PC World magazine’s Stephen Manes offers some parting advice for Bill Gates as he “transitions” out of Microsoft:
• Quit kidding yourself. Do some soul-searching and publicly disown the longstanding public-relations fantasy that Microsoft has something to do with “innovation.” Your business has always been about taking others’ ideas and selling them with a Microsoft badge. Period. After CP/M came DOS; after Mac came Windows; after Palm came Pocket PC; after Netscape came IE. And those are just the most obvious examples.
• Insist on quality and security. Microsoft ads say “Your potential. Our passion,” but the real motto should be “Do the Minimum.” Whenever I pick up a Microsoft product, I expect stupid or dysfunctional design. You rarely disappoint me.
• Shake up the talent. Nobody in a position of authority at Microsoft ever seems to get fired. Many should be. How many times can a product jettison features and miss deadlines before its handlers get the boot? How many security flaws can pop up before their creators walk the plank?
• Stop making crap. Software has to run, not crash, before it can fly.
Full article with more here.
So true, but Microsoft has little chance of actually executing any of Manes’ suggestions.
Related articles:
The Economist: Apple’s Steve Jobs is Bill Gates’ secret ‘Chief Software Architect’ replacement wish – June 22, 2006
Requiem for Bill Gates – June 16, 2006
Bill Gates to transition out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft – June 15, 2006
Hmm. Some of the natives seem to be getting a bit restless….
Advice to pigeons: Stop crapping on statues.
… nope, they aren’t going to listen either.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! My personal favorite STOP MAKING CRAP….. I damn near hit the floor in spasms seeing this. GO PCWorld give em hell…
They’re like the Titanic…but with a broken rudder. Even if the rudder worked, they still couldn’t get out of the way.
Soon to follow:
Hordes of people posting msgs about how this isn’t Mac news, calling this MSDN blah blah blah…
speaking of people who should just shut up… where are all the idiots who said AAPL would be at $40 by now?
My advice for Microsoft: simply stop all together.
Whenever I pick up a Microsoft product, I expect stupid or dysfunctional design. You rarely disappoint me.
how about not buying it then DDUUHHHHHHHHHH
if that was actually published in the magazine…..wow, good show
Damn, that was harsh. Although, completely deserved.
I believe now more than ever that the era of Microsoft is over. They are moving only on inertia. Vista is going to fail, I mean really fail. I think Apple and OS X is primed and ready for a huge renaissance and resurgence. Apple needs to take the gloves off and go for the killer blow. Apple should start focusing on the enterprise. I still think many people buy PCs because they use them at work and people are creatures of habit. Even though the enterprise market is not that big or has limited growth potential, I still think Apple would sell many more iMacs if they were sitting on people’s desks at work.
PC World, huh? Mutiny on the Bounty?”
And this on PC World? Amazing. Almost to think people are starting to think by themselves. 1984 ?
I like the quote: Embrace the idea that quality and security have to be built in, not tested in.
Absofsckinglutely! So much Microsoft does not get it that even Gates said in an interview that Windows HAS to be the best security-wise in that with all the attacks Microsoft now knows a lot about security and with all the flaws exposed by cracker patched so far then Windows must be more secure than other OSes who had not their flaws exposed.
Ridiculous
stop writing crap!
if Microsoft wasn’t great then why does EVERYONE (who is not a loooozar) buy their stuff?
seriously anuybody who uses windows instead of just complaining about it likes it just fine.
macs – noun – a solution in search of a problem that aint there!
And where the Hell is “Mac Realist” today? Has the PC World cat got your tongue, “MR”? Or are you still in PE class and just haven’t read the latest slam on your beloved MonkeySoft?
Gawd, but this has to hurt the all-too-wise “MR,” especially since he told us, one and all, that he was shorting the stock and rebuying at $47. Hmmm, where’s your Messiah NOW, “Mac Realist”? (Billy Crystal doing Edward G. Robinson.)
re:Advice to PC world
Wow, a crippled troll. LOL.
Steve Ballmer’s Chair is right (now THAT is a funny sentence) – I notice that Stock Boy has picked up and left since the stock has been rising. Where is he now? I’ll tell you where I am now: I am invested even further into AAPL, and have made a ton of money on this stock. Eat shit and die, Stock Boy!!! Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa..a..a..aaa!!!
Notice how MS has to continually give its products away free (IE), or at a loss (Xbox) or strong arm its resellers (Windows OS) to actually get it into consumers hands? How long can a company stay viable with this type of business model?
Jimbo, thanks so much for the memory refresher! I had completely forgotten about “Stock Boy” and his addled advice!
I think that he and “Mac Realist” must be lying quietly under a rock somewhere licking their wounds right now. (I hope that’s ALL they’re licking!)
And the news/stock price is going to get even worse (for them, that is) the closer we get to WWDC. The truth is that this gathering was scheduled to have taken place in June, but since the Mac community had to sit quietly an additional two months–with relatively little “leaking” of new information–the stock price dropped and a relative malaise descended upon us.
However, that period has almost passed now, and the bandwagon has begun to roll once again. Hang on, “MR” and “SB”; it’s going to be a fast a furious ride!
“if Microsoft wasn’t great then why does EVERYONE (who is not a loooozar) buy their stuff?”
Because MS threaten PC makers to stop offerring other OS’s, such as IBM’s OS/2 in their boxes.
Becasue MS threaten PC makers to only offer IE as the defualt web browser.
Because MS as created a small world of certifications for their products that many individual and companies have spent a fortune on.
Becasue MS applications don’t play nice with other software.
I’d like to see Vista give Duke Nukem a run for its money.
Am I in a parallel universe? That’s an article I didn’t expect to see in a PC publication. Can’t argue with it however, it’s dead on. Either the author is trolling for attention or there is much more resentment towards MS and its products than I was aware of. Will this get picked up in the media? Doubt it, but it would be nice.
Telling Microshaft to stop making crap is like telling Dell to stop making crap.
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Man, if you’re a Windoze guy that has to sting like hell.
Someone give that guy a Mac and let his wishes come true.
“Stop making crap!”
Come onnnn . . . telling Microsoft to stop making crap is like telling yours truly to stop humping.
I mean, some things will never change.
Re: Triumph
. . . telling Microsoft to stop making crap is like telling yours truly to stop humping…
…your owners leg? stuffed animals? the pillows on the couch? all the garden gnomes in the neighborhood?
or worse yet… Windows users?