Some Microsoft workers call for heads to roll

Microsoft employees writing to an anonymous blog are calling for the heads of high-level company executives -- including Steve Ballmer and Jim Allchin -- after the double delay debacle this week when the Redmond, Wash. developer shoved its two most profitable products into 2007.

On the Mini-Microsoft blog, which is maintained by someone who identifies himself as a Microsoft employee and goes by the nickname "Who da'Punk," an entry tagged "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!" has accumulated over 325 comments from in- and outsiders.

The blog was a response to the Tuesday announcement that Windows Vista would not ship in new PCs until January 2007. Thursday, Microsoft added Office 2007 to the delay train.

"After Allchin's email went out I imagined all the L68+ partners from the Windows division gathered together and told, 'You are our leadership. When we succeed, it is directly because of how you lead and manage your teams. When we fail, it is directly because of how you lead and manage your teams. We've had enough of failure and we've had enough of you. Drop off your badge on the way out. Your personal belongings will be dropped off at your house. Now get out of my sight.'"

we cannot ship our OS. this is not a joke. if we don't take some radical decisions, the company is over."

"Accountability should start at the top. My commitment was to deliver on my component. Allchin's commitment was to release Windows . . . . and he failed to deliver."

But while the Thursday reorganization of Microsoft's Platform & Services Division shuffled several executives -- notably Steve Sinofsky from a position in the Office arm to head the Windows and Windows Live group -- no one was handed their hat.

Jim Allchin, who broke the bad news Tuesday and was set to retire after Vista was delivered, seems to have been put out to pasture months earlier than expected, said a source close to Microsoft. "Read what Johnson said very carefully, " he said.

In a leaked memo sent to some Microsoft employees Thursday, Kevin Johnson, the co-president (with Allchin) of the Platforms & Services Division, wrote "As part of the next step of Jim's transition, we discussed when it was appropriate to move his direct reports to me, and decided that this organization change was the right time."

But even as some on the Mini-Microsoft blog wished for Maria Antoinette-style retribution, other employees defended the decision, if not the people who made it.

"Yes, it's painful. Yes, it's embarrassing," wrote Robert Scoble, a company technical evangelist, on his Scobelizer blog. "But I'd rather have a slipped date than a cruddy product."

"I certainly agree that lots of mistakes were made all the way up and down the chain," wrote another anonymous Microsoft worker. "But this is the right thing to do. In the longer view, 2, 3, 5 years from now...this will have been the right call.

"Put it to you this way. At the end of this year, do you want Vista? Or do you want XP SP2 ME? 'Cause it's god****** impossible to deliver Vista by August...but we sure as heck can give ya XP SP2 ME any time."

The internal reaction may grow even hotter if, as some analysts have predicted, Microsoft delays Vista and Office more than once.

"Microsoft's given itself some leeway," said Joe Wilcox, an analyst with JupiterResearch, on Friday. "As far as selling season, January might as well be July."

Thursday, Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, also bet that Vista will be delayed again, and that the second (or third) time, the pain would minimal. "The next delays won't hurt as much," said Cherry.

I hate 'Operating Systems'! Does that make me a bad person?

Nope. It makes you what us techies call an "end user".

Seriously, end users shouldn't need to know much about their OS -- just enough to know what applications will run on their machine. My favorite analogy is relating it to a car -- the typical car owner isn't a mechanic and isn't expected to do more than simple maintenance. Naturally, some subset of car owners do like tinkering around under the hood, but they're a small percentage -- most people just want to be able to drive the doggone thing.

Why should a computer be so terribly different? 99% of the poeple who use one just want the thing to boot up, log them in (if appropriate), and run their applications.

Apple A Threat To Windows Vista. Re Write Confirmed

David Richards - Saturday, 25 March 2006

The marketing director of a key Microsoft partner has confirmed that key elements of Windows Vista are currently being re written.

Mr Raymond Vardanega, the Marketing Director, of Acer Australia has confirmed independently of SmartHouse Magazine that Microsoft is having major problems with its Vista operating system. He said "The decision to delay Vista into the consumer market will have an impact on hardware sales particularly in the Media Centre market. We have been told that Microsoft has bought in programmers from the Xbox team to work on the problems. We have also been told that up to 60% of the code will have some form of re writing or changes made. We are told that Microsoft is concerned at the impact that the delay will have on hardware manufacturers. We have raised our concerns directly with Microsoft".

A major problem for Microsoft is that the current version of Media Centre (MCE) is clumsy and prone to crashing. It contains code which is not productive in delivering an entertainment experience for consumers. While on one hand custom installers want an MCE server type environment to load and operate home automation applications consumers simply want a bullet proof system that allows them to download movies, play games, and manage entertainment and family content. They do not want to combine application computing with their media centre which in most cases is strategically located close to a large screen or music system.

What SmartHouse is told is that Microsoft is working on Vista modular structure that allows a consumer to install only what they want in a specific environment. They are also working on Vista better interfacing with the new Viiv hardware environment spanning Hi-Fi, Wireless for portable audio distribution right the way through to a new generation of Viiv compliant hardware such as LCD TV's that will come with a 350GB hard drive wireless and the ability to load the Vista operating system directly into the Viiv compliant TV. The TV will then be used for gaming, downloading movies, music and TV shows. It will also interface with a Hi Fi or music system either over an IP based cable system or via wireless.

We are told that current testing of the consumer version of Windows Vista for consumers still needs a lot of work to cohesively pull these elements together so that the next version actually meets consumer expectations.

We are also told that Microsoft is concerned that Apple could release a media centre solution built on the Viiv platform. They know that Apple's iPod strength, iTunes sites and relationship with content providers and vendors who are now delivering home entertainment accessories built around the Apple's 17pin iPod connector will have an impact that could well stop Microsoft gaining a dominant position in the home with Vista.

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