4 ms·

This isn't an agile startup here, it's one of the world's largest software companies. I think aiming to do a lot isn't a big stretch.

InclinedPlane 13y ago
It's not a mission statement though, or a goal. "We're a company that does stuff for customers." Yeah, not helpful in the least.
smacktoward 13y ago
Microsoft has always had big ambitions. Its original mission statement, first articulated all the way back in the late '70s, was "a computer in every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." (http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0int-1 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0int-1) Which was pretty audacious when the state of the art in personal computing was machines like the MITS Altair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800). Bill Gates: It's very hard to recall how crazy and wild that was, you know, "on every desk and in every home." At the time, you have people who are very smart saying, "Why would somebody need a computer?" Not saying this new statement is audacious (it feels kind of anodyne to me), just that "hidebound behemoth" isn't the only gene in their DNA.
- prewett 13y ago
  The original statement was pretty clear and short. This new one takes a lot of words and it's not at all clear to me what they are aiming for. What, exactly, does "empower" look like when it's implemented? Exactly which are the activities that people value the most? (Actually, has anyone thought about whether those activities even require a computer?) This isn't ambitious, it's meaningless. Not a good sign for corporate excellence.
dbla 13y ago
Presumably this email was meant to help change behavior within Microsoft. To give people a guide for how to do their job better. If I were a Microsoft employee I wouldn't know what to make of that quote. It doesn't speak to anything you would deal with directly in the day to day.
- Metrop0218 13y ago
  Fair enough, it is definitely vague.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
onedev 13y ago
Aiming to do a lot of things and being mediocre at all of them isn't that inspiring. It basically sums up Microsoft in the past couple of years. What they need is real focus, and it seems they still haven't learned.
jimbokun 13y ago
It's not "aiming" at anything.

InclinedPlane 13y ago

It's not a mission statement though, or a goal. "We're a company that does stuff for customers." Yeah, not helpful in the least.

smacktoward 13y ago

Microsoft has always had big ambitions. Its original mission statement, first articulated all the way back in the late '70s, was "a computer in every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." (http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0int-1 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0int-1) Which was pretty audacious when the state of the art in personal computing was machines like the MITS Altair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800). Bill Gates: It's very hard to recall how crazy and wild that was, you know, "on every desk and in every home." At the time, you have people who are very smart saying, "Why would somebody need a computer?" Not saying this new statement is audacious (it feels kind of anodyne to me), just that "hidebound behemoth" isn't the only gene in their DNA.

prewett 13y ago
The original statement was pretty clear and short. This new one takes a lot of words and it's not at all clear to me what they are aiming for. What, exactly, does "empower" look like when it's implemented? Exactly which are the activities that people value the most? (Actually, has anyone thought about whether those activities even require a computer?) This isn't ambitious, it's meaningless. Not a good sign for corporate excellence.

dbla 13y ago

Presumably this email was meant to help change behavior within Microsoft. To give people a guide for how to do their job better. If I were a Microsoft employee I wouldn't know what to make of that quote. It doesn't speak to anything you would deal with directly in the day to day.

Metrop0218 13y ago
Fair enough, it is definitely vague.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

onedev 13y ago

Aiming to do a lot of things and being mediocre at all of them isn't that inspiring. It basically sums up Microsoft in the past couple of years. What they need is real focus, and it seems they still haven't learned.

jimbokun 13y ago

It's not "aiming" at anything.