I... what? - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

stephen craig rowe has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

Hey buddy! Guess they did not get it at the beginning. Smile. Perhaps they will catch it when Space is only as deep as one makes it! Hmm. Go to http://flyingmonkeyshome.spaces.live.com As ever be well. Stephen Craig Rowe

(Space is... okay, what?)

Half a what? - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

"Meanwhile, there's a whole generation of aggressive, smart, visionary leaders in the L64-L66 ranks who just need an opportunity to show what they can do (yes, I'm referring to myself as well). To me, that is the first and foremost reason why I'm even thinking beyond the compensation issue and still pondering leaving.

I simply don't believe that Microsoft can innovate quickly enough, nor do I believe Microsoft affords aggressive, visionary employees an environment in which they can thrive and feel satisfied with the products they build."

Wow! Are you listening Bill, Steve, Ray, Brad, etc.? This is coming from what I believe to be a highly motivated, competent, innovative employee who is feeling h-o-p-e-l-e-s-s!

And, do you see the imbalance here with partners receiving big bucks and actually sucking the lifeblood out of your passion...your company?! Nature abhors this vacuum!

You simply must do something about this or...perish. As one writer put it..."not now, not next month but...10 years from now?"

C'mon guys, get half a sack!

(Sorry, I'm putting that "half a ____" on notice. No more.)

Macho Macho Microsofties - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

I think a strong argument can be made that people at Microsoft "deserve" more money. Microsoft claims to hire the best and the brightest and then only pays them 66th percentile. That doesn't seem fair. But anybody who claims that Microsoft doesn't pay "enough" is nuts.


That's pure bullshit. Microsoft does not hire the best and brightest. I've interacted with a large cross section of the company and come to the conclusion that Microsofties are merely above average. But there are many macho guys at MSFT, though. But they seem to act macho only within the company and cannot get their dicks up on the streets.

I went a top Ivy school for Ph.D.. There I made a lot of undergrad friends. The best almost never came to MSFT. Only those in the second or third quantile joined.

You have to understand that during the dotcom boom, especially during the 1998-2001 period, the best and brightest went to the startups. Afterwards, most went to google. I was stupid not to take my google offer more than five years ago. I've since heard there are other who "lost" even more than I do. But, you never know. It's always a gamble.

Let's face it. Most programming jobs at MSFT require little training but a lot of patience. Of course to do well at MSFT often requires something else. This is probably why a lot of guys have taken on the macho (or Type A) personality. (Or the macho type is often found on campus.) I've seen some who are particularly obnoxious in this respect. But I suspect, with good reasons, that the cause for their behavior is an unsatiable need for approval. This type of people are often driven to seek achievements that are measured by commonly acknowledged standards, such as test scores and grades. But they are not the best and brightest, definitely not original. Unforunately, MSFT has hired a lot of them, for a very simple reason: It's relatively easy to manipulate them to work as foot soldiers; all one needs to do is to give and withhold approval at appropriate times.

Frankly, there's really no need to pay these people more than 80K a year. I predict that within 2-3 years, most of the positions in Redmond can be replaced by Chinese or Indian-schooled techies.

(We must spread this machismo through-out the techie world! Our future depends on it!)

Yadda yadda - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

1. PMs can be outsourced just as well (see IDC)
--
PM is business leader. No PM no business, no business no PM. If you outsource business, you outsource PM. Dev/test cogs in wheel. PM fixes the cogs.

(Point made. Many time.)

You will be happy one day - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

I work at MS....I hate it every single day...specially when it comes to the reviews.

Work is meetings, meetings and more meetings. By last bastard manager screwed me as I changed groups towards the end of the fiscal year. Suck up and be political you will get the good reviews....if you are not political you are screwed in this f**k*d up org.

God save this place!!! Not my cup of tea!

I can't wait for the day I quit....working out my exit, while I coast along for a few more months.

(Holy smokes! Why wait?!? Quit now and at least enjoy the remnants of summer.)

Greedy Cake - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

a comment for the espp engrossed:

why are you all so worried about espp when you should be worrying about how to work smarter and develop products that raise the f-in' stock price period? you are all so consumed with making money versus making products and enjoying your careers that i'd prefer you just leave the company. focus on doing great work and making good decisions and the money will come later. as a shareholder, i cry each time i look at at how the stock price plummets and wonder - what the hell are they doing over there? then i read your greedy comments and say - ah that's it, they are all trying to figure out how to make money for themselves even though they aren't doing great work. yeah, it sucks that you think work hard and aren't being rewarded through espp - WHICH IS A BENEFIT. boo-hoo.

ever think that actually making changes instead of just bitchin' on mini's site might actually be a better idea? maybe working and getting rewarded through reviews?

the last thing i want to hear you folks moaning about is espp. do the work to make customers and stockholders happy and we'll reward you by increasing your stock price. it'll pay off in espp AND your stock awards.

man, i could totally understand if you're upset about your hard won stock awards, but this takes the cake.

(Chicken, egg, vicious cycle and motivating benefits. How does it all come together? Don't you have to have stock to be motivated to raise it? And don't you first need to be motivated to buy / acquire stock?)

What's Going On - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

re: vista post-mortem

I work in a subsidiary and just installed the IT supported build of Vista. Can someone explain what is going on here? Is this thing even close to being ready?

It is really hard to get the most basic things done - first because it is incredibly slow, even on good hardware, second because installing the most basic applications is a challenge.

The black screen everytime i install an application or simple active x control is incredibly annoying.

I saw Allchin's demo at MGX. He must have used either flash or a supercomputer.

Can some of you Redmond guys stop playing dungeons and dragons for a few minutes and explain what we are supposed to do with this?

(Does anyone actually play D and D anymore?)

Dear Jim - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

This is a great time for a vista post mortem - especially for all of us in the field that have to sell this now. Jim Allchin - you suck. What in the hell were you thinking? This thing takes a year to install and it is slow as molasses. Thanks for spending 5 years driving us down the wrong road, jackass.

(Oh, I may feel the same way but I'll send the cathartic release here instead)

Natural Born ____ - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

We are Technology company and PMs should be technical.

--
Read PM CSPs written by the great PM leaders. PM is natural born leader with vision. Dev write code and fix bugs. Dev can be outsourced to Zambia. PM is the core strength of Microsoft.

(Even my troll-bait alarm went off with this one, whether it was intentional or not.)

What if Don Box was sexy, too - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

we're not talking a Don Box, or a Jim Gray, or heck, even a Robert Scoble.

Never, Never put Don Box in the same sentence as Jim Gray. Jim is a legend, Don Box is a convoluted author/trainer. I found his first COM book to be one of most boring technical books ever written - it's even worse than most manuals.


Well, life's hard. VCs don't just give you money because you're good looking either

This is not true, your looks affect everything. If you are a female and good looking, you have the key to the world. Let's not sugar coat it, good look will give you a leg up more often than not.

We live in a sexist, racist, lookist society - I am talking about the human society in general. Some people try to go beyond that but many do not.

(That's a can of whoop-ass I'd prefer not to open.)

Retention Policy - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

"If you can demonstrate a clear business need to keep the email, then you can keep it. Otherwise, you should've already been deleting it. What's the problem with this policy?"

It wreaks of admission of guilt. Company lawyers hate email. It always mucks up their ability to hide illegal corporate actions. In daily work, IC's will just be honest. It is like open source. And it exposes an attorney's intent to obfuscate facts.

The problem with deletion is it creates a corporate culture of mistrust, paranoia and forces employees who suspect they are doing things that are illegal to save email in other ways, like printing it out, or backing up disk files to a CD. The end result is the company becomes more restrictive and the level of trust between employee and management is ended, as is innovation, creativity, loyalty, and a sense of good will about the work environment.

A better policy is to fire your lawyers and top executives executing the illegal policies in the first place. I recommend a squeegee to wipe the slime left behind afterwards. A company can only survive in a tyrannical environment for so long before it suffocates itself.

The other reason is another long tirade about protecting invention and innovative solutions regarding patent law, that may tend to leak out and get copied outside the walls of Microsoft, but since Microsoft does not invent, but instead adopts and copies as a means of corporate survival, this reason is not so important as the other one above. The policy also makes it easier fir companies to steal ideas and patent inventions of employees who have left.

(It was in the balance until that whole slime and last paragraph thing)

Good for your own blog - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Ray Myers has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

Corporate Policy #2 – To “Do Good” is to Serve the Customers Interests

NOTE: Do not read this unless you fully understand and will begin to practice and use Corporate Policy #1 - Don’t Lie to Others; be Scrupulously Honest with Yourself.

What motivates us? Some eastern religious philosophies believe that we all exist to serve others, use our gifts and grow. While in our cubicles, we use our gifts by serving the corporation with the benefits of our output. We grow as we receive feedback regarding this output, adjusting our mistakes, building upon our successes. But, is it enough to serve just the corporation during those 8+ hours a day? Not really. And, especially not if said corporation doesn’t believe in Corporate Policy # 1.

It’s time to stop for just a minute to say this: Corporate Policy #1 and #2 and those that follow are YOUR corporate policies not theirs. It’s your way of behaving in the corporation. If you and others follow them, the corporation will heal, in some significant and positive fashion. But, to survive in this environment and prosper, we must empower ourselves with some relevant guiding principles. These are the ones I present to you. They are my single, loving best effort. Use them. To do nothing will lead to chaos and confusion. Are you there already? I thought so.

So, begin to think in terms of the customer. Little by little, day by day. What do they want? Ask your friends, your family, your enemies, your dog, but for God’s sake…ask! Don’t you just love it when the significant people in your lives just blurt out what they want? I don’t know about you but, I will often go to great lengths to help them get it. The next best thing is for us to ask them. We aren’t always great at telling people what we want. Fortunately, customers are ALWAYS willing to tell us what they want. What a gift! Free knowledge! We never use it. Until now. Do it. One by one, cubicle by cubicle, family by family, dog by dog. Do it! It will change your life at Microsoft.

Stay tuned for YOUR Corporate Policy #3.

(I'm sorry Ray. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but perhaps this series, and the long comments in general, is better suited for your own blog and you can link to specific posts over here or such to show up in the link list.)

Yeah, yeah - New comment on Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Niall Sez Microsoft is Too Big and Paralyzed":

lets face it microsoft are losing their way vista is delayed and anyone above moron level who has tested a vista beta will say it's crap.

Move to apple, move to linux- either way microsoft is going the way of aol and losing touch with customers.

People expect reliable bug free software and by allowing various anti virus and anti spyware companies to become part of the scene-show that microsoft products are junk.

I've tried various builds of vista and It's bloatware anything that it can do linux can do more reliably and for zero cost on cheaper hardware.

(Mmm, hmm. And how does my Mom install a new driver for her fancy gadget?)

Bike Fairies - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

TheKhalif has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

I knew it was coming for some time, but I still can't get over KJ ousting BrianV. Brian was one of the few people who had the guts to call a spade a spade and the ability to come clean when he made a mistake. I think his only fault was having too many process monkeys (e.g. basics, feature love, etc.)

Brian has both led and personally contributed to the (recent) success of Vista. His mark can be seen everywhere.


THANK GOD!

The most interesting thing I've seen is him and IainMcDonald on a Harley. Of course BrianV was wearing a pink tutu with a fairy's wand.

Go KJ.

(Er? Did that really happen?)

I'm not little - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

To Mini-
"10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?"

As 1 of the new 10,000 hires I can only answer as to what I intend(ed) to do: bring passion to my work and to do the best damn job I can possibly do. But here's the problem, when I look on this blog and see a bunch of cynical and arrogant employess questioning the validity of the new hires I can only surmise that I might be committing career suicide by joining the company (especially since I will be joining as a "dreaded" SDE/T). I am seriously considering rejecting the offer, although technically I have already "singed on the dotted line". And that would be sad, because there appears to be a lack of passion and belief in the company which is something we 10,000 hires would have injected into the company. Call it naiveté, but perhaps that is what Microsoft needs right now.

Also, do you think I want to join a work environment where I'm viewed as someone who was herded in to fulfill a head count? No way. Nice job of making the new guys feel unwanted before they even step foot into their roles. And while this might be viewed by you as a positive (one less "incompetent" to drag the company down), what you have done is driven away a 10 year veteran who is very passionate about solving problems and shipping quality software and believes in Microsoft and that it can continue to be great. I passed my Microsoft interviews just like you but I now know that I won't be viewed in the same light as a "real" Microsoftie. Funny, I experienced the exact same thing as a cadet at the Air Force Academy: every class above you thinks that the standards for admission were tougher when they applied. In reality, it's just a bunch of inflated egos that are unable to cope with the possibility that there are other people in this world that are just as smart as they are. Sad little person you are indeed.

(I was happy, even with the arrogant bit, until the end. Hmm. I might still post it anyway and have it as the first CRF + Mini post.)

Whiny and arrogant - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

PMs vs. devs vs. testers vs. exec (name) vs. HR vs. marketing vs. everyone who isn't as smart as me. "If only there weren't any (sub favorite scapegoat) and those like me were in charge, then the world would be groovy again." Yawn, what a bunch of whining, arrogant babies. It is binary: you are part of the solution or you are part of the problem. Which will it be, my M'soft (team)mates?

(two words I hate - but I agree with the solution / problem part.)

whatevers - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

"Just looking for feedback from anyone that feels especially passionate about the comment."

Mini. Have you lost your mind? You are so steeped in your corporate responsibility mode you are having a hard time remembering this is a discussion blog, not a cheer leading section for Microsoft. Well, maybe it is and I have been duped. Your censorship is so severe, its like the China's internet restriction--nothing gets through except that which satisfies the whims of the state of Microsoft. Your new higher bar is rift with a low sense of personal honor in favor of the American tradition of free speech.

Personally, I don't think the cutting room floor should exist, nor do I think you should bounce anything unless it is seeped with genuine swear words without asterisks. There is no debate here, just paranoia about being bounced.

Also, you need a different blog format, one that generates true tiered threads, true tit for tat debate, like is found on ZDnet and Cnet. I consider your comments on CRF and your bounces a reflection of your Microsoft arrogance.

And you? - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

I find the title of this blog entry, "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?", to be quite ironic given nobody knows what mini himself does.

"Mini-Microsoft - what does he do?"

(Bitches and moans, it would appear. As always, the mystery is more compelling than the truth.)

Weeping Crackheads - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

"Personally, I haven't been able to access my [live] spaces site since this new launch. And judging by this article, I'd wager I'm not the only one. Way to impress, people."

This kind of thing with MSN is nothing new. You cannot change a corporate culture by changing the name.

I had an MSN account about six years ago with a contract. I had such terrible luck connecting and getting access that even the tech support at MSN conceded they should (and would) let me out of the contract. Which he did.

Unfortunately about a year later, a ding showed up on my credit from the event. What a bunch of **oles.

Microsoft needs to cut MSN loose completely, give them some start up capital and let it sink or swim. No motivation to survive if you have a sugar daddy to bail you out all the time. Since it was modeled to copy AOL, it is no wonder. Like using a crack head as your parental role model.

If Microsoft is dumb enough to let those jokers build the future of the company, well, I weep for your children.

(Weeping joker crackheads)

I can be happy here - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

Mini, I understand why you are upset about the 10,000 new hires. But you have to understand that Microsoft has no choice. It has to keep growing and taking over more and more of the software industry and the internet. If it stands still then its various competitors and open source software will eat up its monopolies and it will become just another big company.

You want to make Microsoft lean and mean, but then it would be just competing against a lot of other companies that are also lean and mean. It will win some, but it will also lose a lot of the time. Microsoft has to protect its monopolies and also expand into new areas. It is simply impossible to do that unless it keeps expanding its number of employees. And large numbers of employees mean bloat and lots of bad management dynamics. That is how it has always been at every large corporation, and that is how it will be at Microsoft.

Remember, even now Microsoft's stock is greatly overpriced. If it stops growing then the stock price really crashes, Bill and Steve lose most of their personal worth, and they and the other top executives would get fired by the stockholders.

I can understand why you want to work in a lean and mean company. The problem is that Microsoft just can't go down that route. Maybe you would be happier somewhere else.

([rocking back and forth] I like it here, I like it here, I like it here.)

FW: New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

Mini, I don't know how the JIT works either. Guess I should quit the Office team that I've been with for years, right?

Wait, this may give us insight into what mini actually does. He ridicules hiring anyone that doesn't understand JIT, so we must assume the he knows the JIT in great detail. So we can assume mini works in .NET's inner workings (JIT, CLR, etc). Am I getting warm?

(Warm, cold, hot? I'll never tell.)

Oh, no, not The Register - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Bill Buchan has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

Amusingly, I'm seeing articles:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/02/windows_vista_upgrades/

that state that you cannot upgrade to Vista from Windows 2000.

Who on earth is still running Windows 2000? As the article says, about 50% of business users out there.

Who now have to "rip and replace" to ugprade.

So why not "rip and replace" to OpenOffice and Linux ?

I take your point about cost to purchase being low, and TCO being the influencing factor. Am I alone in thinking that its easier to manage a bunch of Linux desktops en-masse than a bunch of Windows desktops ?

And how better to learn than to save money on license upgrades and assurance by switching to free software, eh ?

You'll have to train the users (especially "older" dinosaur users on win2k + office 97) in any case..

Its a shame. MS are in the cusp between "old evil Microsoft" with the '80s business model, and the "new cuddly on-line MS" which hasnt actually got off the ground yet.

(And amusingly Balmer is "old", and Ozzie is "new" MS. Must make for interesting meetings)

And the Vista/Office 2007 release is definately old-business model MS... So the old "bait and switch" has to work one last time.

Shame its a long time coming - giving the ABM community much more time and ammunitition...

And lastly - you'd think with another 10k MS employees, they'd ship Visual Studio 2003 SP1 ? No. Still hanging on there - three years late.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/servicing/sp1_vs03/default.aspx

So what are those 10k people doing ? All writing blogs about how cool this new stuff is ? Wasnt Scoble meant to do that - distract customers from the "now" and sell "the future" ?

---* Bill
http://www.billbuchan.com

(Sorry, Bill, I've finally learned that anything that quotes The Register doesn't have much in the way of balance in mind for discussing a Microsoft issue.)

Oongowa - New comment on 10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?

Ray Myers has left a new comment on your post "10,000 More Microsofties - What Do They Do?":

The Natives is Restless!

Oongowa! Kowbunga! Wheredafugahwee?

OK, Newbie, here’s your new desk. Welcome aboard the Microsoft team! Here’s your free towel. It comes with a RFID tag that counts the number of times you use it. Try to turn it in before 3 uses and you’ll receive a mild – 50 amps – shock.

Oh, by the way, don’t pay any attention to the sideway looks you get from your current cubicle-dwelling new best friends. They’re just wondering WTF you’re doing here since they already don’t know WTF they’re doing here.

Something about online services? That stuff that’s even thinner than thin client? I guess now that broadband is here for the masses, they can store all that stuff near a hydroelectric dam in upstate Washington instead of my desktop, and feed it to me in chunks, along with an ad for Viagra, after reading my demographic cookie.

So I guess that makes you a chunk programmer, a hydroelectric-located-PC-grid-installer or a smoke-and-mirror-dog-and-pony dream weaver. Am I right? Which of the 10,000 are you? C’mon…you can tell me! What? Ray says, “Loose lips sink ships.” That doesn’t sound like Ray, to me!

Well, anyway, now that I’ve done my best work ever writing the best code I can for Vista-Word-Excel-Outlook-Access-PowerPoint-Project, I’ve become old news. Nobody’s telling me anything; nobody’s talking to me about the future and I am feeling scared and territorial, right now. So, pardon me if I don’t welcome you with open arms. And pardon me if I don’t wax philosophic about this great opportunity you have here at Microsoft to make a difference. I did, once.

(Sorry Ray, that comment seems more off than on.)

Sorrry - Old Comment Posts Popping Up

Administrivia: I post to this particular blog via email, forwarding along incoming comments I don't plan on publishing to the main blog. Now then, sometimes these posts just disappear: no error emailed back or anything. Sometimes, to make up for the bit-bucket loss, I post by hand, other times I just shrug my shoulders and move on, curious but not motivated enough to track down what went wrong. Well, recently, some of these old Bermuda Triangle emails started coming through again. I have no idea what the hang up is. So if things seem either duplicated or out of sync, that's why.

Fuel for the fire - New comment on We Are FAM-ily! - Links+

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "We Are FAM-ily! - Links+":

Described as a boy's club? It is a fraternity. Windows division has many thousands of employees (15k?). Less than 30 in total are women in levels 65 or above (mid level managers). It isn't even close to the percentages of other orgs like the field or MSN. Things will not change anytime soon.
-
There arent qualified women in windows. The women managers who are L65 and higher arent qualified and do a dis-service for women.

(Ouch. This is a touchy subject to begin with and this comment is, to me, petrol and a leaking bottle of propane thrown on a fire.)

Too much rant - New comment on Intel-ligent Re-design

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Intel-ligent Re-design":

I'm glad to see the SysInternals guys joining MS.

< rant time >

Maybe now we'll get the administrative environment that should have been part of the server OS since NT4. Just to name a few of my pet peeves, the command shell is wretched (Monad is ten years late as far as I'm concerned), the job scheduling service pales next to cron, and eventvwr is pathetically limited.

Why in heck can't we build an environment into Windows as admin-friendly / expert-friendly as Unix? Lambaste me all you want, but I know of zero Windows OS tools ported to Unix, but plenty ported the other way.

(And no, I don't want SFU or Cygwin. I want a Windows-native environment that doesn't suck!)

(Too much ranting for me.)