tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post8956623467153416738..comments2024-03-18T12:52:48.117-07:00Comments on Mini-Microsoft: Microsoft Walks On By - Yahoo!Who da'Punkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205453956191063442noreply@blogger.comBlogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-25691218800696616892008-06-05T06:36:00.000-07:002008-06-05T06:36:00.000-07:00I'm pretty amazed by the MSFT employees that think...I'm pretty amazed by the MSFT employees that think they are so special. They should go work in the rest of the world for a few years and then they will miss Microsoft.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-66533013813433456562008-05-22T09:18:00.000-07:002008-05-22T09:18:00.000-07:00If you have a manager like than then go find a new...<I>If you have a manager like than then go find a new manager. If you have good skills it isn't hard.<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>Yes, but MSFT encourages that sort of management, so increasingly, the odds are you'll need to find a new manager in another company. Which, as you said, isn't hard if you're good. <BR/><BR/><I>Wrong!<BR/><BR/>You are paid to do your job. You get promotions and bonuses when you do *MORE* than your job you are paid to do. You get other rewards based on your potential to do *MORE* than your current job.</I><BR/><BR/>Typical of the myopic view MSFT takes to management. Sure, you get promoted by doing, or showing the cabaility to do MORE. But what MORE should you be doing? What MORE will actually be valuable, short or long term, to the company? If your manager can't guide you in that, then the company is giving up it's best chance to influence your development in a direction beneficial for the company.<BR/><BR/>Managers should be guiding this stuff, exercising some oversight and control. But that's not what MSFT does. MSFT promotes managers who can't do this stuff, and everyone pretends that they are <I>delegating</I> responsibility when they are actually <I>abdicating</I> it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-59297966240588161732008-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:002008-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00If you want to promoted you got to do more than yo...<I>If you want to promoted you got to do more than your job. In all fairness to Microsoft, if you are just doing your job you probably are not working very hard.</I><BR/><BR/>Typical Microsoft mentality. The idea that everybody is interchangeable--just cogs in a big machine. Replace Dev A with Dev B and the job will get done exactly the same.<BR/><BR/>Here's an idea that will upset your world view: talent, skill, and hard work matter, even when you're "just" doing your job.<BR/><BR/>Imagine a scenario where our two devs (A and B) are asked to do the same job. Dev A's code is simpler, shorter, faster, more reliable, more extensible, and more maintainable. It results in a better product and saves Microsoft millions of dollars in maintenance, patching, etc. Dev B doesn't work as hard, his code isn't as good, but it still gets the job done and he spends most of his time inventing other work to do, "helping" his coworkers, and otherwise "managing up."<BR/><BR/>Now you've basically said that Dev A should just get COLA (if that) and that Dev B is a rock star and should be promoted... I wonder if you still stand by that decision...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-31519743339788809282008-05-21T10:23:00.000-07:002008-05-21T10:23:00.000-07:00"Q: For each person you manage, what do they need ..."Q: For each person you manage, what do they need to do to become more valuable to the company?<BR/><BR/>A: Well, hell if I know, that's up to them to figure out - they own their own career."<BR/><BR/>---------<BR/><BR/>If you have a manager like than then go find a new manager. If you have good skills it isn't hard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-56679193279578103702008-05-21T10:21:00.000-07:002008-05-21T10:21:00.000-07:00"The only "looking out for my career" I should hav..."The only "looking out for my career" I should have to worry about is how well I do my actual JOB. I should be evaluated, rewarded, and promoted according to how well I did what I was SUPPOSED to do."<BR/><BR/>Wrong!<BR/><BR/>You are paid to do your job. You get promotions and bonuses when you do *MORE* than your job you are paid to do. You get other rewards based on your potential to do *MORE* than your current job.<BR/><BR/>If you just come to work and do a great job, but just your job then at best you deserve a cost of living increase.<BR/><BR/>If you take charge of your career and expand your role or job then you do desearve more. It may be your managers job to help and to promote you in the reviews, but it is up to you to go beyond your job.<BR/><BR/>If you want to promoted you got to do more than your job. In all fairness to Microsoft, if you are just doing your job you probably are not working very hard. Most jobs have plenty of slack in the role to allow people to expand. <BR/><BR/>If you are waiting on your manager to help you then you are being a fool. Your manager is a resource, but it is up to you how you use it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-62833404921724289202008-05-20T23:06:00.000-07:002008-05-20T23:06:00.000-07:00These posts show why people don't get good reviews...<I>These posts show why people don't get good reviews. If you don't look out for your own career, why should you expect anyone else too?</I><BR/><BR/>Q: if you manage people, what do you want them to do with their career? <BR/><BR/>A: become more valuable to the company.<BR/><BR/>Q: For each person you manage, what do they need to do to become more valuable to the company?<BR/><BR/>A: Well, hell if I know, that's up to them to figure out - they own their own career.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Doesn't work so good, does it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-24928600361940455712008-05-20T15:47:00.000-07:002008-05-20T15:47:00.000-07:00These posts show why people don't get good reviews...<I>These posts show why people don't get good reviews. If you don't look out for your own career, why should you expect anyone else too?</I><BR/><BR/>The only "looking out for my career" I should have to worry about is how well I do my actual JOB. I should be evaluated, rewarded, and promoted according to how well I did what I was SUPPOSED to do. Not how well I did at inventing work for myself, stealing other peoples' work, managing up, self-promoting, managing expectations, inventing BS cross-group initiatives, "anticipating my manager's needs," or attending meetings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-24710388412252898072008-05-20T13:50:00.000-07:002008-05-20T13:50:00.000-07:00"The entire "you own your career" matra is a bulls..."The entire "you own your career" matra is a bullshit cop-out on managemeent's part.<BR/><BR/>+1 +1 +1"<BR/><BR/>These posts show why people don't get good reviews. If you don't look out for your own career, why should you expect anyone else too?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-58895365572752169812008-05-20T13:08:00.000-07:002008-05-20T13:08:00.000-07:00The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about......<I>The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about... urban myths. <BR/><BR/>You forgot to add "caused by idiotic users who don't know how to search using ms live". </I><BR/><BR/>Nope, didn't forget to add this -- didn't add it because I don't think it's true. If you think of users in this way, that is your problem, not mine.<BR/><BR/><I>If MS building XX is not a business, then what is it, a residential home, a farm, a ghost house? </I><BR/><BR/>It is a building. Microsoft is a business. Microsoft building whatever is a location. <BR/><BR/><I>Google is crushing you and you use this kind of ignorant arguments? </I><BR/><BR/>What kind of ignorant arguments? Someone made an assertion that Live Search couldn't find a building on the MS campus. Rather than blindly accepting the assertion, I went and tested it, and posted the results of my test. <BR/><BR/>I'm not arguing that Live is better than Google at search. I am putting some reality around the statement that Live couldn't find a building.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-20978025258066986412008-05-19T19:15:00.000-07:002008-05-19T19:15:00.000-07:00The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about......<I>The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about... urban myths. </I><BR/><BR/>You forgot to add "caused by idiotic users who don't know how to search using ms live".<BR/><BR/>If MS building XX is not a business, then what is it, a residential home, a farm, a ghost house?<BR/><BR/>Google is crushing you and you use this kind of ignorant arguments?<BR/><BR/>That piece of live $hit product will not see life on my work or home computers.<BR/><BR/>The whole "live" org deserves to be desolved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-45780797434135651932008-05-19T15:51:00.000-07:002008-05-19T15:51:00.000-07:00The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about......The "Microsoft Building 116" issue is all about... urban myths.<BR/><BR/>I was finally able to reproduce the problem -- on my third try. First out of the gate, typed Microsoft Building 116 (no quotes) in the search box for "locations" in maps.live.com. Found it. Second shot, typed "Microsoft Building 116" with quotes into the search box for "Businesses" in maps.live.com. Found it. Then tried the phrase without quotes in the search box for "Businesses", and the search failed.<BR/><BR/>So, I suppose we could argue about whether or not maps.live.com should default to searching for "businesses" rather than "locations", and/or about whether maps.live.com should assume that a series of words is a phrase when searching for businesses. Those are both interesting UI discussions. Claiming that the search engine is broken, though, doesn't cut it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-26989554219479098242008-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:002008-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00>Here let me help you with that: it should read "m...>Here let me help you with that: it should read "mini TOES the line."<BR/><BR/>And shouldn't you be ranting on the Yahoo finance boards in the first place?<BR/><BR/>Mini;<BR/><BR/>I do apologize. I was using the oft purposely mispronounced phrase to infer you are holding up the dead weight of your company's management. ahem.<BR/><BR/>From Wikipedia Toe the Line:<BR/>"Sometimes this phrase is written "tow the line." This misspelling changes the meaning of the phrase slightly: rather than implying conformance with a rule, "tow" suggests contribution to a cause, e.g. "the pundit is towing the administration's line" alluding to a metaphorical act of pulling something with a line, cord or rope. However, this variant is grammatically suspect, as the verb tow refers to the object being towed, e.g. a car or a boat, not the mechanism by which it is towed, such as a rope or chain."<BR/><BR/>Oh, and I promise, the moment Microsoft realizes its place in history and toes the line of inevitability by taking its place among the relics of computing heistory, I will indeed vacate the premises. Either that or the moment I become VP yada yada yada and am given the opportunity to fix it myself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-20661963176004988532008-05-19T07:47:00.000-07:002008-05-19T07:47:00.000-07:00>>Dude -- nerds gave you the Internet.You're a cas...>>Dude -- nerds gave you the Internet.<<<BR/><BR/>You're a case in point seeing as you didn't get the pop culture reference.<BR/><BR/>It was a joke. You need to go outside once in a while dude.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-73147330315741093102008-05-19T06:13:00.000-07:002008-05-19T06:13:00.000-07:00>And Gate decided to sell microsoft. He buy railro...><BR/>And Gate decided to sell microsoft. He buy railroad and hotel.<BR/><BR/>I'm a stickler for correct prose and spelling. It's >"And Gates decided to sell Microsoft, buying a railroad and a hotel with the money."<BR/>Those, he could get for under a billion dollars. No, Gate decide to call hitman make competition sleep with fishes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-88214167787202147152008-05-19T05:35:00.000-07:002008-05-19T05:35:00.000-07:00>"Hey Carl, soften these asshats up, will ya? I'll...>"Hey Carl, soften these asshats up, will ya? I'll buy you a lifetime supply of Fosters."<BR/><BR/>More like a scene from the Godfather where Vito, tells singer Johnny Fontaine that he will make studio head Jack Woltz a certain "offer they can't refuse" in regards to a part he wanted to play. <BR/><BR/>The whole Icahn thing looks more like a strategic run at preventing Yahoo from signing on with Google in their ad sharing deal. But that is pure speculation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-26760896575946469922008-05-19T02:29:00.000-07:002008-05-19T02:29:00.000-07:00The "Microsoft building 116" problem is all about ...The "Microsoft building 116" problem is all about UI consistency.<BR/><BR/>Live Search can't find Microsoft documents and white papers that Google puts at the first line of results.<BR/><BR/>You wouldn't want Live Maps to break this convention, right?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-72095857998674369052008-05-19T02:25:00.000-07:002008-05-19T02:25:00.000-07:00It was all too good to be true :(It was all too good to be true :(Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-56845891283986770442008-05-19T01:25:00.000-07:002008-05-19T01:25:00.000-07:00The big money fix is in and it is so powerful even...<I>The big money fix is in and it is so powerful even Mini Microsoft tows the line.</I><BR/><BR/>Here let me help you with that: it should read "mini TOES the line." <BR/><BR/>And shouldn't you be ranting on the Yahoo finance boards in the first place?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-11850434262584236502008-05-19T01:21:00.000-07:002008-05-19T01:21:00.000-07:00Partnering with Microsoft; killing the clone marke...<I>Partnering with Microsoft; killing the clone market; switching to USB; removing the floppy drive; killing the Newton; announcing the iPod; switching to Intel; all the way up to the iPhone's virtual glass keyboard... every single one of these moves was condemned as loudly and vociferously as possible by friend and foe alike. Each and every time he made one of these moves, the entire tech press announced that Jobs had just "killed the company."<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>This is pretty revisionist history. I don't recall anyone getting so worked up about the floppy, USB, Intel, or the iPod. And the virtual keyboard of the iPhone is slandered by foe only, or some 20% of internet pundits.<BR/><BR/>Is this part of the RDF that says Apple and its users are fighting the good fight against a system that holds them down? Jobs is lucky for users who held on through the dark years more than anything else. When Mac was at its crappiest people were still clinging to memories of cowdogs, sad mac icons, and eep.wav. <BR/><BR/>(And to be honest those things were fun. I had a lot of fun on the Macs in elementary school, but I never learned anything like I did at my previous school that had me programming Basic on a trash-80.)<BR/><BR/>But no, no one announced Jobs had "killed the company" since the Microsoft deal. Get real.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-19663672857124468212008-05-19T01:00:00.000-07:002008-05-19T01:00:00.000-07:00Mini - It would be great to filter out senseless n...Mini - It would be great to filter out senseless negative comments on this blog. <BR/>If GOOG does search advertising deal with Y!, thats GOOG gain = MSFT loss but when MS is in the news for a similar deal we hear so much negativity. Way to define:hypocrisy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-57483467692649389842008-05-18T23:05:00.000-07:002008-05-18T23:05:00.000-07:00The entire "you own your career" matra is a bullsh...<I>The entire "you own your career" matra is a bullshit cop-out on managemeent's part.</I><BR/><BR/>+1 +1 +1<BR/><BR/>A fun thing to do when your manager asks why you didn't do [management task XYZ] is to work out a subtle way to ask why they didn't do it themselves, seeing as they're the ones with the oversight and authority. You have never seen such furious red-faced backpedaling in your life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-60812043208469751432008-05-18T22:45:00.000-07:002008-05-18T22:45:00.000-07:00I've come to realize that if you ever want to find...<I>I've come to realize that if you ever want to find out what people think of Vista, do NOT ask somebody who's life revolves around his operating system (ie geeks)</I><BR/><BR/>I'm sure there are also many people who buy the latest model Car XYZ and are proud of it and show it off to their neighbors even though it may be inferior to the outgoing model.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-26197913248699131372008-05-18T20:58:00.000-07:002008-05-18T20:58:00.000-07:00I can't wait for the Omaha announce on Wednesday! ...I can't wait for the Omaha announce on Wednesday! Cash back on purchases on ebay is going to be HUGE! Really, I mean it!! At least a 2 point share jump.<BR/><BR/>/sarcasm>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-38056689027138563732008-05-18T20:18:00.000-07:002008-05-18T20:18:00.000-07:00So now what do we call you while slapping your ass...So now what do we call you while slapping your ass, Mini?<BR/><BR/>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24697195/<BR/><BR/>I love conspiracies... this whole thing smacks of one. Can't you just see back-channel conversations between Liddell and Icahn: "Hey Carl, soften these asshats up, will ya? I'll buy you a lifetime supply of Fosters."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-33451618832796180952008-05-18T17:00:00.000-07:002008-05-18T17:00:00.000-07:00Microsoft Issues Statement Regarding Yahoo!Microso...Microsoft Issues Statement Regarding Yahoo!<BR/><A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-18statement.mspx" REL="nofollow">Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com