Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Chris — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:27:07 -0000

It is treu btw,thx apple:) Ex proggamer windows,they pay nothing,and i'am not a ninja ok.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Some Guy — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:34:28 -0000

Clamming up won't work for the Evil Empire the way it does for Apple. The reason is that whenever there's a buzz about a secret project at microsoft, it turns out to be a debacle like the zune or that "origami" abortion. When we get a surprise from Apple, it's either a runaway hit like the iPhone, or at least a major technical achievement like the G4 cube.

The fact is, nobody can be bothered to anticipate mediocrity.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

James — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:36:12 -0000

A consensus about speculation is a consensus of nothing. Until we get some evidence to indicate a real reason, what people suspect is complete b*llsh*t.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Chris — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:30:58 -0000

There is a consensus here that states that this person most likely was on the edge and the Scoble show pushed him over the edge with the company or gave them a highly anticipated reason that they may have otherwise found.

Whether or not this is true, I do not know. I do know that this is what a lot of people are suspecting.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Stephane Rodriguez — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:24:08 -0000

To those saying Vista was vaporware all the way, etc., they got it exactly wrong. Here is a refresher.

With a monopoly such as Microsoft, it does not matter what Vista is. They know consumers and people in enterprises will eventually use it because they do not have a choice. Microsoft strong arms OEM with new OS licensing, while expiring the existing one. Zero choice here.

What commenters above don't realize apparently is that one of the pillars was not WPF and all those APIs (frankly a rehash of what already exists), the pillar was to make the first hardware and software DRM-enabled operating system.
And, whether some accept it or not, Microsoft has achieved this goal and has pleased both their investors and their big customers, i.e. music labels and Hollywood.

Whether you like it or not, whether you think Microsoft was transparent enough or not, that does not change the fact that Microsoft is getting their way regardless...of what you think.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Jasbinder — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:03:06 -0000

Is the one of the first cases of an employee getting laid off for appearing in a blog video? Having used Apple/Google as examples of closed corporate cultures, the whole closed is the new open is a bit unnerving as companies could look and think that's it's actually okay to stay tight-lipped.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

James — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:42:22 -0000

I worked at Microsoft for 7 years, although not ever in Redmond, so I guess you could say I'm still a bit of an outsider. Also, for about half of it I was part of a MS rarity, a semi-indpendent subsidiary.

Anyway, I can't dispel alot of mystery surrounding what happens in MS, but I can say they don't really have alot of exciting products in the works that die, but they also aren't a group of complete borg drones. They have alot of smart, hard-working, innovative folks. The problem is like some other posters said, their system is broken. Their decision making process and management cycles are corrupted.

It's hard to explain in detail why I think MS is screwed up in a response to a blog, but I'll try to give a summary. From seeing several new products go through life cycles at MS, I would say the biggest problem with MS is the motivation for developing and bringing products to market. MS is not just a monopolist by practice, but also by intent. They try to work on products they think will create a new monopoly or perpetuate an existing one. They put 90% of their effort into Office and Windows to perpetuate their near monopoly in those products, but they generally only develop products they think they can make into monopolies of some sort or another.

Xbox came about because there were only a couple significant competitors in the market place. I think they thought that when MSN was created (yet more evidence they didn't understand the internet). They're pursuing cable box sowftware because those are already regional monopolies. They killed products like UltimateTV because they they were 2nd to market and their monopoly options seemed to go down the drain.

The strongest most innovative parts of MS are probably in the back-end business arena. They have actually competed and done well, but there you don't need style or big advances. Businesses are slow to adopt new technologies, so if you can get your foot in the door you develop little mini-monopolies within that company. That's why MS is so friendly and helpful with IT.

Anyway, I hope you get my point. Until MS decides to compete in areas where they think they can win because they make a better product, they will continue down their current scum-laden path.

- James

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

David — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:39:17 -0000

Transparency + EXCECUTION > Secrecy

This post is nonsense if the iPhone flops.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

hollyster — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:24:39 -0000

Hmmm this is interesting, it's almost like Micorosoft is saying that closed is the new "open". Steve Jobs has always been secretive which has been anti to the technology movement that is occurring...hmmm it would seem that the the walls around microsoft will be higher as a result of going into secrecy and thus negate a lot of open blogging that's going on.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

John Davis — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:17:12 -0000

Of course, Apple does also happen to put out some truly great products. That might be a bigger factor than secrecy. On the other hand, Microsoft, like the boy that cried "Wolf," makes so much noise about things that don't happen - Cairo, for example - that it's lost credibility.

There is also the point that many of its products suck. I didn't notice anyone camping outside stores to get the first edition of Vista, but I do know more than ten people who installed it, then wiped their hard disks and went back to XP. This kind of thing tends to dampen one's enthusiasm somewhat.

I think the crux of the matter is that Microsoft lacks a leader. Gates has the charisma of a chartered accountant and Ballmer is so full of BS ("Zune has 25% market share,") that the only people who would follow him would do it out of curiosity. "Where the hell's he going?"

MS products are the products of committees. After everybody and his dog has put their spoke in, what you end up with is about as exciting as supermarket music. You can't be all things to all people and have any originality.

Apple on the other hand, very definitely has a leader. A man of vision and charisma. While he's running the ship, we can look forward to some insanely great tech.

Yours sincerely,

John Davis

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Amanda Chapel — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:44:43 -0000

The Naked Conversations idea was beyond naive.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Bess — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:28:10 -0000

Gee... You are taking my business office space across the street?

You want to get developers to chat. Get them to talk about stuff they hack outside work at playhouse like our.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Sriram Krishnan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:23:29 -0000

Robert - I find it ironic that you're advocating the exact opposite of what blogs.msdn.com and Channel 9 have done and are doing.

You're telling us in this post that transparency is a bad thing. Which is the reverse of what you've been advocating all these years.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Steve — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:02:21 -0000

It's simple really. By keeping things secret, you can leak out just enough information to keep buzz about a product. But, you don't have to commit to features or timelines. In doing so, when you deliver the product, you appear to have hit your mark on features "on time", etc. In doing so, when you do say something, you carry more credibility.

MS has used FUD to it's advantage in the early years. They'd promise products in very early stages of development to counter what their competitors were already shipping in hopes of keeping people from buying their competitor's products. The problem is, when you miss on a promise, you lose credibility. Regardless of we think of Vista as an actual product today, Microsoft has suffered a serious credibility issue with regard to the development of this product. When you consider what was delivered with out long it took to deliver it and how much money was spent on developing it, coupled with how many features were eventually withdrawn, it's an outright embarassment.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Kris Reiche — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:58:10 -0000

'Learning" Company. Try 'copying' company

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Tom O'Leary — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:57:46 -0000

Funny, I thought that in this new world of work we wanted our employees to be buzz agents for our company - to talk at length about the wonderful things that we're doing, etc.

Perhaps akin to the recent Bloggersgate fiasco where bloggers' quotes appeared in a Microsoft ad - the use of a simple disclosure would suffice Corporate PR departments without killing the buzz of your workforce ("I should say that my comments in this interview do not necessarily represent the views of my company...")

Making your workforce scared to talk to anyone about your company jeopardizes the most important marketing tool that you have. Firing them for doing so certainly won't endear them, or anyone who they talk to afterwards, to your brand either.

And you can rest assured that a man fired for talking positively about his work will make it his work to talk negatively about his company thereafter. Talk about flipping the funnel the wrong way!

All the best

Tom

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Tom O'Leary — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:52:32 -0000

Funny, I thought that in this new world of work we wanted our employees to be buzz agents for our company, to talk at length about the wonderful things that we're doing, etc.

And you can rest assured that a man fired for talking positively about his work will make it his work to talk negatively about his company thereafter. Talk about flipping the funnel the wrong way!

All the best

Tom

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Eric Eggertson — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:42:18 -0000

Most public relations people I know are happy to put "subject matter experts" in touch with media or others, when the time is right.

Just as most companies have tight financial controls in place to keep from getting ripped off and to keep employees from temptation (or from being wrongfully suspected of financial shenanigans), most smart companies have policies in place about who talks to the media or outside groups, and what they say.

For publicly owned or regulated companies, it protects the employee from saying something that could inadvertantly cause problems with regulators, or with the stock price. Far better to have somebody vet the interview who knows about Sarbanes-Oxley and any other complex rules on public disclosure of info.

There's plenty of media training and public speaking training available to help middle managers or people lower down the food chain handle themselves when talking publicly about information that hasn't been officially disclosed. The training also helps them choose better ways to communicate complex concepts (simplify, use examples, don't over-explain).

Management usually doesn't want everyone running around sharing information without any warning, and without any limits.

PR policies are in place to protect the company, but they're also in place to protect the employee.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Tankko — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:06:31 -0000

Yeah. Companies don't usually fire good people on the spot like that. Don't discount that fact that this might have been a "last straw" for the guy. Maybe he is a loose cannon and they were just tried of dealing with him. Maybe he had been told very explitily to not talk to people. Maybe this is the 5th time he's been told.

I'm not trying to be mean, but let's try and step back and ask "what really happened?".

It's easy for employees to get sympathy from people about "being fired" when the whole story is not told.

This happen to one of my co-workers. He was one of the worst people we had. The company let him go and didn't go blabbing about why he was fired, so he was free to say anything he wanted (and he did).

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Jim Priest — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:35:47 -0000

Seems to me more secrecy and less innovation go hand in hand. They want to keep things secret so you'll go stand in line and buy it before you realize it doesn't live up to the hype (insert MS Vista/Leopard/iPhone reference here)...

I'll continue to enjoy the non-secret, no broken promises (because no on is dumb enough to promise anything) and I can't complain anyway because it's free world of Ubuntu/Linux.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Chris — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:33:34 -0000

"So what can MS do? 1) Cease FUD. 2) Not promise more than they can deliver. 3) Not hype crap. 4) Not seek to destroy competition through their monopoly, but overcome them through true innovation."

I don't think it's pure FUD. Microsoft employees work on a lot of projects that they think will become new products but ultimately amount to nothing. When they tried to copy open source and become more community based, when gotdotnet and C9 opened. They started leaking their internal projects and making all sorts of claims that they would not deliver on.

Apple never tried to copy open source because they were never threatened by Linux the way Microsoft was and is. So they kept the normal product cycle of secrecy until the product was near completion.

Just look at stuff like Singularity. It's too slow, and a failed idea. They marketed it like it was going to be the next Linux. In reality it amounted to a lot of wasted R&D.

Apple puts up or shuts up. MS used to be the same way before Linux and Richard Stallman scared the daylights out of them. Then they tried to copy Google. When was the last time you went to Circuit city and saw boxed Google products?
Failed plan, failed implementation. Failed company with no good direction. Goodbye. Soon.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Dave — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:25:21 -0000

back to the fired employee in question. Not knowing who that person might have been in a situation where the folks above had their finger on the exit button. Maybe they were just looking for an excuse to fire them.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Don — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:58:36 -0000

The problem with MS' PR right now is not that they are too open and simply being more secretive is not going to solve their problem.

The real difficulty is that they use PR in an attempt to stifle competition via FUD, then don't come through with what they promise. How many features were promised for Vista (in order to compete with software that offered such features) that were dropped? How much of their innovation was egregious copying?

The real problem is that MS' PR is simply untrustworthy. If developers operate on MS' promises, they lose. If developers come up with something great, MS claims they'll have something better, putting their competitor out of business and then releasing either garbage or nothing at all.

So what can MS do? 1) Cease FUD. 2) Not promise more than they can deliver. 3) Not hype crap. 4) Not seek to destroy competition through their monopoly, but overcome them through true innovation.

Both Vista and Apple's Leopard are evolutionary steps--not revolutions. MS promised much and delivered little. Apple promised little and seems like it will deliver more. That, IMO, is the real secret of Apple's success.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Thomas — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:54:39 -0000

@30 Michael Maggard and @32 Sharpe - The correct level of transparencey is an issue that Microsoft is dealing with.

In the past Microsoft has been transparent when it was inappropriate. As I said in my post earlier #25, throwing out all the ideas you have isn't being transparent it is being randomizing. In a company of Microsoft's size with the large partner system we have, these ideas get discussed and partner's take this as the direction we are going.

There obviously needs to be a level of responsibility when starting conversations about ideas and concepts when they aren't formed enough to know if they are solid ideas, or just floating concepts.

Re: Get on ScobleShow, get fired

Sharpe — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:13:52 -0000

@11
One tactic expertly employed by Microsoft is FUD and vaporware. Vista was not the first product promising the moon and failed to deliver. Microsoft is pretty good at sabotaging their competitors by promising their next product will have the same features and then some. The customers who listen understandably want to postpone their purchase and stick with Microsoft solutions. Whether the promise becomes a vaporware, that's another story. The most important thing is to keep competitors from getting Microsoft's customers.

Many people has been burned by Microsoft's FUD and vaporware and they are developing an immunity. They are no longer effective. Just look at the reaction to Microsoft post-Vista. Can Microsoft change tactics and compete fairly? That is an interesting question, but I have to say no, unless they get rid of Ballmer and the other hacks. If they do, then they'll have a good chance reforming.