tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post6168054658946624967..comments2024-03-18T12:52:48.117-07:00Comments on Mini-Microsoft: The KIN-fusing KIN-clusion to KIN, and FY11 Microsoft Layoff RumorsWho da'Punkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205453956191063442noreply@blogger.comBlogger775125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-89826826728373582602014-05-23T06:04:45.254-07:002014-05-23T06:04:45.254-07:00this is very informative article.Best skin special...this is very informative article.<a href="http://skinspecialistindelhi.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow">Best skin specialist in delhi</a><br /><br />Allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04414023777592108747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-62384325410832281302011-01-18T12:59:54.254-08:002011-01-18T12:59:54.254-08:00"The other half of the story is the number of...<i>"The other half of the story is the number of contingent staff positions, which if you open up Headtrax for yourself to investigate be prepared to tell Elizabeth you're coming to join her, because it about gave me a mild heart-attack."</i><br /><br />You're joking, right? Cut contingent staff? Who would do all the crap work you arrogant FTEs won't touch with an 11-foot pole? Who will keep the company running while you're off at inumerable morale events patting yourselves on the back en masse? Methinks that before you start hacking away at the ones doing the bread-and-butter work, you should get your own house in order and deal with the obvious FTE bloat within Windows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-72283975568977169422010-09-11T09:55:56.424-07:002010-09-11T09:55:56.424-07:00If you listened to Kevin Turner's WPC keynote ...If you listened to Kevin Turner's WPC keynote - to the 8,000 external partners who make Microsot billions - Azure was every fifth word because it is literally the only modern (<10 years) product we have with a chance of being a billion-dollar business. Guess who we have to thank for that? Ray Ozzie. So STFU.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-51490514766699701442010-09-08T18:13:58.793-07:002010-09-08T18:13:58.793-07:00WPC - FTE - 10% cutWPC - FTE - 10% cutAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-77395457638892611072010-09-07T19:59:44.276-07:002010-09-07T19:59:44.276-07:00Everything is just hunkey-dorey at Microsoft, than...Everything is just hunkey-dorey at Microsoft, thank you very much!Steve Ballmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03700148299332589776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-62854477147714698672010-09-02T01:17:34.519-07:002010-09-02T01:17:34.519-07:00"I guess we need another ThinkWeek paper on h..."I guess we need another ThinkWeek paper on how to successfully acquire companies, too." There is such a paper: Look up "The Myth of Synergy" from 2008. Note especially Billg's comments.MayhemWAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14164530099246260285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-15638891412933069752010-08-23T21:33:37.526-07:002010-08-23T21:33:37.526-07:00We need to <a href="http://www.fixmicrosof...We need to <a href="http://www.fixmicrosoft.com>Fix Microsoft</a>, dont you think? What can someone like me do to help be part of the solution?Brandonhttp://www.fixmicrosoft.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-25769644416154432302010-08-19T10:14:44.633-07:002010-08-19T10:14:44.633-07:00If a person gets A-10 rating for the first time in...If a person gets A-10 rating for the first time in Microsoft, does it mean that the person is an automatic target for layoff ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-83802983871399486732010-08-08T14:17:12.413-07:002010-08-08T14:17:12.413-07:00Look into the WP7 training kit, and I am very disa...Look into the WP7 training kit, and I am very disappointed. <br /><br />Almost all examples inside the training kit can't handle the landscape and portrait view correctly.<br /><br />If an example can't do it right, how can MS expect the WP developer to get it right?<br /><br />Choosing Silver Light as the development language was a mistake.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-16141228606478017782010-08-07T10:10:50.802-07:002010-08-07T10:10:50.802-07:00I know about a dozen former employees (I'm one...<i>I know about a dozen former employees (I'm one of them), not a single one regrets leaving or being laid off. The toxic environment at MS continues</i><br /><br />Ditto to that. The review system is a joke - no relationship to performance. That's my observation as well - people get their sanity and health back.<br /><br />MSFT is not the best tech companies or even close to the best companies in town.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-11884594264101854832010-08-02T02:58:07.723-07:002010-08-02T02:58:07.723-07:00"There is so much technology can do today! I ..."<i>There is so much technology can do today! I still hope that being a microsoftee is the best way to do technology for the masses and make a difference!</i>"<br /><br />Aw, ain't that cute. But it's wrong.<br /><br />Frankly, I'm amazed people still believe this; to anyone outside microsoft it's been glaringly obvious that even before the antitrust suit this wasn't, this couldn't possibly be true. And the reason is painfully simple: The core clientele of microsoft isn't people, it's corporations, big ones. If you care to look close enough you can see it's woven right into in your own policies.<br /><br />Yes, technology can do so much, about a gazillion things more than we're managing to get out of it. Mainly because the biggest "OS" vendor is also the biggest innovation stifler around. Look at the computing power the apollo missions sported. Those things clearly were pressed to the max to get every last bit of use out of it. Now? Most cycles are wasted on things that nobody really needs, on eyecandy.<br /><br />The eyecandy is a figleaf, it's a religious offering to the belief that "intuitive" will save the day. It doesn't. Somebody said, "the nipple is intuitive, everything else is learned". That person clearly wasn't a mom. Intuitive is developer buzz-speak for "our model maps to something else the user already has learned, seamlessly". That's a hell of a lot of assumptions right there. And microsoft makes it a gigantic sales point of *not* requiring users to learn anything new. Because buying managers don't also want to spend on training. The result is that most users can't use what they're given.<br /><br />That makes the software more capable than the user. Adding more features on top then doesn't achieve anything. Yet that's what microsoft has been doing. Chasing that killer feature permeates microsoft, and has for decades. It's simple, really. Believing you're making a difference as a teeny tiny cog in a gigantic machine that itself doesn't go in any useful direction is nothing short of delusional. Stay at it and it becomes the very definition of insanity.<br /><br />Amazingly it still makes sacks of money and sits on an obscene hoard of money raked in earlier. Mostly because of network effect, of happening onto a monopoly and ruthlessly using that to gain more monopolies. Now you know how ballmer got to be top dog. That sort of thing is what he's good at. Only he had nothing left to leverage. The cupboard turned out bare. Whoops.<br /><br />You make better money out of working there than I do writing this, of course. I get nothing, as does the world. So take the money, and be happy with it. For less delusional ideals, look elsewhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-65254082991191510772010-08-02T00:46:24.706-07:002010-08-02T00:46:24.706-07:00.....Have you ever seen anyone who left Microsoft ........Have you ever seen anyone who left Microsoft that is not happier now?<br /><br />I have not - everyone I met is alot happier!<br /><br />I will attest to that! Cheerio!...<br /><br />I know about a dozen former employees (I'm one of them), not a single one regrets leaving or being laid off. The toxic environment at MS continues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-81015420246327302502010-07-28T22:36:57.693-07:002010-07-28T22:36:57.693-07:00"New Oxford American Dictionary [...]"
...<i>"New Oxford American Dictionary [...]"<br /><br />There's your problem - the third word: "American".<br /><br />I come from an English-speaking country, whereas the U.S. is an English-mangling country.</i><br /><br />You may come from an English speaking country, but you are lacking grasp of your own language.<br /><br />The Oxford <b>English</b> Dictionary cites examples of guilt being used as a verb dating to 825 AD.<br /><br />You wish a prescriptive definition of English, but it has never been suited to such a definition, as it is always changing, even in "English speaking countries."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-34334403470776591072010-07-28T10:13:07.592-07:002010-07-28T10:13:07.592-07:00"That's not true. They were populated, bu...<i>"That's not true. They were populated, but not locked. There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial changes once the calibration meetings began or managers actually read review forms."</i><br /><br />I have never seen a group where the needle moves in any significant way after the model is populated -- a few border cases get swapped, that's all. Once those calibration meetings are done it's a career-limiting move for a manager to continue pushing a case s/he believes in.<br /><br />And then, of course, as the model gets pushed up the org ladder, more and more people fall into the lower categories to meet the curve.<br /><br />It's a ridiculous and arbitrary system, it's always been broken and it's more broken every year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-17278161736021064752010-07-27T22:00:42.305-07:002010-07-27T22:00:42.305-07:00Ah, reading through all of this is just one more r...Ah, reading through all of this is just one more reminder of why I am happy to be on the outside. Don't get me wrong: I was devastated and shocked to be cut last summer. At mid-year, it was nothing but glowing. My directs were all performing above and beyond, the lion share of commitments completed and we were into gravy-time of doing stretch activities. and I was told that I was exceeding. So to find myself on the outside a handful of months later just hurt.<br /><br />But let's see here....a 20k raise, similar bonus, control of my team and influence over our products, crappy but acceptable benefits, and a complete lack of bureaucracy.<br /><br />Not everyone is a fit for the MS culture. It doesn't mean you're not brilliant, it doesn't mean you can't deliver. More than likely you just have a really crappy manager, or you don't know how to play the politics. But there's a big world out here. A better world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-81727227698442175512010-07-27T16:40:28.112-07:002010-07-27T16:40:28.112-07:00From Italy.
KIN debacle is not new for people lik...From Italy.<br /><br />KIN debacle is not new for people like me with +15 years in te company. Seemed a vision more than one FY is forbidden in our company and I still user a marvellous program like Reader in my Tablet and Smartphone and customers are asking to me for Origami yet (Remember iPad).<br /><br />About people I can see more and more new guys in C&O to get some bucks and firing EPG guys with years of experience and growing quota every year but seems office and Windows aren't cool so...<br /><br />Concluding I'm preparing my resume.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-71250819312972443002010-07-27T12:20:00.009-07:002010-07-27T12:20:00.009-07:00"That's not true. They were populated, bu..."That's not true. They were populated, but not locked. There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial changes once the calibration meetings began or managers actually read review forms."<br /><br />That's not what my manager told me. He told me that it was set in stone before we even filled in our review forms.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-35420607644245777722010-07-26T23:19:01.119-07:002010-07-26T23:19:01.119-07:00How many managers used those chances to make subst...<i>How many managers used those chances to make substantial changes after they read the review forms? </i><br /><br />All of the good ones.<br /><br />No matter how well managers think they know what you did throughout the year, it always helps for them to see all of your accomplishments written down in one place to remind them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-74658504029336234172010-07-26T15:22:37.901-07:002010-07-26T15:22:37.901-07:00That's not true. They were populated, but not ...<i>That's not true. They were populated, but not locked. There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial changes once the calibration meetings began or managers actually read review forms.</i><br /><br />How many managers used those chances to make substantial changes after they read the review forms?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-65316279285948238702010-07-26T12:16:29.776-07:002010-07-26T12:16:29.776-07:00There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial c...<i>There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial changes once the calibration meetings began or managers actually read review forms.</i><br /><br />I'm a long-time people-manager at Microsoft, and the employee’s self-assessment in the review document is almost entirely irrelevant to the outcome of the review process. For me, I already know what my people did or didn't do via weekly conversations throughout the year, and more importantly, how they are doing in the high school popularity contest that is the review system.<br /><br />I try to educate my team about the reality of the system as best I can; that honesty has limited my managerial career growth and may someday lead me to “spend more time with my family”, but I don’t care. My job is to defend my people from the system and avoid giving unjustified U/10%. Sometimes I fail.<br /><br />I dream of the days when my job was to promote sound engineering practices and team cooperation and delivery solid products, but hey, the money and benefits still slightly outweigh the soul-sucking aspects. Besides, I’ve been here too long; I no longer feel employable in the real world (at least not at a place I’d want to work).<br /><br />The review document is often read by hiring managers when you change jobs inside Microsoft. You should be self-promoting yourself like there’s no tomorrow. It’s your internal resume. Don’t be honest and self-critical; if you end up in the U/10% category (or on the fringe) and have anything critical to say about yourself, you are giving HR more ammo against you. The bigger the gap between what you write and any negative message your manager is trying to deliver, the more nervous HR/LCA get about immediately showing you the door, especially if you are in a protected class.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-85107515174387114562010-07-26T00:25:04.183-07:002010-07-26T00:25:04.183-07:00"New Oxford American Dictionary [...]"
..."New Oxford American Dictionary [...]"<br /><br />There's your problem - the third word: "American".<br /><br />I come from an English-<b>speaking</b> country, whereas the U.S. is an English-<b>mangling</b> country. For example, many people in the U.S. can't even pronounce the word "the" correctly (they don't know that the pronunciation changes depending on whether the following word commences with a vowel or a consonant). <br /><br />You can rest assured that I'll never be troubling myself to take advice regarding my mother tongue from a nation of affected ignoramuses who think that misusing the English language in ever more risible ways somehow betrays cleverness. In case that's not clear enough, let me repeat: guilt is a noun, it is not a verb.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-47312152483256754132010-07-25T14:13:20.349-07:002010-07-25T14:13:20.349-07:00"As far as I can tell, the taint of that one ..."As far as I can tell, the taint of that one 10% will prevent me from moving anywhere in the company forever regardless of what else I do unless there's a magical alignment of cosmic forces. Sadly, after all these years and a career of great work, I need to leave the company because of this one incident."<br /><br />LisaB - you have to fix this. I'm not a troll, a RIF'd ex-employee, never a 10%, but have seen this happen over and over to many solid people, since many GM's and VP's have the "no 10%s here..." policy, and people I've seen ruined by this system in many calibration meetings (many of them happen in May folks...). One friend I know, emblazoned with wearing a 10% on his lapel was even told by HR "well, you can still interview because that [the "no 10%s" policy] is not a 'written' policy", in the HR rep's attempt to dismiss its existance. What a weasel response from HR, Lisa. The heck it isn't a written policy. If one manager has written in email that they will not accept 10%'s it _is_ written policy, and shows that HR is accepting of the counter-official-policy since they refuse to do anything about it. Or, it is truly official policy and thus should be published? Which one is it? Lisa, instead of lecturing to everyone @ MGX about how great your manager SteveB is- please do somethig that moves the Company forward. You could start by assigning a full 10% of the 67+ ranks the 10% score themselves, by level band, rather than allowing them to push those scores downward into the lower org., so even exec's can see how runinous this system is. No points given for assigning 10%'s to departing or already departed exec's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-29772083495659116502010-07-25T10:18:37.632-07:002010-07-25T10:18:37.632-07:00I don't know where you are, but in Windows the...<i>I don't know where you are, but in Windows the three performance "buckets" were populated back at mid-year review. The only changes since then have been due to managers haggling to make sure more of their own reports don't slide down the scale.</i><br /><br />That's not true. They were populated, but not locked. There were PLENTY of chances to make substantial changes once the calibration meetings began or managers actually read review forms.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-25412938092777520142010-07-24T18:34:33.101-07:002010-07-24T18:34:33.101-07:00> Or, what if you want to do something
> de...> Or, what if you want to do something <br />> dead simple like format an external <br />> USB flash drive and drag-and-drop <br />> files onto it? <br /><br />Just so you know, I am writing this from an Ubuntu 10.04 system with a USB device plugged in, and describing the exact steps involved.<br /><br />Steps are:<br />1. Right click on the USB thumb <br /> drive icon<br />2. Select "Format" from the menu.<br />3. Dialog appears: Select file system<br /> type (default is FAT) and name.<br />4. Press the "Format" button.<br />5. When the format is finished, drag<br /> your files to the USB thumb drive<br /> icon.<br /><br />I never needed to open a bash shell, let alone be a "command line guru", although I knew my way around it if I had to. No "obtuse permission" stuff needed. I never have to do anything more complex than type my sudo password once if I am doing something that affects the system.<br /><br />I use a Windows 7 VM at work (running under Ubuntu 9.10) less than 5% of the time, most of my work is done on the Linux desktop, as is the case with all engineers. And I am a firmware developer at a fortune 500 company, that migrated off a MS development platform many, many releases ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555958.post-51689529812478125112010-07-24T14:46:55.121-07:002010-07-24T14:46:55.121-07:00RE: Come on now, the model's barely locked. Ca...RE: <i>Come on now, the model's barely locked. Can't we wait until late August for these comments?</i><br /><br />I don't know where you are, but in Windows the three performance "buckets" were populated back at mid-year review. The only changes since then have been due to managers haggling to make sure more of their own reports don't slide down the scale.<br /><br />It's not about your performance. Really. It's about your value to your manager, your manager's willingness to fight for you, and your perceived value to your skip-level and above. Your skill, your experience, your history with the company -- even your past accomplishments -- carry very little weight. <br /><br />At Microsoft, below a certain level in the hierarchy, you're never more than one review cycle away from being fired. This is especially true if you're an non-PM IC, because you don't have as many opportunities to schmooze.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com