MS in Vanity Fair

[russofris]

I was wondering who else read this: http://m.vanityfair.com/business/201...-steve-ballmer

I spent some time at MS (1999-2003) and can empathize with a number of the quotes in the article. I feel so many different emotions when I look back at my time at MS, I'm not sure where I stand on their issues. I think the crux of my feelings are "what should have been the pinnacle of my career and technical achievements was stunted by adverse managerial decisions and corporate tomfoolery". It's bittersweet, and I think I'm still too angry about the whole thing to form a rational opinion on the matter.

Does anyone else have thoughts on the matter? Was anyone in a similar position? If "Yes", how did you get over it (beyond leaving the company)?

F

Lol, cannot edit the title, should be "MS in Vanity Fair"

[maldorordiscord]

LOL:

"In May 2001, Microsoft undertook a project code-named Longhorn, which was expected to ship in late 2003 under the name Windows Vista. Executives had a number of objectives for Longhorn, including competing with the free operating system called Linux by supporting a programming language named C#, which allowed for easier development of other software; creating a Windows File System, or WinFS, which could save different types of files into a single database; and creating a display system, code-named Avalon, that would give software the same appearance as a Web site.

As development took off, Microsoft engineers dumped a grab bag of functions into Longhorn. Huge teams were assigned to the effort, but despite all the work, the launch was postponed again and again. The program took as long as 10 minutes to boot up. It was unstable and frequently crashed.

Then, in June 2004, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was releasing its new operating system, called “Tiger.” And inside Microsoft, jaws dropped. Tiger did much of what was planned for Longhorn—except that it worked.

E-mails flew around Microsoft, expressing dismay about the quality of Tiger. To executives’ disbelief, it contained functional equivalents of Avalon and WinFS.

“It was fucking amazing,” wrote Lenn Pryor, part of the Longhorn team. “It is like I just got a free pass to Longhorn land today.”

Vic Gundotra, another member of the group, tried out Tiger. “Their Avalon competitor (core video, core image) was hot,” he wrote. “I have the cool widgets (dashboard) running on my MAC right now with all the effects [Jobs] showed on stage. I’ve had no crashes in 5 hours.”

The videoconferencing function? “Amazing,” Gundotra wrote. Scripting software? “Very cool.”

The Gundotra e-mail was sent to executives throughout Microsoft headquarters, including Allchin. He forwarded it to Gates and Ballmer, adding his name and one word: “Sigh … ”

Longhorn was doomed"

Thats funny! also the part: "including competing with the free operating system called Linux" They try to compete with Linux and Mac-OS beat them completely..
And I think in the same time Linux was also much better.

[russofris]

LOL:
Thats funny!

It's only funny in a slapstick kind-of-way.
For every laugh, there's some poor fat man being hit in the head by a ladder.

F

[maldorordiscord]

It's only funny in a slapstick kind-of-way.
For every laugh, there's some poor fat man being hit in the head by a ladder.

F

Well I can laugh because I never work at Microsoft.
For a Microsoft worker/share holder its not so funny.

For a Microsoft hater like me the article is really nice the article show all faces of "shit" inside of Microsoft.

And the article bring hope the hope that we get rid of Microsoft in the future.

[ChrisXY]

For what began as a lean competition machine led by young visionaries of unparalleled talent

While Microsoft was once the hippest company on earth,

MS-DOS was a text-based system, but then came Windows, which brought a graphic interface—desktops, icons, and the like—to P.C.’s and any other computer.

..........

[russofris]

..........

Indeed... I agree that there is a fair amount of embellishment and aggrandization in the article. That said, let's not diminish MS's contributions. MS did start lean, they were 'hip' and Windows did supply a UI. On the other hand, Carnie Wilson started lean, hip, and provided something nice to look at. Not all things end as they began.