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A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the so-many-shiny-boxes dept.

I'm Don Giovanni writes "David Weiss of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) gives a virtual tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab at Redmond, reportedly one of the largest Mac labs outside of Apple (includes 150 Mac minis!)." Great pictures. From the article: "The first area in the Mac Lab is what we call the Sandbox. This is where we keep all significant hardware configurations Apple has released that run our products. We'll use the Plasma display to, watch DVDs and play games, uh er, I mean, do important training presentations. ;-) It's actually very useful because everyone can be in front of a computer and still see the main screen and follow along. Often other groups at Microsoft (the games group, hardware drivers group and even the Windows media group) will come and schedule time in the Mac Lab to test their software on the different hardware configurations."

27 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. I feel a disturbance in the force... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...as if millions of slashdotters applied for testing jobs at Microsoft and then were suddenly silenced.

  2. How ironic... by tdvaughan · · Score: 5, Funny

    It looks like the Mac Business Unit alone is responsible for at least 1% out of Apple's 5% market share!

    1. Re:How ironic... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

      for at least 1% out of Apple's 5% market share!

      Does that mean they're responsible for 0.05% of the market share?

  3. Well OF COURSE they have a Mac lab! by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where do you think the Vista user interface design team has been spending all it's time?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  4. Does Apple have a Windows lab? by the_humeister · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now that iTunes and other apps run in Windows, does Apple have a Windows lab?

    1. Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? by linguae · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Because there's more to a PC than its processor?

      If Apple were developing systems software and operating systems for vanilla x86 PCs, then I will agree with your statement. Apple would need a vanilla PC lab in order to test all of the hardware combinations.

      However, Apple doesn't develop systems software for Windows that require in-depth knowledge about hardware drivers. When developing regular Windows systems software, it doesn't matter if you are using a vanilla Intel or AMD machine or a Mac (there is no difference between a Mac and a PC other than the fact that the Mac doesn't use legacy components such as BIOS, serial/parallel ports, floppy drives, etc.). With the Intel switch, Apple doesn't need to run out and buy a lab of vanilla PCs; they can just manufacture a few more Mac Minis, install Windows, and start hacking.

    2. Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? by Stephen+Gilbert · · Score: 4, Funny

      And if they do, do other groups at Apple line up to use it?

    3. Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? by mblase · · Score: 4, Informative

      does Apple have a Windows lab?

      How else do you think they got BootCamp up and running?

    4. Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Gotta post anon, but yeah. Despite all the noise about unfairness, we do a fair bit of benchmarking against similar hardware. That and not everything is written for a Mac; we are a hardware company and we do design hardware. Sometimes we can get it to run on a Mac, but sometimes it's better to just buy a few Dell's, throw Linux and Windows on them and give them to the teams. It's the ship date that matters, not whether we eat our own dog food (although we do try to eat it when possible).

    5. Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? by mh101 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Only because they mistakenly think it's the lineup for the washrooms.

      --
      Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
  5. Undercover marketing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Between this and the story we heard yesterday from the ex-Unix Microsoft programmer, do you get the feeling that some sort of viral/undercover "come work at Microsoft" marketing is going on?

    1. Re:Undercover marketing? by prichardson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Microsoft doesn't need to advertise for people to want to work there. They have people lining up at the door to work there.

      --
      Help I'm a rock.
    2. Re:Undercover marketing? by YU+Nicks+NE+Way · · Score: 4, Funny
      For that you need well-rounded renaissance men and women, architects and dilettantes who synthesize the arts, literature, science, and engineering
      Not to mention plastic injection molding...
  6. The last guy who did this got fired. by justinarthur · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is very interesting to see since the last guy in the news to blog about Microsoft's Macs got fired for it. Perhaps this is the rebound from the bad press they recieved over that incident?

    1. Re:The last guy who did this got fired. by donutello · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The Macs he photographed were going to the XBox360 team to use as dev kits. At that time it was not publicly announced that the 360 would be based upon a PowerPC core. My guess is that had something to do with his firing.

      --
      Mmmm.. Donuts
    2. Re:The last guy who did this got fired. by Babbster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even more than what he took pictures of, it sounds like the primary concern is the overall security of the area. Loading docks are where you find perhaps the biggest danger of theft in any business ("it fell off the truck"). Publishing pictures of a company's loading dock/area could expose security flaws...insert joke about Windows security here...and give evildoers a way to plan a theft.

    3. Re:The last guy who did this got fired. by bsartist · · Score: 3, Funny

      the most interesting thefts were those of people who would attempt to steal full trailers full of computers. They almost always failed.

      Amost always??? Details, please... ;-)

      --
      Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  7. Microsoft Advocacy by MrNonchalant · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This seems like it's part of a broader wave of MS advocacy and transparency that has unfolded over the past year or so. Although I still don't like Microsoft terribly much, these glimpses inside have given me some pause. The employees and culture seem actually decent enough.

  8. Door label by Wm_K · · Score: 5, Funny

    Off the record but I've heard that the label on the Mac lab door actually reads "the copy room"

  9. A Tour of Microsoft's Fucking Kill You Lab by Orrin+Bloquy · · Score: 4, Funny

    An entire room filled with bright, cheerful Microserfs wearing shirt padding and plastic bald caps greet me as I enter the Fucking Kill You Lab in Redmond's well-lit East Campus. Before I can say a word, chairs fly across the room in all directions as each vows to Fucking Kill (TM) Google, Apple, Sun, Linus Torvalds, and inexplicably, Olestra.

    Fucking Kill You Lab director Thaul Purrott tells me that this is "the future of Windows innovation" and not surprisingly, customer support just as an airborne chair caster nearly decapitates him.

    --
    "Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on /. and I must look smart."
  10. Free Soda... by djocyko · · Score: 3, Funny

    But no Coke Zero? Lame.

  11. Re:Bug Testing by LordLucless · · Score: 4, Funny

    The answer is in that quote:

    The testers investigate the failures, log any bugs and then move on to their other duties as testers.

    It doesn't say anyone actaully fixes the bugs they log, does it?

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  12. Linux Lab by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here's a tour of Microsoft's Linux Lab:






    Cool, huh?

  13. Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? by truthsearch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A Microsoft employee is reporting on Mac use from a site owned by Google? Hang on, I think I see a pig passing by my 4th story window...

    Why is his blog not on an MSN domain or something like that?

    --
    Developers: We can use your help.
  14. PR crap by metamatic · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Often other groups at Microsoft (the games group, hardware drivers group and even the Windows media group) will come and schedule time in the Mac Lab to test their software on the different hardware configurations.

    Yeah, right. The Windows media group have given up on Windows Media Player for the Mac, so what are they testing?

    And since when does the Microsoft games group develop anything for the Mac? Halo was ported by Westlake Interactive and MacSoft, and they dropped the Mac port of Flight Simulator decades ago. So what games are actually written at Microsoft for the Mac?

    Drivers? They licensed the code for their Mac mouse drivers from Alessandro Montalcini. Maybe they do a little testing now and again, but most of it is just USB HID anyway. Do Microsoft make any other hardware for the Mac?

    Internet Explorer? Oh, sorry, they dropped that too.

    The whole thing smells like PR crap designed to make Microsoft look like a major developer of Mac software, when in truth all they really work on these days is Office.

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    1. Re:PR crap by ThousandStars · · Score: 3, Informative
      major developer of Mac software, when in truth all they really work on these days is Office.

      Office alone makes Microsoft a major developer of Mac software. The two most important ISVs for Apple are Microsoft and Adobe. One argue which one is more important -- I see the views of both sides, though I think Adobe is more important because recreating Office would be easier than CS 2 -- but they're both essential to maintaining the vitality of the Mac platform.

  15. Re:Internet Explorer by phillymjs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder why they couldn't keep developing Internet Explorer??

    Because (to paraphrase their official statement) they could not hope to compete, because they couldn't get the kind of access to OS X that the Safari team could.

    It's actually kind of funny when you remember that Microsoft always disputed other Windows developers' claims that they couldn't compete against Microsoft's own Windows applications for much the same reason. The term "Chinese wall" comes to mind.

    ~Philly