Upstart Bloggers at Microsoft Moving On 129
SJasperson writes "A few weeks ago Mini-Microsoft decided to stop tweaking his corporate masters, having won the astounding victory of getting free towels returned to the locker rooms in Redmond. Now uber-blogger Scoble is moving on to work with a podcasting startup, having apparently tired of his supposed role as Vista evangelist and self-appointed corporate revolutionary. The company still has 3,000 bloggers left, but Microsoft has apparently figured out how to keep them safely within the rules, blogging about the wonders of product renaming and coming features instead of anything that might challenge the party line. There's a lesson here for those starry-eyed adolescents who think the power of the blog is going to triumph over the power of the boardroom."
lesson? (Score:4, Insightful)
That the power of the blog can be used to add to the power of the boardroom?
Re:lesson? (Score:1)
Re:lesson? (Score:2)
Don't be so narrow! The blogs are having an effect, and it's growing. Consider the recent court ruling (I think it was an Apple vs blogger case) that extended the same standards to bloggers as are extended to journalists. And consider the turnout for the Yearly Kos event. The lesson here is simple: There are blogs you can trust and there are those you can't. And most
Re:lesson? (Score:3, Interesting)
Lack of dissension among the ranks is more likely a sign of employees buying into the company's vision and being treated well by the company, than from management flying off the handle, throwing chairs around at every perceived threat. It's more likely something you'd expect from a company that's known to engage in dodgy and unethical business p
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Coming features? (Score:1, Interesting)
- Aero Glass! Well...okay, so it's not a feature so much as it is eye candy that everyone but Microsoft is offering with their OS now...let me try that again.
- WinFS! Oh, wait...they cut that out because it was slow and probably wouldn't be finished for release time.
- Requires more memory
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Coming features? (Score:2)
Re:Coming features? (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Coming features? (Score:1)
Just out of interest... which feature?
Re:Coming features? (Score:1)
Re:Coming features? (Score:2)
Re:Coming features? (Score:1, Redundant)
Where are the images? (Score:1)
It's already happening to some extent (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's already happening to some extent (Score:3, Insightful)
Hrm, dunno about that.
See link to blog, right side middle of the page.
http://www.msdnevents.com/default.aspx?sid=14 [msdnevents.com]
http://neopoleon.com/blog/ [neopoleon.com]
I especially like this article about the above blogger hitting an attendee at an MSDN event:
http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/18833.aspx [neopoleon.com]
And this one about the
Re:It's already happening to some extent (Score:2, Funny)
Don't you mean Sorny and Panaphonic?
WTF (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:WTF (Score:4, Funny)
Re:WTF (Score:2, Insightful)
3000 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:3000 (Score:2)
Re:3000 (Score:5, Informative)
As for Mini-MSFT giving up the towel (forgive the pun), he(she?)'s not. He clearly wrote that he's simply taking a break to see how things turn out given the recent internal changes at Microsoft. He said he'd continue to post interesting links and allow people to voice their concerns in the comments discussions, which is the real heart of the site, and that he'd return to full writing sometime in the future.
Re:3000 (Score:1)
This is nothing new (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This is nothing new (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is nothing new (Score:2)
Why not get over the negative aspect of those opinions and start using those opinions as a tool to move forward ?
The Free Speech that you speak of is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States to prevent Congress (i.e. the Federal Government) from usurping the right of the people to speak freely. It does not preclude any private entity, corporations and other employers included, from di
Re:This is nothing new (Score:2)
Not at all. You can have your opinions, as long as you don't speak of them. "Know your place, shut your face." The other choice is to become independently wealthy and not having to work for a living, but that's pretty difficult to accomplish :(.
Re:This is nothing new (Score:2)
In other words, "know your place, shut your face".
Calling someone's statement crap and then confirming that statement it in the very next sentence is somewhat illogical.
Are you sure it's me that's beyond hope ?-)
Re:This is nothing new (Score:2)
Slashdotted... But what I could pull from google's cache is that she is an ignorant bitch who is amazing full of herself. She was fired because she believed she could post whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted - and not pay the consequences.
Re:This is nothing new (Score:2)
Which is true, if you "Post Anonymously". Even better, I've found, is to write your blog in a different language. Then people know you're talking about them, but they don't know what you're saying.
Is your employeer really going to hire someone to translate your blog? I think not.
(Then again, you have to use a language that nobody knows, like ancient Greek or maybe Japanese. Lots
Do people find this interesting? (Score:2)
I was kinda up in arms after congress voted to let the telcos charge us extra to look at this stuff, but after looking at that blog, I think they made the right choice. The net shouldn't be neutral.
The actual story (Score:1)
You should lighten up, it's just a blog. It's not like pictures of her little girl, dogs, flowers and friends are hurting anyone.
Anyways I guess the GP forgot to actually link to the story in case, she mentions it in the about section [dooce.com] but doesn't link to the actual blog posts.
Re:Do people find this interesting? (Score:2)
Or perhaps he thinks we should read everything this women has ever written, to get a background and foreground on the story. Thanks.
Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:1)
Bart: You make me sick, Homer. You're the one who told me I could do anything if I just put my mind to it!
Homer: Well, now that you're a little bit older, I can tell you that's a crock! No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you.
Bart: Gotcha. Can't win, don't try.
Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:3, Insightful)
Usually a good lesson, but in this case -- Mini-Microsoft's obsession wasn't towels, it was the stack ranking system, which has just been changed, almost certainly due to his/her high-profile complaining. I'd call that a pretty big success, to change a core HR policy in a company of that size.
I never found Scoble interesting, but his major goal seemed to be to become An Important Blogger. Which he now is (by blogostandards of "important"). So
Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:2)
Marge: Well... Then I guess the moral is the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story.
Homer: Exactly! Just a bunch of stuff that happened.
Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:1)
What is the news? (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot Flash: Microsoft has put towels in the locker rooms! Full story at 11:00!
Re:What is the news? (Score:1, Insightful)
And the attempt at spinning an anti-MS tale around why Scoble tok a new job is at, least according to Scoble himself [wordpress.com], wrong.
My job rules (Score:1)
Blogs still have power (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Blogs still have power (Score:2)
Re:Blogs still have power (Score:2, Insightful)
A spine and not caring if you do.
KFG
Re:Blogs still have power (Score:2)
Re:Blogs still have power (Score:2)
Wow, way to twist it Slashdot. (Score:5, Insightful)
The other accepted a position at another company, is still praising its (past) employer and is maintaining good relations with them.
So... how exactly is this Microsoft figuring out how to keep them safely within the rules, blogging about the wonders of product renaming and coming features instead of anything that might challenge the party line ?
not the point (Score:2)
Re:not the point (Score:2)
Get into the real world. Trust me you'll like it.
Re:not the point (Score:2)
Re:not the point (Score:2)
I don't want a great developer asking my opinion of what the game should be like, any more than I want Imogen Heap asking me how to finish a phrase on a particular song she's working on. Make great art, and I'll buy it, fail to do so, and I'll pass on it. That's pretty solid feedback right there, no need for blogging.
Now, if you happen to really suck, you could probably benefit from customer input, but even after getting it, you'll still suck.
Re:not the point (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:not the point (Score:2)
The ctm is a fad full of buzzwords designed to make someone rich. Hint: It isn't you.
What is left to blog about at Microsoft anyway? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What is left to blog about at Microsoft anyway? (Score:2)
Not if you're MS and not if the division is losing cash hand over fist.
Though if Sony is going to screw up as badly as it looks, the 360 might be able to pull of a coup, despite MS's own (now minor looking) blunders.
Re:What is left to blog about at Microsoft anyway? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What is left to blog about at Microsoft anyway? (Score:2)
In 2004, Microsoft gave $30 billion back to the shareholders. Google for it. [google.com] And seriously, this is /., so Microsoft bashing is par for the course -- but at least don't just make stuff up.
Re:What is left to blog about at Microsoft anyway? (Score:2)
Oh, I don't know...maybe from their developer division, in no particular order:
Why on earth is this news (Score:5, Funny)
Who?
There's a lesson here for those starry-eyed adolescents who think the power of the blog is going to triumph over the power of the boardroom.
Like, ohmygod, the real world. I'd better post an entry in my livejournal about how shocked I am! Mood: faint-of-heart *picture of sad kitten*
Re:Why on earth is this news (Score:3, Interesting)
Seems to me that congratulations are in order here. They got better jobs and that's, well, better. In the end, tweaking the corporate tail paid off.
Good news, no?
D
Re:Why on earth is this news (Score:2)
Yeah, those towels are awesome. Now, about the pay grades and leveling...
Re:Why on earth is this news (Score:2)
I'll have you know there are lots of well adjusted, sexy men with stable relationships who hang out on Livejournal!
Just like Slashdot...
Re:Why on earth is this news (Score:1)
Two anecdotes must signal a trend (Score:2)
Good (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good (Score:1)
Microsoft didn't make him an A-list blogger and they are not going to say "oh well now let's create an A-list blogger to replace Robert."
Why would you blog about your employer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Whisle-blowing is much more fun, than blogging anyhow, especially when Lauren Bacall [nndb.com] is your teacher:
Re:Why would you blog about your employer? (Score:1)
Two different things... (Score:4, Insightful)
Mini-Microsoft clearly tapped several seams of unhappiness within Microsoft and found him/herself with an immensely popular blog on his/her hands. After a while, however it became pretty clear that there was only so much that could be written about on those topics, and the blogger clearly didn't relish the idea of being seen as an all-purpose internal Microsoft kicker. Couple that with the suggestions that the anonymous cover had been broken and it is fairly obvious why the fun might have gone out of the venture.
But Scoble? I mean what was the point? The guy never actually seemed to have anything interesting to say; usually it was faintly masterbatory stuff about the power of blogging or how tough it was being Scoble, I took him off my RSS reader after a couple of months when it was clear it was pointless. I would have thought he was simply irrelevant to Microsoft, which is why they aren't too sad to see if off the pay-roll. He came across as a man supremely interested in his own words, but not too bothered about making them particularly interesting to anyone else.
Re:Two different things... (Score:1)
That pretty much sums up the entire blogging phenomenon.
Something's not right... (Score:1)
Any blogger that can post the daily accounts of the corporation he works for, sling mud, point fingers, risk his job and in the end, still have his job all in order to know where his towels are, is a blogger to be reckoned with...
Re:Something's not right... (Score:2)
Given my sn, I'm pretty sure it's /. dogma to give you a w00t here.
MS isn't a perpetual muse (Score:4, Insightful)
Who Reads This Crap? (Score:1)
The summary is trolling! (Score:5, Informative)
The real victory was the change of the review system. Mini-Msft fought for two primary reasons:
1) To eliminate stack ranking
2) To layoff under performers
If you read the farewell posts at all, you would know that the performance review system has been changed to no longer utilize stack ranking and that clear identification of under performers has been made easier. Whether or not Mini helped, goal #1? rocked it. goal #2? Hopefully going to follow from goal #1
The towels are a symbolic victory. The towel benefit was revoked in an attempt to save money; not even really all that much. There are a fair number of msft/redmond employees who bike to work. The lack of towels actually setup a significant barrier to performance for these people because if they forgot a towel, they need to travel several extra miles to the PRO Club to shower when they could have taken a shower in their building and gotten right to working. The symbolism is that Microsoft's leadership had forgotten the importance of these benefits and reinstated the towels indicating that the loss of productivity or employee satisfaction wasn't worth the few million bucks.
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:1, Troll)
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft has 70,000 employees world wide. About 60,000 of them are based in Redmond, WA and live in the Puget Sound area (i.e. Seattle). Some people like to work 9 to 5, so they rather a 15 to 60 minute bike ride to avoid rush hour traffic. Not to mention they then have to sit in front of a computer for the rest of their lives; better get your exercise in wherever you can.
There are also employee intramural leagues. Many people may play a game of so
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:2)
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:2)
traffice sucks everywhere. (Score:2)
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:2)
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:2)
Re:The summary is trolling! (Score:3, Insightful)
Scoble's turned blogging into a decent career and wants to join a startup to do it more. MiniMsft got most of what he wanted to happen (should be a hero at
Think Ray Ozzie has any regrets? I'm betting... (Score:1)
Mini is doing the right thing (Score:2, Insightful)
From Mini's blog:
"The 2.0 road isn't going to happen overnight - more like six months if it's going to hit the ground running like the first time I started this up. Another consideration, as I stand at these crossroads and hope that Mr. Willie Brown's deal maker doesn't show up, is that great changes are indeed afoot at Microsoft. And these changes are going to take time to grow and I'm not going to poke them with a sharp stick until they've had their chance to prove themselves."
I think Mini summed up
Proof that Slashdot is a poor source for news (Score:1, Troll)
No one knows how many bloggers work at Microsoft. It's clearly a lot more than 3,
the relevant murphy's law here is... (Score:1, Offtopic)
how long before... (Score:1)
Not a bad thing... (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact is we do still have several thousand bloggers out there and a great number of them do say it how they see it. Most of the people who love to hate Microsoft don't see it that way, but we'll always have sceptics and we'll always have competition.
I see both of those as good things and I look forward to seeing how things progress without or lead blogger at the helm anymore.
The lesson learned... (Score:1, Troll)
Very true (Score:3, Insightful)
The thing that I often find truly painful when reading such sites however are the moronic adult children who somehow think they're going to change the world purely by submitting a story to a blog, so that their fellow adolescents can then bitch, whine, and post self-congratulatory leftist screeds in response. Another thing these same imbeciles do is insist on continuing in the delusion that the American system of government is still functional.
I'd be willing to bet good money that the "blogosphere" (even that word contains an overestimation of importance) by itself has done exactly jack shit when it has come to changing the actions of any government or corporation anywhere. How exactly is it *meant* to change anything by simply (completely on its' own) expressing your opinion?
I'm now going to probably cause people to label me a hypocrite here when I admit that I have a blog, which yes, I even update once every four months or so. The difference however is that I have no illusions whatsoever about it; I realise that my blog is completely devoid of any genuine relevance or importance...and so is everyone else's.
Now Scoble can get what he really wants! (Score:1)
Jobs Blog (Score:2)
Gretchen's Goodbye [msdn.com].
She was a technical recruiter at Microsoft, and had some very interesting posts. In her goodbye she said: Microsoft is an awesome place to work, things are looking great, etc. oh by the way I've decided to leave and do my own thing. C'ya later!
JobsBlog doesn't have the profile of Scoble or Mini, but I think that says a lot.
Non-microsoft Blogs (Score:2)
Some people seem are having good reactions to the intial beta 2 release.
SG
Re:slashdot is nothing but junk news (Score:3, Informative)
there certainly is a lot of very very pointless news on slashdot, and this article is probabbly one of them, but still.. as far as if the truth is more important or less important that is harder to say. but to some of us the truth is important, to others they need to have their lies to make them feel all better.
ah well. the truth is out there. if you can handle it
Re:slashdot is nothing but junk news (Score:1)
slashdot is not just junk news, but i can inderstand why you'de feel that way.
Indeed it's not. Don't forget the duplicates of junk news, blatent trolls (Dvorak, anyone?), dupes of blatent trolls, adverts, triplicates of junk news...
Re:slashdot is nothing but junk news (Score:2)