Mix Conference in Las Vegas. The event is Microsoft’s web focused get together where they talk coding and development with mostly white, geek guys (the only women seemed to be the Microsoft/ events staff), then there’s the occasional press person thrown in for good measure.
The coverage the event gets pales in significance to say an Apple event (Apple could open a door and probably still get more coverage) but the coverage doesn’t do it full justice because there were some interesting things (see our coverage as follows: keynote 1, keynote 2, Web 2.0 session, Mesh networking).
What I did see during my time at the conference was the stark contrast between the old Microsoft and new Microsoft. The new Microsoft is embracing web standards, providing support for OS X and Linux, and listening and responding to customer feedback. The tech might not always be the absolute best in the market, but its coming ahead in leaps and bounds. I got 20 minutes with Microsoft VP Scott Guthrie (interview here) and the talk was refreshing.
And then there was the old Microsoft. Steve Ballmer at keynote two made fun of Apple products, joked about Apple’s market share, and constantly justified Microsoft’s position based on its domination of the market. No serious talk about moving forward, improving the end user experience with Windows….as long as Microsoft has the dominant market share the rest doesn’t matter much to Ballmer. The fact that Apple is selling more Macs then ever because of Vista’s issues means nothing to him. Old arrogant Microsoft.
Then there’s the other products that are completely lost. As part of my press accreditation I received a free 8gb Zune. They don’t sell Zunes where I come from so I had no negative expectations for it because I’d never seen one before. So I bring it back to my hotel room and on the screen it tells me I have to visit the Zune site to make it work. Great, get to the Zune site, tells me I have to download software to make it work….which is only available for Windows, not OS X (my laptop doesn’t have a copy of Windows on it). There’s an open source alternative that lets you get into the Zune, but doesn’t provide any decent functionality…and it doesn’t unlock it from its default opening state. Zune=brick to me. On one hand people like Scott Guthrie and others are talking cross platform support, on the other the department in Microsoft which makes the Zune has decided that cross platform support isn’t important. The Jekyl and Hype side of Microsoft once again.
Microsoft is a company with a lot of good people doing amazing things, but those people are like a horse that has been handicapped out of the race with the baggage of Microsoft old. They are putting up a good fight to be seen and listened to, but it’s a hard ask. Microsoft is clearly a company that is changing, the only remaining question is will the whole organization transform into the new Microsoft quickly enough to survive the rapidly changing way companies and individuals interact with technology.
disclosure: Microsoft Australia arranged the trip, thanks to Nick Hodge for organizing it
VISTA is awesome and has great potential. Give it a try; it is truly an OS evolution that hasn’t been seen since Windows 95.
It really is a joy to customize if you have an A+ background. It is quite secure and will get even better as it is refined.
Listen to SearchEnginesWeb!
Are you kidding? I work with Vista every day and it is a pile. The interface is much less intuitive than xp and far less intuitive than os x, and simple tasks such as copying/pasting and draggin/dropping can deliver the blue screen of death. I work in the Microsoft ‘ecosystem’ and 90% of the developers I work with hate Vista and want to revert to XP (including me). The only reason we don’t revert is that our IT department won’t let us. Sure it looks sexier (probably thanks to Apple), but beauty is only skin deep. Whatever magical punch you are drinking, I want some – It would make my life much easier.
While the experience is nonetheless frustrating, I recently bought an iPhone, but the only computer I had with me was a laptop running Windows 2000 since the company wouldn’t upgrade. iPhone = brick. After this experience I still managed to convince the company to get a new MacBook for me and expected to be able to use Boot Camp to install Windows to run some of the corporate apps that have no Mac equivalent. To my interest, Boot Camp now only ran on 10.5, but due to government security restrictions, the laptop came with 10.4.11 and upgrading was out of the question. These issues, while annoying, are by absolutely no means restricted to Microsoft. I’ve been a Windows user for years, only to be finally convinced by a colleague to give Apple a shot and the initial results have been far from the runaway promised.
Dude, you have to remember to put http:// or even just // before the domain in links you want to be absolute. The link to the Scott Guthrie interview is busted.
Also, you’re missing a t in “task”. I had to read that three times to figure out what it was supposed to say.
Guess what – an iPod also needs you to install software in order to use it … just that Apple would have failed so quickly without iTunes for Windows so they needed it, while Microsoft just does not need to target the Apple fanboys …
I was made to convert from XP to OS X in October. After 5 1/2 months, I am finally getting accustomed to all the idiosyncrasies of OS X. And by “accustomed” I mean to say “I’ve finally given up on trying to get the UI to behave like it should — intuitively.”
I installed a whole bunch of software to help my work flow better — Witch, nuFile, SteerMouse, PathFinder, Parallels, VLC, Flying Buttress, and probably a few others I forgot to mention. But I seem to be fighting silly issues all the time that should have been incorporated into the UI but weren’t. For example, why can’t we “right”-click inside a “open” or “save” dialog window and do operations, or rename other files on the fly like you can in XP? Why can’t we minimize/maximize like the rest of the world? Why can’t we get Finder windows with one keypress regardless of the application that is currently running? Not to mention that all these utilities are not free, and are quite expensive. Compare that to XP (and Linux, for that matter) where most of the utilities that are needed are either free or close to free.
The point is, OS X is also full of these stupid little UI problems, which, just like the Zune, aren’t very helpful or friendly to first-time users. Add to that Apple’s arrogance — “it’s either our way or the highway” — and it makes for an unhappy power user like me. Granted, Microsoft behaves in the exact same, arrogant way, and I don’t like it there either, but at least there are 1 gazillion free utilities available that remedy what should have been part of the OS in the first place.
So, it seems like I’m stuck between a choice of an unstable but extremely usable OS in XP, or a beautiful, stable and marginally unusable OS X.
This brings me back to the article — if you believe that Microsoft is the only company with a “Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde” personality, you are mistaken. Companies like Apple and Microsoft exist to make money. They don’t exist to make developers happy, nor conform to standards, nor any of the positive things you mentioned in your article. Furthermore — and this one is really important — they will say ANYTHING to get you to believe that they are not out to make money, but instead, to please the user and to please the developer. Microsoft gets away with this because they have market share — but we are already seeing the changes you mention _as a direct result of a user-base mutiny towards Vista_. And the reason Apple gets away with it is because of, well, Steve Jobs and his unbelievable talent for making users drink the kool-aid.
Another dumbass Mactard doesn’t like Microsoft. The hell freezes over.
Cue a big old MS fanboy vs Apple fanboy deathmatch in 3…2…1….
Not content with going after Scientology, Anonymous is now going after Microsoft over Vista. It’s a parody, but quite accurate: http://www.linonymous.com
Wonderful and beautiful !
While I don’t think Zune should have eaten 1/4 of a ‘MS: Jekyll and Hyde’ article, I agree with the premise. Within the company you find so many people who have smart, fresh ideas and a strong strong desire to serve the customer. I find it pretty easy to get specific answers to some questions, right from the horse’s mouth, just by asking in the right MS blog.
And then you have Ballmer, and the 2-entry blogs which went dark more than a year ago. Or the massive internal debate over ‘Vista Capable’ – which ultimately goes the wrong way when a senior exec decides to throw a bone to Intel. I don’t consider these people the ‘old MS’ by the way – I consider them the ‘middle MS’. And I’d like to see them exit, stage left. Starting with Ballmer. I have this little fantasy movie in my head, where Bill calls Steve out to Medina and basically says “Steve. You’ve had a good run. Get out now, and let the next MS seek the light!”
The good MS is still in there, fighting to oust the Ballmer-isms. I think it has an even-money shot at doing so. But the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.
Duncan,
I’m surprised I’m the first to ask, but after all you have given me in the way of quality articles on this site, I will take one for the team and happily take the brick of a Zune off of your hands.
I will ensure that you never have to give it a second thought and that you can safely remove the hack software you installed on your Apple without any fear of needing it in the future.
I like OS X, but it’s overrated in the usability department, I prefer Vista over XP or OS X and Apples overpriced hardware.
better to head where the world is headed or be left alone.
http://tekno-wo...ld.blogspot.com
I agree with you and I also agree with Steve’s arrogance.. After all they do have dominant share and till they own major share they wont wake up. I think i will be a slow reactionary wake up alarm that they will raise soon. Even in my office I have guys who are sick of Microsoft xp causing problems looking to install ubuntu. I think if one more generation passes (take another 5-8 years) and if microsoft of the old stays then u will see a major shift in the market share.
It is tough to believe that MS isn’t just paying lip service to its new “openness”. It justifiably will take the technology user community quite a while to begin to believe the words and only after quite a while of consistent actions.
I use both platforms (Apple and MS) and both have their idiosyncrasies. That having been said, Vista is a POS (and a pig) but it is a slicker POS! I find it impossible to believe that anyone with any IT experience would prefer Vista to XP. Truly impossible to believe it. It is the definition of kludge.
To the commenter who is complaining about W2000 support for his iPhone…give us a break. MS has basically dropped support for it too. Do you think many (if any) new hardware products will run on that?
Yeah VISTA is cute and fast. If you wish to utilize the full potential of your latest hardware like core 2 duo, you need vista installed in it. VISTA really rocks.
M$ employees astroturfing techcrunch?
Whowuldathunk!
Duncan – Macs have what 5% penetration? If you were developing software, where would you put your money – in the 95% bucket or the 5%? Speaking of 5%, Microsoft owns something like 5% of apple.
Duncan,
If you buy an iPhone, you MUST download iTunes to even activate the phone.
How is that any different than downloading software to run the Zune?
Quickly @Dan, I’m guessing the biggest difference is that iTunes runs on Windows…
As to the article more generally, I think the issue is one of how change happens. The divisions at Microsoft are, in many ways, independent; getting other divisions to buy into a vision of cross-platform compatibility, for example, requires finding the right opportunities for partnership. Developer Division and IE are a natural partnership since they are both highly developer facing. They also both have some amazing User-Centered Designers driving user-centered change throughout the divisions.
So is the Zune indicative of a handicap for this effort by Scott Guthrie and company? If the goal is to have Microsoft wake up tomorrow and be the “new Microsoft” you mention, then it probably is. But nothing that the Zune does is keeping the Developer Division from pushing Microsoft into this new era. It’s just going to take time to reach the various corners of Microsoft.
But think of how much has changed in just the last year. This change is coming despite Ballmer’s speeches.
@20…it’s different because the iPhone is worth activating. The Zune is best used to level out a wobbly table.
Last paragraph:
“They are putting up a good fight to be seen and listened to, but it’s a hard ask.”
You probably meant “but it’s a hard task” …not a big deal. Good article though!
Dude who in their right mind will go to a PC conference with a Mac? I mean, come on! You have yourself to blame for not thinking ahead about the Zune not connecting to your Mac.
Ballmer is crazy but he is very inspiring to developers.
I would kill to have him as a manager in our company.
Developers, developers, developers!
As someone who attended the 2nd Keynote live at MIX, I don’t know how you came away with these ideas. The whole “old Microsoft vs. new Microsoft” was brought up by Kawasaki at the near the end of the keynote when he mentioned that the new Microsoft was much less arrogant, listened more, and was a pleasure to work with. During the entire keynote Steve’s focus was on moving Microsoft software and products forward so as not to stagnate. He clearly labeled Microsoft as an underdog in several product categories. Sure he joked around with Apple, but most of the jokes and jabs were in response to similar Kawasaki jokes and jabs going the other way and all of them were good natured. In fact, I remember him praising Apple in more than one way.
I was thoroughly impressed with 2 things about that keynote. First, the level of knowledge Steve displayed about every single aspect of Microsoft was astounding. It’s a huge company but he spoke intelligently and frankly about nearly every question asked (even questions from the audience, which could have caught him by surprise). There were only 2 questions he deflected and for obvious reasons (EU Antitrust and a sports-related question from the Seattle times that was inappropriate for the audience). Second was that he let loose up there with a lot of the questions and even his actions. My opinion of Microsoft went up significantly from that keynote alone. Keep in mind that I’m writing this post and watched that keynote with a Macbook Pro open in front of me.
@21 – obviously hasn’t used the Zune.
I just picked up the 8GB Zune, and it’s a good piece of equipment. It has a solid feel, nice interface, and a few great features.
1. Radio – I watch TV at the gym and pick up the FM broadcast.
2. Software – looks cool, works great, and doesn’t feel like a spreadsheet
3. Subscription – I thought I would hate this, but I LOVE it – for $15/mo, you can download as much as you want. It lasts as long as you keep the service, but heck – it’s the price of 1 CD per month! And you don’t have to worry about what to buy or what to trash – you can have everything!
I’ve had 5 iPods, but I don’t have any iTunes lock-in – I preferred buying CDs for my household and having unlimited rights. I CHOOSE the Zune lock in (though you can stop the subscription at any time) because of convenience – I won’t stop using it until something even better comes along. I guess I’ve just moved on from owning disks and content – my kids probably won’t appreciate them when I’m gone anyway!
The only problem I have with the service is that my wife and daughter just got a taste of it and they want my Zune, so Duncan – why don’t you raffle off your “brick” to those of us who can find a better use for it?
The link to the interview with VP Scott Guthrie is incorrect, and on the actual post about it, theres no video showing.
Are you kidding me? This article is trash. You complain about how you need to download software to get the Zune to function correctly when Microsoft hasn’t made the software yet for OSX, oh boo hoo. Microsoft hasn’t made the software for Mac the same way Apple didn’t let you use an iPod at first for Windows. Trust me, if Apple had 95% of the market you would not be able to use an iPod on a Windows machine. Both companies are exactly the same. The Zune infact is a great product, probably better than the iPod. Finally, this article is really poorly written. Did you honestly say anything new regarding Microsoft that hasn’t been said a billion times from another Mac fanboy? What was the reason for writing this? Your FREE Zune didn’t work properly? Let me guess that had it even worked you’d find something to complain about such as ‘omg i had to liek go to the website to download the software’. Just give the Zune back to the community that actually would be appreciative to get something.
Balmer is great.
http://yooflix....983729713522403
Ryan W: while there is some truth to your statement about the first iPods, let me ask you this: how many PCs back in 2001-2002 had a Firewire connector? (And for that matter, how many today?) Remember, the first iPods were Firewire-based. Only Firewire had the power requirements to charge the first iPods. USB’s 2.5 watt power limitation would simply not do the trick. USB-based made its appearance in 18 months later in 2003. Even then, you could not charge the iPod through USB. Apple finally figured out how to charge the iPod with USB (it isn’t as easy as it may appear, especially back then when the pod’s power requirements were much higher). Apple then brilliantly updated iTunes to run on a PC in October 2003 (brilliant because the results speak for themselves). Give the other Steve (Jobs) credit: he recognized that a greater opportunity existed. He modified the hardware and software accordingly to expand sales. It worked! I believe the author is saying, or asking, why can’t Microsoft do the same, open the Zune to Mac users? Isn’t this supposed to be a kumbaya world where everyone accommodates everyone else? Personally, I think the effort would be wasted, but it’s a legitimate question.
For those who love/hate XP/Vista/OSX Zune/iPod, it’s a simple matter of preferences. Propeller-heads like full control of all the knobs. Some of the entries above testify to this. For them, they should stick with MS products. For those who dread ANY control of the knobs, such as most of my family members, OSX is a better choice. Not everyone is as inclined to do whatever it is you do. Some like complexity, some like simplicity. Period.
I’ve never understood why anyone, reviewer or customer, can’t write a review stating his personal preferences, and not be jumped upon as being a “fanboy” (what a juvenile term…). Normal humans like some things and dislike others. What’s so wrong with that? Not everyone shares your preferences. If a reviewer makes a false statement, that’s another matter.
But “why can’t I right-click inside a ‘open’ or ’save’ dialog window and do operations, or rename other files on the fly” (as one commenter said in #6) is merely a personal preference. I, for one, have zero desire for such a feature. Who’s right? Answer: no one. Just one guy’s preferences versus another.
Hopefully, I kept a civil tone, despite my instincts to do otherwise.
Sorry, MS is all Mr. Hyde.
XP RULES !!!! WOOOOOT !!!!!
Scott Guthrie is amazing; I still read his blog on Microsoft technologies (mostly ASP.Net, which he invented).
I think you’re absolutely right on about a company needing to have a visionary at the top; even if you have great people in the middle if the CEO doesn’t get it, then it’s pulling the whole company backward.
A lot of times when the top of a company is run by marketing people without technical background that’s what happens. Almost all the successful start-ups are founded by engineers with great ideas, rather than marketing people.
Doug:
I’m sorry for acting childish. I agree people should be allowed to write their own personal opinions about products. This is what makes the Internet so wonderful.
I’m not so sure about your Firewire argument, I think it was more of a coincidence at the time. Apple has constantly shown that they are the most closed platform available. Apple at first was trying to lure customers into using Mac OSX by making the iPod Mac exclusive, they soon realized that this would eventually have a dead end due to their lower market share.
Anyways, I’m not sure who is right or who is wrong. Sorry for offending!
Microsoft is all about the vendor lock in. Don’t trust ‘em and avoid ‘em at all costs.
Microsoft’s idea of standards compliant is “We change our standards to be compliant with our products.” The only reason IE8 is going to be compliant is because for once their devs are actually making web products, and realizing “oh wow, IE is an expensive pain in the ass.” You can bet top dollar that once Silverlight is crammed down our throats, you can kiss cross-platform support good bye.
I look at all of this differently. I’m an ex-Microsoftie now running a startup in Seattle. The current situation at Microsoft favors us because many of the good guys are getting so frustrated with not being able to get stuff done that they are leaving – and that suits me and every other startup in Seattle just fine.
So we’re all happy with Ballmer continuing to slowly kill off the company, because it just increases the local talent pool. And thankfully, it’s typically the talented developers who leave to seek better opportunities (or to ship a product more often than every 5 years if they are in Windows Division) leaving behind the, err, ‘not so good’.
So all i have to say to Ballmer ‘ Developers, Developers, Developers! – keep putting your own ones down so we can build a new ecosystem with them!’
Ryan W.: no offense taken. It’s just that often we, all of us, get far too worked up over something as mundane as an operating system. In the grand scheme of things, there are far bigger things to REALLY ticked about. Don’t get me going on politics!
I can’t get too specific, but trust me, I know what I’m talking about here. Sure, Apple designed the original iPod to work with their Macs. To do otherwise would have been illogical at the time. But you have to hand it to Steve Jobs in that he quickly realized that IF he moved the iPod over from a Mac-only platform to a more universal platform via incorporating a USB interface on the iPod, then the sky was the limit. It WAS difficult to do with those early iPod designs, as the 2.5 watt limit of USB would simply not charge the iPods batteries *of that time* while simultaneously spinning the hard drive. It was that simple. Apple then re-worked the architecture of the iPod to accommodate a USB charging scheme. Once that was in place, then the next brilliant piece of the puzzle was to write a PC app, moving iTunes over to the PC. Just like that, Apple snuck into the PC domain, and iPod sales took off. (Hunt for a graph of iPod unit sales versus time to see that “the knee of the curve” starts with the introduction of iTunes/PC.) To deny Apple, and Steve Jobs in particular, is missing the obvious. It took guts to walk away from the Apple-standard Firewire interface, but Jobs did it. Compare and contrast that attitude with Microsoft’s, which seems (to me) to have a hard time adopting to someone else’s standards. Jobs may be an arrogant so-and-so, but he’s also got a ton of business smarts (in his older age). He doesn’t seem to believe in trying to move the mountain to Mohammed, if you understand what I mean. Note that the latest iPods no longer support Firewire data transfer. The transition is complete!
(This is also just my opinion, but USB was a struggling standard until Jobs put it into the original iMac. He walked away from Apple’s long-time standards of their serial port and SCSI, and incorporated nothing but USB on that iMac. That took guts! When the iMac came out, the main complaint was that there was nothing to connect to it! The criticisms were right. But the popularity of that machine, I believe, drove the acceptance of USB. Remember all of those scanners, floppies, and mice that mimicked the iMac look? Microsoft and Intel defined the standard, but it was Apple that made it mainstream. PC manufacturers were extremely reluctant to incorporate it into their machines. Few PCs, to this day, have given up on the old serial and parallel ports.)
Neither Microsoft or Apple is going away. Each will continue to thrive because they appeal to different people. The iPhone will be the same way — the Blackberry platform isn’t going to die, or “get beat” by the iPhone. Different people prefer different features, and each platform will sell to those competing markets. For instance, some people hate “soft keyboards,” but Jobs hates buttons. (And fans.) As long as these sorts of preferences exist in each of us, there will be a market for each camp.
I can’t believe that I’m being this calm, as I get worked up over this OS thing all the time. But I’m willing to work with either operating system to get my jobs done. I have little use for MS products, but I can’t ignore their success. Neither does Jobs, I might add. Guys like Balmer strike me as a major impediment for Microsoft, only because he is unyielding to market demands. If MS ever replaced that guy and took more of an open standards attitude, as Apple has done, they’d probably wipe Apple out. Again.
My car has been broken into, brick smashed through the window on the street, TWICE in the past three months in order to steal my Zunes.
I had a Zune 30GB, black, which was stolen on Christmas day (some time between midnight and 10AM). The thief also stole a wrapped gift for my girlfriend, but it’s the Zune I really miss…
I had a Zune 8GB, black, which was stolen just a week and a half ago.
I’d sure love to own a Zune, but I can’t afford to buy a 3rd. Mind sending me yours, Duncan, since you have no use for it?
funny title
Wow – The article subject was OK, but what drove me to comment was how this article was so badly written
Was this a school competition??? Although that’s a bit of an injustice to schools I guess. I’m sure a 12 year old could have done a better job!
I really want to like Microsoft, I really do. I cut my teeth on DOS. As the author points out, old MS is Steve and Steve needs to go. His obsession with “beating” Google is comical. Is it so bad to just make a good OS and Office Suite? Remember when Outlook use to be usable? Now my happiest users are the ones that don’t have that POS running on their machine. That’s sad to me.
Ray Ozzie was a good pick-up. I wish they could get a good CEO to match.
Doug, good reflection and I agree that everyone should use the OS that he/she feels comfortable with.
What Mk in #6 didn’t understand is that a Mac is not a PC, OS X is not Windows, so why should it behave like the same way? To me, that is a major misconception in the whole debate.
The right-click wasn’t considered intuitive in the Mac world, but took really off in the Windows world. So much, that Apple included it now with the Mighty Mouse, albeit not as default.
MS is where it is because of its management. It once competed with IBM and won because it was flexible enough. Market establishment rendered it today to be as cumbersome as Big Blue.
Talking of Jekyll and Hyde: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer seem to me to portray this image. Maybe it’s all just a purposeful farce.
Wow, funny how many people think that “ask” should be “task”. For those not in the know, Duncan is an aussie (no, not Ozzie) and we know what he means by “it’s a hard ask”. Means it’s not easy. He doesn’t mean “hard task” at all.
-GBS
C’mon Duncan. Build Zune software for an OS that runs on approx 5% of the world’s computers, of which no more than 5% of those computers’ owners would bother to buy?
I don’t need to be an economics professor to point out the folly of doing that, do I?
-J
Microsoft is all about the vendor lock in. Don’t trust ‘em and go only with apple…