Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky Leaves Microsoft 417
CWmike writes with this excerpt from Computerworld: "Steven Sinofsky, the executive in charge of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system and the driving force behind the new OS, is leaving the company effective immediately, Microsoft announced late Monday. Sinofsky was also the public face for Windows 8 and its new Metro interface, posting constant updates in a Windows 8 blog that charted its development. His last post, fittingly, was entitled 'Updating Windows 8 for General Availability.' The OS was officially launched at the end of last month. According to the All Things D blog, there was growing tension between Sinofsky and other members of the Microsoft executive team, who didn't see him as enough of a team player. But Microsoft's official position is that the decision was a mutual one. Sinofsky had only good things to say about his former employer." Also at SlashCloud.
Rats. (Score:5, Funny)
Ship.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Funny)
Uff, took me whole five seconds to get it. I first thought that "Rats, ship!" was a command to the troops!
Well, that's actually how Windows 8 got released!
Rats on a burning oil rig? (Score:3)
Or maybe they're the rats on the "burning platform" described by another former Microsoft executive (http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/12/10/23/1658222/can-nokia-save-itself):
"When ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop took the reins of Nokia back in 2011, he memorably compared the Finnish phone-maker to a burning old platform in the North Sea. 'I have learned that we are standing on a burning platform,' he wrote in a widely circulated memo. 'And, we have more than one explosion -- we have multiple points of s
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, it appears the rats (Ballmer and co.) are holding on to the sinking ship and driving the cats away....the ship will sink faster that way.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Shall we compare that to Red Hat? It seems that every time someone leaves Microsoft we get this gleeful rats/ships metaphor on Slashdot going back decades, but Microsoft has been and continues to be a fantastically successful company.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Informative)
That $16 billion is Microsoft's revenue, not their profits. Net income was $4.47 billion... still, not too shabby. Apple logged revenue of $46.33 billion and net profit of $13.06 billion. Google reported revenue of $10.65 billion, but only $2.91 billion profit. Red Hat? They did $314.7 million in revenue, $37.5 million in net profit.
This tells the story of why Microsoft keeps trying to reinvent themselves as Apple. If only they didn't do it so badly. But then again, Apple's showing signs of not doing it so well these days, too.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Insightful)
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> hey willingly put their heads in the guillotine by adopting YA3GL (C#/.NET) that gives no advantages unless you want to do things the Microsoft way
Gives no advantages? Bullshit. Have you ever worked with the Entity Framework under C#? Way beyond the best way of working with data I've ever encountered. I am able to crank out solid data-intensive code in 1/10 the time it would take me with NHibernate or Java with Hibernate, let alone older attempts at making data a first class citizen in the language. MV
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Business has no need for the metro UI and they have no need for an online store. If you think otherwise you've never worked in corporate. You don't get to buy your software from such a system.
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I'm with you on the whole, "celebrations are a little premature", but Microsoft makes these profits because of their position in the market more than the fundamental quality of their apps or innovation, and as we have seen with other companies that have dominant positions, a lead of that sort can very suddenly evaporate if someone steps up. The fact that it hasn't happened to Microsoft yet has to do with the fundamentally excellent (for them) partnering and marketing strategies that they use, and a certain
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Funny)
Desktop Linux is finally starting to look like it is making some traction
Next year will be the year of Linux on the desktop!
SCNR
The downfall of Windows and the rise of Linux has been foretold many many times. I don't hold my breath.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Interesting)
Desktop Linux is finally starting to look like it is making some traction, especially with Valve working to make games for Linux, and I've always been of the opinion that an OS is only going to have mass appeal if you can play top tier games on it (without having to mess around with WINE).
And, for fuck's sake, change the retarded application naming methods!
When you have Guayadeque, a music player using wxWidgets then "abcde" which is a frontend for "cdparanoia" (SERIOUSLY???), Gedit (which works under KDE, so the "G" is stupid), Kate (wtf is this name for a fucking Text Editor?), Kopete (bitch, please!), XCDRoast (because the "X" really MUST be there!), then you can't hope that Joe Sixpack would be happy with that.
"The KDE naming convention (KMail, KAIM, KPlayer, etc) tends to be a bit better than average, though they do tend to take the “K” thing a bit too far. Even this, which tends to produce easy to discern names, has problems (k3b, Kaffeine, amaroK, kynaptic, etc) and can get confusing at times." (from here: http://www.geek.com/articles/xyzcomputing/linuxs-difficulty-with-names-20051226/ [geek.com]).
When you get rid of this hacker-wannabe naming methods ("yeah, um, well, I'm using xkcd-1.3.1-x86-omg-wtf-bbq") then you start to mature and think of customers, rather than just your fellow hacker-wannabe-bros.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Insightful)
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The real issue is not their competitors or even the market, but the single question "Can I run xxxx on it" the xxxx is currently a Windows application and so the only system that can answer yes is Windows ....(fill in with Exchange, Office, Outlook, etc etc ...)
Microsoft will only fade when people ask about apps that will either run on other system or will not run on Windows ...
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft is certainly raking in big gobs of money, but consider:
* Sinofsky knows the internal figures and projections... we don't. Perhaps he saw that the feces is about to meet the air handler for Microsoft, and didn't want any part of it.
* Sinofsky was widely favored to be next in line after Ballmer left/got-ejected/whatever, and the investing community wants Ballmer's severed head on a platter. Boss gets nervous in a situation like that, yanno?
* The man had full run of the company and could pretty much do whatever he wanted - at one of the world's biggest corporations. Why would anyone give up that kind of corporate godhood with no warning? Can't be because he's forming his own corp - that takes time and planning, and Sinofsky would leave slowly under such a situation to keep valuable corporate friendships going. Can't be due to being caught humping a dog's corpse while mainlining bath salts or suchlike, because that would've shown up on the news pretty damned quickly. Same with embezzlement and crap like that.
So, unless someone can show me where Sinofsky joins a cult or buys a bunker in Kansas, his departure likely bodes ill news for Microsoft...
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Interesting)
There are only a few reasons why execs leave, especially a company they have invested as much of themselves into as Sinosky did Microsoft. Gates left because of the Anti-trust stuff - it just didn't make business sense to keep him in the positions he was in.
There doesn't seem to be a good reason for Sinofsky to go. So, like you said - it speaks ill of Microsoft's future as someone like him would hopefully see the writing on the wall so long as he wasn't drinking too much of the corporate kool-aid. So most likely, he saw the writing on the wall, wanted to do something about it, but kept getting headed off by others (e.g. Ballmer, Gates, Elop) getting in the way; and decided to leave instead of going through all the headaches and stress that would otherwise be caused. It also enables him to dump his stocks easier after about a year.
Re:Rats. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Rats. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd thought the same thing at first, but if that were the case, there would be a graceful transition of a few months at the very least, and he would've waited at least four to six months after release of something big like Windows 8 - if for no other reason than to insure his imprimatur is firmly on it (and on his resume). Instead we got this sudden no-warning bam-I'm-gone departure.
Departures like that are tough on everyone involved (except the guy leaving), and has the potential to disrupt existing and ongoing projects (and is even harder on just-released ones).
At lower levels, meh - one cog leaves, another is dropped in, with minimum disruption. At the higher levels, lots of bad mojo starts occurring when you rip out one guy and try to drop another in. At the Sinofsky/Ballmer levels? It's a delicate procedure that has the potential to get ugly in a hurry if you don't do it right.
Don't let the... (Score:5, Funny)
chair hit you on the way out! Seriously, DUCK!
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Not a concern anymore. Ballmer's so old he can hardly pick up a foot stool.
Ball de Mort does magic.
Official confirmation... (Score:5, Insightful)
that the new interface in Windows 8 bombed at the box office....
the beginning of the end, indeed.
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Corporations as big and evil as Microsoft don't die. They Nasty away.
Re:Official confirmation... (Score:5, Insightful)
that the new interface in Windows 8 bombed at the box office....
the beginning of the end, indeed.
Actually no, since Microsoft let Sinofsky go and put in charge the woman directly responsable for the metro interface.
I'd say it's going from bad to worse.
Re:Official confirmation... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually no, since Microsoft let Sinofsky go and put in charge the woman directly responsable for the metro interface.
It could have been worse. They could have put the woman [wikipedia.org] directly responsible for the Microsoft Bob [wikipedia.org] interface in charge.
Re:Official confirmation... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually no, since Microsoft let Sinofsky go and put in charge the woman directly responsable for the metro interface.
It could have been worse. They could have put the woman directly responsible for the Microsoft Bob interface in charge.
I thought Gabe Newell was the project manager in charge of that project. Which goes to show that one bad product doesn't necessarily mean the person in charge of it will continue to create bad products.
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I thought Gabe Newell was the project manager in charge of that project. Which goes to show that one bad product doesn't necessarily mean the person in charge of it will continue to create bad products.
Huh? Melinda French was the PM on Microsoft Bob, after it crashed and burned she married Bill Gates. There wasn't another project she was over, AFAIK.
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Well, Julie Larson-Green is that woman, and yeah, she lead the move to put the Zune, er, Metro, er, Something-that-isn't-Zune-or-Metro interface on Windows Phone 7. However, Sinofsky was THE guy responsible for it moving to Windows proper, the guy pushing "same UI everywhere". One wonders if he's actually used a computer in a professional environment before... but I digress. The worst about this, if you're a Microsoft fan.. the Microsofties respect Sinofsky, even if they often hated his guts. They just see
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When you absolutely have to install a third party software to make an OS GUI usable... what can I say. Something must be fishy with that.
Re:Official confirmation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, people have been talking about Sinoffsky for a while. He insists on Windows being the driving force at MS and he is the reason that it took MS so long to get their products into a vertical integration....His departure has nothing to do with Windows 8 and everything to do with his ability to get on board the new vision.
Re:Official confirmation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft is all about kissing the ass of big corporations.
Metro is about as opposite of that as you can get.
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The "modest" sales of Surface ("modest" being Ballmer's word, not mine) probably did not help. Surface + Win8 was a big investment/effort.
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While I personally think Win8 is going to be a Vista-level disaster, I think two weeks is a wee bit premature to be hanging any forecasts on.
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While I personally think Win8 is going to be a Vista-level disaster, I think two weeks is a wee bit premature to be hanging any forecasts on.
Nah, they learned from Vista. Last time they let OEMs keep shipping XP machines so people didn't have to buy Vista, this time I'm sure they'll kill Windows 7 ASAP.
Direction change (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd hope this was a personality or really an interpersonal thing and not a strategy choice. If Microsoft starts going squishy on Windows 8 i.e. Metro they will blow a crucial part of their strategy. I don't see how they pick a different OS strategy at this point than ubiquitous computing. Releasing another new paradigm in 2014-5 will be a complete yawn.
The 2012Q4 x86 midlevel hardware has been really exciting stuff, innovative. As the hardware manufacturers start one another's ideas 2013Q1 laptops and even desktops are going to feel a 6 years ahead of 2012Q1. That's an impressive accomplishment and I'd hope that Microsoft doesn't walk it back because other divisions are getting cold feet.
Re:Direction change (Score:5, Interesting)
I have Windows 8. As a semi-power-user, the learning curve took me all of a day. I'm sure that's enough to get screams of protest from people who dislike any kind of change. And of course that's the majority of computer users. But it's an acceptable operating system and I can completely understand Microsoft's drive to unify the user experience across phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and servers ( although for anyone that does not know this already, Microsoft Server 2012 can run without a Microsoft GUI, just PowerShell ). It's a bet on the long term future, and regardless of whether it pays off I think it was a sensible bet.
If they're ditching Sinofsky for genuine personnel reasons, that's fine. If they're thinking of making Windows 9 more like Windows 7, I think they're kneecapping their long term future for near term benefit.
Re:Direction change (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure that's enough to get screams of protest from people who dislike any kind of change. And of course that's the majority of computer users.
Lots of computer users have a rather negative experience with Windows. At work they have locked down low power systems. At home they have cheap systems loaded to the gills with crapware. I'd say Windows Power users, which is a large chunk of the /. crowd, and always has been, hate the change to Windows 8. I suspect the vast majority of end users will love the change to Windows 8. One of the things that people don't notice and I was floored by is that computer literacy is crashing. Gen-Xers and Millennials are very competent on computers. iGen on the other hand find the historical accumulation on systems like Windows too complex. They like other OSes with less historical baggage (Android, Win mobile, MeeGo, iOS...). That's an important constituency.
It's a bet on the long term future, and regardless of whether it pays off I think it was a sensible bet.
Agreed. Ubiquitous computing is a very exciting program. And whether it works or doesn't it is great to see Microsoft exercising technological leadership again.
If they're ditching Sinofsky for genuine personnel reasons, that's fine. If they're thinking of making Windows 9 more like Windows 7, I think they're kneecapping their long term future for near term benefit.
Exactly. Windows 9 should be like Windows 8 but even further. Win7 should be a guest OS running on the Hypervisor, which doesn't boot by default. Like the Classic environment when Apple switched to OSX. That starts to really strongly push the user base away from Win32 applications. If developers find out next year that's the intent they will start writing Metro GUIs to allow their apps to install in both environments (sort of like the Carbon porting libraries).
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Ubiquitous computing is a very exciting program.
And he Kool-Aid tastes delicious.
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I'm not going to apologize for thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cNdhOKwi0 [youtube.com]
is way better than what we have today.
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The problem is, when they nix the Windows 7 desktop, they take all power user with it.
Not a problem when they're chasing the iOS crowd... Windows 8/Zune/Metro interface is as reasonable a non-interface/program launcher as that of iOS, when you're consuming information. I don't really need a web browser popping up in front of my movie, if I'm watching a video on a tablet of phone (which happens... occasionally). And certainly, the tiny screens limit the value of these things too, no matter how many pixels th
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inability to have a default password for a single-user machine that the PC itself will enter on boot
That's called automatic login. Not only can you have that, you can have multiple accounts where the login is automatic.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/how-to-turn-on-automatic-logon-in-windows-7/99d4fe75-3f22-499b-85fc-c7a2c4f728af [microsoft.com]
As for compatibility yes Microsoft is back and forth on how compatible they want to be with other people's server or desktop solutions and in
Re:Direction change (Score:5, Insightful)
I can completely understand Microsoft's drive to unify the user experience across phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and servers
This is what MS have done every time they've brought out a mobile OS.
And guess what? Desktop interfaces are shit on PDAs/tablets/phones, and these devices never sold that well.
And guess what else? Mobile interfaces are shit on the desktop, and they're not going to sell that well.
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The problem with Microsoft is that they are doing this to further their own internal corporate goals and not to make it a better product for users.
They are totally about what helps THEM. Most companies could never survive this way, but they manage as they have made themselves the default in many minds. I
Yeah, MS has had many failures. And most of these failures have been about making it all about THEM instead of their customers.
Sony is slowly dying of the same disease.
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That's Apple's theory. And if it is true then ubiquitous computing fails and we are in the world of a unique GUI for every type of device and people having to learn many many interfaces in exchange for each one being hardware tweaked.
Microsoft's theory is that with OS support for automatically rendering in an interface appropriate way things can operate across different types of hardware.
We'll see who's right, or if both are good and both can coexist. It isn't obvious to me that Apple's approach is better
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I don't think of it as Apple's theory at all, it's just obvious from observation of the evidence so far. A desktop interface is a poor choice for a watch, a calculator, a GPS, a car, a microwave, a phone, or in fact any device that doesn't have a mouse and keyboard. The learning curve for these interfaces should be quite shallow and job specific.
I haven't heard anything positive about WIndows 8 yet. All I've seen is people saying that you can get used to it, and it's not so bad. Kinda. Sort of. Hardly glori
Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
...how once people get described as "a potential successor to Steve Ballmer" they mysteriously disappear...
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After Reiser and McAfee, I would not be surprised if his body would later be found with a chair-based concussion.
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
There might be more to parent post than just "4+ Funny".
Ballmer has become increasingly vulnerable. Basically, nobody much likes having a potty-mouthed, chair-throwing monkey dancer as a CEO, either inside or outside the corporation. He got the job not because he rose up through the ranks or had demonstrable skills but because he was Gates' chief sycophant, loyal to the core. It is long past time for him to be replaced by someone who can steer the monster resources of Microsoft in an appropriate direction, rather than just sitting there in the driver's seat while the huge earth-mover rumbles around without a definite direction.
By encouraging his most likely internal replacement to leave the company, Ballmer has done the one thing he could do that most reduces his risks of getting tossed out like a chair. There is no question that Microsoft lost a valuable asset when Sinofsky walked, but his continued presence as Win8 becomes a success would have been a major personal threat to Ballmer.
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Paul Allen spotted it in 1980 [vanityfair.com]:
In other news (Score:5, Funny)
Scott Forstall denied that he and Steven Sinofsky are forming a secret club with the aim of ".. getting back at all those people who just don't know any better and need to told how things should be done...".
It's rumored that the first meeting will be held in a tree-house in the back yard of Scott's mothers' house, and that "no girls or software company executives will be allowed", and pizza and soft drinks may be delivered.
Good Riddance ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Posting anonymously because... well...
Anyway, the guy had a Jobs complex. That sort of attitude may have worked in a "one trick" company like Apple (not trying to start a flame war on that, but Apple has a VERY stovepiped set of products as compared to Microsoft). All it did was piss people off in the other business groups at Microsoft, though.
Like many of the oustings at Microsoft over the last 4-5 years, this is a good one, and a positive sign for the company.
And lest there be any confusion on it -- at Microsoft, once you're Partner level, decisions to leave are always "mutual".
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Pissing people off is not necessarily the worst thing, not getting stuff done right is the worst thing.
The ousting that really matters isn't happening.
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Hmm!
I don't have any inside information here, but lots of reports suggest that Microsoft's top executives are "team players" like scorpions in a bottle.
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They also tend to care about their customers a hair more than M.S. ever has.
*cough* *cough* MAPS *cough* *cough*
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Stephen Elop.
When will the other Steve get bounced? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Of course they get that. But the OS doesn't meaningfully don't control workflow. That's an application issue, that comes next. In particular "click" i.e. mouse is something they need to diversify.
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Windows becoming irrelevant (Score:2)
With OpenGL gaining popularity windows is becoming more and more irrelevant, and I guess that's a good thing.
A few hours ago I downloaded Haiku-OS to give it a spin.
Had Only Good Things to Say... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sinofsky had only good things to say about his former employer
When I was laid off years ago, in order to get my severance package, I had to sign an agreement to *not* say bad things about the company in the press. I imagine this guy had $Millions on the line if he does say anything disparaging. Hell, if the MS lawyers are any good, they made sure that any companies that he forms within N years have to use MS products exclusively. (or at least for the public facing computers)
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So sh
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"I've been asked to go to Manila to train my replacement, and I think they're likely to close my whole office. I'd like to find a new job earlier rather than later."
Short, factual, honest, doesn't badmouth the company.
Others comming back? (Score:2)
I wonder if this means that some others who left in the recent past, like J Allard or Ray Ozzie will be coming back. The rumors were that Sinofsky vigorously opposed their plans, and they left after Balmer decided to back Sinofsky's way rather than them.
windows 8 is failing in the marketplace (Score:3)
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If he hasn't got any bad things to say about Microsoft, why is this news?
Because Microsoft executives had bad things to say about his latest product engineering effort?
My very limited exposure to Sinofsky (Score:5, Interesting)
During Windows Vista and previous development, private beta testers (not internal to MS) were given a constant stream of new builds to test. Microsoft was very responsive and bugs were generally fixed very quickly. I know this will surprise people, but at least for me, Vista was quite bug-free at launch because all the ones I found during the beta were fixed.
Sinofsky took over for Windows 7, and the change in testing procedure was jarring. We got a total of two builds over the entire program -- Beta 1 and RC. The effects of this were that many bug reports weren't reproducible on their much newer internal builds, so the bugs either didn't get fixed or testers were wasting effort. When the RC was released, Microsoft actually deleted many old bug reports and told everyone not to submit anything that didn't result in a BSOD or failed install, which let a lot of glaring cosmetic bugs get through. I can only imagine this was so they could reduce their official bug counts at launch.
The botched Windows 7 testing lead to the weirdest thing I could imagine -- in the middle of the program, there was basically a revolt among the testers. So much so that some took to labeling themselves "proud" testers in their signatures to separate them from the frustrated majority.
For Windows 8 -- we all pretty much knew it was going to happen -- there was no external testing at all. I guess after Vista's performance issues and the poor handling of 7, it was pretty easy for them to decide testers weren't helping them.
Re:My very limited exposure to Sinofsky (Score:5, Insightful)
For Windows 8 -- we all pretty much knew it was going to happen -- there was no external testing at all. I guess after Vista's performance issues and the poor handling of 7, it was pretty easy for them to decide testers weren't helping them.
Look, the logic is pretty simple. If no bugs were found during testing, it just means there are no bugs in the software. That means the software quality has improved and all the line managers, middle managers, executives, vice presidents and the executive vice president all deserve huge bonuses.
The seeds for this was sown years ago. They came up with quality metrics for software. That quality metric was "number of bugs found during testing". That number is the metric. That is the number to watch. That number must drop for you to make bonus. First few years it works reasonably well. But a few managers fall short of the number, and they find unmotivated lackadaisical unprofessional people and move them to the testing group. Slowly the bugs found during testing drops, and they make bonus. It starts small, with just a few managers. But pretty soon everyone is doing it. Once everyone is doing it, the early "game the system" guys double down, and pretty soon, they cancel the entire testing program and meet the holy grail, "zero bugs found during testing".
Re:So.. (Score:4, Informative)
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win8 _is_ mid project. it's at the phase where he'd have to start answering why things were done as they were.
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You missed the "effective immediately" part.
No transaction period for such important role basically mean "thrown out of a window". No pun intended.
Re: So.. (Score:4, Interesting)
How much Slashdot have you read? There are plenty of people here that think both Apple and M.S. are full of shit.
Apple is busy making their entire line a walled garden and M.S. is flaying around dodging chairs with no direction.
Re: So.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Windows 8 is a very disciplined direction. Doesn't mean: a good direction, but a unified GUI and an answer to ARM-based tablets was the strategy. Good? The market will decide.
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Also, their answer to ARM-based tablets is a dead end. Which is the market deciding.
Re: So.. (Score:5, Informative)
Man, fire up start screen, start typing 'print'. Nothing found.
On my system when I type 'print' I get 2 Apps 17 Settings and 508 Files.
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apple is making more money than any corporation in the world and growing revenues and profits
MS has flat growth, losses in some quarters/years, and sinking market share in their core products
Re: So.. (Score:4, Interesting)
The last annual statements available doesn't even put them in the top 100 global companies by revenue. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2011/full_list/index.html [cnn.com] and here are the global 500 by profits http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2011/performers/companies/profits/ [cnn.com]
I do believe, however, that Apple is by far the biggest company by hype.
Re:He was a spy! (Score:5, Funny)
... hired by Apple and Google, to completely destroy Windows 8 and any chance of entering the mobile market.
Or - at least that's a hilariously plausible conspiracy theory. I'm going to pretend to believe it.
If you want to make it a plausible conspiracy theory, you need to say that he was an Templar plant put into Microsoft to take down Windows NT so OS/2 could win in the marketplace. OS/2 was definitely preferred by secret societies everywhere. When that plan failed he was left as a deep mole. When the Templar put Jobs back into power at Apple, to get mind-control audio technology out to the masses, they thought they had finally succeeded in global domination. But the rise of the superior Windows 8 represented a threat to the Templar control, so they awoke their deep sleeper agent. However, Ballmer (a long-line descendent of assassins) caught him in his nefarious acts and after scaling building 34, and throwing a few chairs, he made it clear that he had to go.
I suspect this will not be the end of the story ...
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No, but he did sleep with Jill Kelley's twin sister.
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Good post I agree. Though I think for business the XP -> Windows 7 migration continues for several more years. I see Windows 8 as mainly a transitional OS for developers for new Metro style software and hardware manufacturers to give them something to target.
Windows XP will haunt us from the grave. (Score:3)
Very true. I'm planning on keeping a row of machines, whether virtual or physical, with XP, 7 and 8 running.
I know a lot of industries and scattered companies who have zero intention of upgrading. Their software works on XP, and they've bought both, so why upgrade at all? I'm hard-pressed to tell them they should fix what ain't broke.
It leads to a question of ownership: when we bought Windows, did we buy it "as is"
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I think you bought it as-is with the promise of an upgrade path. In particular a promise that Microsoft could and would move on to new systems as would the software. Microsoft created a stagnant world and now they have to change buying patterns.
A model that favors the consumer. (Score:2)
That could be true. Then again, the difference between updates and upgrades can be squirrely. All Windows systems could be viewed as updates to the original NT 3.5, and priced correspondingly. This gives us several models:
1. As is.
2. Update path (maybe $35 an update, roughly equivalent to current prices)
3. Upgrade path.
4. Subscription.
Can't tell which would be sensible. A subscription would have to be $20/year for XP, which I think I ran for ten years after buying for something like $200 (memory is hazy her
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Microsoft tried a subscription model when XP came out. Business rejected it. As for updates vs. upgrades. While there is a lot of continuity between modern windows versions and NT 3.51 there is a lot of continuity between NT 3.51 and DOS 2.0. And arguably a lot of continuity between DOS 2.0 and CP/M systems before it. Version just means "lots of new stuff" not a fundamental redesign. Microsoft has put lots of new stuff in each of their OSes.
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I agree. Part of the problem is they have had a culture of compatibility where it is easy to write applications that work well across many versions. Contrast that with OSX where Apple released 10.7.3 in February and by Oct almost all applications updates required 10.7.3. I don't know if Microsoft wants to move their software infrastructure that fast but clearly Apple is showing them the path.
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It leads to a question of ownership: when we bought Windows, did we buy it "as is" without upgrades? Or buy into a stream of upgrades, possibly for a limited time?
Ah, better watch it there. That last bit sounds very much like what the owner gets when he chooses Ubuntu, Red Hat / Fedora, or several other Linux distros-- except the stream of upgrades with those has no time limit. I'm guessing that you really don't want potential Windows buyers to be thinking about such things.
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I really hope you're trolling...
Windows 8 is going to be a buggy flop because MS OS's alternate between buggy innovative flops and boring stable usable systems. The upgrade path is clearly Win3.1 - > Win98/NT -> XP -> Win7 -> Win9 (which will be released in about a year in two versions: one for tablets with the Interface Formerly Known As Metro, one for desktop/laptop with the standard Windows interface)
This is known...
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Take a look at the x86 hardware in the mid range that's come out. No. It is not known. Microsoft cannot allow the GDI style interface which is non scalable to hold them back anymore. I agree that Win 9 will be much more stable and consistent, Win 8 is clearly a transitional OS. But they aren't going back to Win32 desktops anymore than XP was a return to DOS, or Win98 a return to .pif files and non overlapping GUI elements.
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I went from 3.11 -> 95 -> Me -> XP -> Vista -> Ubuntu -> Mint
Re:Good time to move on. (Score:5, Insightful)
3. They've gotten over the moron factor. Apple used to be able to claim its GUI was so simple a child could use it, in contrast to Windows which was "complicated" and Linux which was "hard." Windows 8 is braindead simple as a GUI and has let wizards take over many of the less intuitive tasks of computer maintenance.
It's hard for me to compete with a corporate PR department, but here I go...
Windows 8 is braindead simple? How? It's exactly the same as Windows 7, except they added a whole new interface in addition to the old one. In other words, it is nearly twice as complicated! Worse, the two environments are nearly blind to the other. "Metro" apps don't show up on the taskbar and desktop apps don't show up on the (hidden) Metro taskbar replacement. Magic things happen when you move your mouse to certain corners, and some items don't come up unless you know the secret gesture. It is an unholy mess. You want to talk "computer maintenance"? There are now two places to find all of the various settings. How that got through your meetings, I'll never know. So now tablet users sometimes have to use the finger-unfriendly desktop interface to set up certain things (and to do file management), while desktop users have to go into the Metro interface for certain settings.
Re:Good time to move on. (Score:5, Interesting)
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My reps are contacting me and telling me CALs are going up a minimum of 50%. I know how this revolution is being fields, by shaking down enterprise customers.
Make up your mind (Score:2)
Thank you? Uh...
But then some other guy writes:
So, shills are trolls now, or trolls are shills?
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Everyone else agrees that you're both a shill AND a troll.
Happy now?
Importance of mobile (Score:3)
I have to disagree here. While I'm not a big fan of mobile computing, it is massively important. Most people who do not need a command line are using mobile computing.
("Using" is a relative term. They are using it for Facebook, shopping, Googling, etc. I doubt they're using it in the sense of running MATLAB or Visual Studio on it.)
Apple is curr
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