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Microsoft ‘officelabs’ looks to open source for inspiration | |
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| Time: 15:32 EST/20:32 GMT | News Source: ZDNet | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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One of the criticisms most often levied against Microsoft — and not just by anonymous posters on Mini Microsoft — is that the company has gotten too big and too slow to be effective. Can Microsoft change this dynamic? Officials have been trying. That's what all those greenhouses and incubators seeded throughout Microsoft are all about. Allow small, targeted teams to flourish inside the bigger Borg. Good concept, but the results haven't been all that noticeable. | ||
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| #1 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 2/8/2007 3:47:58 PM |
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I'm confused. I thought open source was an evil pinko Communist system used by dirty hippies and rapists.
"Tipsters say that Microsoft is encouraging the officelabs team to make use of open-source concepts in order to make better use of developers across different divisions within the company." Could it be that MS was FUDding about FOSS all these years? |
| #2 By 65179 (221.128.147.172) at 2/9/2007 12:20:36 AM |
| For businesses and IT pros, they're doing their part adequately IMHO but whatever they're doing for consumers is lackluster and poor feature-wise compared to Apple. |
| #3 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at 2/9/2007 2:36:53 AM |
| #1 I think the difference is that Microsoft pays its employees. And makes money. |
| #4 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 2/9/2007 9:59:22 AM |
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#2, Really? I think you have a valid point - in the context of popular perception. I just don't know how easy it is to support - I mean, given the diversity and choices available to Windows users. The architecture is wide open for Windows users - they can buy an OEM box and add to it, or buy from local builders and add to it, or go nuts and build, or have built anything they want - internally and externally.
Perhaps it is that there is some comfort in a closed architecture - where few choices translate into some level or sense that what people use on a MAC will somehow be easier, or more reliable. Having supported all platform types - in the context of users, not just systems [huge difference, because user behaviors certainly influence a great deal], I can't support that MAC is more responsive to user needs, or choices. One great example I can share that is recent... a customer, who is a municipal mayor and his aid of many years, had used MAC's for a long time. In his words, he states, "I don't know anything about computers, or how we ended up on a MAC, I just know that I can't get it to do what I need it to do and our IT guys can't get it to do what I need it to do and I just want it gone - I saw what you did for <Name> and that is what I need - to do the same things, in very similar ways and if <Name> can do it, I know I can." I asked for some examples of what he wanted to do - all related to accessing his offices, or his home from the office and using terminal applications of different types - mixed with the usual suite of communications and productivity applications. Perhaps a good question to ask is how, or why the media has embraced the perceptions created by Apple and Apple's users. To paraphrase Mr. Gates' remarks in recent days, "doesn't the truth, or facts matter anymore?" A fair question, and the answer now is the same as it has always been: No, perceptions matter. The diversity that is the PC's strength, may work against it in this context. People who know, like Mr. Gates and many of us here, are stunned by this and simply don't understand it. This is where Microsoft partners could do better - myself most especially. We have to leverage that diversity certainly, but we have to reduce it to simple, predictable and repeatable steps - we, as Apple does, have to sell our hardware and their networks, as services. This is what I assess Apple does - but not really - they achieve this perception by selling less choice, dressed as service - "it is what it is..." and MAC/Apple users accept it. Where the truth is, that despite what a computer can do, people using them actually do much less than that - they do what they need to and a few things they want to. All else is left outside the areas of interest. The diversity and vast choices supported by Microsoft, manifest in Windows and now Vista, leave themselves open to confusion, frustration, and attack - some are sincere expressions of that frustration, and other attacks are really clever - being nested in apparent sincerity and voiced by Microsoft's detractors. Regardless, each serves to leverage Microsoft's diversity against it and its products - all in the name of objectivity and "street cred" Case in point, read the list of improvements in Windows Vista, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_features_in_Windows_Vista - that's the short list and in now way does it go into the details of what people can do - YET, CNET characterizes Windows Vista this way, The bottom line: Windows Vista is essentially warmed-over Windows XP. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we see no compelling reason to upgrade. On the other hand, if you need a new computer right now, Windows Vista is stable enough for everyday use. http://www.cnet.com/4520-13111_1-6687520-1.html?tag=prmo1 cont… |
| #5 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 2/9/2007 10:17:08 AM |
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We can and should immediately forgive customers and users of Vista for sharing CNET's conclusions about Vista, or any technology for that matter. I'd offer no quarter to their editors, however - they know better, but have an agenda - and I'm not even sure they are certain what that agenda is, or why they have it - that is how little I think if them and many like them.
If #2, is right, and I think he is, as I have said, in the context of perceptions, then it is our fault - my fault, as an MS Partner [aimed at those of us for which that applies, of course]. We've taken too much for granted and focused too much on the technology and not how it might be used. We've done what we speak of well, and addressed what customers want, need and experience, less well. I think if Microsoft wants to change perceptions and leverage what should be its greatest strength, then it needs to re-energize the partner base - which it can't take for granted, either. When companies as large as Nvidia punt drivers and ship naive crap for top tier cards, then there is a huge fall-out that lands right on top of all other partners' heads and ultimatley the customer. When OpenAL audio drives are so naive and so spotty that they render costly hardware and software all but useless, there is a problem in the base. When partners like my company, who do try to sell hardware as services are inelegant and can't easily package solutions, then the platform and customers suffer - perception suffers. When partners bitch - and only bitch, about Windows, Vista et al... in front of customers, they are doing themselves no great good. Doing so here is cool - tech to tech... so to speak, but as partners, we have to do more to sell as Apple does, as a service, which builds a positive perception. MS ought to build sikinnable online demo sites where partners may drop in their logo and schedule and present materials. Online configurations tools - mated to exportable lists and buy sheets, ought to be the norm - these must be tied to drivers and resources. Community has to be real - not ad hoc. Real margins and percentages have to be shared - want to end disc loading and priracy? Share in the upside! Sorry for the book - #2, your posts always reflect a great deal of value for my guys and I - thanks. |
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