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Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts




I have been looking forward to the release of Windows 10 for some time. Friends of mine inside Microsoft have told me that Windows 10 is what Windows 8 should have been. However, with just a couple of weeks to go before its public release, there are starting to be rumors that Windows 10 is going to be a “subscription” product. That is, you will subscribe to Windows and pay an annual fee. Then, Microsoft will roll out new updates and new versions to your machine, as long as you have a valid subscription. It’s not clear in this scenario if Windows will stop working when your subscription expires, or if an expired subscription would simply mean no new versions and fixes.

I’m really surprised by this. My sense is that for Microsoft to put the Windows 8 debacle behind them, Windows 10 has to be an out-of-the-park homerun. Windows 10 has to contain absolutely nothing that would cause anyone to pause for a moment before choosing to upgrade. I imagined Windows 10 as the heir apparent to Windows 7. That it would behave like a new and improved Windows 7; smaller, faster, and more secure, but with the familiar old Windows user interface. Sure, there would be an option to turn on the Win8 “Metro” UI for the three customers that actually liked Windows 8, but for the rest of us, Metro would just be a distant nightmare. I also imagine that Windows 10 will contain support for new hardware, such as M.2 SSD’s. Also, I hope that the new Windows might contain some killer app (not necessarily new to computing, but new to Windows), for example, built-in voice recognition that would knock Dragon Naturally Speaking off the block, or perhaps consumer-level photo editing software that would completely replace Google’s Picasa or Adobe’s consumer-level Photoshop SE.

That Microsoft is considering changing the Windows sales model ala Google’s Android OS, takes me by surprise. A subscription model for Windows is something that might give me, and other consumers, a reason not to buy. On the other hand, I have never been concerned by the fact that Google rolls out new versions of Android from time to time. Not only hasn’t this bothered me, I have usually been upset when my wireless carrier (Verizon) has been slow in providing the latest Android update. There are several reasons for this. For one thing, if a new version of Android were rolled out, and it was terrible, it would only impact my phone. Yes, that would be inconvenient, but nowhere nearly as disastrous as if my computer were forcibly upgraded to an operating system that I hated. Also, it’s worth noting that Android is actually open source. There are many variants of Android freely available that you can download and install on your phone, should you choose to do so. Were Google to create a new version of Android that is as hateful as Windows 8, one can be sure that in no time third parties would provide Android versions that fixed the problems. Such is not the case with Windows. Most important of all, I have never heard of a release of Android that people didn’t like. I do recall an update a couple of years ago that everyone agreed took some getting used to, but I never heard anyone say that it wasn’t a welcome improvement over the prior Android.

Microsoft, by contrast, has at least two recent OS duds under its belt: Vista and Windows 8 (to say nothing of prior missteps in both operating systems and applications.) Windows Vista was roundly despised by consumers and pundits. Personally I liked Vista and have no idea why people disparaged it. But, that said, it is clear that many people didn’t like it and if they had been forced to install it there would have been considerable gnashing of teeth. More recently, Windows 8 was absolutely catastrophic. I tried it on a virtual machine. After 15 minutes I shook my head in disbelief and deleted it. Subsequently I tried Win8.1 on a tablet for a couple of frustrating days before returning it to the vendor for a refund. Everyone I know that uses Windows 8 (outside of Microsoft) says that they find it utterly confusing. So, if Windows 10 ushers in a new era of Windows as a subscription service, potential buyers will have to ask themselves if they trust that Windows 11, 12, 13, and onward, will all be good upgrades. No matter how good Windows 10 might be, will I want to commit to letting Microsoft force new OS versions onto my machine? Honestly, the answer is “no”.

In just a couple of weeks we will learn what Windows 10 is actually going to be. Perhaps the rumors of Windows 10 as a subscription-only service are incorrect. Perhaps it will be good, old fashioned, installed software. Or, perhaps, like the most recent version of Office, you’ll have a choice of two flavors: a subscription version (e.g. Office 365) and a standalone version (e.g. Office 2013.) Regardless, I will be holding onto my Windows 7 discs in case I ever need to revert back to the last known good version of Windows.
Today is the 10 year anniversary of my graduating from Microsoft. What a long strange trip its been!

People have been asking me if I can believe that it has been 10 years. The answer is "absolutely not." On the other hand, I can't believe that I am 46 years old. I haven't been able to get over my chronological age since I was 30. I can't believe that there's anything I've done (other than eating and breathing) that can be measured in decades. I can't believe there are friends that I have had for decades (though I am grateful for every one.) I am at once amazed at how much I have accomplished in the last 10 years and at how little I've done. It has flown and crept by; I have done everything and nothing. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like and where I'd be today had I spent that last 10 years in the bosom of MSFT, instead of out here where I create each day anew.

I am frequently asked if I miss working at Microsoft. The answer is always "yes" and "no." Microsoft was an amazing place to work. It was (and probably still is) a place where one can work on really interesting problems with an exciting group of people and product a product that will be seen and used by a vast audience of people. If I had helped to create a program like Access at some other company, the project would have been just as intriguing, but without Microsoft's name, reputation, and marketing muscle, it might have been ignored in the marketplace. Releasing Access at Microsoft meant that within a year it was in use by a million people, and today tens of millions use it directly or indirectly. At the risk of an immodest analogy, it is like being Claude Monet, recognized as a leader in the impressionist movement, versus being Van Gogh, a fantastic painter ignored during his lifetime and dying penniless.

The thing I miss most about Microsoft are the people - in particular the lunchtime conversations. Day after day I recall fascinating company in the cafeteria. People with such amazing brainpower and diverse knowledge and interests that each meal was an education. I recall lunches where people proposed word problems (such as "the island of the blue eyed people") and analyzed answers.

I recall a lunch early on in my career where I exclaimed on the recent increase in the stock price. Sitting across from me was Charles Simony, one of Microsoft's most brilliant "architects." He looked at me and said, "yes, but the third derivative is negative." [What he meant was that the stock price was going up, and the rate that it was going up was increasing (acceleration), but the rate of acceleration was decreasing.] I also recall another lunch with Charles in which we were discussing the price of something over time (gas? GNP? I forget.) I had studied it in college and made some comment about the price movement over recent decades. Charles glared at me, demanding "What is the shape of the graph?"I was stunned. My mind went blank. I couldn't form an answer. "Well? What is the shape of the graph? Is the graph rising or is it falling?!?!" I was frozen. Charles then told me that the graph was falling and proceeded to prove why my claim was wrong. You couldn't swim with these guys unless you had all your facts in a row. Sigh.

On the other hand, working at Microsoft was incredibly demanding. To do well there one had to give one's all; there was very little life outside of work. I got up in the morning, drank coffee, and drove to Redmond. I worked, ate, and played at Microsoft for the next 10 to 12 hours, then drove home and pretty much went to sleep. Those were my days. During "crunch" times that often included one of the two weekend days. Later in my career I refused to work weekends and insisted on taking an hour or two in the evenings to ride my bike or go to the gym. I needed the time to myself and often got a lot of good thinking done while away from the office.

Microsoft is not good for relationships. Most people, male or female, were single. Many were divorced. I recall a number of divorces that occurred while I was there. People were married to their work. Microsoft was a place full of "A-Type" people, that attracted A-types, and encouraged them to be as A-type as possible. It would bring in kids straight out of college, give them the coolest technology, interesting problems to work on, all the soda they could drink, and burn them up. I was lucky -I came in as an "adult," refusing some of the bullshit. I also came in early enough in the company's history that by the time I burned out I could afford to leave.

I expected to be there at least 10 years, but only lasted seven and a half. Now I've been gone for 10. Happy Anniversary!