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
Why is Microsoft bragging about a $500
PC for India, when some Vista laptops can be had for cheaper here in the
States? Here's what some of you had to say:
I forwarded your article about the $500 PC to Cathy, a missionary I know
in the northeastern part of India. This is her response:
"You have to realize there is a luxury tax on everything here,
including toilet paper! So it is reasonable if you get a legal Windows in
it. Such is life here!"
There is so much counterfeiting done there.
-Len
The only thing that keeps us from having a good cheap computer is the
quest for speed and power. Twenty-eight years ago, I owned my first disk operating
system computer. It had 64K of RAM. (Yep, that's a K). It had NO hard drive
and I ran a word processor, a spreadsheet and a whole lot of truly neat games.
Where is it written that a computer today needs a gig of RAM and 80 gigs on
a hard drive? I think the answer to that is at Microsoft. There are days when
I wish for my H-DOS machine, or even the CP/M machine I bought after that.
Yes, I built those machines myself, but I bet you could make one with the
same capabilities for less than $100. OK, so today's calculator has more power,
but it doesn't have the flexibility.
The world will not have a cheap computer as long as Microsoft is building
the operating system.
-John
So, is it "U.K." or "Great Britain"? Doug asked, and readers
from across the pond answered:
Yes, you can say "Great Britain." The offical name is "the
United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland." That's a bit of
a mouthful for most people so either "U.K.," "United Kingdom"
or "Great Britian" is still correct.
-Mitch
You can say "Great Britain" if you wish for everyone to know
what you mean, but it's not accurate. Great Britain is the name of the island;
the nation is called "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland" and is made up of the big island of Great Britain, a bit of
the island of Ireland and a handful of smaller islands dotted around the area.
-Alec
Got something to add? Let us have it! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail
to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
It could be worse. Other bad jobs include elephant vasectomist and whale feces
researcher. My guess? Neither of these come with stock options, either.
And as far as stinking goes, being a "garbologist" has got to be
the worst (I should know -- I put myself through college as an amusement park
trash man!).
Would you want to work for Microsoft? Tell us why or why not by writing to
[email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
Two weeks ago, I found two different Vista laptops for $399 at Best Buy. Desktops,
as you know, are always cheaper.
So why is it that Microsoft is bragging about a $500
PC for the Indian market? At that price, it better come with a free iPod
(and no, people in India don't want a Zune!) and a side of pooran poli.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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 07/02/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
This is an interesting test. How far will Microsoft allow these open source
fans to go? We'll keep you posted.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/02/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
But these things have a way of changing sometimes. After Quest bought Aelita,
the Aelita identity disappeared (though Quest and Aelita had a lot of product
overlap, and I don't remember Quest promising to keep Aelita intact).
Anyway, congrats to the folks at ScriptLogic and Quest. I can see the two companies'
cultures meshing quite well!
By the way, here's
a Q&A Redmond Developer News did with ScriptLogic's top programmer,
Brian Bucklew.
And here's
the skinny on the acquisition.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
My take is that the sheer number of flaws is important, but not the final word
in security. It is possible that Mac and Linux have more flaws, but what really
matters is what hackers care to attack -- and they just love attacking Windows!
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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?
But before I criticize a major industry figure (who can sue me without checking
his bank balance), I like to do a little research.
It turns out (cut/paste) Andreessen (end paste) is a winner. Netscape, even
in its weakened state, sold for $4.5 billion to AOL and Sun. After Netscape,
(cut/paste) Andreessen (end paste) started Loudcloud. He sold the Loudcloud
hosting business to EDS and used to rest to form what is now Opsware. Opsware
sales have nearly doubled every year for the past four years, though it's still
losing money.
What really deflated my plans to rip (cut/paste) Andreessen (end paste) apart
is the fact that this advice is rather excellent (damn you, [cut/paste] Andreessen
[end paste]!)
In his blog, (cut/paste) Andreessen (end paste) advises large company CEOs
to:
- Stop talking to the press and figure out the company's problems.
- Once you have them figured out, announce your new strategy and then stop
talking to the press again.
He also advises making layoffs fast and deep, and putting your best people
on the most important projects. Here's
the blog.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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 06/18/2007 at 1:15 PM0 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.
Microsoft may never be as open to open source as Red Hat, IBM or Novell, but
the company is becoming a lot more pragmatic and accommodating. As Microsoft
moves higher and higher up the stack, it needs to play nice with the major enterprise
players.
Agree, disagree? Tell me where I'm right or wrong at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/18/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments