The most interesting perspective I've seen on the conversation carried on here at Mini-Microsoft, especially given the Vista 2007 tirade (how's that for an example of quality corporate blogging?), came today from Musings of a Merry Mad Monk in the post Microsoft, Your Slip Is Showing (Passion)... a snippet:
[...] Skewering the Microsoft leadership. Calling for heads to roll. Frustration. Disgust. Dark humor. Cynicism. Optimism. Pessimism. Rage. Love. Hate.
Another reason -- big reason -- why the Microsoft commenters are so passionate: They give a damn. Whatever else you may think about their comments, their Give-A-Damn meter is registering in the Green. Sure, it may seem like I've got it ass backwards and they're pegged out in the dreaded Red zone.
I'm sure a few are indeed red-zoning, but what I see mostly are folks who want to to be the best. They want their team to be the best. They are proud people. They are winners. They hate the thought of losing -- in any endeavor... to any person or thing.
The people who work for Microsoft are not only some of the best minds in the computer industry, they give a damn about what they do. That is a good thing.
The particular post is well worth the full read.
So don't get me confused with the hate-ridden Microsoft bashers of the world (of whom I've been greased over with over the past week... oy). I know Microsoft can turn it around and the incoming generation of Microsofties will get the company back on track and make it a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine. Because we want things done right. If Microsofties didn't care about doing a good job and making Microsoft as good as it can be - forget comparing Microsoft to other corporate beasts, I'm comparing Microsoft to the best Microsoft it's capable of being - Mini-Microsoft wouldn't be at almost 7,000 comments.
(Okay, okay, not all of those comments are from Microsofties or ex-Microsofties... but it's a good chunk.)
There are problems. I feel it important to shine a public light on them so that they can be addressed and prioritized higher than figuring out which business group's features can be innovatingly entangled into another business group's upcoming release... it's also sort of a yodel from one business group to another, "Yodel-lay-dee-hoooo! Automation is kicking out useless, time-consuming issues and I can't check-in my security comments without failing 20 feature tests! How now for you out there?"
And my one final dream is that the shareholders will start putting their collective foot down and demanding effective change.
As for my passion check: either
(a) I'm extremely passionate about Microsoft for doing this blogging intervention to put it back on track and live up to its potential, or...
(b) I'm one heck of a corporate psychological study.
I'm betting on passion.
Administrivia: I've really cranked up the bar for moderating comments. About one third are being thrown into the bit-bucket coz I'm just plain not interested in hosting your anti-Microsoft negativity. I'm one cranky blogger... who only has himself to blame for his predicament. I still feel bad for (most) every comment I decline to post because I know someone spent a lot of time typing that up.
Don't let this happen to you. Save yourself some time if you're not adding signal to help suss-out solutions to the problems Microsoft is facing. There are plenty of other places looking to party with your bad self.
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