Last
week
, Doug asked readers if they want to work at Microsoft, despite the
Microsoft Security Reponse Center's appearance in
Popular Science
's list
of the
worst
science jobs
. Looks like these readers haven't been put off:
Would I like to work for Microsoft? In a word: Yes! If it is anything
like I have imagined, just doing a few years there (if that is all I might
be able to hack) would probably lay the groundwork for the rest of my career.
I see being a part of Redmond as a big challenge, but also a rewarding
one. It will have its ups and downs just like all jobs, but for the most part,
the Microsoft family is pretty close and the reward for being a member is
pretty nice, indeed.
So that is where I am striving to be, to meet the challenges and obtain
enough personal satisfaction that I can say it was worth it to have made being
a technologist my career choice. I'll have to let you know how it all works
out.
-Calais
Quick answer: Absolutely!
Long answer: Absolutely! Why? Microsoft is among the largest organizations
in the world. Microsoft didn't get where it is today by having a bunch of
slackers staffing its positions. Microsoft got where it is by carefully recruiting
high-performing and creative employees who stretch their minds more than a
runner stretches his/her legs. High-performance individuals with a thirst
for knowledge and a knack for problem solving should definitely consider Microsoft
as a potential employer.
-Adrian
I hear the politics at Microsoft are awful, that it is nearly impossible
to put new features in. The flip side is that you have the potential to work
with some of the brightest minds ever over there. Every time I go to conferences,
I am just amazed at some of the people that I meet from Microsoft. I think
that Hugh MacLeod is helping Microsoft understand what its mission needs to
be: Microsoft, change the world or go home. I would work for Microsoft in
a heartbeat if I could.
-Deanna
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/20070 comments
As you can see from the above item, Microsoft continues to do much of its product
planning by asking the question: "What would Google do?"
If Google didn't already own the world of online advertising, it might (if
Microsoft wasn't doing it already) shell
out $6 billion to buy aQuantive -- twice what Google is paying for DoubleClick.
The Microsoft-aQuantive deal could be nailed down next month.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/20070 comments
Working for Microsoft has never been easy. The stories of long hours, unceasing
pressure and relentless rain are legendary.
Those days, stock options made it all worthwhile. These days, the stock is
as flat as a world-record flapjack. And yet, the work goes on.
According to a recent article from Popular Science, one job at Microsoft
is particularly deserving of our sympathy. Those who work in Microsoft's Security
Response Center (profiled here)
have the sixth-worst
job in science. That's because these folks fight off what could be millions
of hackers exploiting thousands of holes.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/20070 comments
Anyone who has read this newsletter for longer than a week knows I'm interested
in Third World computing. My theory is that great minds exist everywhere. By
giving access to computers, the Internet and, thus, the entire world, who knows
what a poor child from a poor country can do?
I'm half-excited and half-disgusted with the efforts made by our biggest companies.
They talk about offering cheap technology to the Third World, but their definition
of cheap ain't exactly thrifty.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/20070 comments
Speaking of security, Microsoft is having trouble keeping its Web sites unmolested.
The latest breach? It seems hackers
vandalized
Microsoft's U.K. Web site
(can I also say Great Britain? Experts from across
the pond can write me at
[email protected]
)
using a SQL injection attack. Fortunately for our pals across the pond, the
site is now fixed.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/20070 comments
Microsoft has yet to make a bold proclamation about open source. Instead, we
have hints, various announcements and some bits of Microsoft software that are
actually open to all.
One of the latest tidbits (that fail to explain where Microsoft really stands)
is Silverlight, a new, lightweight Web development/mash-up tool that has now
been adapted (by new partner Novell) to work with open source.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/20070 comments
I'm always a little sad when an independent, third-party company gets swallowed
up by a larger outfit. In this case, ScriptLogic is in the process of being
acquired by Quest for $90 million.
There are two pieces of good news. First, Quest is a fine company -- great
folks, great products, all-around goodness as far as I can see (ScriptLogic
is the exact same kind of animal). The second bit of good news is that Quest
plans to have ScriptLogic operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. To me, that
means ScriptLogic will remain largely ScriptLogic. I hope so.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/20070 comments
A few months after Vista shipped, Microsoft
released
a report showing
that its new OS was more secure than virtually anything
else on the desktop, such as XP, Mac and Linux.
Redmond Report readers bought the XP part, but fell all over themselves laughing
about the Mac and Linux findings.
Three months later comes the six-month
report, and once again Vista comes through with flying colors.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/20070 comments
Marc Andreessen (spell that last name three times fast!), one of the founders
of Netscape and considered the father of the browser, recently published a quick
tutorial to turning big companies around. I came across the item
on
ZDNet
.
I was ready to skewer Mr. Andreessen (when I covered Netscape, I had Andreessen's
name on a hot key so I wouldn't screw it up) because his company got thoroughly
clobbered by Microsoft. Who is he to give turnaround advice?
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/20070 comments
For the sake of delaying the inevitable, I convinced my 13-year-old to wait
to the fall release of Leopard before making me buy him a new Mac. To make sure
I make good on my promise (and maybe pick up a Mac lapper for myself), he sent
me
these
screen shots
.
What do you think? Vista or Leopord? Answers welcome at
[email protected]
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/18/20070 comments
Last week, Microsoft paid a visit to the cool, spacious, well-lit offices of
Redmond
magazine to argue that the company now has open standards religion
and
wants
to work more closely with open source
.
In particular, Microsoft pledges to support the OpenDoc file format more fully,
and won't try to hold back any standards work around the format.
It also plans to keep working on cross-licensing deals with open source players.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/18/20070 comments