tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post112623865462125729..comments2024-03-18T12:52:48.117-07:00Comments on Mini-Microsoft: Three Quick Things - Jobs, Dynamics, MonopoliesWho da'Punkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205453956191063442noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1159873079229745192006-10-03T03:57:00.000-07:002006-10-03T03:57:00.000-07:00Yeah, same here. Left MS 1 year ago after 4 years....Yeah, same here. Left MS 1 year ago after 4 years.<BR/><BR/>I just couldn't take it, seeing marketing people enjoying almost twice my salary. Getting company cars to ride to the office and me as a consultant had to to go the customer in my own car. etc etc<BR/><BR/>So I switched for a better payroll.<BR/><BR/>It is really a shame as I loved the company and the atmosphere of the first years. <BR/><BR/>No bitter fealings though. At least the ride was great!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1128179380786953932005-10-01T08:09:00.000-07:002005-10-01T08:09:00.000-07:00Ok. Hrmm.. Reading this worries me. I'm in IBM ...Ok. Hrmm.. Reading this worries me. I'm in IBM Global Services right now, and have just been notified of my second (I had one three months ago) finals day for east coast. <BR/><BR/>IBM has it's own problems, but being as mature (>50 years) as it is, I think most of the technology side has progressed to a point of delivery, where the management side is constantly caught in the waxing and waning of the management 'moon' cycles that companies in the US and worldwide have had to deal with for the past 20 years, so it's not exactly problematic and more simply just predictable. 'New' management style gets adopted inside of IBM like any other company, just more slowly or quicker, whichever suits the business entity embracing that change.<BR/><BR/>What *really* worries me, or rather -- what more correctly EXCITES me is that MSFT may be on the verge of it's second great shift. I think the first shift centered around the anti-trust days, when Microsoft developed it's playing rules for the 'new economy'. Possibly this second shift is about to occur, and basically lays out the foundation for doing 'good' business, not just 'cool' or 'desired' business, but really solid business.<BR/><BR/>If I join into this organization now, I may have a chance to deal with start-up-again fever in some aspects as MSFT struggles to re-invent itself. IBM did this (probably their 4th cycle or so) roughly 4 years ago with their On-Demand initiatives. <BR/><BR/>I'm very curious to see what MSFT has in store. <BR/><BR/>One thing worries me, I don't believe MSFT is going to pay what IBM pays. I'm probably a Level 62 (consultant II) equivalent in IBM, and I'm going to make $112K this year with bonus. Anyone know what the equivalent MSFT band/level range is for salary at Consultant II?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1128138756286609422005-09-30T20:52:00.000-07:002005-09-30T20:52:00.000-07:00I think Microsoft is completely fucked up --- when...I think Microsoft is completely fucked up --- when I left the company 2 months ago, I like the team for many years and the team was very professional, they held a fairewell party, but the exit interview was just a disaster --- the fucking HR lady (in Office group) didn't say any single word about thank you for your contribution or something like that, that fucking HR lady was the most cold-blooded woman I have ever seen in my life. I wished her die the next day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127899304649700782005-09-28T02:21:00.000-07:002005-09-28T02:21:00.000-07:00I bet you can't seriously expect to change groups ...I bet you can't seriously expect to change groups without a 3.5 or higher. Hiring managers will see a 3.0 and just pass on you, after giving a courtesy interview of course.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Why would the hiring manager waste his and his teams time doing the courtesy interview if he's not interested in hiring you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127447397372645182005-09-22T20:49:00.000-07:002005-09-22T20:49:00.000-07:00OK, so I am relatively new to MBS. The “Lune di Mi...OK, so I am relatively new to MBS. The “Lune di Miele” is wearing off quickly. Perhaps too quickly. After 1 year +, I am realizing that the entrepreneur spirit does not apply. Hell, why not bog productivity down with mindless meetings, repetitive actions, and did I mention mindless meetings! Plus, who’s held accountable anyway. So, back to my point. I’m new to MS, not new to the industry…. Have been doing this for 10+ years in the partner and customer community. I hate complaining, so:<BR/><BR/>3 Problem Statements and 3 Solutions:<BR/>Things are simple. <BR/><BR/>Problem 1: Get rid of Burgum. Last I checked we were a global company, not a relic of the frozen tundra of Faro, ND. Why let him f-up the European market for us as well? Prior to the acquisition of Navision and Axapta, those companies had major market share, and guess what, also turned a solid profit. Now, all that talent has gone. And not to Fargo…<BR/><BR/>Solution 1: Bury him under the IW management team. Oops.. that just happened, that’s good, cause someone got the message. <BR/><BR/>Problem 2: So you say $2 Billion goes to R&D. I have a feeling that ½ of that goes to marketing for creative re-branding…. Dynamics or ManagePoint (2nd naming choice for MBS), it don’t make a difference. Maybe Green or Converge. Let’s meet on that. Did I mention let’s meet on that, and you send me a S+ and so on.<BR/><BR/>Not a good move, but hey, it’s too late for that. <BR/><BR/>Solution 2: Introduce the name and get over that quickly. Deliver a CLEAR message for the products, for the market, and to the partners. Create a roadmap, stick to it and present customers with a clean conversion path to the new generation of products. If you purchase Great Plains today, these are the benefits. Five years from now you will be on a common platform with the rest of the MBS products. If you purchase Navision today, these will be your benefits for the next 5 years. And so on. Offer customers choices, cause otherwise JDE, PSFT, Oracle will. Crowd the competition out of the deal. <BR/><BR/>Problem 3: Winners and losers. This will be a fun one. What happens in 5 years when 4 product lines merge into one? A high percentage of partners will disappear. Can’t compete and space too crowded. Little competitive differentiation. Where do I buy my banana, now that I have 10 grocery stores in a 2-mile radius? <BR/>Without partners, you lose market share. And that’s bad.<BR/><BR/>Solution 3: Verticalize and specialize. And, NO, don’t start 4 years from now. That means we need to offer MBS partners incentives now to specialize on a market segment. Own that space, know that space, dream of that space at night. Some are doing it, but not enough. Not to mention that this will help over the next 5 years as well to turn a profit. <BR/><BR/>Conclusion: We were first to consolidate, first to make mistakes, and will be first to win. That is, if someone above is listening ….Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127340100658339282005-09-21T15:01:00.000-07:002005-09-21T15:01:00.000-07:00"I agree that the company should be honest in its ..."I agree that the company should be honest in its dealings with employees and should just say out-right if the service provided by the employee isn't sufficient or the job is being eliminated. I can't help but wonder if this strategy is adopted because people like to file lawsuits for just about anything these days."<BR/><BR/>I'm a manager of a small team I was put in charge of 2 months ago and I "inherited" an utterly useless person. Almost all of the candidates I give no-hire I would rather have than this one, but I have no chance in hell of firing her. Why? Unions, lawsuits, bullshit upon bullshit. She got a 3.0 this year (former manager), a 2.5 last year but former manager had no balls.<BR/>So now I'm stuck with an employee who is worthless, taking up a headcount and I can only give her a motivating speak in my 1-1s if I don't want her to be downright destructive.<BR/>My god, if only I could actually speak right out of the bag and fire this dead weight!<BR/>I may sound tough, but this really pisses me off...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127333314019172792005-09-21T13:08:00.000-07:002005-09-21T13:08:00.000-07:00I left MS last summer after 6 years in the windows...I left MS last summer after 6 years in the windows division. Although my reasons for leaving were not all to do with the unfortunate direction the company had taken, it was a major part of my decision.<BR/><BR/>For my first 4 or so years I was a developer in the test org and had a great deal of contact with people all across windows. It was truly a pleasure working with most of them and getting things done across group was generally not a problem. (There was however one guy who you had to buy a bottle of scotch to get anything done. :)) I had the ability to inovate in the team I was in, and influence the shipping product and my manager helped a great deal in growing my skills. I also received regular promotions, raises and bonuses. It was a golden time. I felt the company 'got it' and times were good. I worked my butt off and got rewarded. The windows 2000 death march really wasnt that bad.<BR/><BR/>Then 2 things happened. We started to see the influence of Balmers 'new, more mature Microsft' and I got reorged into another team. <BR/><BR/>The reorg prompted me to take a dev position in another windows group as my new manager/lead was an obvious paper shuffler. In the end, this was not a great move as my new extended org got reorged shortly after my arrival and the manager I planned on and looked forward to working for left.<BR/><BR/>The new company meant a number of things. Not all immediately evident. Things like the yearly, 'revenue neutral' review change. Benfit reduction in ESPP, etc. Spending an hour of my time jumping through hoops to get a new harddrive. Having to have 6 people minimum(2 PM's 2 devs, 2 leads) in a meeting cross-group to get anything done. PM's fresh out of school making decisions. Generally the day to day process of doing my job became painful and unpleasant.<BR/><BR/>In the end I think it was a matter of the pendulum having swung too far. The company went from the wild west to fulsom prison. I became very frustrated that a company I thought I would never want to leave had left me.<BR/><BR/>I can't think of a more rewarding thing than knowing that every time someone uses their computer, they are using your work. I thrived on this for years. But in time I looked around and saw that the people at the top were taking way more than their fair share of the rewards for my effort and telling me to get along with less. Im no communist but in the end, I had had enough.<BR/><BR/>Thanks Mini for this chance to vent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127316042715990062005-09-21T08:20:00.000-07:002005-09-21T08:20:00.000-07:00It is really strange to see employees complain abo...It is really strange to see employees complain about their once beloved company "did'nt they know that MSFT played hardball with nearly every other businees that seemed to have a better product or anything for that matter" did they as employees expect better treatment when it came to them? . <BR/>I am writing her only because I have to deal with MSFT products day in and day out and not a day goes by without swearing at the companyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127315740358087862005-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:002005-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:00I was at Microsoft for 5 years. I loved my job tes...I was at Microsoft for 5 years. I loved my job testing software in the Windows division. My peers highly respected me as a tester, I am still friends with the devs, PMs, and testers that I worked with.<BR/><BR/>First, my offer letter was for a SDET but when I started they shoved me in a STE role. I didn't care at the time, I was happy with my job. That was a mistake. Years later, STEs were considered "button pushers" and SDETs were considered "automaters" despite the fact that every STE that I met *did* spend more than 50% of their time writing automation.<BR/><BR/>Four years later, the components that I had fallen in love with, had spent years working on, and had filed many hundreds of bugs on so that they would eventually be great, were moved into "maintainance". They went from having 50% dev and test owners to sitting in a pool of 20+ components that had only a single dev and no tester assigned to them for the next year. A year later, I had the new PM emailing me basic questions about one component because nobody on the team had any idea how it was supposed to work.<BR/><BR/>I wish I had been laid off at that time, instead, demoralized, I was re-orged under a lead who treated his entire group abusively and I was demotivated so much that my performance declined. I was the only person in his group to tell him that people weren't happy and two weeks before I accepted a new job that I had been scouting out, he asked me to leave.<BR/><BR/>Leaving Microsoft was the best thing to happen to me ever! I am so much happier on the outside. The day after I was let go, before I had an offer on the new job, I was jumping for joy that I didn't have to go to work and face the abusive lead. I now have a great job and I don't have that horrid 520 bridge commute.<BR/><BR/>I still feel for my former co-workers, several of them are in the middle of the 4-8 year citizenship application process and they would have left years ago if they had US citizenship. They are bored and demotivated, but it pays the bills and keeps them in the country while they try to become citizens.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127289533410470352005-09-21T00:58:00.000-07:002005-09-21T00:58:00.000-07:00I worry most that Microsoft will try and 'kill' Go...I worry most that Microsoft will try and 'kill' Google.<BR/><BR/>The world needs companies like Google and Apple, without which, the industry will suffer through the lack of innovation and rapid product developments.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, given Microsoft's past record, i do worry that such anti-competitive behaviours and other unfair tactics will crush Google.. <BR/><BR/>This is not good for the industry as a whole.<BR/><BR/>Microsoft has garnered much respect over the last 5 years in how they 'play'. -- Don't screw that up. "Don't be evil".<BR/><BR/>Everyone in this world has to be at ease with who they are, they need to be comfortable with their purpose in life. <BR/><BR/>This is true with Microsoft also, it needs to be at peace with itself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127275535638853642005-09-20T21:05:00.000-07:002005-09-20T21:05:00.000-07:00Reading the responses here for me, who has never r...Reading the responses here for me, who has never really taken much interest in Microsoft's internals, comes across as some hidiously twisted version of Dilbert.<BR/><BR/>To those who have been hurt, I wish them the best of luck. To those doing the hurting, look to Microsoft's beginnings to see how the company you are failing will fall. It won't be another huge multinational that will kill you, it'll be an upstart with a product that is cheap, effective and easy to deal with, backed by developers who are happy to help. And you won't be able to respond to it, because just like IBM, you are now too big to manuvour the hulking monstrosity that is your beaurocracy against that small, nimble competator.<BR/><BR/>I don't know that the next big thing will be linux/OSS or another closed source OS with support from major application vendors, but I do know that what is being contructed in the form of Vista, will not win that fight for you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127272163823850932005-09-20T20:09:00.000-07:002005-09-20T20:09:00.000-07:00I would say that a HUGE issue at Microsoft is the ...I would say that a HUGE issue at Microsoft is the ridiculous layer upon layer of management, as the previous poster said. In my group, it is career--and review--suicide to question even one link in the managerial chain. Heaven forbid that anyone would have an opinion contrary to the papal bull that has already been handed down. It is possible to do world-class work, have a spotless year, and ask one "unprofessional" question during the year and get a poor review because of that one question. Now, if you are willing to submit yourself to taking managers to lunch, laughing at their jokes, and subtly tattling to them about co-workers, a couple of those questions can be forgotten. It’s sort of like dealing with a mob, if you catch my drift. <BR/><BR/>I watched a previous manager literally hunt down a couple of my co-workers who dared to question him/her or something about his/her organization. He/she literally went out and got people to squeal on those he/she wanted to expel from the organization. Scary stuff. And why was he/she able to spend so much time hunting people down? Well, because he/she is a middle manager whose primary responsibility is to agree with his/her manager, whose primary responsibility in turn is to agree with his/her manager. What we have built here is a culture of nodding.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127151803220578692005-09-19T10:43:00.000-07:002005-09-19T10:43:00.000-07:00I left Microsoft less than 1 month ago, after bein...I left Microsoft less than 1 month ago, after being here for more than 10 years.<BR/>It is hard to describe how much Microsoft has changed in 10 years. <BR/>When I started, I had almost direct access to JimAll and we were focusing on shipping our stuff. There was a lot of positive energy, and you felt that working hard made your project move faster.<BR/><BR/>Today, the feeling is that you have to work harder, and nothing is moving. Bureaucracy, paperwork is everywhere. Fill this template, put that data on a web site, run these tools before checkins, make sure all tests are properly reported.... It can take up to a month, with 5-6 people involved to checkin a single line of code in Longhorn. <BR/>One of the the thing that definitely broke me was one day, I received a note from legal asking me to review the security policy in place for our internal sharepoint sites. I was managing a few of them, and I had to read through tens of pages of legal stuff, review all my sites, make appropriate changes... At least 3 calendar days of work. (you should know that for a PM, a day of work is about 2 hours -- the rest of the time he does other useless stuff). How is this contributing to me shipping a product, or making our company successful? I wanted to develop products!<BR/><BR/>Another bad thing hapenning at Microsoft, is the number of middle-management layers. In our group we had to prepare for a presentation to JimAll. Four months in advance the guys started to work on it. Review with PUM, reviews with GM, review with VP, back to PUM, GM and VP and senior VP, rewrite for the PUM... A team of 4 people spent hundreds of hours working on this review. Was the end result better - maybe. Did JimAll get to hear the message from the people doing the real job - absolutely not. He heard the middle-mgmt message. This is ridiculous.<BR/><BR/>I really loved the Microsoft of 10 years ago, but today there is a complete paralysis of the system. <BR/><BR/>As much as I heard people complaining and being bitter, I doubt anything will substantially change as long as they have good financial results. Why would Microsoft change it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127133153351036402005-09-19T05:32:00.000-07:002005-09-19T05:32:00.000-07:00>2.5'ed your ass which means you cannot change gro...>2.5'ed your ass which means you cannot change groups.<BR/><BR/>I bet you can't seriously expect to change groups without a 3.5 or higher. Hiring managers will see a 3.0 and just pass on you, after giving a courtesy interview of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1127025349554302922005-09-17T23:35:00.000-07:002005-09-17T23:35:00.000-07:00"Who is this dalena that's been mentioned a few ti..."Who is this dalena that's been mentioned a few times on this blog recently? Some bigwig? Which division?"<BR/><BR/>He is just one of those POS midlevel managers who should be axed. His wife is a lawyer thus helping him master constructive dismissals. He is in networking (netxp). Ask him how the OHI is and about the departure rate is for their team....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126981726055337032005-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:002005-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:00I left Microsoft on November 18, 2004 after spendi...I left Microsoft on November 18, 2004 after spending 16 years at the company. I was there for the extremely exciting growth phase of the company, the dark days of the anti trust years, and the longhorn/integrated innovation disaster.<BR/><BR/>Leaving Microsoft was a great move for me both mentally and financially.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126809755291221582005-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:002005-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:00How long does it typically take for someone to qui...<I>How long does it typically take for someone to quit when Microsoft turns the constructive discharge thumb screws?<BR/><BR/>What reasonable person would work a hundred hour week to get a compensation increase that is barely or not even adequate to keep up with inflation?</I><BR/><BR/>What reasonable company would leave someone in a position where they believe the employee is doing a sub-standard job until the next review the following year?<BR/><BR/>50000 employees x 6.5% turnover for performance problems x $80000 average salary (pick your own number here) = $260,000,000 spent on people you don't believe are competent<BR/><BR/>Add in the cost of all the damage you believe these people are doing to your products.<BR/><BR/>When instead you could pay them enough to get by while they look for another job? They wouldn't waste a year of their life working for a company that does not respect the work that they do.<BR/><BR/>Since the company loves cutting costs so much, perhaps the next HR clown could get out all there fingers and toes and do the 'rithmetic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126764508692236572005-09-14T23:08:00.000-07:002005-09-14T23:08:00.000-07:00How long does it typically take for someone to qui...<I>How long does it typically take for someone to quit when Microsoft turns the constructive discharge thumb screws?<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>What reasonable person would work a hundred hour week to get a compensation increase that is barely or not even adequate to keep up with inflation?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126678131332158582005-09-13T23:08:00.000-07:002005-09-13T23:08:00.000-07:00I agree that the company should be honest in its d...<I>I agree that the company should be honest in its dealings with employees and should just say out-right if the service provided by the employee isn't sufficient or the job is being eliminated. I can't help but wonder if this strategy is adopted because people like to file lawsuits for just about anything these days.</I><BR/><BR/>Mail-in rebates and constructive discharge -- anything to save a buck.<BR/><BR/>How long does it typically take for someone to quit when Microsoft turns the constructive discharge thumb screws?<BR/><BR/>Would those statistics ever see the light of day?<BR/><BR/>Instead of paying them salary while you are waiting for them to quit, would it be cheaper to give them severance pay so they would have enough time to find work somewhere else without losing their home?<BR/><BR/>Instead of waiting while you waste someone's life, Microsoft could hire someone sooner to fill their position with someone they believe is better or costs less.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126670177701244702005-09-13T20:56:00.000-07:002005-09-13T20:56:00.000-07:00I love how this actually happened behind closed do...I love how this actually happened behind closed doors and now its played out in the courts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126659194041984372005-09-13T17:53:00.000-07:002005-09-13T17:53:00.000-07:00"Anyway, there are a lot of very good things to co..."Anyway, there are a lot of very good things to complain about, and ballmer blowing his top is not one we should be spending time on. It happens everywhere."<BR/><BR/>First of all, just because others may do it, it doesn't mean we have to condone it or let it pass without comment. It was childish behavior - I wouldn't let a four year-old get away with that, let alone the CEO of a company in which I hold stock. If you can't maintain your cool with a single employee, I have no faith in your ability to run an entire company (insert graph of stock performance over past five years here).<BR/><BR/>Secondly, with all the legal issues MS has been in recently (and handled poorly thanks to the egos of Gates and Ballmer), upper management has to be 10x more careful about outbursts like "killing" the competitors. Cry all you want about double-standards, but it's the reality MS lives in. <BR/><BR/>Self-control...it's a good thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126651864822124342005-09-13T15:51:00.000-07:002005-09-13T15:51:00.000-07:00What some people have a problem with is how Micros...<I>What some people have a problem with is how Microsoft chooses to terminate a business arrangement with an employee.<BR/><BR/>Fucking with someone's self esteem and mental health in a passive aggressive effort to terminate their employment is not an ethical business practice.</I><BR/><BR/>Given that the company engages in illegal bully-boy tactics against its competitors, is it really surprising that the company engages in the same conduct with its employees?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126644546305326152005-09-13T13:49:00.000-07:002005-09-13T13:49:00.000-07:00Ballmer Antics:Aw, c'mon guys. Obviously, we all w...Ballmer Antics:<BR/><BR/>Aw, c'mon guys. Obviously, we all wish that we all should behave politely under stress. But we are dealing with human beings here. Human beings get angry. An angry human being does irrational things. And the fact that the object of your anger is skipping to google doesnt help matters.<BR/><BR/>Ok, I agree - ballmer should have given MarkL a kiss and sent him on his way. But it didnt happen. Atleast this was a private interaction, which google is exploiting for their own benefit - to get some brownie points with the judge regarding the KFL lawsuit.<BR/><BR/>If I were ballmer - I would have wished MarkL all the best. Anyway, what good has markl done lately for Microsoft anyway? The last big thing he was involved in was hailstorm, and we know how that turned out.<BR/><BR/>Besides, do we know what eric schmidt says privately about his competitors? I am sure he has some choice words there as well. Remember the "Ballmer and butthead" public comments of ScottMcNealy before we bought him?<BR/><BR/>Regarding the comment about killing google - sure it doesnt sound good. But the guys at the top are hypercompetitive, alpha males. I wouldnt want anyone else there. Sure, I want them to compete ethically and legally,but I want them to compete, nonetheless. And if that incurs some bad language sometimes, so be it. If you think this was bad, you should see how Bill berates presenters in internal product reviews.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, there are a lot of very good things to complain about, and ballmer blowing his top is not one we should be spending time on. It happens everywhere. Deal with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126624705415083902005-09-13T08:18:00.000-07:002005-09-13T08:18:00.000-07:00Finally,A credible business publication putting ou...Finally,<BR/><BR/>A credible business publication putting out the real track under Ballmer.<BR/><BR/>http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2005/09/12/microsoft-management-software_cz_vm_0913microsoft.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-1126623166236338132005-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:002005-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:00minimsft for the masses:http://www.forbes.com/home...minimsft for the masses:<BR/><A HREF="http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2005/09/12/microsoft-management-software_cz_vm_0913microsoft.html" REL="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2005/09/12/microsoft-management-software_cz_vm_0913microsoft.html</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com