Mini-Microsoft Cutting Room Floor

Monday, April 23, 2007

In What Court - New comment on And You're a Microsoft Shareholder Because...?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "And You're a Microsoft Shareholder Because...?":

"Microsoft is still a leader. They rule the OS space, they rule the corporate desktop. They remain influential in many areas. They may not rule the web, but at least they remain leaders in very profitable spaces. And they have $40 billion in the bank."

Hey, the US Gov't has 40 gazillion in the bank! Would you call it influential in so many areas? Would you trust IT to represent YOU?

I rest my case.

(Ar-roo? I don’t see how those dots are connected, plus the US is a representative government.)

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Now that's just getting a bit mean - New comment on And You're a Microsoft Shareholder Because...?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "And You're a Microsoft Shareholder Because...?":

>> Dragging my job title out of the GAL

I've carefully avoided mentioned your title, to avoid gut splitting laughter here. And if you're insulated, then STFU and stop brown nosing. I've been in a situation you're describing, but as a dev. I hated life and was seriously thinking about leaving the company, without even looking for another job - to just spend half a year burning though my safety net cash and restoring my sanity, and then perhaps even leave the industry altogether.

Rational though eventually prevailed, and now I'm in a team that doesn't try to do four things at the same time. It feels great to have a life again.

Human brain is not suited for multitasking. You will move slower, you will make more mistakes and you will not do as good as you would do if you could focus on one task at a time. That assumes you have to actually do anything in your job aside from clicking buttons.

(That is a bit too much of the pointy stick jabbing at someone willing to drop the anonymous moniker.)

Friday, April 20, 2007

That Term is Not Allowed - New comment on Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!":

Hmmmm!? I don't really see the sense here but may M$ can recruit that extremely good sales man who sold the iPhone like months before it was release and I still see people talking about all over the web and on tv!! heck I just say in the media!? Or maybe they should just sell off to Google coz it seems if google touches it, it turns to gold "For The Tyme Being At Least"...

(You know you can put that dollar sign there. At least not here.)

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Whiny Partner - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

"Please let us know which companies are hiring! Let us know what startups are there in Seattle area! Let us know who more pays more than Microsoft! Give us pointers on how to find good jobs (other than asking us to post our resumes on monster.com or dice.com)! Well, you get the idea..."

Jesus I was hired right out of college and I'm not this needy and whiny.

Is this what Microsoft does after 5+ years? If you are this dumb and this OBVIOUSLY lazy, how did you get hired?

Do some fucking legwork.

Oh wait, nevermind. You must be a partner.

Saddam Ballmer - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

>Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: "Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google." ....

Wow, if that really happened, I feel sorry for you softies. My gawd, how can a company ever expect to move forward with a `Saddam' in control?

The question is how many in MS management are like Balmer, forcing this sick corporate culture? Certainly the board is like that otherwise they would have gotten rid of him long ago. My guess is the reason he is still there is because of his level of stock ownership.

I suppose the EU regulators will read that blog and just shake their heads in realizing they are dealing with madness.


Sympathy for Microsoft - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

Wonder why the leadership (thru head lawyer Brad Smith) is protesting this proposed aquisition as an antitrust concern.

Why not? Sun and Oracle spread enough money around to get that crap to stick to MS and it was about as justified.

Oh puh-lease. Not that Sun and Oracle are angels at all times by any means, but if you're under the impression that Microsoft does not have huge antitrust issues you need to put down the kool-aid. Microsoft's anti-competetive behavior is clearly documented.

I think it's hilarious that you're trying to make Microsoft out to be the victim. Poor little richest man in the world with 90% market share. Why is the world so unfair to you?

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Anna Malfeasance - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

I did a quick skim, and may have missed it, but I have to ask:
"I, like a lot of senior Microsofties, can't imagine staying for another year of flat stock growth."

?

Why would you let a bunch of anonymous strangers decide whether or not you keep your job? Because that's all the market is - the votes of the street.

The same street that voted Enron a world-class company.

The same street that decided a bunch of internet startups with no business plans were going to make their fortunes.

To me, my job is about my compensation, my job satisfaction, my potential for career growth. I look at my grants at $30/share and I can't complain (my stock grants alone account for a bigger bonus than I've ever gotten anywhere else). If the stock went to $40/share, sure my grants would be 25% bigger, but my total compensation would grow by less than 4%.

[yawn]

I just really don't care about the stock price. Because I think the investment community are made up of people who are more interested in the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby than the occupation of Iraq or criminal malfeasance in the White House.

YMMV.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Call Me - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

"2) Superman does not exist. Steve B's (or his replacement's) task can be compared to performing brain surgery while wearing gloves. 30+ pair of gloves. One for each year we went through without having to re-adjust to reality (aka: the world where you can't define success as "once adjusted most customers don't hate the new Office interface that much")."

Wrong, mon ami! Superman does exist and he is I; I is him? Whatever.

1.) Firing moratorium for one year except Gates, Ballmer, Brummel; they go NOW!
2.) Exciting Mission Statement.
3.) New boundaries (Policies)
4.) Strong consequences for crossing those boundaries...for mgt. and labor alike.
5.) Rapidly train and bestow authority upon internal evangelists with clout. If you're political, you'll be bypassed and neutralized. You can run but you can't hide, sucker!
6.) Start with Cash Cow and streamline and reward innovation, candor, reporting, management, feedback and control.
7.) Work through lesser cows and, where there is great market potential and a window of opportunity, elevate the cow status, if necessary.
8.) Constantly monitor the health of the company with strong feedback loops and remedial training... mandatory.

Gerstner did it; so can you and I!
I am at 607-821-xxxx. Call me.

(I x-d out the last four digits. I did not want to post this to the main blog given that there’s no way I can verify the number belongs to the commenter.)

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Grr, Woof! - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Ihar Filipau has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

"I'm a corporate animal and this Microsoft environment, with its toxic pockets and issues, is a well known savage savanna to me and I'm able to succeed and be fulfilled, seeing the situation for what it is."

Nothing personal, Mini, but I think you are lying yourself.

Why would you need then the blog at all? if you were content with your job - as you are trying to portrait it?

Have you been real predator, you would have welcomed all the failed inside MSFT project by swallowing the people and building up your own empire inside of empire.

But the blog here tells me that you care. Thus you are disqualified as "a corporate animal".

You like teamwork. That's why hottest topic on your blog is HR. But you can also build (and help build) teamwork in any other *growing* company.

Believe me, you would enjoy creating products - products others would like to use leaving good comments on forums. Smaller company - closer you are to products and people who are making the products. And closer you are to your customers. That's all gives more satisfaction from your job. Not some opaque numbers of some business unit performance measured by some opaque metric - but real satisfaction from real product and real customer interaction.

BTW, search net for "microsoft alumni" - you would find lots of people who left MSFT to build their own business or help others build one. I'd say, if not technologically, MSFT contributed to IT industry enormously by its alumnis.

(Whoops, I bounced this just after my quick-scan filter and now I think I should have let it through. But the original is gone into the bit bucket ether. Except for this.)

Saturday, April 07, 2007

A New Way to Retain - New comment on Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Should You Stay or Should You Go Now?":

Why do I stay?

There's a tester in my group with a really cute ass.

(I see a whole new line of internal recruitment posters going up next week.)

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Brains over Diversity - New comment on Lisa Brummel on Channel9 - She Reads Mini?.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Lisa Brummel on Channel9 - She Reads Mini?":

On the diversity card/women. Yeah great way to destroy the company.. Sure Diversity is important- but hiring on basis of sex/color/ethnicity will surely kill you. Msft used to hire for brains. Cut the diversity bullshit and focus on the how well someone does on an interview. As HR person- I honestly could care less what a person looked like, as long as they were qualified they had a chance at finals day. Whether that was all Chinese, Indian, Black, white...no matter.

use the NBA as an example!

(baroo?)

FUD-dy duddy - New comment on Mini, a Devil, and Fine Whine.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mini, a Devil, and Fine Whine":

Lie
Lie + FUD
Lie + FUD
So it's FUD.
this is just FUD.
Lie
Lie + FUD

Hey, finally an actual fact!:
"Microsoft sued over Windows Vista marketing"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/310004_msftsued03.html?source=mypi

Who's the real fud and lies culprit here? Hint: its not your customers, users, commercial accounts or Apple or Linux.

(..)

Only Steal From the Best - New comment on Extreme Results.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Extreme Results":

Ah yes, baseball season has begun at last, bringing order and civility to the American landscape, which leads to the confusion of purpose over this particular blog entry on whoda's domain.

The direction of this post feels a lot like this audio from long ago:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/windows_media/whos_on_first.wma

It seems a bit weird to me that posts that should be on Extreme makeover's blog are here. Hmmm. Almost a reflection of Microsoft's complete product development strategy. I.e., copy, steal, claim credit, dominate and everybody benefits, including MSFTXTRMEMKOVR

(the familiar crack of the bat slings the small white leathery ball far in to the air. . .it's . . .going, going . . . it's gone ladies and gentlemen, its a grand slam for the softie team!

wisdom from the shortstop, uhh what's his name.

(.)

Microsoft and Apple arrogance - New comment on Extreme Results.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Extreme Results":

>"(So what, now Apple is absolved of all DRM past-sins?)"

I have often wondered who is more arrogant, Microsoft for blatantly and knowingly ignoring customer needs or Apple for hording computing so no one can afford it except the affluent.

Either way, your blog does have a wild penchant for phony posts that sort of criticize Microsoft but never really cut to the bone because you won't let them. Your MSFT peers would email you with mini complaints.

(What happens in the CRF stays in the CRF)

Monday, April 02, 2007

Who was on first? New comment on Extreme Results.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Extreme Results":

Now that EMI has released the monkey, I can at last download and purchase music online--no DRM. Point is it is the right attitude to a)compete, b) respect your customers and c) give them what they want after asking them what they want.

The rest is just MSFT FUD and corporate bullshit.

(So what, now Apple is absolved of all DRM past-sins?)

Nii! No wait, I mean Wii! New comment on Mini, a Devil, and Fine Whine.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mini, a Devil, and Fine Whine":

>Lie + FUD

We are the Knights of Nii.

You my friend are in a severe state of denial, perhaps the 4000 blogger softie corps have been advised to evangelize Vista or die, or something like that.

You have been reading the press response to Vista right? Maybe not. It is not just one article by one person but the cumulative effect of thousands of press articles on the problems with Vista. Maybe a few are FUD, but not
Schneier, and certainly not the majority of well researched and informational articles on the new OS.

Your words remind me of one said Knight, arms, legs cut off, squirming on the ground in optimistic defiance of an obvious state of total defeat. I think he said, just before his demise,

"Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ptang, Zoo Ping! [Goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv]"

(Wii!)

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Aliens and BillG - New comment on Extreme Results.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Extreme Results":

Apparently there was a secret meeting between George Bush and Bill Gates just after Gates' talks before congress and just before his trip to Mexico City.

Link here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/Aprilfoolsstupid/17896952/

What the meeting was about is rumored to have been a secret pact between Gates and Bush. Where in exchange for going to Mexico City to pronounce the need for more H1B workers at Microsoft, and thereby supporting Bush's doctrine of open borders and free trade between both American continents, Bush agreed to provide Microsoft with access to Alien technology. More notably, self-reproducing nanotechnology believed to have been reverse-engineered from a crashed UFO found by astronauts on the moon back in the seventies.

The rumor has it that the technology is a way for Microsoft to finally move into the realm of IBM. With a new research department at Microsoft in a new secret location will develop nanotechnology based chips that will give Gates his Rosetta Stone of intelligent voice and speech as well as a means to insert microcomputers into humans. A man only identified as "Menage a Trois" (referring to the wine brand as one method of installing the nano-machines and not the other French porn reference) whom the reporter would not name.

The Alien technology would at last give the human brain instant access to a built in nanotech brain computer, making human cyborgs that are 1 million times smarter than the average person. The technology is so advanced that when two people shake hands, the nano machines are injected into the skin and blood stream and begin building the pre-programmed computer in the cerebral cortex. The additional power requirements within the human body are also resolved with additional nano-power sources self reproducing in the human gluteus maximus and which uses excess human fat as a fuel.

The source explained that the reason this is being done is because humans will be obsolete by 2025 because of sentient computers and because it is imperative for the survival of the planet that human intelligence be enhanced. Expected solar activity will lead to an extinction event by 2012 if such action is not taken immediately. The reporter only briefly discussed that Bush's portfolio manager is expected to invest heavily in Microsoft stock.

(I put my money on 2012. Isn't that when the Mayan calendar expires? Or, was it the date that the Cigarette Smoking Man gave Mulder for the final invasion?)