Confidential Microsoft Emails Posted Online 479
dos4who writes "From the class action 'Comes et al. v. Microsoft' suit, some very enlightening internal Microsoft emails are now made public. Emails to and from Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Jim Allchin, etc all make for some mind blowing reading. One of my favorites is from Jim Allchin to Bill Gates, entitled 'losing our way,' in which Allchin states 'I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.'"
2001 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:2001 (Score:4, Funny)
Re:2001 (Score:5, Informative)
One of my favorites (Score:5, Interesting)
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language."
Re:One of my favorites (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:One of my favorites (Score:5, Interesting)
It was written the the Visual J++ Product Manager.
This speaks volumes to the company's strategy.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One of my favorites (Score:5, Informative)
From the links:
A program manager "[l]eads the technical side of a product development team, managing and defining the functional specifications and defining how the product will work." These PMs are, as you intimate, a dime a dozen at microsoft.
A product manager "[f]ormulates business and marketing strategy." These PMs have a lot of authority and make decisions at a much higher level.
Just compare the description of a product manager [microsoft.com] compared to that of a program manager [microsoft.com].
There are a 110 product manager job openings at MSFT compared to 365 program manager openings.
Re:One of my favorites (Score:4, Informative)
That's BS. For example, Jim Allchin is the Windows Product Manager. He had pretty much the final say over what features were and weren't included in Vista during its development.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Context is important (Score:5, Interesting)
As an EDSer, I've seen plenty of my former colleagues take a "screw EDS" view in their new companies... they were dissatisfied with aspects of business and how they were managed (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not so much); until they became just as disafected by their new employers, they were considerably hostile in words and action, at times, to their old employer.
Given that they were involved with J++, discussing a cross-platform mandate (big with Slashdotters, but not even a blip on the radar screen with 99% of Microsoft's customer base), and the context of the discussion involved co-opting lessons learned and design imperitives (not really the product itself), this discussion was not exactly the smoking gun you guys would like it to be.
Context. (Score:4, Interesting)
Given that they were involved with J++, discussing a cross-platform mandate (big with Slashdotters, but not even a blip on the radar screen with 99% of Microsoft's customer base), and the context of the discussion involved co-opting lessons learned and design imperatives (not really the product itself), this discussion was not exactly the smoking gun you guys would like it to be.
The attitude is not so easily dismissed and it shows itself again and again. While the comment might be aimed at Sun, it ultimately harms the customer.
"Cross-platform" is a huge subject that customers deeply care about but one that M$ customers will always be disappointed with. People desperately want their computers and other devices to work together but it's not going to happen with a company like M$ around. People want their PDA, cameras, portable music players and DVRs to work together and share information. Anyone trying to provide that for customers on a M$ platform is doomed to have their work broken when M$ inevitably comes in to steal the market. "Let's steal java," is a perfect example. When he says that, he means "we have the market share and can define what works and what does not." I watched them do the same thing to Palm, when "security" updates screwed over sync on W2K, so that the new Windoze Pocket PCs could gain market share. And, we've seen the same kind of thing in portable music players [theregister.co.uk]. The third E of EEE is extinguish. Once the treat to M$ dominance has been removed, the thing stolen will be ignored or removed. The issue is so much larger than Java and one or two employees. When you sum up all the pieces, the picture that emerges is not pretty at all, is it?
Re:Context. (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a point of diminishing returns, where MOST consumers simply don't want an all-in-one device, for example, or simply don't care to have a spreadsheet work in Linux and Windows. People just want to turn on a computer and USE it. They want to turn on a DVR and USE it. They want to dial a number and USE it. Inter-operability, multi-functionality, cross-platform code... all results in more complexity, and usually a "Jack of all trades, master of none" device. This is also known as the "lowest common denominator".
Exactly. They just want to be able to buy a DVR and hook it up to their existing television and use it, without worrying about ensuring they're the same brand or dealing with masses of different, subtly incompatible, non-standard products. What's more, most of the time they can. (It's odd how incompatibilty, lack of standardization, and the resulting inconveniences, monocultures and near-monopolies are so widespread in software, when people wouldn't stand for it elsewhere.)
Re:Context is important-crossplatform for Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
you know, this makes me think that this "cross platform" stuff should not be pushed as 'cross OS' but instead, it should be talked about in relation to working across Microsofts various OS's and their versions.
Here are two scenarios in this regard:
1:
developer1-"Look, why don't we start these new projects on JBOSS and Java? It's all cross-platform and we can not only run it on our Windows Server 200
Linux material (Score:4)
In doing so, I noticed the first hit is a document outlining their strategy for partially breaking networking compatibility with Linux. "Our Linux Strategy" [iowaconsumercase.org]
Another document [iowaconsumercase.org] from January of '99 describes Linux's greatest strength over NT as its flexibility, and its greatest weakness as its ease of use (although nearly every usage problem specifically mentioned no longer applies in modern Linux distributions). It also describes two of their worst-case scenarios being that IBM and Sun adopt Linux. One quote of interest is, "There is the very real long term threat that as MS expends the development dollars to create a bevy of new features in NT, Linux will simply cherry pick the best features an [sic] incorporate them into their codebase. The effect of patents and copyright in combatting Linux remains to be investigated."
Re:broken legal system (Score:5, Insightful)
These aren't "illegal leaks" - they're evidence that has been made public - and rightfully so - because justice must not only be done, but seen to be done. Don't expect to be able to keep illegal anti-competitive activities secret because of some non-existent "corporate right to privacy."
Re:broken legal system (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:broken legal system (Score:5, Informative)
It was originally attorneys-only.
Subsequent litigation .... different case .... documents admitted into evidence .... court ruled they can be made public in this instance.
Its the same as the original AT&T / BSD agreement. It *was* secret, but the world has changed, its no longer secret ...
Re:But corporations are people too! (Score:5, Informative)
The "right to privacy" doesn't extend to evidence admitted in open court.
This is necessary to uphold the integrity of the courts. Otherwise, people won't know the basis on which a finding of guilt or innocence was made, leading to all sorts of accusations of favoritism and backroom deals, bribes, etc.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
BullSh*t (Score:5, Informative)
Giving corporations HUMAN rights is completely messed up. They should enjoy the same rights as any group of people, but they should never be given human rights. Microsoft is allowed to have internal documents that it can protect. But when these documents are demanded by a court, the court can allow the documents to be made public. The judge has allowed Roxanne Connlin to release all of these documents on the website. Microsoft has petitioned to keep some documents out of the public domain, and these documents are not on the site.
Curiously, this is the first time that Bill Gates testimony to the DOJ is viewable by the public. This case is shining a great deal of light on Microsoft business practices.
Re:broken legal system (Score:5, Informative)
No leaks at all.
Re:broken legal system (Score:4, Funny)
Email (Score:5, Funny)
It just goes to say that (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It just goes to say that (Score:5, Funny)
Groklaw coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Groklaw coverage (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is hilarious in itself :)
Quote:
2-and-a-half years later, Windows Vista has turned into a phenomenal product, better than any other OS we've ever built and far, far better than any other software available today, in my opinion. It's going to be available to customers on Jan 30, and I suggest everyone go out and get it as soon as you can. It's that good.Next thing he says is:
The spirit of being self-critical continues to flourish at Microsoft.
Re:Groklaw coverage (Score:4, Interesting)
Next thing he says is:
The spirit of being self-critical continues to flourish at Microsoft.
You are not seeing the people who are already working on making their feature 'have more features'. You are not seeing the work that the team is doing in preparation for a Service Pack, which will not add much in the way of new features but will address any late breaking issues or customer-reported features requests/bugs. And most importantly, you aren't seeing the individuals who are extremely passionate about the products that are shipped by Microsoft, the people who write ranting emails to other teams, the people who use the product and file bugs about how something is lame, or the people who go to meetings and sometimes have to get in to shouting matches with other people who just don't get it.
Vista, like it or not, has turned into a 'phenomenal' product, by definition. Is it better than any other OS MS has released? Well, in some places it is, and in some places it isn't. There is a lot of new code that fixes a lot of old issues, but there are new behaviors that are less than pleasant. Is it far better than any other software available today? I don't really know what that even means. 'Better' in usability, stability, feature-bredth, customer-focus, opportunity for 3rd party develops, source code quantity? Who knows, luckily he put 'in my opinion' after it so we don't have to try to figure it out.
But, the point is: The spirit of being self-critical is alive, and though every now and then it suffers a minor setback those events are simply small battles in the larger war.
Re: (Score:3)
It's a living, not a war, and the sooner the sociopaths at M$ realize that the better off everybody will be.
Tangential to your point but relevant to the tone of yours and many other M$ missives.
---
Don't be a programmer-bureaucrat; someone who substitutes marketing buzzwords and software bloat for verifiable improvements.
Re:Groklaw coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Groklaw coverage (Score:5, Informative)
Try this: http://web.archive.org/web/20041205152641/www.appl e.com/ilife/video/ilife04_320.html [archive.org]
Embarrassing stuff.
Re:Groklaw coverage (Score:4, Insightful)
including a clarification from Allchin on that 'I'd buy a Mac' quote.
Where I live we don't call that clarification, we call that spin.
Clarification and Implications. (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing could be more clear than the intention of the rant, so I'll type it here for those too lazy to click the link. It deserves the space.
-Jim Allchin, January 07 2004
It's obvious they did not listen to him and that's good for everyone. Vista is 10 GB in size and wastes all sorts of processing power for it's DRM insanity, after they dropped their silly new file system and many other vaporware improvements. While it will be difficult if not impossible to make Vista work under Linux or Mac, it's not going to matter because Vista is going to kill the platform. The failure of Vista, more than the failure of Zune and Xbox shows that M$ is going to have to compete on something other than, "It's M$ and you are going to need them tomorrow no matter how crappy their stuff is."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
First of all, let's end the misinformation.
1) The PS3 is not significantly more powerful than the X360.
2) Even if it were, nobody gives a shit. The PS2 was way less powerful than either Gamecube or Xbox, and everyone bought it anyway, because it was cheaper and first to market.
3) The PS3 does not run games through Linux. Indeed, a Linux install on the PS3 can't even use 3D acceleration. They call this a "security measure", I call it "deliberately crippli
HAHAHA (Score:5, Insightful)
Classic stuff.
They are the one's laughing.... (Score:3, Insightful)
You think its funny? They think it is fucking HILARIOUS.
By yesterday, Microsoft made more money on Vista than OSX has in its entire lifespan.
Sun's handling of Java gave Microsoft enough time to make .NET a killer platform, especially for Web apps.
Even if the only way that Microsoft is innovative is in how they turn other people's ideas into profit centers, I assure you that they are laughing a lot more than Apple or Sun today.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Considering how much was spent on developing Vista ($billions) it seems very implausible that $billions+n has been recouped by Microsoft at this point in time, for any value of n.
You did say "made more money on Vista"; at this stage, Vista has made a net *loss* not a profit.
Like most, you missed the point. (Score:3, Insightful)
What .NET did, was give developers a reason not to switch, and enough of them to steal the profitability potential away from Sun. How come so many of you never take a business perspective to your replies?
There are plenty of companies using .NET in the enterprise, and whether .NET is superior doesnt matter at all in that equation. .NET allows apps to be built quickly, without much learning curve, and foot-in-the-door matters mo
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I remember when it meant a heterogeneous OS environment, branch offices at a minimum, and multinationality and thousands of employees at least implied. Then I began to see surveys, etc., which ran down through corporation with a presence only in single countries, with perhaps a few hundred employees, to the current SME, which has at least some overlap with SOHO.
Seriously. For the last few *years* I've seen Web
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't matter, I dare say in all three cases the tech decision was made by the same small group of people. Expand your survey to 5,000 projects in 2,000 businesses in at least 3 different countries spread over a variety of market areas, company ages and structural types and I'll start accepting it as meaningful.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Then why does it cost so much?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I bow to no one in my disdain for Microsoft's bad software.
Don't get me started talking about Windows 98 and predecessors,
or Outlook and Exchange, or Word, or Source Safe, unless
you're prepared for an angry rant.
But many of the best programmers I know consider C## and the
runtime to be a distinct improvement on Java; a truly superior
bit of language design and software engineering.
Your mileage may vary. Contents may have settled during shipping.
Coral Cache (Score:4, Informative)
Thats nothing.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Losing our way? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now this gets me thinking, because we in FLOSS care a lot about security and performance, but not too much about the end users experience and the applications that are important to them. We all know how Apple just Gets It(tm) and we should, too, if we ever want to expand our installed base and market share beyond geeks and tech savvy users.
Re:Losing our way? (Score:4, Insightful)
You're right, under 60% or so they're merely "predatory practices!" :D
It fits people's needs by being on their computer when they bought it; people don't choose OS's, they're considered features of the box you pay for. Thus, Windows is useable for people, but the economic signal that drives Windows quality is the demands of the OEM bundlers, not the users. MS is trying to change this slowly, and maybe they'll just have to start selling their own computers at some point.
It's an important part of a bunch of positive feedback loop, not least of which is: more users -> more developers -> more software titles -> more users.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a totally valid point, and you also cited a legitimate need for the end user. Most people do need something on their computers when they buy them. But you can't claim or even imply this is the secret of Windows' success. I remember when Windows 3.1 came out. Home users willingly bought and installed it on their existing 286/386 machines in droves, whic
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When Windows 3.1 came out, computers were much more expensive relatively, so getting a better OS with a new machine was a very pricey propositi
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As other software platforms become more popular, I hope that more of the software specific to my profession will become available on platforms other than windows, so that I don't have to keep a windows box at home on top of my preferred computer. I wish that my mom's job didn't require her to own a windows machine, because I didn't enjoy giving her
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not? It has worked for many other companies before in cases where the products clearly were not superior to those of their competitors.
It fits people's needs by being something that is brain-dead useable across an enormous variety of hardware. That should be obvious from the 90%.
Windows is not "brain-dead usable" on any hardware, and its hardware compatibili
Re:Losing our way? (Score:5, Interesting)
Netscape was better up until around Netscape 4, when it turned into a clunky, steaming pile, and IE actually became the better, smoother, more enjoyable browser for a while. Today, Firefox is better.
After Corel bought Quattro Pro and WordPerfect, they turned into steaming piles. I know... I worked there. :-) I think around WordPerfect 9, there was a latency in your typing that made it feel like a telnet session. And it crashed a lot. Excel and Word crash too, but generally, they've always been consistently solid, enjoyable products that get the job done.
Re:Losing our way? (Score:4, Funny)
try:
COPY NUL: C:\COMMAND.COM
Very Interesting -- Tux Looms Large! Who Knew? (Score:4, Interesting)
The Linux Strategy???
Since we now know that Microsoft is willing (nay, obsessed) to go "to the mat", as it were, the Linux strategy should be to exploit this tendancy as often as possible. If it happens often enough, either it will become an un-tenable situation for Microsoft, wherein after Microsoft will no longer be able to make any kind of TCO statements regarding Linux vs. Microsoft; and/or else they will go broke in all these no-profit deals (okay, admittedly, it will take them awhile to go broke... but it could happen!
If nothing else, these documents reveal _very_ publically (what many of us already knew) that Microsoft is scared SHITLESS of Linux.
Why should the market leader (a monopolistic, strong-arming, dirty-tricks, no-holds-barred leader at that!) be scared of a FREE operating system and open-source applications-- unless they can see that their dominant position is deeply threatened?
Maybe Balmer will throw some more chairs at somebody. Better be prepared to duck fast.
I wonder what business Microsoft will get into after computers, software and IT?
Re:Very Interesting -- Tux Looms Large! Who Knew? (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that the youth of America have been brought up on MS products, they're going to have a stronger attachement to them than those of us who were brought up on Commodores, Amigas, and Apples. MS *clearly* knows this. Think about that.
Wishful Thinking (Score:5, Interesting)
This is because the promise of Linux has been wasted by the lack of production of true killer applications, allowing both Microsoft and Apple to further embed their OS's among their faithful.
New systems shipping with Vista are sticking a finger in the Penguin's eye, because when it comes down to it, its all about the apps.
Re:Wishful Thinking (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for Linux's world domination, but I don't think that that was ever its promise. The whole concept of the "killer application", IMHO, runs contrary to the Linux way of doing things. In fact, the more obviously useful a "Linux" app tends to be to large numbers of people, the more likely you are to see Windows and OS X ports.
Linux let users run whatever machine they could get their hands on and have a stable, supported (as in patched and secure) system that would run current apps while the Mac and Windows worlds had people running to the store to replace perfectly good machines. Schools in under-funded districts and governments in poor countries slowly discover that proprietary software vendors hold them over a barrel while FLOSS just gives and gives. These aren't strategies that get you ahead by the next fiscal quarter, but they get you ahead of where you were four or five years ago.
MSFT and Apple fight for their share of consumers (and MSFT pretty much takes the business world for granted) while the FLOSS world makes sure to keep doing what they're doing and their share of developers, enterprise users, and savvy home users expands slowly but steadily. Linux isn't out to get people to come on board because it's got something you'll be deprived of if you don't, and it isn't out to attack or exploit how the other guys slip up. Hell, Linux isn't marching lock-step towards any single goal - it's fragmented, huge numbers of disparate groups and individuals working towards different ends, which Linus has said is exactly what he likes to see. Linux developers achieve a means to an end, polish up the rough edges when they've got something that's going to be around for a while and the users demand it, and let you get off the roller coaster of everyone else deciding what latest and greatest features you just have to have. You want Linux? Here it is. You want to wait a few years for it to improve some more? It will, and it will still be yours for the asking. [insert stream vs. boulder or similar Taoist metaphor]
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Herein lies the answer to why the kooky predictions of GNU/Linux domination have yielded nothing eight years later. The GNU system /is/ the "killer app".
The promise of the general purpose PC is only realized in a few areas of computing. Desktop computing isn't one of them. After having managed all aspects of a ~600 seat network for seven years, I am convinced that the click-and-drool way has done mo
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. When you typed this posted at least a few linux boxes where involved in storing, sorting
and displaying your drivel.
2. I bet you probably even do a few google searches per day, there you go again 100,000 linux boxes
faithfully answer your request at lightning speed.
3. Go to work and half the printers there probably have embedded linux.
4. You are probably posting using your wireless router again running linux.
5. Watching your dvr or tivo today, again linux.
6. Go to the movies and watching CG animation again rendered on linux.
7. Request a web page, probably linux dns server answering that request.
8. Check your email, again probably linux or routed through linux boxes somewhere.
9. Wipe your ass, some embedded controller at the paper mill running linux made that happen.
10. Picking your nose... well ok linux probably had nothing to do with that but that is what the
parent had to be doing when authoring that post.
Linux touches your life everyday and does so without
being noticed...now that is the killer app!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice marketing. Because if what you said was actually the truth, they would have problems selling any Vista licenses outside of new computers as users would be satisfied with the "apps".
There are lots of Baying sheep that went out and bought vista. and right now they are calling me and other tech people wanting to know why their apps they bought have stopped working.
Quicken
Re:Very Interesting -- Tux Looms Large! Who Knew? (Score:4, Insightful)
I knew people who were making a decent living doing computer consulting for home users who went out of business because of how many 15 year old neighbours could do most of what they do for free.
That one line has got to be the best advertisement/endorsement for Linux and open source software that I've seen in a long time. If you are truly not trolling, think of how powerful that statement is: "Linux: even your neighbor's 15-year-old kid can maintain it." We should welcome software that is that easy to use and maintain, not lament it's arrival .
Cold and MSHeartless. (Score:3, Interesting)
"losing our way" was referring to WinFS (Score:5, Informative)
The "scenario" stuff is probably related to this topic also, but I don't know enough about the culture inside of Microsoft to say how.
WinFS, trip bits, trusted path ... (Score:4, Insightful)
"We need a simple fast storage system" in this context means "We need to ditch WinFS".
Now that Vista is out, you can see he was talking about much more than that. Had the company quit focusing on trying to become a publishing, music and games monopoly as well as a computing monopoly, Vista would not weigh in at 10GB of trip bits, encrypted binary paths and other in the customer face insult and instability. WinFS was just one of the things that make Vista less than fast, stable, secure or anything else the customer might want. He thought that M$ should spend developer time on making things work for the user, not building better cages.
Microsoft brand FUD (Score:5, Informative)
From exhibit PX 851, a memo from bradsi to billg and steveb (among others) regarding alleged "bugs" in DR DOS as found by Microsoft commissioned NSTL:
"We are engaged in a FUD campaign to let the press know about some of the bugs. We'll provide info a few bugs at a time to stretch it out."
Ahhhh...Microsoft(r) Time-Released FUD(tm). Gotta love it.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems to have bitten them back hard. Whenever there is a major Windows breach, I mention it as the exploit of the week. Most people "get it". Some don't and ask me about it. I tell them that this exploit is this weeks exploit, then pull up Google and find last weeks, the weeks before, the weeks before... Then mention patch Tuesday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat [wikipedia.org]
finally... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know why (Score:4, Funny)
Microsoft doesn't even believe in what they do (Score:3, Insightful)
FUD is a corporate value. (from 91) (Score:5, Interesting)
We are engaged in a FUD campaign to let the press know about some of the bugs.
We'll provide info a few bugs at a time to stretch it out
the proof is in the pudding [iowaconsumercase.org]
What a bunch of Wing Nuts. (Score:5, Informative)
Not even the rhetoric from a "Women's study" class can prepare the reader for the contents of those letters. All the diabolical "power" talk is like a script from a bad movie. Start anywhere and you get there fast. They really are sick.
The first thing I looked at had this nonsense: [iowaconsumercase.org]
You might recall later evidence from the Novel DR-DOS lawsuit, where Microsoft later killed DR-DOS off by making Win3.1 not work with it and then blaming DR-DOS in BBS postings. Nice.
The next thing seems to indicate witness tampering [iowaconsumercase.org] in the same power struggle.
The next random look [iowaconsumercase.org] has more opinion manipulation trough astroturf:
And it goes on and on. The targets today are the ones that survived, IBM, Novel, and friends but now include the free software that everyone but M$ has agreed to use because it's better. Instead of fudding BBS, they are here and in the newspapers and TV networks they purchased for the purpose. If these dorks spent half the time wasted on improving their product, they might have a product that works. Instead, they have focused on marketing, "power" and other crap that's ended in DRM [slashdot.org] and botnet hell. No one should trust M$ for anything and everything they touch is suspect.
Clearly Insane according to Jim. (Score:3, Interesting)
they have focused on marketing, "power" and other crap that's ended in DRM and botnet hell.
This is probably what Jim was talking about in 2004. I've posted this twice now, but it deserves every inch of space.
Re: (Score:3)
Wow, you have a real talent for rewriting history.
Sadly, in the real world, no such thing happened. What happened was that Microsoft inserted code into a beta version of Win3.1 that displayed a warning. That's right, not only did the evil code not stop Windows working at all (it just displayed a misleading message and waited for a keypress), it was removed after the beta and never existed in any version of Windows that was sold to the pub
context to 'losing our way' (Score:3, Insightful)
So the statement makes total sense within context. Soon after Jim's statement, the development of 'longhorn' was dramatically altered. You can't use it as a reflection of the RTM'd product. The RTM'd product is a result of these harsh words.
What I don't get (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, his chin isn't particulary prominent at all.
FWIW (Score:3, Interesting)
Confidential email (Score:4, Insightful)
If you want to scheme, that's what golf courses are for.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Microsoft Confidential (Score:5, Interesting)
I always enjoy seeing proprietary markings on a company's documents. It makes finding them with a search engine much easier. Other fun search terms:
site:microsoft.com "Microsoft Internal Use Only"
site:microsoft.com "Internal Use Only"
site:microsoft.com NDA
I like the one where they ADMIT pressuring (Score:3, Interesting)
Then they argued over whether they should ADMIT that Microsoft sponsored the study because they KNEW that admitting it would blow the game - so they argued for LYING about it.
Here's a quote from the story: [itnews.com.au]
In an email dated 1 November, 2002, Kevin Johnson, now the head of Windows, wrote: "I don't like it to be public on the doc that we sponsored it because I don't think the outcome is as favourable as we had hoped. I just don't like competitors using it as ammo against us. It is easier if it doesn't mention that we sponsored it."
And another:
And the month before, Houston wrote Johnson a message that intimated pressure had been put on IDC to tweak the report so it would put Microsoft in a better light. "I hate to put it like this, but at this point, IDC is done negotiating with us. We have moved them quite a bit already, but they are now holding the line, saying that if we want the names of their 'big' analysts on the report, this is it."
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
If you don't allow PDF into your network, you might try an online converter. I haven't tried it, but I see that Adobe has one [adobe.com].
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:4, Funny)
If it's just a matter of hating Adobe Reader, there are free open-source alternatives out there.
What did you hear?
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can agree that the Adobe Reader software sucks. But, there are many, many PDF readers available that work just fine without the Adobe nonsense, but still give you access to one of the nicest document formats available.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Non-PDF? (Score:5, Insightful)
See this: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/1q00/macos-x-gui/m
This was the natural extrapolation from DPS - display PostScript - used on the NeXT and original SunOS NeWS.
There is a difference between crappy rendering implementation and crappy model.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It may not be the best software, but to call PDF a bad format is just plain ignorant.
It allows document publishers to ensure that their files will look the same on every platform, transcending font issues etc - you can't say that with Word docments, web pages, rtf files etc.
True, for this kind of document it makes little sense to use a PDF vs. images, but that's not the fault of the format, it's the fault of the people who digitized the printouts.
If you're fed up with Adobe PDF reader, try something else
Allchin...? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In communist Russia... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:In communist Russia... (Score:5, Funny)
No. Please don't.
Re:/. bias (Score:5, Funny)
Re:/. bias (Score:5, Interesting)
So what? Competition often involves duplicating or emulating a competitor's efforts, particularly when there aren't many ways to solve a particular problem. The entire patent and copyright systems in the U.S. were once geared toward encouraging the creation of new ideas and products, with the intent that they would eventually become the property of everyone. Consumers benefit when good product ideas are promulgated throughout an entire industry. Frankly, I'd like to see Microsoft steal more of the good stuff from other operating systems rather than simply ladling in more DRM and SFX.
The fact that Microsoft isn't innovative is largely irrelevant when deciding if they are a good company or not, if you define innovative as meaning the development of novel products in-house. Many companies acquire technology originally developed outside the confines of their own organization. Is Google a bad company because they bought YouTube? Is Apple a bad company simply because they used some ideas originally developed by PARC? Windows NT (and all derivative OSes) benefited from technology originally developed by DEC and taken to Microsoft by Dave Cutler and his people. This idea that a company is somehow defective because it doesn't do everything on its own is a bit off-base. The fact that Microsoft point-blank steals a lot of technology, denies that fact, and the refuses to pay the originators is more to the point, however.
People spend a lot of time complaining about the unoriginality of Microsoft's products. Who cares? Graphical operating system technology is becoming fairly mature and commoditized at this point, as a matter of fact most users don't particularly want novelty anymore
For example, I don't want my socket set working differently every few months, I want the damn things to do their jobs in a consistent manner. Yet, once I did buy a new set because the handle had some kind of gearing that gave a mechanical advantage
In the end, this has less to do with the originality of the ideas that Microsoft turns into products as it does with the quality of those implementations. By taking the comparatively poor quality of the products that Microsoft has sold over the years in concert with the equally-poor ethical (indeed, outright criminal) standards upon which that company operates
Re:/. bias (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed. Whether exaggeration for effect, or just admitting that Apple has a damned fine user interface that MS would do well to "borrow" from, I don't really think we should take comments like that as the proof of internal decay most have made it out as.
For comparison, how many Linux and FOSS-in-general fans run Windows on their primary desktop machine? I, for one, will admit that I do, because Linux quite simply hurts to use as a desktop on a daily basis. I absolutely love it for anything running behind the scenes (NAS, routers, webservers, mailservers, etc), but when it comes to sitting down and getting real work done at a workstation (or even just wasting time playing a game), Windows has Linux beat hands-down.
And I say that as someone who rolls his own distros. I understand how to make any desired functionality work, but that doesn't mean I want to waste that much effort every time I install a sound or video card, or god forbid try to add any USB device other than keyboard/mouse/mass-storage.
I think a lot of the problem comes down to multimedia. For any machine that doesn't need sound or graphics and only rarely changes hardware, Linux kicks serious ass. For the rest, I hope you have the exact same rev of the exact same hardware and run the same version of the same distro as someone who wrote a HowTo article, or get ready for some pain.
Re:Uhm, Whatever, Jim (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's an attention-getting way of phrasing things. Sort of like that scene in Men in Black where Will Smith has figured out a critically important piece of information, and he keeps trying to tell everyone but nobody will listen, so eventually he just loudly yells out, "YO, OLD GUYS!".
In case you're wondering, I don't really have anything to contribute. I just really like that scene.