
Interviews here are ridiculous, and your years at Microsoft mean absolutely nothing if you can't write fairly complicated code on the whiteboard in the interview setting and convincingly discuss obscure topics in computer science and systems design.
I personally did not find the interviews tough at all. AT ALL. I mean, my internal interviews are much, much tougher. I am under NDA to not discuss it but either the quality is going down, or I had a stellar CV that they didn't have to ask me too much ;)
I knew I was done the moment my lunch date started bad mouthing my current employer. I had to shut him up by saying that I love my current job, for once I can somewhat agree with the direction the higher mangement is taking us (as a reply to his BS about his firm's strategy) and the only reason I was there was 'coz their recruiter had cared to follow up despite my no replies for 2 months. There was another person on the table and I can swear he was like I want to work at his company. :)
Our Redmond campus is way prettier and there's is way over hyped. The colorful bicycles are cute but can I bike to work with them with the huge CA distances? No.
Will all the extra dough i make go instead to kids private school 'coz the public ones aren't good enough? Yes.
Agreed, the food was great and free but Charlie's cafe was that day dingy, the waste food bins were atrocious and reminded me of school cafeteria.
Some people were nice and some were grouchy but that's ok. We have those people everywhere. I honestly was smitten by the telephonic interviews/discussions I had. But the onsite was a different experience all together.
Now to silently wait for the recruiter's call :)
Andy Lees should have shown some f'n leadership and personally done the post on Nodo's noshow and additional delay. This is our last chance in mobile and maybe our company's future as well. Instead he hides while some lower level flunky without a scintilla of PR savvy is allowed to vomit up a pathetic response and then Shaw links to that as if it’s well done.
I hope the board is carefully monitoring this fiasco and Ballmer’s apparent lack of oversight as it unfolds.
Where is the WP7 NoDo update?
I suspect that the Jan/Feb/Mar WP7 update was a check-box on somebody's mid-year commitments. And that's why it got pushed out the door so quickly, even though most of the originally-promised enhancements had to be cut from the update. Even though it bricked a bunch of phones. But hey, it shipped... Commitment met...
Just my suspicion, based on the timing of the upgrade and the MYCD.
Chris Liddell is the person to follow - he has a nose for disaster.
Mr. Liddell had the good sense to quit MSFT and now GM. Both companies led by nincompoops who are "industry insiders". 'Poop' being the operative word in the previous sentence.
Liddell obviously clashed with SteveB and KT. Why? Common sense is my guess. Perhaps KT's preponderance for cleaning up the vomit in Aisle 14 did not sit well with Liddell. Whatever. All the best Chris, you go! Perhaps you will run BP next, without the explosions and dead marine life.
Sure, but give me a break. You signed an agreement to do certain work for a certain amount of money. Nothing in your employment contract says that Ballmer has to share profits with you in a way that you consider "fair."
If you don't like your agreement with Microsoft then you're free to switch to a different company.
Does your philosophy apply to Partners as well?
# This blog is nothing more than an anti-Microsoft bash fest.
Guess what happens when the official message is all rah-rah? Remember the iPhone funeral?
And now everybody is talking about how "NoDo" is late. I know it stands for "No Donuts." I don't know what the official story is on the name, but from an outside perspective it sounds like a jab at Google's update names. What an embarrassment that the Google-bashing update contains next to nothing and is very publicly late. And is closely following the news that Microsoft is losing mobile market share even after the big WP7 push.
Then it’s probably better to go to Southern Sudan or Zimbabwe to get familiar with your future standard of living.
Right, because making $80k-$90k and therefore being in the upper range of earners in the world is just one step away from living hand-to-mouth.
If Microsoft paid you $1M/year you'd still be whining about your salary because you'd know people with nicer vacation homes or bigger boats. Good luck with your sad, petty lives. There is no sense in trying to reason with you.
>> I personally did not find the interviews tough at all. AT ALL
Probably lucked out. But then again, you didn't mention if you got the offer or not. If you did, you should have taken it. It may look dingy to an outsider, but I can tolerate dingy for 40% more money, 80% less BS and an eye popping yearly bonus.
No curve. No Ballmer. No LisaB and her bullshit. No test teams you "must" have in India and China. No PMs. No managerial interference (there is some, but with 20 reports to a manager they can only interfere so much). On-site gym, doctor and massage. Free food (including snacks and fruit between meals). Perks out the wazoo (Nexus S was unlocked and free, _and_ there was a Christmas bonus).
You do end up working pretty hard, though. It's hard to hide here (so you might as well not try), and generally you have to work hard to not look bad compared to the guy sitting at the next desk.
But yeah, signage and office furniture leaves much to be desired, I agree with you there.
That's not to say that Microsoft doesn't have advantages of its own:
1. Microsoft has a better health plan, for the time being. This doesn't really make a difference unless you're terminally ill or have a very sick spouse or a child.
2. Microsoft has a more defined career path, at least up to and including principal. Principal would roughly map to "Senior" in Google's level structure. Promos are really hard at Google. You have to _factually_ convince a committee in Mountain View that you actually had impact and shipped stuff. And they will look at peer feedback, code, design docs, everything. Much more scrutiny. Being in level for a certain number of years does not guarantee a promo.
3. At Microsoft you don't have to work as hard. I'd even say it's more family friendly. As a matter of fact, if you end up in the right place you could work 20 hours a week and still get Exceeded consistently. I knew some folks who would not show up for weeks on end, with no negative consequences.
4. Microsoft has offices with doors you can close. For some people that's huge.
5. Microsoft is more willing to let you WFH. Google wants you to be in the office, even though your hours can be "flexible".
6. Microsoft dev tools are awesome.
7. Microsoft datacenter infrastructure is kindergarten level, and therefore much easier to understand and use, even if it's not as good.
8. More variety of work (though harder to move from team to team - at Google you just tell your manager and go).
And so on and so forth. So the balance is highly individual for everyone. I do think that on average, Google has much smarter and much more hard working employees. That's not to say that Microsoft doesn't have smart people - it does. Google just has drastically fewer dumb people, PMs, managers, VPs, "architects" who forgot what code looks like, and so on.
Choose wisely.
Xoom doesn't have Flash out of the box because Adobe didn't ship 10.2 for Android on time. But it's advertised on the official Motorola spec page:
"Adobe® Flash® 10 Player will be available as a free download from Android Market"
No official release date but rumor says within 2 weeks.
You math makes sense. So how long will it take MSFT to sell 150 million WP7 licenses?
The current run rate I understand is 2 million units shipped to carriers in 3 months. No word on how many are activated by end users. For the sake of simplicity let's pretend they are all activated and in use. So at 2 million units / qtr gives you 8 million a year ... so to sell 150 million will take just under 19 years.
The smartphone market was about 107 million globally so it will take quite a bit of pushing to get WP7 where it needs to be to make economic sense. But hey, with this management team, it doesn't have to make sense, does it? Steve will tell everyone to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain as usual and will keep 'betting the company' on mobile because it will pay off someday. Just like Xbox, which is making a little money after 10 years and 12 billion dollars.
"I hope the board is carefully monitoring this fiasco and Ballmer’s apparent lack of oversight as it unfolds."
You have GOT to be kidding -- what makes you think the board will suddenly begin exercising judgment this time after more than a decade of Ballmer's nonsense?
Seriously. Microsoft's board is, and always has been, useless.
Here's your NoDo update:
Hautala, who runs the team responsible for the phone updates, said the next update would be coming out in the latter half of March.
Microsoft confirms NoDo delay
"My point is there should be enough cash, or enough stock that came back into the bucket, to give out some tidy amount to the employees ..."
"Take a look at what the stock has done this year, last year, or over the last eleven, and then tell me how you plan on selling your "plan" to shareholders. Because right about now I don't think they're going to be too receptive." Wednesday, March 09, 2011 11:38:00 PM
Who cares? I am a stockholder, and likely so are you, so selling it to myself is pretty easy. Seriously, part of MSFT problems at this moment come from trying to tapdance to please stockholders. Focusing on how to make your stock go up, you don't pay attention to the right things. The market is fickle. My point was that if $6.63 BILLION dollars of net income in the last quarter doesn't make the anaylysts happy - what exactly will? This Walmart era of squeezing costs in order to maximize profits doesn't focus on how to get the best people to do their best work. Cost cutting - kick that out of your brain and think of purposeful spending, as in "you get what you pay for." Find and keep people who are agile and able, ready for anything. The stock price surely does suck. If you want to business school like I did, then you were taught that it's all about the stockholders, the owners of the company. I did two layers of business school, and I never did buy off on this, mainly because it is an elusive goal. Stockholders come and go, and will dump you like a hot rock when you don't fullfill their expectations. You can't please this constantly shifting phantom set of owners. I love finance, but our efforts should be about making something amazing, creating a seamless experience that will make people want to use your tools, play with the toys, and be always looking to MSFT as a trusted brand.
Stockholders are fickle, and it's a bunch of lies that this is where our attention should focus every day. I didn't buy this crap when I sat in the lecture hall listening to the prof spout it, it still isn't the thing we should strive for. Stock prices go up when their is perceived rising value, and can move this needle by raising the dividend and buying back low-priced stock. Even Hugh Hefner is taking Playboy private again, because stockholders are a greedy bunch, easily replaced with one buy and sell order set. Maybe we have the wrong stockholders.
I suggested two actions, in the face of repeatedly earning BILLIONS of dollars of net income, but I will now go with 4:
1. Pay out a special dividend to stockholders, and double the current regular dividend (currently 16 cents/share dividend rate of 2.52% on an annual basis, for a total of $0.64 (64 cents) per share. When you make BILLIONS of dollars in a quarter, paying out some is okay. Tech companies think this is the acknowledgement equivalent to announcing your own funeral,that you are no longer a young growing butt-kicking company with no need to do the dividend thing, but get over that.
2. Continue the stock buyback. Separately, partners need to buy more stock, keep their stock, get more of it off the market, as in C-level people and all partners BUY our stock instead of selling it to diversify?
3. Repeat: Pay out an additional, out of cycle, cash bonus (ex. one month's pay equiv). Say it's the "10 million units of Kinnect" celebration bonus, or whatever sounds good, but don't apologize for compensating employees.
4. Repeat: Use the stock that was "reacquired" from terminating grants of the ongoing RIF, and split that up among the people who are still here, redistribute it. If the stock rises, we will benefit. If the stock price remains stagnant or in decline, somewhat less. But all that stock went back into the company's coffers, and it is available. It doesn't COST money like a cash bonus does, and it ties you to the company's growth.
>You miss the point
No, I think you do, assuming your the OP. The comment was on the kludginess of the code. My comment was simply that it is rare that teams have the time / resources to do what they may want to do. Why the decision was made to go to WPF? Who knows, but I bet the people writing the code didn't make that decision, or do you imagine the line-level devs are making these kinds of choices?
>which is - why do a major rewrite to WPF in the first place, if you're going to be half-assed about it?
Half-assed? Really? How so?
>The whole point of WPF is that it's a new, better designed UI framework that lets you write better (and less) code. So where's that better code?
Ummm, better designed eh? You obviously haven't written much code with WPF. WPF is a UI framework. You said something about the menus being backed by COM objects. I assume that means there is a data model in place? If so how does WPF influence what that is / looks like? I am actually surprised there is even a data model backing it, most large, legacy apps don't even have that, just reams of Win32 shit code that everyone is afraid to touch (for good reason).
>Meanwhile user experience also plummeted, because WPF plainly sucks over RDP (passed as bitmap not vector... 'nuff said)
Yep, you can thank the Windows guys for that gem, there was some hack apparently done in Vista to allow primitive remoting of WPF over RDP, they then removed the hack in Win7 without actually finding an alternative way to support it. Isn't it fun when different divisions at the same company fuck each other over? This leads to major Microsoft success!!
compared to vanilla Win32 apps.
>Native theming gone also.
Ummm just looking at VS 2010 it looks like they probably had designers involved in the styling, so yeah, that would preclude your awesome system theme that you worked so hard at creating from 'showing through'.
> Dozens of Connect bugs on crappy text rendering.
Okay, so now you are just obviously a troll. Yep there were WPF text issues, WPF moved to the Windows DWrite stack during 2010 and to my knowledge there have been no more complaints about WPF text issues. But good complaint 'hey during Beta some shit wasn't done', very accurate assessment of things Sherlock!
>So: major dev effort spent on rewriting lots of things to where they are now, but resulting future-proofing (code maintainability etc) is minimal.
Future proofing? Ummm yeah, well if you have ever worked on a large, complex product (it really doesn't sound like you have) the idea of 'future proof' code is illusory. I am sure *you* think all *your* code is 'future proof', I would bet money the guy that follows you takes one look at it and says WTF?!?!?
>And for extra chuckles, it looks like Silverlight is now the sugar baby (WP7! rah-rah!), and WPF is getting moved onto life support sooner rather than later.
Perhaps, but what does that have to do with anything? Are you imagining they are going to stop supporting WPF entirely? Really? Have you seen any of the things the WPF team is doing this release cycle? If so you would understand that while a big focus is on Silverlilght only a troll could call WPF 'on life support'.
>Pointing fingers and calling people idiots is left as an exercise for the reader.
Okay, you sir are an idiot. I know you don't think so, but idiots never do.
Chris Liddell is the person to follow
Mr. Liddell had the good sense to quit MSFT and now GM.
Liddell left MSFT when it became clear to him that SteveB wasn't going to make him the next CEO. He went to GM thinking that was his ticket to the CEO title, but they also passed him by -- so he quit.
It's got nothing to do with being able to recognize impending doom. It's just his ego not getting stroked enough. That seemed pretty obvious from his outgoing comments about "being able to do more than be a CFO."
For those still pooh-poohing the iPad 2, just came back from Bellevue Square. The line for the iPad 2 stretched 3-4 lines deep around past the MS Store, past the Lego store and all the way to the other Nordstrom entrance. I'm guessing over 600 people in line. And many buying 2 or more each. That's almost $900K sales in one day from one store!
Microsoft has a more defined career path, at least up to and including principal. Principal would roughly map to "Senior" in Google's level structure.
When you say "Senior", I assume you mean "Senior Staff Engineer"? Google's progression is: "SWE 1, SWE 2, SWE 3, Senior SWE, Staff Engineer, Senior Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, Google Fellow. There is no bare "Senior" rank on the Google Engineering Ladder.
One thing that is worthwhile to mention is that while there is an expectation that a SWE levels 1-3 will eventually progress up the ranks, once you reach the rank of Senior Software Engineer, there is no expectation that you progress up the engineering ladder. There is no "up or out" policy at Google, once you hit the Senior SWE level. For some people that is the limit of their abilities; for others, they have other outside interests that they want to focus upon.
Of course, people who stay in grade won't get the larger pay increases or equity refreshes that come with continued progression up the ladder. But Google pays quite well, and for some, that's the right choice for them / natural limit of their skills/abilities. And of course, some people aren't interested in big picture engineering.
For the record, Google does do stack ranking, but there isn't a mandatory percentage of people who have to be ranked as underperforming. I've never felt unfairly ranked, so treat that as evidence that it is possible to use stack ranking in a non-dysfunctional way. :-)
Liddell left MSFT when it became clear to him that SteveB wasn't going to make him the next CEO. He went to GM thinking that was his ticket to the CEO title, but they also passed him by -- so he quit.
You are probably right. Did not Kevin Johnson, Jeff Raikes and Robbie Bach leave for the same reason? The reason there is no published succession plan AFAIK is that no-one can replace SteveB. He will not be fired and he will not leave of his own accord. So all that's left is when they carry him out of B35 boots first.
My guess is that Ballmer will hang around another 20 years. So get used to the lack of vision and the flat stock price, and most galling of all, the slide of a once-great company into total irrelevance.
The stumbles with Vista, Kin, tablets, search and mobile should have been enough to give him the old heave-ho. Not to mention a string of failed acquisitions and/or 'investments'. While the peons toil away at their "commitments" and try to get a great "contribution ranking" for a pittance in stock, Steve the Greedy is slopping away at the trough like some overfed porker. Microsoft stock, had the company been managed properly this past decade, should be worth $55-60. So SteveB's contribution has been to piss away somewhere around $200 billion in shareholder value in 10 short years.
Meanwhile let's put the boot into benefits and older employees, as the clueless execs scratch at expenses instead of making strategic decisions, and listen to the whooshing sound of competitors overtaking MSFT in every meaningful new business.
I know families that live on less in the SF Bay Area, which is more expensive and has state income taxes and higher sales tax.
I don't think you know what you are taking about. At this point in the market, Seattle is more expensive than many areas in Southern California. They can't even give away 80K tech jobs there.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/12/why-san-diego-tech-companies-cant-fill-thousands-j/
If you're making $90k that puts you in the top ~20% of household incomes in the Seattle metro area, and that's just from one job.
Wooptie do. I also advanced my career up past check-out clerk at Wall-Mart.
BTW- how many jobs am I supposed to have in your view? Ever hear of the two income trap?
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Metro+Seattle+homes+weighed+negative+equity/4278746/story.html
I will tell everyone on this blog what the real problem at MS is - clock punchers that just want to get a steady check and go home.
- Interviews here are ridiculous, and your years at Microsoft mean absolutely nothing if you can't write fairly complicated code on the whiteboard in the interview setting and convincingly discuss obscure topics in computer science and systems design.
I've never understood this place. Middle management at MSFT has become so afraid of making a bad hire, they make no hire. Our customers are the ones who suffer.
Transfering around internally has become nearly impossible. It is absolutely ridiculous that after years with the company, other managers at other teams look down on you because you didn't get some obscure data structures question.
Why sell if not sinking?
http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/789019.htm
I don't think you know what you are taking about. At this point in the market, Seattle is more expensive than many areas in Southern California. They can't even give away 80K tech jobs there.
Hey dummy, I said I know people in the SF Bay Area who make less than 80k yet manage to make it work. SF and LA are 300 miles apart, and totally different worlds. I don't claim to know anything about Southern California, nor do I care.
Besides, comparing your pay to cost of living is irrelevant. Despite what you may believe, no company has an obligation to pay you a so-called "living wage". If you feel underpaid, vote with your feet and go elsewhere. Tech jobs are hot right now, and I'm sure someone as smart and hardworking as yourself will have no problem getting multiple offers...maybe even a bidding war ;-)
Can someone explain to me why Sinofsky wants so badly to undermine .NET? I was recently told by an engineer in Windows Server that the long-term view is that Silverlight is dead, that HTML5/Javascript are the future, everything's going to run in the browser because IE9 is so good, and that languages like C++ will become the domain of the few hundred people in the world who need to write device drivers.
He flat out said that Sinofsky wants to kill the Visual Studio product and have app development done through the browser or other "Windows tools (which I've never heard of.)"
It was a casual lunch conversation, so forgive me if it's all a bit fuzzy.
Comments?
I know families that live on less in the SF Bay Area, which is more expensive and has state income taxes and higher sales tax.
I don't think you know what you are taking about. At this point in the market, Seattle is more expensive than many areas in Southern California. They can't even give away 80K tech jobs there.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/12/why-san-diego-tech-companies-cant-fill-thousands-j/
He's not talking about socal. He's talking about the Bay Area (which is nor-cal/silicon valley), which is by far more expensive (by probably 20-30% on average) than Seattle.
Re: Sinofsky wants to undermine .NET [and] kill Visual Studio
Very interesting (and frightening, at least the part about killing VS); does anyone know more, any sources of statements that support the claim that Sinofsky hates .NET and VS?
and that languages like C++ will become the domain of the few hundred people in the world who need to write device drivers.
It's "great" to see Microsoft continuing its jihad on developers.
WTF is wrong with C/C++? Most people already know it, there's a ton of code already written in it, it's portable, it's fast, etc. But of course Microsoft wants everybody to drop everything and switch to its programming paradigm du jour and makes it inconvenient or impossible to use anything else. Great.
Hey Microsoft, take a step back and ask yourselves why your flagship products are still C++/Win32? Why did Google come up with a way to run native code on Android phones and consequently see a huge boom in app development? If C++ is so horrible, why do developers love iOS so much? (Obj-C is a superset of C++.) And by the way, Google is working on a way to run native code in its browser.
Microsoft's developer story is so confusing and antagonistic that I gave up trying to follow it years ago. People ask me what the best way is to make Windows apps these days and I tell them that I literally don't know. Might as well use C++ to make Android/iOS/Mac apps that people might actually be able to find and buy anyway.
Can someone explain to me why Sinofsky wants so badly to undermine .NET? I was recently told by an engineer in Windows Server that the long-term view is that Silverlight is dead, that HTML5/Javascript are the future, everything's going to run in the browser because IE9 is so good, and that languages like C++ will become the domain of the few hundred people in the world who need to write device drivers.
He flat out said that Sinofsky wants to kill the Visual Studio product and have app development done through the browser or other "Windows tools (which I've never heard of.)"
It was a casual lunch conversation, so forgive me if it's all a bit fuzzy.
Comments?
this is what I heard as well during a casual conversation with somebody who worked in Windows.
> Can someone explain to me why Sinofsky wants so badly to undermine .NET?
"But another group within Microsoft discovered a fatal flaw in X: they didn't write it!"
http://drdobbs.com/tools/225701475
> long-term view is that Silverlight is dead, that HTML5/Javascript are the future
> Sinofsky wants to kill the Visual Studio product and have app development done through the browser or other "Windows tools"
What can I say? All our enterprise customers are going to be very happy about it. Quite possibly even more happy than they were when we told them that they can kiss all their VB6 investments goodbye, and .NET is the (backwards incompatible) future. I mean, VB5 - which was the first serious enterprise dev tool in the line - was only 5 years old; .NET is 9 years now. Clearly our customers are long tired of it and want us to come up with a new and totally different thing.
the long-term view is that Silverlight is dead
If you're serious, that would spell the end of Windows Phone 7 3rd party development, wouldn't it?
I've never understood this place. Middle management at MSFT has become so afraid of making a bad hire, they make no hire. Our customers are the ones who suffer.
Transfering around internally has become nearly impossible. It is absolutely ridiculous that after years with the company, other managers at other teams look down on you because you didn't get some obscure data structures question.
It’s because many managers at MS have no idea how to make great hires, much less any idea how to lead not-so-great hires into greatness. Often they themselves were only mediocre hires (at best), which is probably why they went into management. They can’t recognize talent. They wait for internal safe bet candidates rather than take a risk on bringing in new blood that doesn’t quite fit their idea of the team’s culture. They also look down on their contract staff and wouldn’t dream of hiring any of them.
The fact that they can afford to wait to find their perfect candidate means they were probably padding their numbers, anyway, to get the headcount, effectively keeping it away from other projects that could make better use of it. Or worse, they wait so long and get threatened with losing the headcount so they get desperate. Unfortunately they passed on the good candidates who took other offers and end up taking whoever is left.
Stock's flat, even after buy back and inflation, mobile market share declined, even after trying to buy share.. all from the windows & office cash. Bravo! Now I understand the expression 'burning money' a lot better
Can someone explain to me why Sinofsky wants so badly to undermine .NET? I was recently told by an engineer in Windows Server that the long-term view is that Silverlight is dead, that HTML5/Javascript are the future, everything's going to run in the browser because IE9 is so good, and that languages like C++ will become the domain of the few hundred people in the world who need to write device drivers.
He flat out said that Sinofsky wants to kill the Visual Studio product and have app development done through the browser or other "Windows tools (which I've never heard of.)"
It was a casual lunch conversation, so forgive me if it's all a bit fuzzy.
Comments?
Adobe is coming up with tools to convert Flash applications to HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript.
Flash to HTML5 Conversion Tool on Adobe Labs
Something Microsoft tried:
Channel9 - Mike Swanson: Adobe Illustrator to HTML5 Canvas - Under the Hood
The UI of Adobe's desktop products include a version of Webkit and can be extended with Javascript, CSS and HTML.
For creating and extending GUI applications, developers would rather reuse their Javascript, CSS and HTML skills than use the next big thing from whatever company.
> If you're serious, that would spell the end of Windows Phone 7 3rd party development, wouldn't it?
Not really, you missed the part about HTML5 being it. And the upcoming IE9 port to WP7 was already announced in public, so it all does add up.
Transfering around internally has become nearly impossible. It is absolutely ridiculous that after years with the company, other managers at other teams look down on you because you didn't get some obscure data structures question.
Yep, my team was reorged and I'd been looking for a while. I didn't pass one loop despite clearing the questions (or I'd like to think ;) ). End result? I looked outside... and G plopped in after I moved to another team.
I felt horrible at first but then it's my current system that made it so difficult. I made an honest effort to stay.
I once had a great guy interview me - he didn't ask me those typical DS questions 'coz he had faith that I can do those as I'd survived in the company for a few years. That's the time I knew that was the team...respect is always mutual :).
I still thank him today for clearing some of my design concepts thru his interview question. MSFT still has those brilliant fellows.
Agreed, the average has gone down but if you're good then the mediocre shouldn't matter, unless like a fool you start getting complacent.
But that's human nature... we get jealous from people doing better than us and complacent by looking at folks who aren't. right?:)
And so on and so forth. So the balance is highly individual for everyone. I do think that on average, Google has much smarter and much more hard working employees. That's not to say that Microsoft doesn't have smart people - it does. Google just has drastically fewer dumb people, PMs, managers, VPs, "architects" who forgot what code looks like, and so on.
Well, apparently I did make it through. I can understand the skepticism but that's what I fear - I will also start questioning everyone's ability who don't work there. Though I admit, my developer ego will get boosted, no doubt :p).
and I agree there are too many of the dumb ones around (off late, I've had encountered some atrociously dumb ones). But quite frankly, I'd rather be a smart guy than be the dumbest guy at my workplace. I know this could mean I am dumb outside but that's a reasonable compromise I'll take for a healthy work-life balance (which I feel is very acceptable in my current group). I'd like to see my kid grow (having lost precious initial years working my ass off).
I also agree that our dev tools rock. I can't imagine myself writing code in a vi editor anymore 'coz Visual Studio ROCKS! (Stop rolling your eyes, I used to be a linux programmer before and yes, I am a converted Win dev tools fan boy :).
PS: I don't know the numbers yet but unless they are arm & leg popping, I am staying.
This note is in general public interest for people who have been impacted by stealth layoffs and many more who are lined up on the chopping block. Please try and understand that you guys would have be open and fearless in sharing your experiences, and honestly it is in your responsibility to share their experiences with the outside world.
You can do so by contacting various industry analysts and reporters on MICROSOFT. I really can't name them in person in this blog but I tried to establish a contact with them and many have indicated that if they get specific information then they would certainly highlight the matter in their reporting….JUST HAVE TO GOOGLE THEM…... some of these are listed on this website: http://redmondmag.com/articles/2011/03/01/top-10-influential-microsoft-pundits.aspx...many more are active in the Seattle, WA area.
In public interest we are requesting you to please help us in gathering evidence. This is a very difficult task but we will manage to turn it around successfully.
>> I assume you mean "Senior Staff Engineer"
I mean Senior SWE. Google's Senior Staff would probably map to upper end of the Partner range at MSFT, except at Google these folks do a lot of very sophisticated coding in a lot of cases. It's not a "rest and vest" position here by any means.
Zune dead?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/microsoft-said-to-stop-releasing-new-zune-models-as-demand-ebbs.html
"Liddell left MSFT when it became clear to him that SteveB wasn't going to make him the next CEO. He went to GM thinking that was his ticket to the CEO title, but they also passed him by -- so he quit."
Liddell was never a serious contender for CEO of MS. He left when he figured out that Ballmer is fk'n useless and MS had peaked but his own reputation was still high. That's called smart career management.
He did a terrific job at GM. It just didn't lead to a CEO role. So he's leaving to find one. What's wrong with that? He was a CEO before MS and figures he has the skills to be one again, which at the right company he clearly does.
"You are probably right. Did not Kevin Johnson, Jeff Raikes and Robbie Bach leave for the same reason"
Raikes yes. Johnson no. Bach was fired, just not officially.
So SteveB's contribution has been to piss away somewhere around $200 billion in shareholder value in 10 short years.
Don't worry, he's only getting started. That was $200B destroyed while MS was still the undisputed leader in its main markets. Now that Apple (and less so Google) have disrupted that once and for all, the future decline is going to be much more rapid.
What the heck happened to Jason Kalich who was canned without explanation this week?
There is no logic to B. Kevin Turner's rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.
You should know better than to ask these kind of questions.
The only way to increase share price is to break it up into at least three companies.
Anyone else have a better idea? Pray tell.
A few months back someone made a comment "Lord! Save us from these architects". This is the proof that god exists. Principle Architect of Dynamics team has been let go. There is god after all.
> (Obj-C is a superset of C++.)
No, like C++, Obj-C is a superset of C. They were created in parallel a long time ago.
>> I don't know the numbers yet but unless they are arm & leg popping
That will depend on your scores, and how much the committees like you (there are two). Though to be honest with you, if you feel you have a good W/L balance, make enough money, feel secure in your job, and don't want to be doing something else, Microsoft is a perfectly valid option.
People are all different. I was just getting bored at MSFT, so I moved on. I figured Microsoft will always be there to fall back on. So far I don't regret it. YMMV.
And frankly, for C++ there really isn't that much of a practical difference between vi and Visual Studio since you can't run most of the code you write locally anyway and VS debugger (the most valuable part of VS) would be useless in a remote scenario (for reasons I won't go into here).
I mostly miss C#, actually. Compared to Java, C# is at least 5-7 years ahead, and Microsoft seems pretty busy pissing away this advantage.
Zune dead?
I'm sorry -- I was a bit confused, because you phrased that as if it was a question.
New devices kaput. Software services to be retained, almost certainly rebranded. But rest assured, the punchlines will live on forever.
>Any sources of statements that support the claim that Sinofsky hates .NET and VS?
I heard Sinofsky wanted to own VS but was rebuffed
Not really, you missed the part about HTML5 being it. And the upcoming IE9 port to WP7 was already announced in public, so it all does add up.
I was referring to the 3rd party app development on WP7, not web based content. It is my understanding that the 3rd party apps can only use Silverlight, and would not be easily converted to HTML5. I'm not a WP7 developer, so please enlighten me if I'm incorrect.
"The only way to increase share price is to break it up into at least three companies.
Anyone else have a better idea? Pray tell."
Sorry, that doesn't qualify as an idea. It's more like a brain fart.
"You can do so by contacting various industry analysts and reporters on MICROSOFT. I really can't name them in person in this blog but I tried to establish a contact with them and many have indicated that if they get specific information then they would certainly highlight the matter in their reporting….JUST HAVE TO GOOGLE THEM…... some of these are listed on this website: http://redmondmag.com/articles/2011/03/01/top-10-influential-microsoft-pundits.aspx...many more are active in the Seattle, WA area.
In public interest we are requesting you to please help us in gathering evidence. This is a very difficult task but we will manage to turn it around successfully."
Shut it, troll. As if reporters care about the occasional layoffs at Microsoft as anything other than a one-sentence blurb in relation to the bottom line -- you really need to stop thinking that everything going on in your own life is newsworthy.
For stealth layoff reporting from above, here's one more blog where you can give a feedback:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/
There has been an overwhelming response so far and we thank you for that but please....please with folded hands....please continue to send us information, we continue to look forward to receive the same.
Thanks
Is this DYNAMICS PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT DUDE who was let go from FROM MCS? Their job is just fart at client site, talk non sense and get by on the day.
Later when the account is actually executed, they put in millions of man hours to deliver, some don't even get their utilization but the PRICIPLE ARCHITECT HAS WON ALLL THE WAY HANDS DOWN BECAUE HE SOLD, BY THEN THE P/L DOESN'T MATTER.
GOD BLESS DYNAMICS MCS.
So the big breathy announcement is that the Zune is dead.
"And Raikes has graciously accepted the board request to lead MSFT as CEO. I want to thank Ballder for a decade of destruction at MSFT and wish the best for Raikes as the only hope for MSFT to get back on track. BTW: this also continues with my tradition of believing in nepotism over competence except that with Raikes I am getting both nepotism AND competence for a change."
Raikes is more competent than Ballmer but that’s hardly sufficient. MS’s next CEO needs to be able to out think and out compete Apple and Google, among others, something that Ballmer has demonstrated he’s totally incapable of. Is Raikes that guy? I’m not convinced. How did his CRM dream work out?
Raikes might have been able to avoid the current mess had he been appointed CEO five years ago. But avoiding a mess isn’t the same skill set as recovering from one, especially now that Apple and Google are so strong, so well positioned, and have so much momentum. And why would he want to take over just as growth ends and declines ensue? That’s risky for his credibility; he could end up sharing the blame or even owning it. I suspect that like many he’d prefer to take over once the full extent of the failure has been established and blame assigned (but before the company is completely unrecoverable).
You also have to ask yourself why shareholders would want another unaccountable billionaire Gates protégé after experiencing the Ballmer years. My opinion, but I think they’d likely feel better about someone who comes from outside, who doesn’t owe primary allegiance to Bill, and who isn’t so wealthy that salary and bonuses effectively become useless tools to reward and motivate desired behavior or alter undesired.
"Sure, but give me a break. You signed an agreement to do certain work for a certain amount of money. Nothing in your employment contract says that Ballmer has to share profits with you in a way that you consider "fair."
If you don't like your agreement with Microsoft then you're free to switch to a different company."
+1
Too many MS employees have inflated opinions of their own value.
Hey Andy, Steve? Great job here. Really.
"It’s still early days in the life of Windows Phone 7, and none of these update troubles are in themselves fatal. But the communication has been abysmal. It has been consistently reactive, patronizing, and so laden with PR wording that it tells you next to nothing anyway. It’s better than silence, but only just, and it’s no wonder that the community feels short-changed by it."
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/carriers-not-your-customers/3/
Please try and understand that you guys would have be open and fearless in sharing your experiences, and honestly it is in your responsibility to share their experiences with the outside world.
The problem is, for many who have been laid off, part of "the deal" was a contract stating they would neither speak against MSFT nor bring a lawsuit. It makes it tough to be 'honest', let alone 'fearless'. As for 'responsibility', what is the price of breaking a contract one signed, even if it was signed when you were in great emotional distress?
Now, *I* would gladly speak about my husband's experiences, which were grievous, cruel, unnecessary, and involved a lot of lies on the part of MSFT. *I* didn't sign the contract, you see. But I might not get the details right.
I'd like to see a lot of people who have wound up with psychological or physical illness as a result of the stress during the 'managing out' year(s) hand their medical records over to a lawyer, though. The mountain of evidence that MSFT is deliberately harming people as a part of the process of proving them unfit to work, would be very interesting to see.
Great response to MS's latest Zune is dead non-denial denial"
"I agree that this is the bigger issue here, one which seems to plague Microsoft over and over again. Sure, "anything but an official announcement is unsubstantiated conjecture." That's fine. So where, then, are the official announcements addressing these kinds of rumors head-on? You know, the ones made with clarity, speed, and forthrightness, directly addressing consumer concerns and eschewing hazy marketspeak and ad copy regurgitation?
Dave matter-of-factly states that "NO information about our future plans, no matter what the incarnation, has been shared." -- How does Microsoft not see that as a problem? When has gingerly sidestepping a groundswell of unsubstantiated conjecture ever succeeded in squashing it? Honestly, Microsoft's PR management sucks."
Indeed.
Wow...Bernardo Caldas over in Windows Planning just made Partner. If OHI numbers were like golf scores, maybe I could see it. Sometimes I wonder what in the hell Windows Management is doing.
- Too many MS employees have inflated opinions of their own value.
So my attitude is let two decades walk out the door and replace me with Gen Y for more money. Have any kids? You will quickly get to learn all about inflated opinions on self-worth.
::rolls eyes::
Compared to Java, C# is at least 5-7 years ahead, and Microsoft seems pretty busy pissing away this advantage.
Microsoft management not understanding its own competitive advantages? So it ain't so!!!
I don't even take for granted that management can make good choices about our consumer facing products, let alone our developer story.
Nice TPS reports..
;)
"I mean Senior SWE. Google's Senior Staff would probably map to upper end of the Partner range at MSFT, except at Google these folks do a lot of very sophisticated coding in a lot of cases. It's not a "rest and vest" position here by any means."
Hahahaha. Yeah, right.
> I was referring to the 3rd party app development on WP7, not web based content. It is my understanding that the 3rd party apps can only use Silverlight, and would not be easily converted to HTML5. I'm not a WP7 developer, so please enlighten me if I'm incorrect.
What I mean is that IE9 engine could be used for the "all new and shiny" HTML5 mobile apps. While Silverlight is retained in life support mode for back compat, same as WinForms on desktop. It's not like we're strangers to deprecating APIs shortly after introduction. And, really, how many useful apps are there on WP7?
This week is the 25th anniversary of the MSFT IPO and time to review how the stock has done under the leadership of Gates and Ballmer. Its obvious Gates did great. It's true that Ballmer took the lead at the dot-com bust, and the economy is bad now, but 11 years is enough time to average out both of these factors and AAPL has done very well during the same period. Ballmer has said he doesn’t control the stock price. True, if we’re talking about directly, but does the leadership ultimately influence the stock price?
http://www.stockonyourwatch.com/ shows how MSFT and AAPL have performed under each leader. The relationship between Jobs and Sculley is eerily similar to Gates and Ballmer. Should Ballmer take a hint from Sculley?
"For stealth layoff reporting from above, here's one more blog where you can give a feedback:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/
There has been an overwhelming response so far and we thank you for that but please....please with folded hands....please continue to send us information, we continue to look forward to receive the same.
Thanks"
You people really need to stop with the mysterious "we".
If you actually look at the blog you linked to, you'll see that the first entry today is a big fat headline from Forbes stating that Microsoft has just been voted one of the most ethical companies in the world.
Nobody other than those who have been laid off actually cares about the layoffs, and nobody other than those who have been laid-off thinks there's a super-secret conspiracy.
Move on, please.
As if reporters care about the occasional layoffs at Microsoft as anything other than a one-sentence blurb in relation to the bottom line -- you really need to stop thinking that everything going on in your own life is newsworthy.
Gee, you must mean all those people on Facebook who feel compelled to post what they had for lunch or what airline counter they just checked in?
Face it, narcissism is the new black. Everyone is awesome and newsworthy.
I was kind of holding out a glimmer of hope that MS would cover the cost, or at least part of the cost, of the upcoming 520 bridge toll. I see today that they are not. So that's potentially up to $7 per day that I pay out of my own pocket to get to Redmond and back. That's a significant amount over the course of a year. Yes, I can take the Connector or Metro, or drive around to I-90, but I fairly often plan my errands around my commute so I don't have to make separate trips for the errands, and unless the Connector or Metro are willing to take some detours to accomodate my personal schedule, those just aren't options for me much of the time.
This additional cost, along with the future costs that I'll have to pay when the health benefits change, add up to a significant cut in pay. Shocking that they'd do this, particularly when Amazon, Facebook, Google, and a slew of startups are here on the Seattle side (and hiring) where I don't have to cross the bridge.
It's actually less about the $7/day and more about the overall message. The "old" Microsoft of the 1990's would have simply covered the cost for employees without even thinking about it (and probably would have had a campus-wide "let the tolls begin!" party with beer, food and a band). Today, they push the entire cost onto employees under the guise of keeping a green and carbon-neutral footprint blah blah blah. No one does "penny wise and pound foolish" as stunningly well as Microsoft...
Dave matter-of-factly states that "NO information about our future plans, no matter what the incarnation, has been shared." -- How does Microsoft not see that as a problem? When has gingerly sidestepping a groundswell of unsubstantiated conjecture ever succeeded in squashing it? Honestly, Microsoft's PR management sucks."
Our PR sucks. It will continue to suck as long as we keep making fools of ourselves and PR has to keep scrambling around for excuses for our suckitude.
Before Bing, our marketing sucked. And Bing's admittedly great marketing hasn't seemed to inspire the marketing that came after it. Bing is our one -- the only -- example of a sustained, good marketing campaign, because it was a hit right off the bat.
Zune marketing failed because it wasn't stuck with -- too many of what Charlie Sheen would call "trolls" didn't get it initially, so it was abandoned for some marketing strategies that were, to put it plainly, some of the worst campaigns I'd ever seen. A financial expert talking about music? Are you kidding me? How did that get past the brainstorming session? What do you Zune guys think you're dealing with? That killed Zune. That was an embarrassment of cosmic proportions.
The "cloud" campaign is starting to feel old too. There is no attempt to connect to the everyday consumer. There is no attempt to understand the pulse of the real, amaze-me-now, show-me-the-innovation-and-make-it-easy-for-me person on the street.
We are old. We are propping up a dead brand called "Microsoft." We hedge our bets. We look indecisive to even the most basic of tech consumers. We keep saying "Me, too!" We don't say "We did it first!"
That's our problem. I have no idea who to blame that on. But Good Lord, our marketing and PR are the laughingstock of the business, and that will not get better anytime soon.
Jesus.
Question for anyone who would care to answer:
I've been getting lots of e-mails from various recruiters in the area, including Amazon and Google. Especially from the latter two, multiple contacts have been made.
Surprisingly enough, I'm currently happy where I am and no immediate plans to leave, but I know things can turn to hell quickly with a re-org or what not.
My question is, would it be a good idea to reply back to these recruiters with a simple message or should I leave it alone? I figured a short "thanks but not planning to leave at this time" might be appropriate, I'm not sure.
What I mean is that IE9 engine could be used for the "all new and shiny" HTML5 mobile apps. While Silverlight is retained in life support mode for back compat, same as WinForms on desktop. It's not like we're strangers to deprecating APIs shortly after introduction. And, really, how many useful apps are there on WP7?
I hope this was meant ironically, but it's hard to tell. Microsoft is full of PMs who are eager to admit their own suckyness. "Oh yeah, we'll probably get it completely wrong for the first few milestones, we'll just get customer feedback and redesign accordingly, live and learn, who doesn't make mistakes, blah blah blah." As if getting something right on the first try is something to be ashamed of.
@"I was kind of holding out a glimmer of hope that MS would cover the cost, or at least part of the cost, of the upcoming 520 bridge toll"
Well, Microsoft is part of the regional council dedicated to reducing single-driver car trips, so of course that would not happen.
"I was kind of holding out a glimmer of hope that MS would cover the cost, or at least part of the cost, of the upcoming 520 bridge toll. I see today that they are not. So that's potentially up to $7 per day that I pay out of my own pocket to get to Redmond and back. "
What an entitled little brat. Ohhh...gas prices are up a dollar, I want Microsoft to pay me to make up the difference. YOU chose to live where you live. It is YOU that bears the cost to get to work. If it costs YOU too much to commute, move or use one of the many subsidized options that are available to YOU.
@"I was kind of holding out a glimmer of hope that MS would cover the cost, or at least part of the cost, of the upcoming 520 bridge toll"
I think any covering of this cost would be extremely unfair. $7 per work day works out to a $2500 subsidy.
Would this subsidy go to all employees who choose to live in Seattle? Would it only go to those Seattleites who choose a single-occupancy commutes to work? How would either of these choices be fair? How do we explain to an employee that lives close to work or carpools or uses public transit that they are missing out on a $2500 raise?
How would either of these choices align with MSFT's interests?
MSFT should focus on ensuring the right people are retained and incented to do their best work. I don't know of any evidence that Seattle-dwellers or single-drivers are a population that deserves extra incentives to work at Microsoft. And as another commenter mentioned, MSFT is clearly aligned with trying to reduce single-driver commutes (as much as possible given our suburban location).
Finally, there are lots of factors that make certain choices of where to live more expensive than others. Why subsidize this one, instead of subsidizing higher heating costs, or gas costs, or anything else that employees face?
Of course the answer is we should not subsidize any of this, since all of these things are within the control of the employee, and there is no way to satisfy every special interest that feels that their lifestyle being more expensive is suddenly the company's problem.
"Question for anyone who would care to answer:
I've been getting lots of e-mails from various recruiters in the area, including Amazon and Google. Especially from the latter two, multiple contacts have been made.
Surprisingly enough, I'm currently happy where I am and no immediate plans to leave, but I know things can turn to hell quickly with a re-org or what not.
My question is, would it be a good idea to reply back to these recruiters with a simple message or should I leave it alone? I figured a short "thanks but not planning to leave at this time" might be appropriate, I'm not sure."
You're smart enough to be courted by top-tier companies, but not smart enough to know if you should reply back to a recruiter who's fishing for you?
I hope nobody answers this question for you, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point of your post anyway.
And yes, I did once work somewhere where stray bonuses were handed out, like every time you did something good. It was fun. They were bought out by big corporate, so none of that goes on there anymore, so I have to live on the memory.
Do you work for Microsoft? If so, you are working for another one of those companies. It has less to do with whether a company is "too corporate", and more to do with whether you're working anywhere near a highly leveled manager who feels empowered to recognize it. Hint: such managers do good things for one's career prospects at Microsoft, so if you care about that, find one!
At Microsoft, this didn't end with the dot com days. It continued for years after that. It applied to blue badges in the normal rank and file, not just high level staff at or near the partner level.
Even although this practice wasn't widespread and wasn't discussed as openly as the non secrets of the top 20%, field compensation plans, the SPSA and gold stars, it still went on. It could happen often enough within a high-performing team that eventually the team was not surprised to hear of another significant windfall in the next paycheck.
And frankly, for C++ there really isn't that much of a practical difference between vi and Visual Studio since you can't run most of the code you write locally anyway and VS debugger (the most valuable part of VS) would be useless in a remote scenario (for reasons I won't go into here).
I mostly miss C#, actually. Compared to Java, C# is at least 5-7 years ahead, and Microsoft seems pretty busy pissing away this advantage
I actually do get to use VS's debuggers' goodness. Gosh! it makes me soo much more productive. I am a C++ fan but can do work in C# in probably half the time. but I work on low level OS stuff, so it's C and C++ and a bit of assembly.
I am staying. Maybe my scores weren't good enough or maybe I am scared/complacent or my expectations were sky high or some other random excuse. I have a huge (maybe it's medium by goog's standard but big enough for me) feature with even bigger visibility, so things are exciting here, for now. Agree, I come across some BS and politics but I think I have a decent deal going on here so far.
A part of me actually wants to go out and explore the other side but relocations, visa status, etc is making me do otherwise.
Like I said in my earlier post, I was honestly very smitten by the telephonic interviews (which were like conversations) but onsite folks appeared grouchy and high-headed (not all though, my first interviewer was excited and proud of what he was doing, not just because he was at the goog).
Maybe I'll regret it couple of years down the road, maybe I won't. But for now, MSFT I am staying
On the comment: "....Face it, narcissism is the new black. Everyone is awesome and newsworthy." from above.
Well you are obviously in a state of denial for your own selfish reasons. That's exactly been the problem for which this great institution didn't innovate in the past few years....WE LET GO PEOPLE...WITH THEM WE ALSO LET GO GREAT VISIONARIES WHO CONCEIVED THE TABLETS....JUST IMAGINE WHERE WOULD HAVE BEEN TODAY BUT FOR SUCH STATES OF DENIALS.
"I've been getting lots of e-mails from various recruiters in the area, including Amazon and Google. Especially from the latter two, multiple contacts have been made."
If you are up to senior, it is worth trying. You literally have nothing to lose, can probably get a better pay for a while, and then even get back at Microsoft later if you want.
The same doesn't work for principal up. After level 65 neither Amazon or Google will give you a better package, unless you aren't hired by merits but due to "friendship". And worse: you will have to work, something you probably didn't do since moving up from senior!
MYCD under perform and group change options
I was told during MYCD that I am under perform.
and thinking of changing group. Do i have any restrictions to make change to a different group?
Thx
I was kind of holding out a glimmer of hope that MS would cover the cost, or at least part of the cost, of the upcoming 520 bridge toll. I see today that they are not.
Why on earth should MS or any company pay for your tolls? You already have the option to get a free ride on a company bus, but as that is not 'convenient' for your 'errands' you drive.
The "old Microsoft of the 1990s" ,that you claim would have paid up immediately, would not have tolerated people like you - whiny, coddled, entitlement-obsessed ninnies.
I haven't been laid off and I and many people do care. Just because it's not my butt yet, it doesn't mean I don't have to care.
I am so damn busy writing test cases every day and I am no good at office politics so I guess I know what's coming.
@MS won't pay for my GTG pass
Seriously? Oh my god the Connector won't detour for me unlike a taxi so they should pay for my pass since I need to run errands?!
As an FTE who also lives in Seattle, I'm embarresed by this sense of entitlement. Never mind you have time for errands on a work day!
Mini has either moved up the ladder or is about to move up the ladder. I dont see why else he is going to stay silent in view of the recent developments.
People whining here should grow a pair and deal with their problems. Either stand up for yourself in the current position, move to a different group or find a job at a different company or find a different career.
The truth of the matter is that there is a certain amount of enthusiam is needed to make ideas come into fruition. Miserable people make others miserable as well, leading to teams failing or falling short.
Sometimes enthusiastic and productive people get screwed. Sometimes the miserable people are managers. This seems to be happening more and more often inside M, the primary cause being walmartization of budget and compensation.
No need to associate personal emotions with this nonsense.. put up or move on. It business, its not personal.
I think Microsoft's reputation could be much bigger if you normally would give out books. The success of Microsoft. Technical phylogeny, etc. Apple has done this. http://www.konyv-konyvek.hu/book_images/80a/999636080a.jpg
Why on earth should MS or any company pay for your tolls? You already have the option to get a free ride on a company bus, but as that is not 'convenient' for your 'errands' you drive.
Wow. Has this discussion ever come full circle!
Lets step back for a moment here and get the facts straight. Microsoft created the traffic problem when they decided to build a company town in Redmond, WA. My take is they should be the ones to deal with their mess. Why should the American tax payer be on the hook once again?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2008857919_microsoftbridge14.html
When Wall Mart comes in or a developer punches in a mini city - guess what - they have to pay for the infrastructure required to solve the problems they create.
Now here is where we are at. Microsoft has chosen to dodge taxes down in Nevada, they got Delbane installed recently to head the state department of revenue. The result? One more big multi national corporation exploiting tax breaks, compromising the integrity of our government, not paying their fair share, and pushing the tax burden back on to the state, and in turn the tax payer - you.
Now our dysfunctional state is saying, well- we also are corrupt and screwed around for 17 years and pissed away 400 million on consultants and need mo-money.
So- here is where we are at people. If MS gives you the $5 toll, or a bus ride, or whatever - they are really just giving the money back to the state anyway for money they owed the taxpayers but never paid.
Here is my suggestion. Quit screwing around with all these 'benefits' that polarize the employee base - and pay everyone a decent wage so they can take a bus or put gas in their car or pay the toll or whatever they need to do to get to work in the morning, and be done with it.
I have used the WP7 phone and found it better than some bigger named phones on sale today.
On the comment: "....Face it, narcissism is the new black. Everyone is awesome and newsworthy." from above.
Well you are obviously in a state of denial for your own selfish reasons. That's exactly been the problem for which this great institution didn't innovate in the past few years....WE LET GO PEOPLE...WITH THEM WE ALSO LET GO GREAT VISIONARIES WHO CONCEIVED THE TABLETS....JUST IMAGINE WHERE WOULD HAVE BEEN TODAY BUT FOR SUCH STATES OF DENIALS.
Do yourself a favor and go to dictionary.com and look up "irony" and "sarcasm". Then reread my post.
If that is too much trouble click this http://lmgtfy.com/?q=irony.
"Ballmer has said he doesn’t control the stock price. True, if we’re talking about directly, but does the leadership ultimately influence the stock price?"
Of course they do. Leadership determines the strategy, including what to invest in and what not to. When those don’t pay off, as most of Steve’s haven’t, that directly impacts confidence, EPS, and the stock price. Did investors misjudge iPhone and then take four years to mount a botched and so far unsuccessful response? No, Steve did. Did they learn nothing from that and then turn around and make the same mistake with tablets? No, Steve did.
When investors looks to where future growth is going to come from as Windows and Office revenue and profits erode, they see what Steve has created over the last eleven years at a cost of more than $100B in direct and R&D investment: a gaming business that lacks the scale and profitability to contribute in a significant way. A mobile business that isn't a profit center and probably never will be. A search business that has the potential to contribute but in which MS is unique among leading worldwide search players in that it can’t make money at it (and is losing $2B a year). And finally a "cloud" business that will be challenged just to replace the profit lost from on premise sales as enterprise migration to the cloud accelerates.
Forget the stock, it will continue to decline. iPad assured that. What bugs me is that the board doesn’t even hold Steve accountable operationally. Look at the WP7. This was arguably one of the company’s most important launches ever. It was supported by a $500M marketing budget. What happened? Widespread hardware availability at launch with not a single best in class phone. Services that even five months later still aren’t working for a majority of customers outside the US. A disastrous pre update that failed for 10% of customers and resulted in bricked phones for too many. And now a further delayed first update. Five months without a single real update on a platform that arrived deficient and buggy and is competing against Apple and Google? Zero proactive communication or transparency from the group? That's f’n ridiculous.
This is all taking place with Steve already under “rebuke” from the board for not being more successful in mobile and tablets, and with Lees reporting to him *directly*. So how can the board ignore these mistakes? We’re not talking about advanced strategies needed to win against top companies like Apple and Google. These are business basics, like making sure your partners have inventory before releasing, doing timely updates that enhance the platform and don’t brick it, and maintaining steady communication with customers.
"I was told during MYCD that I am under perform.
and thinking of changing group. Do i have any restrictions to make change to a different group?"
You're pretty much stuck. You cannot change groups as an A or U unless you have some really high up connections that will make a strong case for hiring you into their group. If you genuinely feel that you have brain talent and have been shafted, why stay at MSFT? Google, Amazon, and RIM are hiring and are looking for smart people. If you are an A or U due to poor work quality, listen with an open heart what your colleagues have to say and work to change yourself.
"The truth of the matter is that there is a certain amount of enthusiam is needed to make ideas come into fruition."
"No need to associate personal emotions with this nonsense.. put up or move on. It business, its not personal."
How much more enthusiatic would you have to be to add spell check to IE9? Maybe Microsoft should move to Nevada where they recognize their software licensing revenue so the shiny happy people prioritizing features can get more sun.
When someone says that it isn't personal, it sounds like they are bragging about having contempt for everyone equally - psychopaths as role models.
Disclaimer: I used to work for Microsoft and really liked it. I left about five years ago and now I use several Apple products as well as Google search but that doesn't make me a Microsoft hater. I like the company, I use some of its and I'm also a shareholder.
I've never understood all of the Microsoft hate until I was part of the great Hotmail 2011 lock out. Now I get it.
I have used my Hotmail account for years so I have a lot of information in my account that's important to me. At one point I noticed the enormous amount of spam I was receiving so I did all that Microsoft suggested I do, I restricted my security and deleted all my contacts. I am a former Microsoft employee so didn't notice that my recovery email was my old msft.com address as well as mobile phone.
One morning I woke up and they'd locked me out of my account. I filled out all of the information including the names of several folders and email address names and subject lines. They wrote back and said they needed more information. So I provided that and a second time, they let me know I needed more information - how about the name of an IM contact? I didn't have those because a month earlier I was encouraged to delete all of the contacts.
I went back and forth (never got to speak to a live representative) and they finally said "We're not going to help you anymore. We recommend you opening another account."
I have my daughter's emails stored there. My wife's emails that she sent to me who recently passed away from cancer. I begged them to let me back in so I could once again get those files and then they could just delete the whole thing and it was like a machine was answering back on the other end. They just kept repeating "You have not provided sufficient information." I guess my dead wife's email address isn't sufficient enough for Microsoft.
I'm sure I'll get comments that this was ultimately, my responsibility. That I needed to make sure my recovery information was accurate. I don't disagree with the need for updated information. But there's a point where you come up with solutions beyond that if you want to keep your customers.
In short, I've not wanted to believe these stories. I've wanted to stay loyal to the company I really liked working for and believed in. Now they are so out of touch with just normal people, they can't tell a guy who's trying to get to his dead wife's emails so he can remember some of the last things she said when she wasn't sick. It's one thing to just close your customer's account when we've done nothing wrong - I'm not responsible for your lack of ability to control the spammers. YOU are responsible for that. And you're punishing the people who want to stay your customer.
There is just no way I will ever use a Microsoft product again. When you were a monopoly, it was easy to pull this stuff, no one had anywhere to go. But the hubris you've demonstrated by locking thousands of us out of our accounts and then forcing us to prove ourselves is really stunning. Have you looked around? People are leaving your products in droves. Wake up Microsoft, things like this worked when people didn't have any options. Your absolute lack of customer care in these scenarios - your implication that it's somehow our fault that your Hotmail security failed? It's appalling and for the first time I begrudgingly and going to admit - people are right about you. You really don't care. Keep fighting about your paycheck and moving into cubes. I'm packing up and moving to Google docs where I never have to deal with you again.
You're smart enough to be courted by top-tier companies, but not smart enough to know if you should reply back to a recruiter who's fishing for you?
I hope nobody answers this question for you, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point of your post anyway.
I'm not sure what you're saying here, or why you're being an ass.
FWIW, the first time I was being recruited was out of college back '98, right as the dotcom boom was getting underway. I picked Microsoft, and have been here ever since. Therefore, I have not dealt with a recruiter for the past 13 years. I honestly do not know the proper protocol here.
Earlier this year, I finally started having some thought about what life outside Microsoft would be like. So, I put up a simple profile on LinkedIn, and next thing you know, I'm getting e-mails left and right. For the record, I'm accomplished Senior SDE who has subject matter expertise in a couple of areas, so maybe that's why they're coming after me.
As I said in my earlier post, I'm currently happy at Microsoft, but nothing is etched in stone. So I ask again, what is the proper procedure in dealing with recruiters?
"I was told during MYCD that I am under perform.
and thinking of changing group. Do i have any restrictions to make change to a different group?"
Unless you've been told that you can't look elsewhere in the company then you still can. Though it can get to the point where they tell you that you can't. However I highly recommend you look for jobs outside the company as well, because most hiring managers won't risk hiring someone who is rated as underperform.
I was told during MYCD that I am under perform.
and thinking of changing group. Do i have any restrictions to make change to a different group?
Well the hiring manager will check your review rating. So your chances of changing teams are low.
i really hate to burst the anti microsoft and pro apple ppl who read these blogs bubble.. (of which im neither) but the ipad is the end of windows?????? lol just like the kinect, the ipad is a gimmick... its more of a fashion statement then actual plausible hardware...
"I think Microsoft's reputation could be much bigger if you normally would give out books. The success of Microsoft. Technical phylogeny, etc. Apple has done this. http://www.konyv-konyvek.hu/book_images/80a/999636080a.jpg"
Yes, clearly the distribution of self-referential, navel-gazing books is the winning strategy for our company...
::facepalm::
Well you are obviously in a state of denial for your own selfish reasons. That's exactly been the problem for which this great institution didn't innovate in the past few years....WE LET GO PEOPLE...WITH THEM WE ALSO LET GO GREAT VISIONARIES WHO CONCEIVED THE TABLETS....JUST IMAGINE WHERE WOULD HAVE BEEN TODAY BUT FOR SUCH STATES OF DENIALS.
You have no idea what you're talking about. The tablet work was done a long time ago in this company and it didn't get to market. Why? We killed our own innovation through inner group fights. One of the people who worked on the early tablets is still here.
tired of this company ... doing my own stealth development and soon after sept own startup ... this company is killing my passion.
Today we restarted the previously botched Nodo update. Given all the negative feedback about lack of communication and transparency, you'd assume that someone in this group (perhaps Eric Hautala of the belated “this is why the update was delayed” fame) would make an official statement letting people know and setting expectations for when users will see it. Instead there’s nothing on either the Windows Phone blog or the Window Phone site, unless you go through several nested layers on the latter where you’ll eventually find the first official confirmation of what’s included but nothing else.
Meanwhile some carriers, notably Telus, are telling their customers it won’t start for them until the 29th and will take up to four weeks due to MS’s phased approach.
As this continued fiasco unfolds, I'm left wondering:
1) Why hasn't Andy been fired?
2) What possible excuse will the board dream up for not firing Steve since he's meant to be directly managing Andy and ensuring the success of WP7?
Heads up that your friendly executives are in Washington this week lobbying your politicians that they need more H1B's so they can lower your wages.
Sound advice would be to write your congressman and let them know that your greedy exectives are full of crap.
Roz Ho demoted!
Recently Microsoft erased two profiles from its Executive profiles site.
Corporate Vice President Roz Ho, the former head of the Premium Mobile Experiences team (and one of the Microsoft execs most closely identified with the failed Kin phone effort), is no longer featured on the bio site. (In fact, Ho’s profile has been pretty thoroughly removed from search-engine caches, as well.)
....
Last I heard, Ho is now part of the Microsoft Mediaroom (and maybe the Orapa Mediaroom Next) teams.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/do-disappearing-microsoft-executive-bios-equal-demotions/8985
Word on the street for MSIT: JasonK was fired due to a number of HR violations including inappropriate relationships, extremely poor general performance, and a number of high-visibility F-ups in 2010. It's nice to see some accountability finally being demanded in MSIT. Expect more this year. Smart money's on HP and his crew of impotent ivory tower architects.
You guys who bitch about mini not updating the blog: you ever wondered that it might be because IT IS TOO LATE TO SAVE MICROSOFT. Why would he bother? Honestly, what is left to comment on? What is the point? What is left to save? We are coasting on our monopoly. Period. End. Of. Story. It has been this way for absolutely years now. Those of you who still want to change the world: google, facebook, and amazon are all at your doorstep doing amazing things. Really, I'm not kidding. Have you seen EC2? Have you seen Facebook Connect? God damn the potential amazes me. Stop being so dissapointed all the time. Enjoy your work life balance, benefits, and job safety. I really don't understand what you expect beyond that at Microsoft 2011. Why do you care anymore? Stop trying to change things because you need to understand: we are still insanely profitable, will be for a long time to come, and fuck it if we aren't innovative and fuck it if we treat people like cogs. You ARE a damn cog. If you work here you deserve to be.
I have got 2 consecutive A:10s and what should i do???
>>So I agree that 90K in the Redmond area doesn't get you much. They probably pay this much to L59 new hires these days.<<
was recruited from India , straight out of college , to work at MSFT in 2005 . Salary + Bonus + Stock for first year worked out well over 90k ( okay review , not spectacular ) It seemed great to most of us but then , we were single and given the foreign exchange rates it meant a lot when converted to Indian currency . Ultimately moved back to India as many of my friends did . But for most of us , the salary seemed great . But I guess that's because we didn't have families to take care of at that time .
Microsoft product groups should feel good about WP7 and the influence Metro is having around the company. Like I said, there's a big convergence ahead of us, and it will be good to start aligning a simpler development story, both for Microsoft and its partners?
Ohhh really Mini. MSFT could give a flying fuck about its 'partners'. As a Gold Partner, I can tell you that the 'story' is sad, filled with twists and turns, most of which lead nowhere. There is no 'convergence', just a bunch of bullshit spun by EPG and DPE, as well as other factors in the alphabet soup that is Microsoft.
Wouldn't it be great if we could have a 10% rally? If everyone who gets a 10% ranking on their performance review in September banded together in defense of their real worth, as opposed to the mandated curve? Everyone who's been working their asses off to not make this company look utterly foolish, only to fall victim to that arbitrary ranking?
I mean, even supposing that half of the people truly deserve a 10% -- which I really think is about the right percentage -- I think we'd still have a good turnout.
I suggest we all do that in September. I'll bet Google will be watching. As will any company that actually treats their employees like, you know, humans.
Just think about it, that's all I ask.
You are not your rating.
The truth of the matter is that there is a certain amount of enthusiam is needed to make ideas come into fruition. Miserable people make others miserable as well, leading to teams failing or falling short.
Right. But is the curve making people miserable? Is that what's sapping people's enthusiasm? Is that what they get for a year or hard work? I can attest for fact that my A/10 made me a miserable basket case. It's damaged my self-image. It's make me doubt that I should even go on living. I would gladly give up a 4% raise for a year of not hating myself because of what Microsoft told me I was worth. What I would give to not have a nervous breakdown every four weeks or so, as I've been doing for the past half-year.
Sometimes enthusiastic and productive people get screwed. Sometimes the miserable people are managers. This seems to be happening more and more often inside M, the primary cause being walmartization of budget and compensation.
So you're saying this doesn't need to be changed? Is it working? Six months ago we were the most valuable tech stock in the world. News flash: That's no longer the case. I don't think MS treating 10% of its people like crap has exactly helped us. It's like a goddamned morgue around here. We're dead men walking.
No need to associate personal emotions with this nonsense.. put up or move on. It business, its not personal.
No, it's personal. MS promotes itself as a different kind of company. They love solving remote problems. They stand up for individuality. They managed to backpedal succesfully after they gave gay people the shaft a few years ago. Good for MS. They backpedal well.
Also, they have completely de-incentivized 10% of their company because they feel they have to.
Screw them. The vitality curve is immoral and inhumane and MS will stick with it forever. But then again, maybe that proves your point: It's only business. Which is fine, if MS didn't promote itself as being more than just business.
We are no longer beautiful and unique snowflakes. We're just f***ing ledger items. We're wastes.
So I guess I agree with you. Everybody go somewhere else. Somewhere that appreciates you. Somewhere you won't be marginalized or demoralized.
Microsoft: Love it or leave it.
Pretty simple choice, if you ask me. Look who the industry leaders are. Spoiler alert: Not us.
>> MYCD under perform and group change options
Get a new job. Do not pass go. Do not collect a 10/U at annual review. Switch to a new job and manager ASAP. If you switch by April 10, you'll have 2 months to build some credibility in your new role to avoid a 10/U (you will be lucky to get 70/A).
re: non-gold star, non-SPSA cash bonuses
I call b.s. Random stuff doesn't just show up in paychecks. Give specifics, or give up.
From today's NY Times, "Google is paying computer science majors just out of college $90,000 to $105,000, as much as $20,000 more than it was paying a few months ago. That is so far above the industry average of $80,000..."
Taking off my company hat, that is good news for those out there with talent, ambition and the right attitude. We may not be in the right role, or have the opportunities we want, but water out there is warming up for a swim.
Putting back on my hat, this sucks. We lost a good SDE recently to start up. :(
No amount of enthusiasm can over come the layers of layers of partners that we have to push our ideas through.
You can spend years trying to get through the first layer.
MS won't pay for my GTG pass
Nor should they. I'm stunned you think they would or should. Troll much?
Anonymous wrote, "Microsoft reward for big things. Imagine who can claim big thing s (with emphasis on “big”), PM and management, right? And some really exceptional developers."
You're either a troll, or have no idea how calibration works. PMs calibrate against each other, not you. If you're concerned about not getting rewards look at your peers in the same discipline and level band and try and figure out what they are doing right.
lol just like the kinect, the ipad is a gimmick... its more of a fashion statement then actual plausible hardware
That is true on one level. However, not all levels. If the level you refer to is the average MS employee I would have to agree. iPads are prevalent everywhere ... and 15 million have been sold AFAIK, so far. Not sure I would agree that each one is a fashion statement, perhaps many are laptop replacements. Agreed that out of that number, some are replacing Mac laptops. But how many? If you believe Glorious Leader, aka SteveB, perhaps none. Out here in reality-world, I am guessing about the same ratio as use Macs vs. PCs, or about 9:10. So iPads have cannibalized 13.5mill sales of laptops which, otherwise, would have run Windows.
But you go ahead, Ostrich-Boy, head-in-the-sand.
Ostrich-Boy, head-in-the-sand.
Hey ostrich-boy, you won't see a Kinect in a hospital but you will see iPads:
The iPad Is Tops With Doctors
And how about in airplane cockpits?
Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines Testing iPad as “In-Cockpit” Flight Tool
So, ostrich-boy, just go stick your head in the sand and shut-up!
>> After level 65 neither Amazon or Google will give you a better
>> package, unless you aren't hired by merits but due to "friendship".
Google pays more now, so Google will, if you're as crazy awesome as your "principal" title implies. Problem is, you principal people tend to fail miserably in Google interviews. Too much sitting in the meetings and self promotion, not enough coding. I ask pretty much the same questions time and time again, and oftentimes SDE2's show better coding skill. There are exceptions, though. I say "enthusiastic hire" to those, and if others in the loop also do they get offers. Offer rejection ratio is low, so I figure they're being compensated enough.
Barnes&Noble has a tablet.
The first great Android Tablet: Nook Color
While rooting a Nook Color is quite easy–watch huskermania’s YouTube video on how to do it if you don’t believe me–Barnes & Noble will be upgrading the Color Nook to being a real Android tablet in mid-April. In its press release, the book store giant states only that, “NOOK Color will get even better this Spring when a major update to the device’s firmware will offer customers access to explore exciting new applications, e-mail and many other requested features.” Sources tell me though that the Color Nook will be upgraded from Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 (Froyo), be given Flash video support, and will have its own version of the Google Android Apps Market.
I call b.s. Random stuff doesn't just show up in paychecks. Give specifics, or give up.
"It didn't happen to me, and nobody I know is admitting it happened to them either, so I won't believe you." Time for a history lesson for the n00bs and egalitarian optimists.
You know it happens at annual review time and with gold stars. Why do you doubt there are other circumstances even more rare than the top 20% or gold stars?
Oh yes it does happen, and I like my job, so I'm not going to tell you where.
lol just like the kinect, the ipad is a gimmick... its more of a fashion statement then actual plausible hardware
Multiple people in our org have replaced their laptops with iPads. You can even RDP on them to a Windows box running Word or corporate apps these days if you need to, although right clicking on a device not designed for it can involve odd workarounds.
The CEO came around to our department two days after release to ask if his new one was on order yet. He's gotten a lot of use out of the first version for 6 months and couldn't wait for one with a camera.
What people like:
// Form factor.
// Despite being thin, it's still sturdy enough to take some abuse.
// Instant-on/off.
// Easy to use.
// Great battery life.
Very soon 2% of our org will be carrying them, most as substitutes for Windows notebooks. More than that WANT them, but IT is being slow to roll them out for control purposes.
2% is hardly a threat to the Windows monopoly, but it is a big deal that our formerly diehard Windows-only shop now contains officially-sanctioned iPads. And it is largely over the objections of the IT support staff, who didn't want that second platform around. The customers have spoken loudly enough that IT had to listen. And THAT is what Microsoft should be concerned about. Selling IT staff that Windows makes their lives easier is no longer enough.
@Microsoft: Love it or leave it.
Loving Microsoft is difficult with current culture.
so leaving
@If you're concerned about not getting rewards look at your peers in the same discipline and level band and try and figure out what they are doing right.
Finally, if we cannot digest some feedback, we call others – a troll.
Do not over react. Consider this feedback positively. Truth is always bitter.
On: "....Why? We killed our own innovation through inner group fights. One of the people who worked on the early tablets is still here..." above:
The most critical resource who was the brain behind the tablet is at actually working hard at MOTOROLA and already contributed to XOOM.
And poor MSFT is still waiting for a TABLET. DENIAL AND AGAIN DENIAL AND YET AGAIN DENIAL...WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT SUCH A COMPANY AND IT'S ARROGANT PEOPLE, just laugh it off....Ha..ha..ha.
FRee: the ipad is the end of windows?????? lol just like the kinect, the ipad is a gimmick... its more of a fashion statement then actual plausible hardware...
I doubt anyone credible is saying the iPad is "the end of windows." But if you think it's a fashion statement, you've never actually seen how they get used. I have extended family, boarders, and the occasional weekender living at my house. We have laptops and desktops in various places around the house, and people line up to use my iPad. Some mornings, I'm not even out of bed and someone wants to "check my Facebook," and so it goes until about 11pm when the wife takes it over for a few minutes of Mahjongg solitaire before turning out the lights. It might get a couple hours rest on and off through the day, mostly when it needs a recharge, but otherwise it's pretty much going hand to hand all day and evening.
Think about how laptops changed how people use computers. For some people — maybe you — they didn't have much impact. For other people, they changed the entire game. The iPad, and I'm sure the high-end Android tablets as well, are that kind of change all over again.
"You're smart enough to be courted by top-tier companies, but not smart enough to know if you should reply back to a recruiter who's fishing for you?
I hope nobody answers this question for you, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point of your post anyway."
I'm not sure what you're saying here, or why you're being an ass.
FWIW, the first time I was being recruited was out of college back '98, right as the dotcom boom was getting underway. I picked Microsoft, and have been here ever since. Therefore, I have not dealt with a recruiter for the past 13 years. I honestly do not know the proper protocol here.
What I'm saying is that you've been at Microsoft since '98 and apparently you've been so far out of touch with reality that you've lost even the basic skills that everyone needs to have in order to stay competitive.
You *really* don't know what to do if a recruiter reaches out to you? After 13 years working in high-tech, and with apparently a resume that's interesting to other employers?
Shame on you. Shame on all of the people like you at Microsoft -- and there are far too many -- who locked themselves away from the world for a decade or more and totally lost touch with technology, customers and EVERYONE ELSE.
I've been at MS for quite a while myself, and I see too many of you. Too many people locked in a solipsistic bubble for too many years, focused only on ass-kissing within the Microsoft power structure as a measure of worth and personal career value.
Your original "should I answer a recruiter's email?" question is asinine and completely inappropriate for someone who's been in the workforce for 13 years. I'm pretty sure that unless you're functionally deficient in basic life skills that you can figure out the right answer here all on your own.
Am I being an ass? Maybe. Do you deserve it? Absolutely.
As I said in my earlier post, I'm currently happy at Microsoft, but nothing is etched in stone. So I ask again, what is the proper procedure in dealing with recruiters?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
There's no risk to you to indulge the recruiter and ask about what opportunity has presented itself. I wouldn't be too worried about word somehow getting back to your co-workers or managers because this world is small and the recruiting world is even smaller and shens like that aren't tolerated.
Your original "should I answer a recruiter's email?" question is asinine and completely inappropriate for someone who's been in the workforce for 13 years. I'm pretty sure that unless you're functionally deficient in basic life skills that you can figure out the right answer here all on your own.
Thanks for nothing you pompous jerk. All I wanted to hear was a simple answer, a yes or no. Instead, you go on a meaningless diatribe from your soapbox and I'm not sure what it is you're trying to accomplish.
I sure am glad I have never had the displeasure of working with someone like you in my 13 years at Microsoft.
Am I being an ass? Maybe. Do you deserve it? Absolutely.
I'm a Dev Lead and I can tell you one thing: I would not want a guy like you on my team.
When I meet with my directs, I always emphasize teamwork, working together, and helping each other. Anyone who's not a team player will get a 10% and be out there as soon as the next review cycle comes around.
The OP has posted a question on this forum and has basically asked for some help. Instead of helping him, you go on a tirade about his lack of real life skills and how shameful his inquiry is.
So, according to your philosophy, if someone came to you for help, they should either figure it out on their own or else shame on them. Oh, and btw, for good measure, you hope no one else helps them out either. What kind of a twisted mentality is that? Why can't you be the bigger man and assist him if you know so much more about the real world?
OP, some others have already responsed here, basically, it wouldn't hurt if you sent an e-mail back and asked the recruiter for more details about their available opportunities.
If you're concerned about not getting rewards look at your peers in the same discipline and level band and try and figure out what they are doing right.
I have. It is called getting out of software engineering and getting into social engineering. i.e. kissing ass
It is common knowledge at Microsoft that if you can't cut it on the enginering team - you become a test manager or assume a support role. Then you can rant about your great 'impact' and 'visibility' internally within the company.
Since we all know, that Micrsoft isn't inward focused enough as a company. God knows Microsoft needs more people managers and process.
We only have what - 15 people today for every 1 dev/test/pm that actually busts butt and contributes something of direct customer facing value around here.
-- Loving Microsoft is difficult with current culture. so leaving
Really? See now I love working hundreds of hours of overtime for free..
Apparently at some point Microsoft became a non-profit, and I became a volunteer... and I didn't get the memo?
Right. But is the curve making people miserable? Is that what's sapping people's enthusiasm? Is that what they get for a year or hard work? I can attest for fact that my A/10 made me a miserable basket case. It's damaged my self-image. It's make me doubt that I should even go on living. I would gladly give up a 4% raise for a year of not hating myself because of what Microsoft told me I was worth.
+1
It's not you. They are playing these review games with everyone, trying to get people to think the problem is them. Its all a bunch of BS.
Apparently the only way Microsoft leadership knows how to motivate their employee base is to threaten their job security- which we all know will be a short road travelled. Come on, how much BS can you take?
I wish Ballmer should follow-though with his threats and take Microsoft and go be an Indian company. Send my job offshore.
America would be a better place without big monopolies like Microsoft. Our customers see it. Our share holders see it. Our employees finally see it. The only person that doesn't see it are the fat cat executives.
the Walmartization of MSFT
...
Umm.. When do you think we get Blue vests that say "Where do you want to go today?"
;)
Sometimes I wonder what in the hell Windows Management is doing.
-
Enriching themselves. You can pull up any tech blog and reconize just how bad of an ass kicking Microsoft is about to receive in the market.
What was Ballmers big consumer announcement this month- that "Windows will look a lot different in 5 years"..
Seriously people? Maybe your CEO should have written the desktop in HTML instead of spending all his time in court fighting it.
Internet 1
Microsoft 0
You read this commentary Steve? Let me tell you, that is the sound of inevitability Mr Anderson.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-is-dead-money-for-investors-2011-03-04
"Am I being an ass? Maybe. Do you deserve it? Absolutely."
You are right on. He deserves it. Unbelievable. Surprising to know that he is even a programmer or worst case techie....
Fortune - The problem with Microsoft...
(a) So when Robbie Bach, who led the company's entertainment and devices division at the time, presented his idea to CEO Steve Ballmer and Microsoft's senior leadership, he expected enthusiasm and additional funding for the project. There was just one problem: The Courier prototype borrowed from Windows, Microsoft's vaunted computer operating systems, but had an operating system all its own. (That's what Apple did with its iPhone and iPad -- it built a new operating platform based on its existing Mac OS X.)
Bach learned a hard lesson about the power and might of Windows within Microsoft. Not only would Bach not receive the extra funding he sought, said Ballmer, who personally delivered the blow, but there would be no Courier because it was unnecessary. The best of Courier, where appropriate, would be folded into the next version of Windows, Windows 8, due at the end of 2011 or in 2012 -- or maybe even Windows 9. Several months after its death, Bach announced his retirement. (He wouldn't comment for this story.)
(b) Former employees and analysts say Ballmer's deep pride in Microsoft leads him to dismiss rivals' good ideas ("There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share") and to suffocate anything, such as Courier, that might detract from Windows, despite the billions the company spends each year on R&D and acquisitions.
(c) "They paid all this money for our industry know-how and our experience, but basically no one listened to us," says Cid Halloway, who joined Danger in 2001 as a senior software engineer. Halloway tried to make suggestions when he could, but that only seemed to grate on people. "A few people openly said to us, 'We think you got lucky with Sidekick, so sit down, stop talking, and do what we hired you to do.'
"It was not a happy few years," Halloway said of his 30 months at Microsoft before his departure this past fall.
(d) Some ex-employees say the answer is for Microsoft to break apart. At one time Charles Fitzgerald, a product manager before leaving the company in 2008, would have snarled at anyone daring to agree with the Department of Justice that Microsoft should be split into "baby Bills." But now Fitzgerald, a top executive at the software firm VMware, recommends splitting Microsoft into six smaller companies. Let Windows lick all the cookies it wants as its own freestanding company.
(e) Ballmer has scoffed at suggestions that Microsoft spin off its consumer business. Speaking at an industry conference in October, Ballmer called Goldman analyst Sarah Friar "nutty" for proposing just that when she downgraded Microsoft's stock, and he dubbed her suggestion "the second most crazy idea I have ever heard." (He gave no indication of his top choice. Friar has since left Goldman.)
Tons of news about the massive discrimation lawsuit against Walmart. http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=walmart+class+action. But did you know that MSFT is among a few who jumped in the fray on Walmart's side? WTF!
MSFT on the wrong side of history. Again.
And poor MSFT is still waiting for a TABLET.
If MSFT did not have a Windows cash cow to protect, they would have had a tablet out a while back. The same Windows cash cow that is covering for the incompetence of MSFT senior management today, is also precluding innovation on the Tablet front.
Windows 7 on the tablet would protect the cash-cow, but would make no economic sense: its heavy resource requirements, would make it double the price of the competition, at a significantly lower battery life, and with poor finger friendliness.
Tablet solutions from MSFT not using Windows 7, would cannibalize the cash cow resulting in plummeting profits.
MSFT is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to tablets. Management must be willing to innovate, realizing that unless they cannibalize their own cash-cow, their competitors would be glad to do it for them (and are already starting to do so). Management has to take the hit on the cash-cow, and the accompanying stock price drop to the teens, if they are to stay a major player in the OS space.
Some things that we do are just silly. Too many meetings, especially where people are just making sure that their deliverables are checked off for the stupid review process. Too much talk, not enough action. Too many layers of people between the top and the trenches. Too much fluff and trying to be politically correct, and not enough clear talking. Meetings to make sure that your butt is covered, and then another meeting to confirm that the butt-covering has been acknowledged. Too much "after you, no after you" sorts of conversations instead of pointed questions and concise accurate answers. It is okay to disagree, it's even good, because it makes us look at all the facets, see the flaws, turn the idea round until we can see where it reflects the light.
What would make more sense: Challenge each other, to make sense of the whole idea of a group, a team. Not to make the other guy look stupid, but to dig deeper and find out detail, spark a new idea, get someone thinking. After you all agree on some drawn out solution, stop and ask yourselves: what could be better about this solution, how could we do this process better next time, where are we going with it, how does it impact and change the future.
Too many times we have people up there somewhere saying no, that x or y or z doesn't work for them, like a bunch of know-it-alls who don't know much, but like to throw their weight around. Listening is a good thing, analyzing is better, thinking is really good, and coming up with something brilliant is pretty grand. Don't feel like it, don't get rewarded enough, tried before and it didn't work? Try again. Make some handshakes, find a colleague, see if you can do it better. And if you've been here a really long time, maybe listen to some of the things that worked other places, where they already did the process, and know where the pitfalls are. You don't really have to make the same mistakes that other parts of the industry have already made, you can at least make it more interesting by making a different mistake.
If you've got power, try going all day without saying no to an idea, until you are certain that you respectfully understand it. Try not to discourage someone who is all excited about a new idea, a new way of doing things. Integrate the best stuff into your pre-conceived notions. Hey, try ditching your pre-conceived notions, don't dismiss others without understanding what they are saying, and looking at what the best way would be. Best. Not your way, not your way or the highway, but determining together what would be best. Like world class. Exciting. Best in class. Beyond an A.
Think about how laptops changed how people use computers. For some people — maybe you — they didn't have much impact. For other people, they changed the entire game. The iPad, and I'm sure the high-end Android tablets as well, are that kind of change all over again.
Not sure I would go that far. Laptops are useful without connectivity, iPads less so. Apps execute locally on a PC regardless of OS, and the user is not nickle-and-dimed by AAPL or the carrier to endlessly buy applications. At present and in the mid-term I think iPad and similar tablet form-factor devices will supplant laptops in limited scenarios for business users, whereas consumers can do fine with them. Longer term, Microsoft has a problem because of its lack of innovation in the consumer space and over-dependence on enterprise customers.
Cloud solutions delivery will get slicker over time for business apps and local execution capability will become less and less relevant, which spells trouble for Windows client ...
Anonymous @ Thursday, March 24, 2011 11:16:00 PM said:
"Enjoy your work life balance, benefits, and job safety."
Job safety? There's a 10% chance you won't be talking about "job safety" within a year.
MS has become a real cult. You need serious deprogramming to fit in the real professional world outside. All this meeting lingo, schmoozing etc buys you nothing outside, sorry.... they need productive contributions! And just when I thought this blog was petering out some real spicey and right on the money contributions came in. Bravo!
>>I have got 2 consecutive A:10s >>and what should i do???
Leave MS. Your manager is probably very happy you staaying & takign care off his 10%. If you think you are better why bother @ MS anymore?
Nor should they. I'm stunned you think they would or should. Troll much?
Pompous jerk much?
"I think Microsoft's reputation could be much bigger if you normally would give out books." [Deletia]
Yes, clearly the distribution of self-referential, navel-gazing books is the winning strategy for our company...
::facepalm::
Good laugh. Reminds me of the cover of Gates' book, The Road Ahead. Ever notice the road is behind him? Methinks Freudian slip.
Milestone in company transformation: two years ago today blue-badges outnumbered temps by over 17,000. Today, the company has an even split of FTEs and temps as our total headcount has climbed over 3,000 in the past two years.
*facepalm*
Tablets might be a flash in the pan: Microsoft global chief strategy officer
Mundie's comments about tablets go some way towards explaining why the software giant has only made a half-hearted attempt to enter the tablet space so far.
No kidding!! They also explain why Courier was vaporware, and why all of Microsoft's hardware partners are scrambling like mad to use anything *but* Windows in the tablet space.
Seriously, Mr. Mundie, have you seen the iPad 2 lines still forming two weeks after release? The numbers on how many they're selling? That's a *lot* of dollars being spent on a product that's not yours!
I don't know if this is meant to be Microsoft's *official* stance on tablets, or if this is just sour grapes because nobody wanted Microsoft's vision of tablet computing. But either way, making these kinds of comments *now*, when the runaway success of the iPad is pretty much irrefutable, is astoundingly short-sighted. He and Ballmer should be losing their jobs over this complete lack of vision.
Then again... back in the mid 90s, Bill Gates once said something about how the internet was a "passing fad" that would go the way of the BBS. So in that light, I guess Mundie is in good company.
Still, Microsoft rebounded really well from that one, didn't they? I mean, look at all the money being brought in now by the Online Services Division!
As for desktops, Mundie had a bold prediction: "I believe the successor to the desktop is the room, that instead of thinking that the computer is just something on the desk that you go and sit in front of, [in the] future basically the whole room is the computer and you go in it."
Um, yeah... good luck with that one.
I have got 2 consecutive A:10s and what should i do???
You are being targeted and it's going to be difficult for you to even get an interview. When I was hiring last year, my GM told me to avoid 10.
Try hard to get something before April...but be prepared to get canned before review time.
Get all the check-up for you and your kids done right now and save personal pictures and files to your own computer.
Hi, how can i find out what the salaries are in Singapore as compared to those in US for the same level?? Thoughts?
@
Finally, if we cannot digest some feedback, we call others – a troll.
Do not over react. Consider this feedback positively. Truth is always bitter.
I'm smiling, I hope that is not an overreaction. :) The question was binary, you may not know how calibration works. If so you're being let down by your group.
How dare Paul Allen claim that Gates and Ballmer tried to rip him off? Why these two are true gentlemen who would never stoop so low ... just ask the DoJ.
...psychopaths as role models
This struck a nerve. There was one in my group and he was the boss's favorite. He was richly rewarded and soon others began to model their behavior on his -- you can imagine the work environment that resulted.
Note that psychopath is not just a "mean person" - it's a very specific personality type. If you suspect one, get a book called "Snakes in Suits." If I had read it prior to this encounter, there's a lot I would have done differently.
Poor Mich Matthews. Member of SLT, leaves the company. Why? Why, Mich, did you desert us? Kin? Vista? Windows Phone 7 failure? The Seinfeld/Gates commercials? Billion dollar marketing budget insufficient for you? Why? What could we have done differently?
So long Mich.
As for desktops, Mundie had a bold prediction: "I believe the successor to the desktop is the room, that instead of thinking that the computer is just something on the desk that you go and sit in front of, [in the] future basically the whole room is the computer and you go in it."
Um, yeah... good luck with that one.
He didn't say Microsoft was part of that. He said the future... Have some vision man! A future where Microsoft is still on the decktop tirade and some other company has taken over the room. We lost mobile, we lost tablet. Why not the room?
How dare Paul Allen claim that Gates and Ballmer tried to rip him off?
Behind every great fortune, there is a crime.
@Milestone in company transformation: two years ago today blue-badges outnumbered temps by over 17,000. Today, the company has an even split of FTEs and temps as our total headcount has climbed over 3,000 in the past two years.
If it were up to some of the executives; it would be 3000 FTE and 85,000 temps.
MS has a history of skirting the law by mis-classifying their workers.
Tons of news about the massive discrimation lawsuit against Walmart. http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=walmart+class+action. But did you know that MSFT is among a few who jumped in the fray on Walmart's side? WTF!
When are people going to learn that big companies are run by wealthy elites, that don't live in your world. They are looking out for their best interests, not yours. If the two don't align, you lose.
As one posted mentioned, management is in Washingon this week lobbying for more H1-B visas.
Pretty soon all that will be available in the cafe is Beef Vindaloo
- Hi, how can i find out what the salaries are in Singapore as compared to those in US for the same level?? Thoughts?
I am sure Volt or InfoSys can help you find out what your replacement will be making..
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/mar/09/citylights1-american-engineers-short-supply/
"Enjoy your work life balance, benefits, and job safety."
I have learned over my tenure, that this outlook often appeals to many of the most completely useless FTE at Microsoft.
I have discovered that if you really want to work hard and be rewarded for that work; MS is not the place to be. You will be lucky to so much as re-coup overtime and expenses assuming you can pull off a superman and land an E/20 at every other annual.
Baller makes how much?
14.5 billion dollars
The worst part is, he's really optomistic enough to believe he actually earned all that F#$% money.
http://www.therichest.org/technology/steve-ballmer-net-worth/
"Since Ballmer took over as chief executive of Microsoft in January 2000, the software giant's market cap is down by half. Its stock has been flat over the past five years. Microsoft stock has been lackluster over past 12 months, losing most valuable U.S. company title to Apple."
As for desktops, Mundie had a bold prediction: "I believe the successor to the desktop is the room, that instead of thinking that the computer is just something on the desk that you go and sit in front of, [in the] future basically the whole room is the computer and you go in it."
Well sure. It is called a Holodeck.
And I will tell you where it is not coming from- MSR.
After 13 years working in high-tech, You *really* don't know what to do if a recruiter reaches out to you?
Well, just because my resume says I know five languages doesn't mean I know how to speak Cartoon?
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