5 ms·

Someone linked to this post in the comments, which I'd never seen before. It's by the guy who wrote the Vista shutdown menu, and it's pretty depressing reading:

by dtf 17y ago

Someone linked to this post in the comments, which I'd never seen before. It's by the guy who wrote the Vista shutdown menu, and it's pretty depressing reading: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c...

snprbob86 17y ago
That deserves it's own submission... I remember reading it during one of my Microsoft internships and thinking "Wow, this was definitely a pathological case. My team executes way better than this." However, I was on a small, isolated team. I've recently realized that at Microsoft, the better the team performs, the more demand for their skills, the more strategic their efforts, the more people stick their fingers in the pie, and the worse the end result becomes. So yeah, this was a pathological case, but only in the respect that it is such an un-strategic feature. Typically, a feature would have to be far higher profile for it to be so severely botched. Microsoft's failings are of leadership and focus. I don't work in Windows, but following Windows 7 closely, it seems like Sinofsky is doing a great job empowering the right decision makers. Often, the right decision maker is the one closest to the implementation. Some teams get it, others are learning it, and still others may never get it.
aerique 17y ago
Man, reading that I can imagine Microsoft doesn't just price their OS so high to make loads of money but just to break even.
- snprbob86 17y ago
  Maybe that was a joke, I can't tell. But just for some perspective: Microsoft has an annual gross profit of $46 billion [1]. The only companies in the world with larger profit are Oil companies [2]. That is a far cry from break even. [1] http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:MSFT&fstype=ii http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:MSFT&fstype=ii [2] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/performers/companies/profits/ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/perfor...
jacquesm 17y ago
Unbelievable. Well, believable, I worked a short stint for a bank as a programmer and it reminds me of what happened back then. Too many chiefs and very few indians.
- nearestneighbor 17y ago
  > very few indians Not at MS

by dtf 17y ago

snprbob86 17y ago

That deserves it's own submission... I remember reading it during one of my Microsoft internships and thinking "Wow, this was definitely a pathological case. My team executes way better than this." However, I was on a small, isolated team. I've recently realized that at Microsoft, the better the team performs, the more demand for their skills, the more strategic their efforts, the more people stick their fingers in the pie, and the worse the end result becomes. So yeah, this was a pathological case, but only in the respect that it is such an un-strategic feature. Typically, a feature would have to be far higher profile for it to be so severely botched. Microsoft's failings are of leadership and focus. I don't work in Windows, but following Windows 7 closely, it seems like Sinofsky is doing a great job empowering the right decision makers. Often, the right decision maker is the one closest to the implementation. Some teams get it, others are learning it, and still others may never get it.

aerique 17y ago

Man, reading that I can imagine Microsoft doesn't just price their OS so high to make loads of money but just to break even.

snprbob86 17y ago
Maybe that was a joke, I can't tell. But just for some perspective: Microsoft has an annual gross profit of $46 billion [1]. The only companies in the world with larger profit are Oil companies [2]. That is a far cry from break even. [1] http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:MSFT&fstype=ii http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:MSFT&fstype=ii [2] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/performers/companies/profits/ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/perfor...

jacquesm 17y ago

Unbelievable. Well, believable, I worked a short stint for a bank as a programmer and it reminds me of what happened back then. Too many chiefs and very few indians.

nearestneighbor 17y ago
> very few indians Not at MS