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Working at Microsoft, the Inside Scoop
bariswheel writes "Responding to the public interest, a long-time Apple and UNIX user/programmer, and a JPL/Caltech veteran, writes an insightful, articulate essay on the good, the bad, and the in-between experiences of working at Microsoft; concentrating on focus, unreality, company leadership, managers, source code, benefits and compensation, free soft drinks, work/life balance, Microsoft's not evil, and influence."
...for me, at least. Bear with me for a minute, because it's going to get weird.
I don't give a shit about evil or not evil per se. In my world, good taste begets goodness, and poor taste, or lack of taste at all, necessarily leads to evil. For example, respect for the user in providing a tasteful environment is the direct result of an awareness of the designer's humility towards others, and that implies a sense of one's own place in nature. On the other hand, a developer who flings feces at you via his software probably won't have much respect for you in the non-binary world either.
As for the article, it screams shit taste. The page layout reminds me of the Los Angeles freeway. The content appears to have been vomited out of Microsoft's press organ. I think I'll pass, and pass judgment on those who imagined it'd reflect well.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
The author is either a bigtime suckup, a twit, or too overpaid and comfortable to work for a company that is truly not evil. Hey, just admit that evil pays better and we'll respect you more. These hollow justifications sound more like he's trying to convince himself.
we will end no whine before its time
I believe that's still considered unethical, and should still be technically illegal....
I realize this may be completely impossible to believe, but before you start saying this guy is a shill, did you ever stop to think that this just MIGHT be a real article? And there just MIGHT be people who enjoy working at Microsoft? Is it really that hard to believe?
Or are you so bound by your narrow worldview of a particular company being 'evil' that you have to figuratively cover your ears and scream, "I'M NOT LISTENING!" even when something innocent like this crops up? How naive can you get?
M$ loses, on the average, at least 10 software piracy cases per year (that is, those cases which are brought against M$)! Now this isn't counting all those cases which aren't so cut-and-dried that M$ can continue to reappeal until said complainants are sued into poverty (recall how they eventually ended up with the name "Internet Explorer").
Gee...do you think these facts mean anything???
You sound like the jackoffs on teevee saying, "I support our troops." ...which proves my point about the discussion descending to adolescent levels.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I wonder if it really has to do with sustaining the pipeline, as much being mired in corperate BS. Why is this company that makes money hand over fist with some of the best programming talent you can find putting out products that are hardly better than the last version?
I wish there was a -1 Logical Fallacy comment moderation.
Your comment that MS is "putting out products that are hardly better than the last version" is highly subjective, and 100% false to the vast majority of people in the world -- whom I'm sure you'll probably dismiss ignorantly as "sheeple" or somesuch. The facts, if you care too look them up, is that MS is *constantly* innovating, constantly exploring new ideas, constantly adding feature after feature.
Your claims that the company cannot sustain itself are baseless and probably just wishful thinking.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
I'm not going to bother to read the article. It's real, in the sense that it has words that make sentences. Other than that, who knows. Microsoft has squandered any trust they may have once had. Even if the opinion was genuine, it's irrelevant.
Microsoft has invented people before. The Apple Switcher is a good example of that. They took stock photos and wrote up a story of how Apple sucks and Microsoft rocks. Is this blog any less fake? You don't know unless you know the person you can't tell. Because you can't tell, reading is a waste of time.
Reading is also a waste of time because the thing described is irrelevant. I've read enough articles describing the process of begging Bill Gates to know that no employee can ever make a difference. Even if they could, M$ has a long way to go before they are anything but third rate. Bill has screwed his partners, customers and his investors to create this stuff I could care less about. How he treats his slaves is something even less important to me than the software itself.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.