5 ms·

I'd like to thank you for offering that "Full Disclosure" - it represents how Microsoft culture has changed over the years (for the better). In earlier times, M

I'd like to thank you for offering that "Full Disclosure" - it represents how Microsoft culture has changed over the years (for the better). In earlier times, Microsoft would often encourage its employees to covertly astroturf on its behalf on various internet forums or news groups. This happened on Arstechnica years ago, and involved quite a bit of drama when one of the mods traced the IP of a poster back to Redmond's office after the convert employee was trolling the Linux/OSS forums.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
I have never heard about astroturfing happening in the company before, and besides, I'm in research. We are allowed to post from our computers at work. I'm sure, given that Microsoft has 100k employees, that there must be a few bad apples in the bunch: you know, statistically speaking, their will be a few mentally unbalanced people doing things that Microsoft might not otherwise approve of.
- jejones3141 13y ago
  John Dvorak, quoted on http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroot...: "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows won the operating-system war through fifth-column tactics." Also, googling "Steve Barkto" will turn up interesting information.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    I wouldn't know. Back then I was working for IBM on OS/2 in Boca Raton, in, as I was told, the very office space that Microsoft vacated a few years earlier when the NT/OS/2 collaboration broke down. But if I had to choose between IBM and Microsoft, I think Microsoft wins as the more ethical company. IBM seemed like a very shady place to work business practice wise. And no one is talking about IBM these days on HN, unless they happen to do something like Watson occasionally.
    - yuhong 13y ago
      the very office space that Microsoft vacated a few years earlier when the NT/OS/2 collaboration broke down After MS has already sent the original OS/2 2.0 SDKs to developers. I wrote a blog post about this entire fiasco you should read: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-px00307-and-dr.html http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-...
einhverfr 13y ago
It is true that Microsoft has changed a lot. (I used to work there.) However I have trouble getting too excited about a lot of Microsoft technologies. There are some good ones out there for some things, don't get me wrong. Microsoft SQL Server has some really nice features for developers, for example, and Microsoft Access is a really nice db front-end RAD tool, if you pair it with a real database server. But, in the end, I there are only so many things one can get excited about. I find PostgreSQL more exciting than MS SQL Server, for example. Microsoft has become a lot more accepting of FOSS than it was when I was first hired (I watched some of this shift while I was there, but it has gone a lot further since I left). This is good. But in the end, it feels like so much Microsoft stuff is legacy technology for those of us who have made the switch that it is just hard to stay excited.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

I have never heard about astroturfing happening in the company before, and besides, I'm in research. We are allowed to post from our computers at work. I'm sure, given that Microsoft has 100k employees, that there must be a few bad apples in the bunch: you know, statistically speaking, their will be a few mentally unbalanced people doing things that Microsoft might not otherwise approve of.

jejones3141 13y ago
John Dvorak, quoted on http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroot...: "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows won the operating-system war through fifth-column tactics." Also, googling "Steve Barkto" will turn up interesting information.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  I wouldn't know. Back then I was working for IBM on OS/2 in Boca Raton, in, as I was told, the very office space that Microsoft vacated a few years earlier when the NT/OS/2 collaboration broke down. But if I had to choose between IBM and Microsoft, I think Microsoft wins as the more ethical company. IBM seemed like a very shady place to work business practice wise. And no one is talking about IBM these days on HN, unless they happen to do something like Watson occasionally.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    the very office space that Microsoft vacated a few years earlier when the NT/OS/2 collaboration broke down After MS has already sent the original OS/2 2.0 SDKs to developers. I wrote a blog post about this entire fiasco you should read: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-px00307-and-dr.html http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-...

einhverfr 13y ago

It is true that Microsoft has changed a lot. (I used to work there.) However I have trouble getting too excited about a lot of Microsoft technologies. There are some good ones out there for some things, don't get me wrong. Microsoft SQL Server has some really nice features for developers, for example, and Microsoft Access is a really nice db front-end RAD tool, if you pair it with a real database server. But, in the end, I there are only so many things one can get excited about. I find PostgreSQL more exciting than MS SQL Server, for example. Microsoft has become a lot more accepting of FOSS than it was when I was first hired (I watched some of this shift while I was there, but it has gone a lot further since I left). This is good. But in the end, it feels like so much Microsoft stuff is legacy technology for those of us who have made the switch that it is just hard to stay excited.