8 ms·
Interesting point on culture that most companies have tech blog titles in the form of "How we did X" but Microsoft's is "How Microsoft did X"
by personjerry 5y ago
Interesting point on culture that most companies have tech blog titles in the form of "How we did X" but Microsoft's is "How Microsoft did X"
- verst 5y agoIt got posted to a community forum website also heavily frequented by Microsoft users and partner companies. That forum may have posts about customers or partner companies, so it makes sense to refer to Microsoft proper in this way. Note that this isn't the main Microsoft blog, and in fact there are lots of different blogs.
- oh_sigh 5y agoMicrosoft refers to itself in the 3rd person?
- peakaboo 5y agoThere is no we in Microsoft.
- wstone 5y ago…but there is in Wendows?
- dotancohen 5y agoThere's an "oso" in Microsoft. Is that a reference to Ballmer? Of course, Linux mailing lists used to joke that "micro" and "soft" reference Bill, back when people had thick skin and cancel culture had yet to be invented.
- CRConrad 5y ago> There's an "oso" in Microsoft. Is that a reference to Ballmer? Does he have a beard nowadays? He didn't use to, back in the day -- and aren't they almost mandatory for "bears"?
- sundvor 5y agoOff topic, but if you have young kids you might find yourself starting to say things like: - Dad needs you to eat your food! - Dad is going to brush your teeth! - Give those scissors to dad! - Don't touch dad's laptop!!! - Dad needs to sleep now... Soon you may be asked by friends why you sometimes speak of yourself in third person, long after the little one started understanding pronouns. You might also recover some sleep.
- croon 5y agoIt also might happen that you call your wife "mom" with your friends, out of context from your kids. Speaking for a friend, of course.
- have_faith 5y agoI hadn't really given the phenomenon much thought. You're essentially saying to the kid: you need to respect the "ideals" of what Dad represents and what a "Dad" in the abstract would expect of you in this situation. Sort of asserting your dominance through an appeal to a concept of an authority figure instead of you as an individual. Why is "I need to sleep now" potentially less effective?
- japanuspus 5y agoNot OP -- but parent of three. The primary reason for using specifics ("dad", <name of child>, <name of sibling>, ...) is that pronouns are one of the last things a child will pick up. Think about how a child will always hear themselves referred to as "you" -- and end up assuming that "you" is like a name form them and start using "you" instead of "I"/"me". In reality, you will be using both specifics and pronouns, and often repeat the same sentence with both versions to teach that they are identical.
- sundvor 5y agoThanks, you explained it perfectly!
- have_faith 5y ago
- kumarvvr 5y agoTrue. I thought the author was from outside MS, but he is a program manager at MS
- cakoose 5y agoMaybe it's because they know some sites will use the title as-is?
- kyriakos 5y agoThe whole article refers to Microsoft as a third party. If it was more marketing related topic I'd assume it was indeed written by a third party.
- chunkyguy 5y agoAfter the first section most of the article talks in terms of "We"
- greenspam 5y agohttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xoskJPDbXR0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xoskJPDbXR0 Reminds me of Jimmy
- baq 5y agono issues with attribution on sites like HN which greatly prefer original titles in submissions this way
- powersnail 5y agoIt’s a better habit in my opinion, especially for the benefit of people who read the headlines on an aggregator. It immediately tells you who did what. I hope more companies would follow this cenvention.
- nobody9999 5y ago>Interesting point on culture that most companies have tech blog titles in the form of "How we did X" but Microsoft's is "How Microsoft did X" That's because Microsoft isn't a technology company. Microsoft is a marketing and sales company that happens to sell technology.
- nobody9999 5y ago>That's because Microsoft isn't a technology company. Microsoft is a marketing and sales company that happens to sell technology. As someone who worked at Microsoft in a technical role, I know that's the truth. You can lie to yourself if you want, but it's still true