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Quote Bloomberg: "Revenue in Microsoft's MSN unit, which competes with Google, gained 0.9 percent to $564 million. Operating income gained 3.8 percent to $83 million. Google last week said its third-quarter revenue doubled to $1.05 billion."
0.9% gain versus DOUBLING. Wow.
But hey, why be bothered by facts?
Seriously, Robert you do your company a great service by blogging. You act as PR at the same time. They should actually be paying you twice the salary!
Tara
If Brian thinks that's it's simply about you being payed the critize and that it's wrong when employees are critical of their company, he is either a very shallow or scary thinker.
If he has a company, his employees will have to shut up or leave...... sounds like a healthy environment.
I can see it now. Just like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, kids walking up and down the halls, saying, "Save Scoble".
Check for yourself: http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY06/ear...
Microsoft is robbing from the AR line to pump up revenue. It's growing slowly. And it's getting creamed in areas where it directly competes with Google. The stock prices of each company reflect these different growth patterns.
Get mad at me if you want, the market speaks louder.
I haven't seen your job description, but I don't beleive you are paid to criticize MS; but rather to connect customers with those "behind teh curtain" in real time.
A (non-microsoft) friend of mine said it well "Scoble has done more to put a human face on microsoft than any other individual in the company's history". So there's one check mark in the "do not fire" column! And add another one from me.
Kim
P.S. You didn't meantion that MANY of those external speaker vids are made available OUTSIDE MS as well. e.g. MS Research hosts some that are publicly viewable.
Anyway: I vote for not firing Scoble.
Microsoft needs an ombudsman and customer advocates. Actually group-think and complacency are probably a bigger threat to Microsoft than anything you write on a blog.
Besides, we all know Scoble is not paid to critizise Microsoft, he simply shows us things as they are, and that's why we enjoy reading what he posts and watching his videos in the first place ;)
Keep up the good work!
I'm shocked that you guys tolerate Scoble. I mean, it's like give me a break. Here's a guy that you pay to criticize you. And you can say, I know the other side of the argument, I'm well aware of it, it's like listen celebrate, you know, celebrate the openness and all that kind of stuff. To me that's crap. I think it's crap. You pay him to say the kinds of things he says? Not in my company man, no way. But I like the other things, the fact that you're opening up and blogging and working with your customers.
I personally think you've done some fantastic things for Microsoft, especially with Channel 9. It's given a face to the company, and it's helped to get so many people excited about the stuff that's going on up there in Redmond. I know it's had a strong positive effect on me.
Keep up the great work! There are plenty of us out here who really appreciate it. =)
That's fair enough - so it begs the question - why hasn't MSFT sold off its ISP? The fact still remains that Google is growing while MSFT is nearly standing still.
I also noticed MSFT is going to devote $19 billion to stock buybacks over the next year. NINETEEN BILLION DOLLARS to buy MSFT stock because 1) they can't think of anything else to do with the money and 2) no one wants to buy MSFT stock so the company has to lower the supply to give the perception of increased demand.
I bet many of you could think of ways MSFT can spend than money instead of giving commissions to stockbrokers. Scoble talked recently about all these search related problems that are going unsolved. If there's all these problems to solve, MSFT must be thinking of letting someone else solve them because they're certainly not ramping up their R&D...
Sorry to be so harsh, Scoble, but I'm only going on what I read in the news and what I see in MSFT's financial statements...I think MSFT should expand its research budget, obviously!
http://firescoble.ning.com/
... maybe I'll build another Ning app to let people place bets on the outcome of the voting. =D
Paul
That makes sense.
Fire Scoble for being both a lackey and a critic.
Keep calling 'em as you see 'em... I've never caught you being so harsh on your employer that they would benefit from canning you. There's an intangible quantity that the big accounting firms like to put in the balance sheet under the heading "Goodwill". You make MS seem like kinder and gentler rapacious overlords... and that's really quite a hat trick.
Keep working on making Scoblizing a verb that means
"to try to care about all sides at the same time and to fail more often than not." Go figure... Even Scoble can't make everyone happy. Especially a business author that wants to see LESS BS in the world and would never pay anyone to say he's usually full of it... as are most of us.
Maryam appears to actually be pretty close to on target when it comes to avoid spouting BS.
Good luck keeping staff at any company that fires people for speaking their mind, especially when they do such a great job serving the dev/tech community around the company like Mr Scoble does.
All the best,
Welcome to fame. Most of these YAHOOS, yes I put it in caps on purpose, can't even crawl put of bed in the morning. Ignore them. Your dialog on this site has opened doors many didn't even know were closed.
Don't let it end. Fire you, I don't think so, give you a raise (;-))I don't think so. You are doing a job, a great one in my estimation, and that should be good enough.
When you close your eyes at night, do you feel good? If you do you won today.
Bill Faulkner
Perhaps Scoble is King William's jester?
well if you DO get fired, we can always feature you on SimplyFired.com :)
(now you *HAVE* to become one of our judges for the new video contest: www.simplyfired.com/video.php )
lemme know when you get think pink slip, and we'll setup a shoot...
- dave mcclure
www.SimplyHired.com | www.SimplyFIRED.com
-k.
Robert telling it like it is part of what makes Microsoft seem much more human and much less clueless.
I think that anyone who advocates only putting on their "shiny happy corporate face" to the public these days is part of the old guard and the old way of doing things.
Related: www.dooce.com - read the "about me" stuff. She got fired for blogging. Note: sometimes NSFW.
But how you get away with breaking the all the strict NDA convenants, is worthy of a case study itself. I guess like in politics, if you have enough friends, you become Above the Law. Or you get to speak in a 'human voice' and rewrite your own set of rules, for the 'new age of market conversations.'
I want a T-shirt too...
~Steve Sloan
I disagree with straight up rules like that. There are sometimes reasons to share your dirty laundry in public. Why? Oh, credibility? Gaining trust?
Look at how Six Apart handled their dirty laundry just yesterday.
What's wrong with someone asking for your head eh?? Nothing wrong with that. What would be wrong is that you were fired, based on single opinion and not the facts. Secondly it would a gross mistake by the corporation to do that, as it will expose them for libel and unfair practices :)-
Actually jus to be mean, I wish you get fired - msft does not deserve your loyalty and intergrity !!
Sounds like the talk was about trying to give Microsoft 'personality' (along with "more persuasion, narrative, empathy") - which from my point of view is almost exactly what you do - so I shouldn't worry :)
http://mamamusings.net/archives/2005/10/27/micr...
He truly doesn't understand that the public opinion of Microsoft has changed lately, and part of that is due to your work.
You have put a familiar face on Microsoft that has been lacking. We've always had the gurus, our heroes, that we worship and adore. But we've never had a face that wasn't related to coding.
I was at the PDC and when I met you in the hallways it was like meeting an old acquaintance.
Keep up the good work!
http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2005/10/...
- adam
- adam
Plus, for people who like MS technology, your entries make people excited about what is being developed, and anticipatory towards release. You are good for MS. And for the blogosphere. Keep it up.
But the family has some problems (which ones don’t?). There’s Uncle Vinny with the drinking problem. Maria has had a couple of scrapes with the law. And the business is having a few challenges. There’s some unrest in the family, as the family members bicker over what needs to be done to take the business into the future. One of the grandchildren is Roberto Scobaloney, who makes a nice living from the business. But Scobaloney sees all the problems, and is very frustrated that Grandma and Grandpa don’t seem to get it. He tries (or so we are told) to raise his concerns to Grandma and Grandpa, but just can’t seem to make any progress. So he does something unheard of – Scobaloney decides that the family would be best served if he went public with his concerns. He writes to the local newspaper and tells the paper everything he knows about the family and the pasta business – good and bad. He reasons that this is actually good for the company, because it will force Grandma and Grandpa to finally make some changes. And that will benefit the whole family.
In Grandma and Grandpa’s world, you simply don’t air dirty laundry in public. Particularly things that the public doesn’t know about or wouldn’t be aware of, like Uncle Vinny’s drinking problem. Being in the family allows you to scream and shout at the dinner table over pasta pomodoro and chianti, but nothing leaves the room. There is a contract, a code of honor. In return for the benefits of being in the family and earning money in the business, the family asks for each family member’s loyalty to each other and to the family. When one grandchild puts himself above the family and it’s code of honor, it weakens the family. It breaks the bonds of loyalty, shows that the family can’t work out things on its own. And it puts one person above the law.
Scobaloney thinks this is hopelessly out of touch with the modern world. Mutters something about a friend named Cluetrain. Grandma and Grandpa are deeply wounded by Scobaloney. Not so much for what he has said, but because the family that they worked so hard to nurture is weakened. Because family is everything to them. They could understand it if a reporter for the newspaper wrote about them, but a family member? They can’t fire him, because he has backed them into a corner and that will just make them look bad. And they can’t even criticize him, because that too would make them look bad. And some of the issues he brings up, they can’t tell their side of the story because it’s private, and that would hurt the family. But they are smart, and they just decide to wait it out. They know that all he really cares about is seeing his name in the newspaper, and that one day all his self absorption and narcissism will make him irrelevant. In fact, it’s happening already.
Oh, and how do you explain the 2.7 million unique visitors on Channel 9 last month? With no advertising. No old-school PR. No links from Microsoft.com.
Hint: it shows off what Microsoft is doing in a real, conversational, human, way.
And traffic is going up every month.
Last month it had 2.7 million unique visitors.
My bosses are VERY happy with that. And, yesterday I was pitched by executives by some very big companies who want the same thing at their companies. Don't worry, though, I ain't leaving!
Its so unfortune that you still have one foot in your mouth when commenting here !! Can you take it out before your next comments ?? any Hoot do you have u read this somewhere
"Scobles in Siberia ?? Yes, I nearly fall of my chair laughing. Its so wierd, but so beliveably true!! This is what Blogsphere is all about.
"When Ted Demopoulos, principal of Demopoulos Associates, an information technology consulting company, was traveling in Russia recently, he stopped in Surgut, Siberia, where he was surprised to find Scoble fans. "I'm out in the middle of nowhere and they ask me about Scoble," says Demopoulos. "To them, Scoble is the voice of Microsoft.""
geeee.. get a life Brain !!!
my old cull is here..
http://peterdawson.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/blo...
One of the first things they tell you is: "we aren't judging you, only what you say, so go ahead and be as critical as you like."
What Scoble is doing at his blog is just an extension of this type of testing that Microsoft already believes in and has been doing for quite some time.
Also, anybody that hasn't checked out the ton of videos Scoble has shot and published over at Channel 9 and is solely judging his value by what he says on his blog isn't being very thorough. He's done some exciting work over at Channel 9. He has said repeatedly that this blog isn't his job though he certainly uses it from time to time to pimp his employer.
I will admit though that some of Scoble's blog posts and comments are very contradictory. That's annoying as a reader and I wish he'd work on being a little more consistent, but that's just one reader's complaint, as I'm sure plenty of others enjoy his waffling on some things.
Kevin
This could be the start of the Web2.0 social application. Fire xxx or not. Maybe we can cook this up in Ning.
Fire Scoble! :)
I think Channel 9 is a step in the rite direction toward a real job. That does a human face on stuff at MS. So I guess I would only cut his salary in half.
Yeah, it is extremely gratifying work. It isn't doing roofing in 110 degree heat. I'm having a ball. But it isn't easy. If you think it is, I'd be happy to fly you here for a couple of days and see how well you do at it.
Let me start off with what’s not so good for Microsoft. One of my major issues is that sometimes it doesn’t make a lot of sense to air Microsoft dirty laundry in public. Sometimes, it’s better to keep things in the family, and Scoble (IMHO) has occasionally crossed the line here.
Scoble, you responded to this issue by referencing the recent Six Apart public apology for issues they were having. Agree – the Six Apart apology was a good thing for them to do. But the apology came from its founder and president. This represented the official view of the company, coming straight from the founder’s mouth. It didn’t come from a “technical evangelist” or some other random employee. The problem is when technical evangelists get themselves confused with founders and CEO’s. So when Scoble rails against MS for their anti-discrimination policy (for example), he’s a rogue voice (regardless of how you feel about the issue) who happens to have an oversized megaphone. Like a union organizer, he invites sympathetic voices to join him in his proletariat march. There are plenty of outsiders who will kindly do that for you, free of charge! I’m as new age as they come when it comes to corporate conversations, but no amount of dope from the Cluetrain pipe will convince me that this type of public issue mongering is good for any company. Sensitive issues sometimes need to stay at the family dinner table. It’s hard for me to see how backing leadership into a corner and forcing them to debate delicate internal issues in public is a good thing for MS. Scoble has created huge stature for himself, and with that stature comes a responsibility to, well, be responsible.
The tough thing for Scoble to do, and he seems to be doing it exceptionally well, is to walk the very fine line between constructive critique and destructive criticism. I worry that his credibility is somewhat reliant on his willingness to be critical – that creates some warped incentives. But Scoble seems to be very very skillful at navigating that narrow balance beam.
Having said all that, I looked at the impact of Scoble overall. When viewed in the aggregate, I must admit that what he is doing is good for the company. The main point of our speech at MS was around their need to develop more personality as they evolve. Feature and function superiority alone won’t cut it in a world craving humanity, meaning, candor, simplicity and authenticity. In a way, that actually describes what Scoble is all about. He has put a more human face on MS, and his straightforward and authentic voice seems to be changing conversations and attitudes at MS. He pushes the company to raise the bar with its products, but does so in a way that is positive. It is still unfolding, and much of what makes it work is Scoble’s personal prowess at doing what he does. So overall, I was wrong about his impact on Microsoft. It’s pretty clear that he is having a positive influence not only with the outside world, but perhaps more importantly inside MS.
As Yogi Berra so eloquently put it, I made a wrong mistake.
Anyway, Fugere's responses here seems to back up my assertion that Fight the Bull are positioning themselves as "the Conservative Cluetrain"
http://platformwars.blogspot.com/2005/10/scoble...
Aren't you behind here? It seems like you are advocating them doing what they have been doing for over a year or so. Isn't microsoft's push to msdn blogs, channel9 and other moves lately already make it obvious that this was planned strategy by MS to soften their image after all the monopoly talk over IE vs Netscape finished up?
I don't disagree with you but I think Scoble is the direct result of a company initiative not the seeds of a new one. I'm not so sure they intended one person to become almost like a PR guy for uber nerds but I do think overall he was planned in general.