“Microsoft employees are becoming increasingly vocal about the ‘funk’ that the company finds itself in,’ Martin LaMonica writes in CNET’s Microsoft Blog.
“A number of blogging company employees have bared their souls, complaining about the problems they see at the software giant,’ LaMonica writes. “Lenn Pryor, in explaining why he is leaving job of director for platform at Microsoft for a position at Sykpe, said this: ‘I just couldn’t go on being an evangelist for a gospel that I don’t believe I can sing.'”
“On Monday, Dare Obasanjo, who works for Microsoft’s MSN division, described himself as one of many employees trying to ‘find somewhere at Microsoft that isn’t overwhelmed by the current malaise that has smothered main campus,'” LaMonica writes, “And in one more indicator, another Microsoft employee blogging under the name Microsophist says that bloggers will push company founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer out of Microsoft.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Couldn’t be happening to a more deserving outfit. Moo.
Read this, it’s funny: http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2005/03/better-off-without-ballmer.html
For Microsoft employees that still dream of innovating: http://www.apple.com/jobs/
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple’s Tiger debuts Friday while Microsoft’s Longhorn is burdened with one delay after another – April 25, 2005
Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed – April 22, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft’s Longhorn: ‘They are shamelessly copying us’ – April 21, 2005
Apple shows off Mac OS Tiger in Microsoft’s backyard while Microsoft previews Windows XP ad push – April 19, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X reality vs. Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy – April 19, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – April 15, 2005
Analyst: ‘Microsoft’s Longhorn is going to have hard time upstaging Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’ – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple in ‘position to exploit Microsoft missteps, claim leadership’ with Mac OS X Tiger – April 13, 2005
Apple’s Schiller: Mac OS X Tiger ‘has created even more distance between us and Microsoft’ – April 13, 2005Analyst: Tiger proves ‘Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft in developing PC operating systems’ – April 12, 2005
New Microsoft Longhorn chief was former Pepto-Bismol brand manager – March 18, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy vs. Apple’s Mac OS X reality – September 14, 2004
Is Microsoft’s stripped-down ‘Longhorn’ worth waiting for? – September 10, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Blogging will be against Microsoft company policy before Christmas.
I’ve always seen Microsoft as a balloon slowly filling with more and more air. There comes a point at which the balloon can hold no more air and explodes.
It seems that more accountability is being placed on the executives now-a-days. And rightfully so!
I’m sure Microsoft has a lot of talented people working that the executives are just to ignorant to manage properly or even have the vision to manage.
If Billy thinks that releasing XP-64 is going to cushion the blow that Tiger is about to deal, he’s as foolish as his underlings…
“For Microsoft employees that still dream of innovating: http://www.apple.com/jobs/ “
LOL
MW: “better”
Well.. what do you guys think.. Ballmer is loud and brash, but is this a result of Bill Gates stepping down..
I mean.. do you think the company has lost direction because of that..?
SJ said he thought so… Ballmer’s a salesman, he doesn’t talk product, he talks product as if it were a commodity, he talks sales numbers…
“trying to ‘find somewhere at Microsoft that isn’t overwhelmed by the current malaise”
Try the Mac Biz Unit
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” />
I hadn’t considered the effect on Microsoft employee morale the relentless improvements on OSX Apple is making. It’s gotta be really hard going to work day after day knowing you can’t keep up with the “little guys” no matter how hard you try or how good you are as an individual. I don’t want to condescend, but Microsoft can’t get a better OS until they they break from their legacy. Their legacy seems too tied into their business model. Tough break that. Guess Bill didn’t look far enough down “The Road Ahead” >snicker<
I hope that Steve Ballmer is the CEO of Microsoft until the day the company goes out of business.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
maybe microsoft should hire that guy who used to sell sugar water. i hear he is available.
I meant:
I hadn’t considered the effect on Microsoft employee morale the relentless improvements on OSX Apple is making would have.
English is my first language –sigh
ABQ Peter: heh
trying to get my nic spell corrected. sorry
The ship is sinking! Abandon ship!
Microsoft is definitely not a growth company or innovator. I am sure there are lots of really smart people at Microsoft spinning their wheels wondering why they have not jumped ship to something better.
I would be interested in the people leaving Longhorn development dept.—-wonder how many there are that are leaving, what is the fallout rate?
Steve Ballmer should go. Until he leaves Microsoft will continue to wither…staying alive only because it has such an entrenched monopoly with its OS.
“Microsoft leadership lacks vision. Bill Gates is where he is because he is a tenacious and fierce competitor. Neither he nor any of his henchmen have the imagination or social instincts to catch or generate the next big wave. We missed the incredibly high margin business that Google and Yahoo created around search. We missed the music business Apple created around ITunes and IPod. We missed the [freaking] Internet!”
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/
3) Creativity is not a part of its corporate culture, and it never has been. Microsoft made its money doing a better job of executing other people’s good ideas. I can’t think of anything revolutionary that Microsoft has produced. The next big thing and every other big thing after that will not come out of Redmond.
4) Microsoft leadership lacks vision. Bill Gates is where he is because he is a tenacious and fierce competitor. Neither he nor any of his henchmen have the imagination or social instincts to catch or generate the next big wave. We missed the incredibly high margin business that Google and Yahoo created around search. We missed the music business Apple created around ITunes and IPod. We missed the [freaking] Internet!
Greatness is all about potential, and you need the right environment to bring it out. Most of the “mediocrity” you see at Microsoft these days is the result of systemic paralysis.
Can you imagine? I can. I worked for WorldCom briefly when they bought us, but I lept like a rat from a sinking ship after selling my stock. Two years later WorldCom was bankrupt.
MS is in now way WorldCom or Enron, but giant mega corps will collapse under their own weight just like the Roman empire, just like the good ol USA is doing now, sadly.
There’s still hope. MS could turn it around if they spun off some divisions. Maybe the US govt needs to do the same.
Good timing Pogo!
Well, to be fair, there are employees who make similar complaints about almost every large corporation, even Apple:
http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/applepeels/
Microsoft is a dinosaur in a world that is changing rapidly. They can’t respond to technical challenges, have a bloated marketshare that they can’t manage, and a technology that has seen it’s better days behind.
It’s not just Ballmer, but it’s the whole PC commodity mindshare that is trying to deliver it’s OLD technologies as an appliance to an intelligent market that knows that the appliance is still being tested.
ENTER…. TIGER, LINUX, and UNIX……
Imagine getting up every day, going into the office, and working your arse off just to make Bill and Monkeyboy even more money.
The fact the bloggers only leaving and not jumping off high buildings is a blessing.
Missing word up their “are”.
Feel free to insert it wherever you think it should go
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
There, not their.
Damn, it’s getting late.
i just happened to think: malaise. i wonder if monkeys are afraid of killer rabbits (you have to be a minimum age to get this).
thats one of the more interesting MS articles in a long time. And will hopefully make several rounds around the net. A major shakeup in Redmond would be an interesting development
beleaugured.