7 ms·

I’m about the same age as MS so I’m going to push the analogy. I was 26 in 2000. I hope to God I’m not the same person at 49 after 6 jobs, one failed marriage

I’m about the same age as MS so I’m going to push the analogy. I was 26 in 2000. I hope to God I’m not the same person at 49 after 6 jobs, one failed marriage (and a 12 year current successful one), going through the real estate crash where I lost my shirt, etc. I really hope I’m not the same person I was in college in 1996

mulmen 4y ago
Ah yes the “it will be different this time I promise” defense. Microsoft didn’t get divorced or have six jobs or even study ethics as an undergrad. It’s a corporation. Made up of the same kind of people at the same points in their careers as it has always been. In other words I get older but Microsoft stays the same age.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Exactly. Once the interview process selects for the same sort of people, the wheel turns all on its own.
- scarface74 4y ago
  You really haven’t been paying attention to the change in strategy over the past decade when Microsoft was focused on “Windows everywhere”?
  - mulmen 4y ago
    I have seen them change strategy, at least superficially. I just don’t believe they have changed their nature.
parasti 4y ago
"I used to abuse people physically and/or emotionally in my early 20s but now I really hope I'm a different person" seems like a far fetched world view to conjure, to me. Do these people exist?
- mulmen 4y ago
  If you believe in incarceration as rehabilitation then they do. But I don’t recall Microsoft ever serving time.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    Something life or your friends should have taught you long ago: If you want to break cycles of abuse in your life, you need to realize and accept that you are not obligated to participate in anyone's redemption story arc but your own. There's a whole subclass of narcissists who play at being victims while controlling everything. Get out. Run. Do not look back.
    - mulmen 4y ago
      Did you reply to the right comment? What am I supposed to be running from? How are you so certain my life experience and friends are inadequate?
      - hinkley 4y ago
        Same thread, more applicable to GP. You can refute an argument or support an argument.
        mulmen 4y ago
        I am GP? So I’m still confused as to your intent. Are you agreeing with or lecturing me?
        hinkley 4y ago
        Agreeing
- scarface74 4y ago
  I’ve gone back to my 30 year class reunion. No I don’t still hold grudges against the people who picked on me as a short (still short) fat (I got better) kid with a computer who couldn’t talk to a girl if his life depended on it (I’m happily married). I really don’t think about it. We talk. We ask about family, etc
hinkley 4y ago
The tree remembers what the axe soon forgets. If you’re in a bar tomorrow and someone is picking a fight with you, and they say something that makes you realize that this person is someone you tormented, gloated over and whose life you tried to destroy. Do you think they’re not entitled to their rage? Do you think you should get a pass in life for wrecking other people’s childhoods without even an apology? Or do you maybe have it coming? By all means, apologize right now and try to defuse the situation. But Microsoft has never apologized for anything, and their new friends seem to think it’s all overblown and they weren’t cruel, vindictive liars who stunted an entire industry by more than ten years. Gates was deluded. He thought he was saving the world when he wasn’t. Balmer was just a thug. At least he was honest about it.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Yes, because as a mature adult , I don’t still hold grudges about something that happened over 25 years ago. Are you the type of person that still refuses to use Google services because they cancelled Google Reader over a decade ago? And just like I had to learn to adapt and change my behavior after failure, so did MS when it lost out in mobile and was sued.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    Google is only now starting to think about approaching the level of maliciousness Microsoft achieved at their zenith. And yes, people are starting to boycott Google because of it. They should. But boycotting things specifically because Google keeps shutting down projects is not the same thing. Boycotting for that reason is because Google now has a reputation of being quitters, and betting on quitters is just dumb.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      Yes I’m sure that Google is going to have trouble convincing software engineers to come work for it at the compensation levels they offer …
      - 4y ago

mulmen 4y ago

Ah yes the “it will be different this time I promise” defense. Microsoft didn’t get divorced or have six jobs or even study ethics as an undergrad. It’s a corporation. Made up of the same kind of people at the same points in their careers as it has always been. In other words I get older but Microsoft stays the same age.

hinkley 4y ago
Exactly. Once the interview process selects for the same sort of people, the wheel turns all on its own.
scarface74 4y ago
You really haven’t been paying attention to the change in strategy over the past decade when Microsoft was focused on “Windows everywhere”?
- mulmen 4y ago
  I have seen them change strategy, at least superficially. I just don’t believe they have changed their nature.

parasti 4y ago

"I used to abuse people physically and/or emotionally in my early 20s but now I really hope I'm a different person" seems like a far fetched world view to conjure, to me. Do these people exist?

mulmen 4y ago
If you believe in incarceration as rehabilitation then they do. But I don’t recall Microsoft ever serving time.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Something life or your friends should have taught you long ago: If you want to break cycles of abuse in your life, you need to realize and accept that you are not obligated to participate in anyone's redemption story arc but your own. There's a whole subclass of narcissists who play at being victims while controlling everything. Get out. Run. Do not look back.
  - mulmen 4y ago
    Did you reply to the right comment? What am I supposed to be running from? How are you so certain my life experience and friends are inadequate?
    - hinkley 4y ago
      Same thread, more applicable to GP. You can refute an argument or support an argument.
      - mulmen 4y ago
        I am GP? So I’m still confused as to your intent. Are you agreeing with or lecturing me?
        hinkley 4y ago
        Agreeing
scarface74 4y ago
I’ve gone back to my 30 year class reunion. No I don’t still hold grudges against the people who picked on me as a short (still short) fat (I got better) kid with a computer who couldn’t talk to a girl if his life depended on it (I’m happily married). I really don’t think about it. We talk. We ask about family, etc

hinkley 4y ago

The tree remembers what the axe soon forgets. If you’re in a bar tomorrow and someone is picking a fight with you, and they say something that makes you realize that this person is someone you tormented, gloated over and whose life you tried to destroy. Do you think they’re not entitled to their rage? Do you think you should get a pass in life for wrecking other people’s childhoods without even an apology? Or do you maybe have it coming? By all means, apologize right now and try to defuse the situation. But Microsoft has never apologized for anything, and their new friends seem to think it’s all overblown and they weren’t cruel, vindictive liars who stunted an entire industry by more than ten years. Gates was deluded. He thought he was saving the world when he wasn’t. Balmer was just a thug. At least he was honest about it.

scarface74 4y ago
Yes, because as a mature adult , I don’t still hold grudges about something that happened over 25 years ago. Are you the type of person that still refuses to use Google services because they cancelled Google Reader over a decade ago? And just like I had to learn to adapt and change my behavior after failure, so did MS when it lost out in mobile and was sued.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Google is only now starting to think about approaching the level of maliciousness Microsoft achieved at their zenith. And yes, people are starting to boycott Google because of it. They should. But boycotting things specifically because Google keeps shutting down projects is not the same thing. Boycotting for that reason is because Google now has a reputation of being quitters, and betting on quitters is just dumb.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Yes I’m sure that Google is going to have trouble convincing software engineers to come work for it at the compensation levels they offer …
    - 4y ago