“After 17 years with the company, Jim Allchin retired from Microsoft as of Jan. 30, 2007 – the day on which Microsoft officially released the Windows Vista operating system to consumers,” the Microsoft press release reads.
Allchin was a member of the Senior Leadership Team, responsible for developing Microsoft’s core direction along with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates. Allchin joined Microsoft in 1990 heading up the company’s networking product strategy and subsequently led the development and marketing efforts for a variety of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.
In December, during the Iowa antitrust trial, Comes v. Microsoft, Inc., being held in Polk County District Court [Iowa], a 2004 email from Jim Allchin to Steve Balmer and Bill Gates was publicly released in which Allchin said that Microsoft had lost sight of what customers need and that he himself would buy a Mac, if he didn’t work for Microsoft:
I’m not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products… I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.
Congratulations, Mr. Allchin, you’re now free to get that Apple Mac you’ve wanted for years!
Related articles:
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Microsoft emails reveal serious Mac OS X Tiger envy – January 26, 2007
Windows chief Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for Microsoft – December 11, 2006
Microsoft’s Allchin: Vista won’t need antivirus software – November 10, 2006
Windows chief Allchin: Buy Windows Vista for the security – January 30, 2006
Windows czar Allchin says Apple copying Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn – April 27, 2005
Welcome to the Mac-club & Mac on Jim…
He already has one. With copy or copies of OS X that he pirates freely. He can stay on their team.
We should send him a congratulatory mac. Way to get the hell out of Microsoft on the very day that Vista is inflicted on the world.
Wait until Leopard, then buy.
I thought the entire Micro$oft Team had the SAME copy of OS X (as in, they pirated it, according to their emails).
Scum. Stay on Windows.
Now he leaves that Vista mess to someone else
He said it all in his email to Gates and Ballmer in 2004 when the Windows team were amazed by OS X Tiger – and passing round the Tiger disks too…
His one word to them was: “Sigh..”
Hope he’s switched to Mac by now!
If I were jobs I would drive down and present him with a free macbook pro.
Just to annoy Balmer
When the ship starts to go down, it’s usualy the smartest rats that jump first…
It is one another blow to MS. According to his email he is a man who undestands what is happening to MS. People like him could change the fate of MS. Now with Ballmer at the steering wheel and without bright people like Alchin MS will keep heading towards failure. At the end it is the corporate culture that fosters innovation and creates great products that will determine who wins. Clearly Apple has the right DNA to innovate and meet and exceed customers’ expectations.
Good planning. Just when the Sh*t will hit the MS fan.
Note to self:
Got the Mac and now I’m going sailing for a few weeks.
No phones, no internet, no piss in a cup, no nothing but blues skies and some toasty waves.
My work is done and when I return to terra firma, I’ll go sit in the gutter for two weeks to get back my self respect.
Jim Allchin
Steve…
Give this man a call, he gets it.
Damning indictment of management failure by none less than a key insider, but don’t tell the pollsters at Harris Interachtung/WSJ, their T-test determined “statistically significant differences at a confidence level of 95%.” They could’ve just asked Allchin.
“If I were jobs I would drive down and present him with a free macbook pro.”
That is a fantastic idea, mac mac. Seriously, you couldn’t buy that kind of publicity. Once the media gets wind of an ex-MS white collar switching, it’ll spread like wildfire.
Allchin… is he related to Jay Leno?
Jim don’t let the chairs hit you on the way out the door, literally be careful…
Jim wrote:I thought the entire Micro$oft Team had the SAME copy of OS X (as in, they pirated it, according to their emails).
In the case of Microsoft it may not be piracy, more than likely M$ has an enterprise or large developers license that let’s them copy the OS rather freely. I’ve worked for a number of large companies that had enterprise licenses that let us put the software on an unlimited number of machines..
Imagine the possibilities of a PC Mac ad with him in it.
Apple should hire him – he sounds like he “gets it”.
Those having wet dreams of Allchin in the ultimate “Switcher” ad need to take a deep breath. We don’t know what clauses exist in his contract with Microsoft that might have him hold his tongue. Nor do we know if he retains any financial interest in Microsoft.
He probably already has one hidden in the attic so Monkey Boy won’t find it when he stops by on the way to the chair throwing range.
Thanks for the nice welcome, folks. I came home from the Apple store an hour ago, and you won’t believe it (well, you guys will believe it), my brand-new 24″ iMac is up and running. Whoohee! 17 seconds flat for boot-up! My Credit Suisse Gold Card will take a heavy beating later, when I’ll be visiting the iTMS. can’t wait for that iPhone either!
Anyway, folks, expect to hear more from me around here!
Jim
This kind of reminds me of watching a pest control commercial in undergrad with my buddies (when we were all half drunk):
“Black Flag, it’s birth control for roaches!”
A friend of mine looked up, and made the observation: “F#$# ’em, let me buy their own birth control! You don’t see them buying mine, do ya?”
I feel the same way, reading about MDN posters who want to start a collection up to buy Jim Allchin a Mac. With all of the money he’s made off of Microsoft, why should we buy him a MacPro or a Macbook Pro?
Now, if His Steveness wants to do it, and use the PR it will generate, that would be cool.
MDN Magic Word, ironically enough, is ‘together’.
Dear aunt, let’s set so double the killer delete select all