7 ms·

Microsoft reboots war on sleep

• salamisultan 10y ago
  The salami sultan wants to shove a sleepy salami up Microsofts soft ass
• Ftuuky 10y ago
  It's easy: turn off your device when at home.
  • blowski 10y ago
    "It's easy to give up smoking - just don't buy cigarettes".
    • Senji 10y ago
      You joke, but this IS how I quit cigarettes. The impulse to smoke was momentary and I'd reach into my pocket. Not having cigs there, I'd be slightly miffed. But as I was not buying any, a separate action on which I had taken a clear stance for myself, I ended up not smoking unless in a group setting. Over time I cut out on that too.
      • blowski 10y ago
        Despite never being a smoker, I know that my willpower is much too weak for that to work.
        • Senji 10y ago
          I suggest training your agency. Read some Nietzsche :3
    • slowmotiony 10y ago
      Worked for me
• ourmandave 10y ago
  The culture you keep, determines your sleep. #SamIAm
• abhv 10y ago
  Article is a rant with no substance
  • dschuetz 10y ago
    Yeah, that's why it's called a rant.
• cyberferret 10y ago
  Way back nearly two decades ago, I set up an early version of ActiveSync on my Palm Treo device. I noticed there was an option in the Treo email settings to disable real time syncing between certain times (after office hours), but I was SO excited about getting and responding to real time emails on my little phone device that I thought "Who the HECK would want to stop this wonderful flow of emails". Later when I upgraded to the first gen iPhones, I noticed that they didn't have the option to turn off ActiveSync at all. I thought it was odd, but I still didn't mind. Nowadays, I often leave my phone on DND or Airplane mode for large chunks of the day. I am totally sick of the deluge of mail from what is now 6 separate email addresses. I note that iOS 10 still hasn't got the ability to turn off syncing between certain hours that I know of. On top of that, I have alerts constantly popping up from Twitter, Slack, HelpScout, Intercom et al. I think the whole "Work can wait" movement is a good one that needs to be front and center at a lot of workplaces (and a lot of apps). EDIT: Thanks to the responses below, I now realise that iOS 10 DOES indeed have the capability to turn on DND during certain hours only! Winning.
  • SixSigma 10y ago
    I got rid of the smartphone and went back to feature phone. I also have a 7" tablet so I can tether if I really need to. Life is better.
  • bad_user 10y ago
    Why would they want to let you turn off notifications, when that's the thing that keeps you into using those apps? Seriously, companies have psychologists on staff analyzing the behavior of users, with their job being coming up with ways to keep you hooked. Why on earth would you receive notifications for people liking your stupid messages on Twitter or Facebook, if it weren't for our inflated ego craving for those notifications that's making us going back to these apps.
    • herbst 10y ago
      Worst on twitter is notifications because 2 people i follow retweetet the same post...
• dschuetz 10y ago
  That's what Microsoft should learn: People say they worked in the bathroom, or had meetings on lunchtime, when in fact they shouldn't. Keep your work at bay, keep your work at work. Otherwise it puts you in the grave. Now, Microsoft thinks that's what workers want by totally misinterpreting their usage studies. Hello? Is anybody there, Microsoft? Are you endorsing burnout?! In case that you've missed, people want to have their work done before they go home. With your crappy office software it was never possible, now it should invade our spare time? Fuck you Microsoft, and get it done!
• Kiro 10y ago
  Chill down.
• cbernini 10y ago
  What really scares me is the fact that MS would present itself as a company that now focus on enabling people, and then decides that by enabling they only move towards getting work done, thus depriving people of the very life they should be allowed to enjoy. With all the current privacy discussion going on, it's kinda lame to work somewhere you're supposed to take corporate phones and so on back home - EDIT: considering the future might look like 1984 when it comes to surveillance.
• themgt 10y ago
  A little hyperbolic, based on a single line from an exec at a different company in a single ad. I get this is a great way to promote their brand, but it seems pretty close to your standard in-group clickbait marketing: 1) pick a big target everyone can hate on 2) blow something minor out of proportion so you can claim outrage / assert your values 3) profit
  • AznHisoka 10y ago
    i agree. i also think Microsoft isn't encouraging people to lose sleep and work in soccer games, at bed, etc. People already are doing it and Microsoft is simply putting out an ad that speaks and resonates with those people.
    • ekianjo 10y ago
      A big company should aspire to make life better, not worse. People don't need to work more than they already do (unless they really want to, which is fine, but most of the time they are expected to be always available).
      • AznHisoka 10y ago
        Tell that to McDonalds, Marlboro and hundreds of others. A big, capitalistic company's only goal is to satisfy their stakeholders, nothing more.
        • aaimnr 10y ago
          Yes, and by creating such a public resentment they won't satisfy their stakeholders. So it's our job to write articles like DHH wrote and make them as visible as possible. No company is able to foresee all the negative consequences they can cause (they should try, however, because it will and should hurt them). It's up to the society to create strong negative signals that will counteract and negate positive economic signals coming from any activities harmful to the society.
      • TheAnimus 10y ago
• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
• tener 10y ago
  Perhaps this campaign reflects the bubble the marketing team is in.
  • gk1 10y ago
    Having spent a year at a marketing agency, I can imagine this being the case. People took pride in how long they stayed in the office. It was common to see people still there at 10pm (myself included, I'm ashamed to say).
• tener 10y ago
  Perhaps this campaign reflects the bubble the marketing team is in.
• ekianjo 10y ago
  Nintendo is kind of following the same product positioning for their new Switch console: it's not "work anywhere, all the time", it's "play anywhere, all the time": game while you are going for a walk with your dog. Game when you are in public transports. Game when you meet your friends. Game at night. Game during the day. Game all the time. This kind of fight for attention is getting really tiring.
  • coldnebo 10y ago
    There is no Balance and no Art. Consider part of the reason work takes so long is the constant stream of updates. Updates have killed more than one conference presentation. Yet, when companies are faced with evidence that people don't like updates, they force more, bigger, faster. Why don't they invest in fewer, more meaningful, careful updates? Treasure the customer's device as you would their home.
• phillc73 10y ago
  I have conflicting feelings about this article. Firstly, I don't by choice use any Microsoft products, so this is not a defence of that company. Secondly, I also fully agree that work can wait and my employer should not be intruding on my personal time, outside of office hours. However, I have a passion for something and I have a young family. Between my paid work commitments and the fabulous time I spend with my family, I have only a limited amount of time to dedicate to my passion. I would like to hope that one day, my passion can generate enough income that I can give up "work." (I know that's a whole other conversation about whether that is a good thing). What I really want are tools which assist in enabling me to make as much progress with my passion, in the limited time available to me. If that means doing something while on holiday, from work, so be it. Does it make me one of the 47%? There are of course lines which should be in place and a correct balance found, especially when it comes to family activities. However, I do want tools to keep me informed about the latest events regarding my passion and effective ways to react to that news while away from a desktop/laptop computer.
  • prof_hobart 10y ago
    I agree. The critical question isn't "should I be attending a meeting when I'm walking in the countryside?". It's "what's the alternative?" If it's that you can be walking in the countryside when you would previously have had to come into the office for a meeting, then that's great. If, on the other hand, it's that you've now got no excuse for not working in times you would previously have been resting, then that's pretty bad. I work in a company that offers pretty good flexibility. You aren't expected to be answering your emails when you're on holiday, but you are often able to work from home if that helps with your particular situation. I've got my kid's school play in a few weeks, and I could not do a full day in the office and get back to watch it. But I can stay at home, work in the morning and the evening, and then go to the play in the afternoon. I could also choose to take the entire day off as holiday of course, but then I'd be losing a day's holiday. I appreciate this kind of flexibility. Of course, there's plenty of companies who take the opposite tack - if you've got a work phone, you're now available to be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The advert at the bottom is pretty poor, because it seems to be very much pushing that message. But most of the original ones could be read either way.
• SCdF 10y ago
  I think the worst thing about this is that it tricks you into thinking that dipping into emails at the park or piddling around in a spreadsheet while you're piddling is actually working. It's not. It's an addiction. It's shovelling snow, it's a quest for feeling accomplishment without effort. It's more fuel for being constantly connected, for constantly thinking you're progressing and accomplishing by hitting that email archive button, or scrolling through reams of meaningless text, or fiddling with your spreadsheet layout. It's no better than scrolling through reddit, then closing it to scroll through twitter, then opening up reddit again. It's really hard honestly, but these days I open up email and slack, clear them, then close them. Both my phone and my computer are permanently on DND, so no notifications bother me. When I'm done with the work day I make sure that nothing work related stays open and that no one can contact me unless it's an emergency. I'm considering splitting my one login on my laptop into two, a work and a personal, and hard-blocking HN etc on the work one, and hard blocking work on the personal. Or using Bootcamp and moving all my personal computer use to Windows. My Dad always told me that you should have an hour a day and a day a week to yourself. When I was younger I laughed that off. These days I struggle to make it my minimum ideal.
  • bicx 10y ago
    Your dad's a smart man. I have an hour or so to myself every morning, and some days, I'm fairly certain that's the only thing that keeps me sane.
    • elros 10y ago
      Could you (also GP) elaborate on what do you do in this "you" hour? Genuinely curious if it involves primarily things away from screens or not.
      • Saanti 10y ago
        Go for a run/hike or play the guitar, depending on weather and mood.
      • bicx 10y ago
        It sometimes includes screens, sometimes not. I usually sit in a coffee shop before work and read, pray, think, write, or whatever I feel like doing. Sometimes I work on a side project. The point for me is to have time to sift through my own thoughts, rather than going through the whole day simply reacting to outside forces.
• stuaxo 10y ago
  First one I'd seen that campaign, absolutely atrocious. I've been working like that for the last couple of months the and it's really not healthy. It has been at the expense of every other part of my life, I had my own reasons but will be returning to a more balanced approach.
• gk1 10y ago
  That Surface Pro commercial struck me similarly. Working 14-hour days is a sign of something terribly wrong, far from being an accomplishment to boast about or to promote. Several months ago I started leaving my laptop charger at work, so that the time I spend on the computer at home is limited to the battery life. As a result, I stopped staying up late (2am-), which has been a life-long habit until then. Two weeks ago, I stopped bringing my laptop home. As a result, I've been reading a lot more, going to sleep early, waking up early, and being more productive at work despite spending less time working.
• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
• andrewingram 10y ago
  Article mashes up a valid grievance with an irrelevant attack on the quality of Marvel films. Anger is a powerful tool, but it can really weaken your argument if not used with precision. I also think the message of this particular advert doesn't justify the strength of this attack.
  • midgetjones 10y ago
    At the very least, it's ridiculous to call it a 'sweatshop'. The kid making DHH's shoes would probably love to work for Marvel. Yes, I am fighting hyperbole with hyperbole.
    • orly_bookz 10y ago
      I get your hyperbole but simply as a matter of course I'm gonna have to throw a flag: that's the fallacy of relative privation.
      • midgetjones 10y ago
        Thanks! I really need to read up on my fallacies.
      • aninhumer 10y ago
        It's not the fallacy of relative privation if the article already made the comparison to sweatshops. It's just pointing out an inaccurate (and arguably tasteless) analogy.
        • midgetjones 10y ago
          Vindication!
• blahblah12 10y ago
  Seems like hyperbole. That's a single line in a single video of an executive at a different company. DHH on that self-promotion game
  • aaimnr 10y ago
    Have you seen these ads with guy sleeping with tablet etc? They are conveying the same message.
• slowmotiony 10y ago
  I don't get the point of this article. The ads show an activity that a large part of the population is already doing, and that Microsoft has a product targeted to those people. What does the author have a problem with? Is someone forcing him to work at home?
• youdontknowtho 10y ago
  I think that the culture of working all the time is stupid, but so is blaming it on a single company. Why not blame Android for making this possible with all the useful mobile devices. Or how about blaming the web for making access to information at all hours of the day possible.
• whiddershins 10y ago
  I really don't like this post. The article is shoehorning an agenda and viewpoint in to an ad that is essentially a profile of an unusual person. I don't like the tone, I don't like the language, and I don't like the judgemental assumptions. It is obviously written by someone who doesn't know many working creatives, and why some people approach work that way. And it is assuming that the author knows what is best, and what makes everyone happy, as if there are no variations in people in this world. I I find it a shame a person could think they know better what someone else needs than they do. Condescending. Insulting.
  • mafro 10y ago
    The author is well known for taking this kind of strongly-opinionated, incendiary stance with his writing.
  • jkereako 10y ago
    That's DHH for ya.
  • jamesblonde 10y ago
    I happen to agree with the post 100%. The ad is not telling the story of a creative, it's speaking to the mass market. It's creating a norm of live-to-work, not work-to-live. It's created the culture in the US where taking a full 5-days of consecutive vacation days is now no longer the norm in my branch. In fact, it's frowned upon. It was not the workers who decided on that norm - it was thrust upon them by 'conditions'. 'Conditions' are defined by people with power, the powerless must follow them.
• delegate 10y ago
  This. Work work work. Work is the process of mapping nature into products and (then) waste. If nobody needs the 'fruits' of your work, there's always marketing and advertising which can make people want them. This my friends is the reason our planet is fast becoming uninhabitable. People doing too much work. I think we've achieved a lot, now it's time to take a look around and take a look inside. Is it possible to build a society which is not built around the concept of 'work'? Are there any other human values which could replace it ?
  • TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Work is fine. Bullshit work isn't. > Is it possible to build a society which is not built around the concept of 'work'? I hope so. I suppose it will happen, as more and more people realize there isn't much to be proud about working anymore. We're not making food for our community, we're not making sheets for someone else to make swords to protect our community. We're making pointless websites that are meant to trick people into buying some shit they don't need, all to make our boss richer. Of course pop psychology is already on it, reminding us that what matters is that we're working - our professionalism, our dedication, our skill. But at some point I guess the society at large will get disillusioned about it and realize there's nothing honourable in working, because most work is no longer doing anything honourable. The pride of work is an outdated value.
  • kj01a 10y ago
    >Is it possible to build a society which is not built around the concept of 'work'? Sure, but it could probably only happen in a post-scarcity society. As long as resources are scarce effort will need to be put forward to sustain life.
• mherrmann 10y ago
  There are two aspects to this imho: 1) The glorification of a lifestyle completely dominated by work. 2) Microsoft offering products that you can use from anywhere, at any time. The article is mostly about 1). But I do think that 2) is to be applauded.
• tlrobinson 10y ago
  DHH is coming from the "10 hour work week" perspective, which I'm sure many people would be envious of, but it's not a reality most people live in. That said, I do think mobile device usage outside of the office is more likely to supplement rather than replace time in the office.
• atemerev 10y ago
  To those who complain: are you the person who is responsible for a potential purchase of Office 365 license pack for your entire company? If not, then the message in this advertising campaign is not targeted to you. It is targeted to this person. Now, who they might be, and what _they_ will think of the message? (As a software engineer, I, of course, agree that this is terrible).
• aaimnr 10y ago
  I'm surprised by the amount of comments denying even the sense of such critique as DHH presented in the article. The problem comes from a very narrow understanding of how 'capitalism/free market economy/society' should work. In the original theoretical framework that laid the ground for the modern economical system, David Hume (and Adam Smith) talked about 'spontaneous order' that comprised multiple social signals, not just prices! Society and economy are complex adaptive system with multiple inputs and any public indignation like this one are perfect examples of signals that should act like 'invisible hand'. The more such signals we'll allow, the better the optimisation will be, not just in terms of economical efficiency, but also environmental friendliness, quality of life impact etc. Unfortunately neoclassical economy (including some Nobel price winners) seem to be blissfully unaware of where they are coming from and they tend to ditch social 'messiness' so characteristic for any complex system in favour of simplified mathematical models. For anyone interested, I really recommend the below: 1) This talk about the missing forgotten part of Adam Smith thought ("The Theory of Moral Sentiment"), that significantly changes the understanding of his perspective: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/04/vernon_smith_an.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/04/vernon_smith_an.htm... 2) This article by Yannis Varoufakis on the idea of Spotaneous Order and how it got oversimplified over the last 3 centuries: https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/02/25/on-spontaneous-order-valve-the-future-of-corporations-hume-smith-marx-and-hayek-a-one-hour-chat-with-russ-roberts-on-econtalk/ https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/02/25/on-spontaneous-order-v...
• gdulli 10y ago
  It's not about working 24/7. It's about the ease and convenience of getting something done during off hours in the occasional times you want to or need to. I don't work during off-hours because I have to or feel pressured to. I also don't do it excessively. I do it because I like my work and care about the uptime of my systems and sometimes I want to get ahead. This has paid off for me in tangible ways, and I still enjoy a stress-free home life. If you want to work 9-5 and then be done, that's fine. But don't act like the alternative is morally wrong or that others can't exercise their own choice.
• blubb-fish 10y ago
  is that #getitdone sheet really original Microsoft advertisement? i have trouble believing that.
• nwah1 10y ago
  Pretending like the need for sleep can be ignored, given our current physiology, is absolutely absurd. But I would be very much interested in any work towards fundamentally reconfiguring our biology. I was hoping this was the topic of the article, and was disappointed.