Vista Delayed Again. Employees call for changes...heads roll

Digi V · Post by **Digi V** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:58 am

After vista was delayed again, this time pushing it back to 07

employees are calling for serious changes.

apparently, microsoft is starting to fire and replace some of its leaders.

ha, about time huh?

"Microsoft employees disgruntled over the latest Windows Vista delay are arguing amongst themselves over who is to blame, with some pointing the finger at the company's leadership.

The long-time Apple rival announced last week that it would delay the much-hyped update to its Windows operating system until November for corporate customers and early 2007 consumer versions -- effectively folding its hand on the 2006 holiday shopping season.

An article on PC Pro points to one disgruntled insider named Who da'Punk voiced his feelings in a blog posting under the heading "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!"

In the posting the anonymous employee complains, "I was upset at missing the back-to-school market. Now we're missing the holiday sales market. [...] So not only did we miss last year's opportunity, we're missing this year's opportunity, too."

In closing, the employee points his finger at the Redmond, Wash.-based company's senior management: "People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?"

The tirade triggered a huge discussion amongst the company's employees in the blog's comments with several demanding that chief executive Steve Ballmer top the list of people who should be on the chopping block. One said "Being a 10+ year vet I feel ashamed and sad. This company is a mess on so many levels." Another countered with: "Clamoring for a bunch of people getting fired is a waste of time. It’s OUR fault that this company is a disaster. You know who is responsible for our mess, US. It’s your fault."

"Ballmer has to resign anyway. Or eventually get fired," said a third. "Under his leadership, we did not foresee the major evolution waves that happened during these last years: modular OS, virtualization, portable audio/media, [and] search. In all fields, we either lost, or suffered significant challenges."

The discussion also revolved heavily around Vista and Mac OS X. "Vista - I wouldn't buy it with someone else's money. Then again what do I know, I've only been testing the dog for the last 2-3 yrs," one proclaimed employee wrote. Another put it less bluntly: "Folks, the only difference between Vista and prior releases (back to at least NT4/Windows 2000) is the size of the [::expletive::] up."

Meanwhile, another poster claiming "inside" knowledge said Apple is preparing to stomp Microsoft with its next major operating system upgrade, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. "Apple is preparing a big attack against Vista with Leopard. They are preparing this for over 3 years now," wrote the anonymous poster. "Tiger's under-the-hood improvements make it possible to keep any significant feature secret until a month or two before shipping."

Microsoft has said it is delaying Vista in order to beef up the security, but there are said to be major problems in other areas of the OS such as the Media Centre (MCE). "Why exactly is MCE so bad? Didn't anyone test this puppy before kicking it out the door and having another PM party?," asked one employee.

Nevertheless, the Vista delays already appear to be causing a minute domino effect. Microsoft also announced last week that it will put off the consumer release of Office 2007 so that it is in line with the new release schedule for Vista."

Microsoft employees disgruntled over the latest Windows Vista delay are arguing amongst themselves over who is to blame, with some pointing the finger at the company's leadership.

The long-time Apple rival announced last week that it would delay the much-hyped update to its Windows operating system until November for corporate customers and early 2007 consumer versions -- effectively folding its hand on the 2006 holiday shopping season.

An article on PC Pro points to one disgruntled insider named Who da'Punk voiced his feelings in a blog posting under the heading "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!"

In the posting the anonymous employee complains, "I was upset at missing the back-to-school market. Now we're missing the holiday sales market. [...] So not only did we miss last year's opportunity, we're missing this year's opportunity, too."

In closing, the employee points his finger at the Redmond, Wash.-based company's senior management: "People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?"

The tirade triggered a huge discussion amongst the company's employees in the blog's comments with several demanding that chief executive Steve Ballmer top the list of people who should be on the chopping block. One said "Being a 10+ year vet I feel ashamed and sad. This company is a mess on so many levels." Another countered with: "Clamoring for a bunch of people getting fired is a waste of time. It’s OUR fault that this company is a disaster. You know who is responsible for our mess, US. It’s your fault."

"Ballmer has to resign anyway. Or eventually get fired," said a third. "Under his leadership, we did not foresee the major evolution waves that happened during these last years: modular OS, virtualization, portable audio/media, [and] search. In all fields, we either lost, or suffered significant challenges."

The discussion also revolved heavily around Vista and Mac OS X. "Vista - I wouldn't buy it with someone else's money. Then again what do I know, I've only been testing the dog for the last 2-3 yrs," one proclaimed employee wrote. Another put it less bluntly: "Folks, the only difference between Vista and prior releases (back to at least NT4/Windows 2000) is the size of the [::expletive::] up."

Meanwhile, another poster claiming "inside" knowledge said Apple is preparing to stomp Microsoft with its next major operating system upgrade, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. "Apple is preparing a big attack against Vista with Leopard. They are preparing this for over 3 years now," wrote the anonymous poster. "Tiger's under-the-hood improvements make it possible to keep any significant feature secret until a month or two before shipping."

Microsoft has said it is delaying Vista in order to beef up the security, but there are said to be major problems in other areas of the OS such as the Media Centre (MCE). "Why exactly is MCE so bad? Didn't anyone test this puppy before kicking it out the door and having another PM party?," asked one employee.

Nevertheless, the Vista delays already appear to be causing a minute domino effect. Microsoft also announced last week that it will put off the consumer release of Office 2007 so that it is in line with the new release schedule for Vista."

http://www.informationweek.com/windows/ ... =183702744

atmofunk · Post by **atmofunk** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:26 am

damn!

mikHATz · Post by **mikHATz** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:25 am

why should MS give a sh!t about windows anymore. Its not like they have any competitionright now. basically if you have a PC you have to use windows. I know there is Linux and BeOs but you all know the story ( not trying to start a Linux vs Windows battle here - please). Been using OS X Tiger on my PC lappy recently trouble free. It would be interesting to see what apple does with its OS in the next few years as far as licensing goes. Maybe they could give MS a run for their MS Money. Then at the same time im thinking that MS can destroy any software vendor out there pretty quickly.

MIK

DeadlyKungFu · Post by **DeadlyKungFu** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:06 am

If Apple was smart they'd hold a job fair...

...on the front steps of MS headquarters.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:23 am

thought i'd put some balance in this...

the person on that blog is believed to be low a level employee of microsoft and many others who post there are believed to be non employees.

also no heads are rolling anywhere, a couple of managers have been rotated and anyone who has ever worked for a big corporation knows that reshuffles like this happen once or twice a year anyway.

the amusing arguement of fairness is that the business version of vista is not being delayed and is on schedule... but its the consumer version which get put on shelves which will be delayed by only a matter of some weeks.

analysts and people who have been watching this closely noted a comment about i think it was "HP" who said that they would need Vista to be ready in August to be able to have computers on shelves in stores running vista in accordance with the original shipping date.

All of you may remember the antitrust battle Microsoft went through a couple of years back and where this comes into play is that people like Dell who do not stock in stores but ship directly to customers themselves need no 'stocking' time and they would be at an advantage compared to retail based computer suppliers. What this means is that more likely than not, Microsoft is protecting their ass by making sure all vendors are on the same playing field when Vista is released.

Beyond that scope, since XP.. the Windows team has been heavily involved in releasing two versions of their Tablet PC operating system, along with a really major security overhaul (18 months manpower) for Service Pack 2.

So the managers at MS have not been pissfarting about, they have been releasing serious version of Windows since XP and this delay seems to be more of a business strategy aimed at preventing any legal woes. I think this is very good of Microsoft and probably in the best interests of their stockholders.

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:43 am

DeadlyKungFu wrote:If Apple was smart they'd hold a job fair...

...on the front steps of MS headquarters.

Are you kidding? Ex-MS people are the last thing Apple need!

Leopard would get delayed then

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:00 pm

The only ones that should be bothered are MS shareholders.

For me, XP works perfectly fine. The sooner they release Vista, the sooner I will have to upgrade and pay MS a couple of hundred USD.

Goran@Irrupt · Post by **Goran@Irrupt** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:24 pm

sweetJ made a good point here. i really wouldn't stress a lot about next Windows version as i'm sure it will be good. i have no doubts about that.
and all that shit "OSX will attack with leopard..." WTF?!
they'll attack who?! PC users? i really doubt that...

w

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:28 pm

WebSite! wrote:sweetJ made a good point here. i really wouldn't stress a lot about next Windows version as i'm sure it will be good. i have no doubts about that.
and all that shit "OSX will attack with leopard..." WTF?!
they'll attack who?! PC users? i really doubt that...

It's a business term isn't it...as in Apple could use this opportunity to gain market share.

Digi V · Post by **Digi V** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:40 pm

WebSite! wrote:sweetJ made a good point here. i really wouldn't stress a lot about next Windows version as i'm sure it will be good. i have no doubts about that.
and all that shit "OSX will attack with leopard..." WTF?!
they'll attack who?! PC users? i really doubt that...

w

when you say "i'm sure it will be good" do you mean "i'm sure they'll steal other peoples ideas" ?

yeah, if you meant that i'll believe you. =)

anyways, i dont want OSX to become a licensed software. i also dont want microsoft to fail with Vista exactly either. why? because then that opens the door for hackers and malicious code writers to jump ship to OSX.

sweetjesus: i've been hearing backlashes from the microsoft camp way before that blog was created. there has to be some truth in there

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:43 pm

Digi V wrote: anyways, i dont want OSX to become a licensed software. i also dont want microsoft to fail with Vista exactly either. why? because then that opens the door for hackers and malicious code writers to jump ship to OSX.

i never buy this argument. osx is already a huge target for hackers etc. it's the next biggest os after windows after all.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:44 pm

I think MS should adapt Apple's policy on deadlines for the intel macs and announce release dates that are a year after they'll actually be released... that way there'd be less of this!

Goran@Irrupt · Post by **Goran@Irrupt** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:46 pm

Digi V wrote: when you say "i'm sure it will be good" do you mean "i'm sure they'll steal other peoples ideas" ?

no, i mean i'm sure it will be stable, more functional, less vulnerable etc.
as a consumer i really don't care if they steal or invent new ideas as long as those improve and simplify my work.

w

Digi V · Post by **Digi V** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:47 pm

robin wrote:
Digi V wrote: anyways, i dont want OSX to become a licensed software. i also dont want microsoft to fail with Vista exactly either. why? because then that opens the door for hackers and malicious code writers to jump ship to OSX.
i never buy this argument. osx is already a huge target for hackers etc. it's the next biggest os after windows after all.

yeah, yet we still face zero problems. i just hope it stays that way.

gotta love watching a fat rich guy on roids

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... oy&pl=true

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:59 pm

robin wrote:
i never buy this argument. osx is already a huge target for hackers etc. it's the next biggest os after windows after all.

Come on, get real. Apple's market share is less than 5%. Do you want your hacks to target 95% of the world or 5%?