Re: [LUG] Ranting about MS career (was Heartbleed is a Free Software win)

[Simon Avery <digdilem@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10 April 2014 17:38, bad apple <mr.meowski@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

MS is *run* by incompetent morons

Actually, I don't think it is. It's run by businessmen who operate a successful business.

 

The Metro interface, Vista and Exchange on the other hand: yeah, fair
enough, there definitely weren't competent engineers on hand for that. I

I won't defend Metro, nor many of the recent design decisions by MS, but that doesn't mean they're moronic, only that they misjudged their customer base in one area.

MS have many excellent coders, engineers and systems people. For many years they were "the" company to work for, being a part of the Microsoft Family meant you were part of something big. They also pay well and give great benefits. [1]

It's all well and good being grandly idealistic and banging the FS drum, but when you've got mouths to feed and a mortgage to pay, choosing between buttons for your dream or £100k+ working for the man, many a skilled person has begun rationalising that very choice - including two people we know.
 

have never known a single company manufacture products so far apart on
the brilliant/crap spectrum as Microsoft (well, maybe HP, but they
simply bought up all the good stuff they now own and then promptly
ruined all of it).

*cough* Oracle *cough*

For similar reasons as HP.

All big businesses will buy out companies to get their IP. All companies will tempt key personnel away from competitors to undermine them. It's business. Forget morals, forget ethics - that means nothing when the shareholders are shouting about bigger margins and threatening to remove you from your post as head of the company if you don't deliver.

Simon

[1] ISBN 0061624268. Fiction, but well researched and required reading for geeks.

-- 
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq