Microsoft Tackles Tough Times

That is, until this beauty of a quarter.

To get the bad news out of the way fast, Microsoft pre-announced its numbers. Profits are down 11 percent, but total sales are up 2 percent. For Microsoft, this is dismal, and is leading the company to lay off some 5,000 people. But for anyone else, this would be cause for celebration.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 23, 20090 comments

Cloud Data Sharing Gets New Beta Release

More Live Mesh details will be out in March at Microsoft's MIX09 show. I've looked into Live Mesh and found the approach a bit complex. But in terms of features, if all my files can be accessed from any of the 10 or so PCs in my house, I'd be a happy camper.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 21, 20090 comments

The EU Can't Leave IE Alone

I thought I was having a '90s flashback when I heard that the EU has filed a formal complaint about Microsoft's practice of bundling the browser with the operating system. But there it was again, charging Redmond with illegal bundling.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 21, 20090 comments

Mailbag: Who's Cooler?, Saving the Economy

I am not a great Apple fan. I have always worked the Intel processor line. But I have to admit that Apple is way cool. The Mac was a super cool computer -- great operator interface and real user appeal. The entire product line calls out to the users. The biggest reason we aren't all driving Apples is the upfront cost and the big push IBM put on the PC as an enterprise machine. Most of our current GUI ideas first appeared on Apples. Apple reached out to the education market very early and still has a major presence there.

If I were a computer, which I am not, I think I would want to be an Apple. Even Forrest Gump thought Apples were cool.
-John

Microsoft is "cooler" because you know upfront that it's a competitive company. Apple is less cool because it's a "secret" monopoly.

My workplace? Very uncool.
-Anonymous

I feel Apple's coolness is trending downward and Microsoft's is trending up, although I'm not sure where each lies in relation to the other. When I interpret coolness, I view it as a personal thing. Some people have it, some don't. Apple has many great products that enable the individual to be cooler than their peers. Microsoft generally focuses on making great products that appeal to the business user. I feel in the last couple of years, Microsoft has taken great steps toward recognizing the individual. I also think that Apple will begin to experience many of the problems a larger, more mainstream company faces.

I personally think Microsoft is cooler.
-Lee

There are really two questions embedded in this question: Who's cooler to work for, and who's got cooler products. Apple wins the second question hands-down. Only if you like messing with the internals of your technology (like Linux lunatics) would you think that MS products are cooler.

The first question is much harder. If you've seen the docudrama "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" (tag line: "Good artists create...Great artists steal"), you would probably make the conclusion: Not only is neither cool to work for, they're probably both pretty uncool to work for. I've never worked for either and I've only known a couple of people who have worked for MS, so I can't answer that queston.
-Bill

Microsoft is very cool in many ways, and not so cool in others. It's cool in terms of its small pockets of teams who are enabled to dream big and applauded for their innovation. It's cool in its vision of what the world would be like if everyone just used their software for everything. It's cool in its philanthropic efforts, which are obviously led by Gates' work, but the culture is hyper-supportive of giving and will match not only money that is given, but time volunteered. It's cool in what its doing with SharePoint; most people, even in the industry, don't fully understand how far-reaching this platform is. And nearly every company has enough SharePoint in the form of WSS that is at no-cost, that they all need is MOSS. You don't have to be much of a business person to see why this is brilliant -- and thereby cool.

Apple is very cool in a much different way. Its coolness is much more felt by the general consumer public. I'll let somebody else comment on why that is, but hey, bottom line is it has some pretty cool products. And Steve Jobs is very cool. The guy just comes up with amazing stuff and inspires his people and the marketplace. That's very hard to do.

So, I guess I'd have to say both companies are cool. They have their warts, though. I've seen them first hand at Microsoft through the types of managers who get promoted. There are too many decisions made at levels that don't see it first hand in front of the customer and also aren't high enough to see the big picture. It leaves a middle-management crisis which results in constant turnover. This creates a culture where virtual teams become more important than formal chains of command -- which would be great if it were managed that way. However, it is not. It creates an odd culture that often leaves people feeling little trust in mid-level management. I'm sure Apple has its own problems, but not being an insider, I can't make any particular assertions.
-Brian

It never ceases to amaze me that the people that blast Microsoft for its money-grubbing ways and the fact that it is not open source like Linux are, many times, the same people that have a love-fest with the proprietary Apple.
-Joe

Posted by Doug Barney on January 21, 20090 comments

Seeding the Microsoft Cloud

Posted by Doug Barney on January 21, 20090 comments

New Redmond Virt Tool Rankles Top Journalist

Posted by Doug Barney on January 19, 20090 comments

Mailbag: Microsoft, Apple and the Cool Factor

Apple: Cool.
Microsoft: Somewhat cool.
Workplace: Uncool.
-Anonymous

Apple, cool. Microsoft, no. My workplace, no.
-Anonymous

Redmond is cooler. "The Simpsons" said it best. Yeah, I'm slightly prejudiced.

And to answer your question: My workplace is the coolest on the planet.
-David

Apple is cool. Microsoft is frigid.
-Mark

Microsoft is cool. Apple, not so much.
-Anonymous

The only thing actually cool about Apple is its marketing machine. Microsoft could learn something from it (or almost anyone) about hip marketing.
-Jeff

Come on. Apple may seem cool because Jobs is a GREAT salesman and convinced everyone who is a Mac-er that he's cool, but they are just easily impressed with ribbons and flashing lights. Jobs wears cool dress-down clothes (probably $1,000 apiece) that make him seem like he's a free thinker, not caught up in corporate structure, but that's crazy.

Bill Gates is a nerd and has developed his company and persona on the fact and he never tried to fool people. It is what it is. Are the guy and his products cool? Yeah, they are.
-Dan

Short answer: neither! They are businesses with profit-driven motivations. Gates, while to be lauded for his charity work, is doing so with his personal fortune, not Microsoft's, to my knowledge. Let us not forget that both Microsoft and Apple have BODs, investors, industry analysts and a slew of other interested parties to keep happy in terms of profit, loss, earnings, etc. It's time to stop conferring knighthood or sainthood on corporate execs, sports stars or winsome politicians.

My company (the largest consulting company no one's ever heard of, with annual revenues of over $8 billion), while an interesting and very entertaining place to work, is not cool either. I know full well that earnings, PBT and gross margins all drive decision-making, and no matter what HR lip service to "people-focused" and "professional development" is pandered about the workplace, the bottom line rules the roost here. Please do not think me cynical, however, as I believe that's how it should work.
-Mercury

I vote for Apple as cool as it beats Microsoft in every way except price. Microsoft is the cheaper alternative.
-Anonymous

Definitely Microsoft is cooler. Even years ago when I was taking classes for MCSE NT, I remember I always had some classmates thinking that MS is uncool. However, I told them then and I'll still say it today: "BLUE IS COOL!"
-Scott

Posted by Doug Barney on January 19, 20090 comments

Google Greenness Questioned

But a Harvard physicist argues differently. Alex Wissner-Gross (sounds like a physicist to me!) says that two Google queries emit as much CO2 as heating up a tea pot. The problem is that Google servers are highly distributed so a single query can reach out to servers churning away thousands of miles apart.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 19, 20090 comments

Microsoft in the Pink

My take? Microsoft can still be highly efficient and productive with a smaller workforce. After all, it's an aggressive capitalist enterprise; competition is in its DNA.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 19, 20090 comments

Stupid or Stupendous?

The idea may have come from the Wii controller. Remember when players would get so excited bowling or boxing that the controllers would fly out of their hands and into the TV screen? But I'm not sure how many of us will loop this beauty around our fingers every time we pick up the phone.

Posted by Doug Barney on January 16, 20090 comments

Jobs Concerns

Posted by Doug Barney on January 16, 20090 comments

Is Apple Cool?

Posted by Doug Barney on January 16, 20090 comments