Tag: Microsoft culture

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ZDNet: a look behind the scenes at the Windows Vista release

Wonder what life is like in the days prior to release of Window Vista? ZDNet has a look at life in Redmond in their article, “Vista: Behind the scenes.” Inside Redmond



“Down the hall from shiproom, Windows unit employees can pick up the latest builds. About 500 people pick up a DVD with new code in person each day, with many more getting the code over the network, and some even bringing their home machines into the office.


“That list includes rank-and-file Windows employees, as well as some of the company’s top brass. Allchin and his technical assistant, for example, are still trying to find bugs that the servers and development teams have missed.


“Elsewhere, Allchin is testing a multimonitor set-up with four displays, including some in portrait mode. Paul Donnelly, who manages part of Microsoft’s Vista test operation, has been doing the same thing for some time. As the finalization deadline has neared, he has added more systems to his office. As of last week, he had nine machines crammed into his office. He is among those who nearly always picks up the daily build.”


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Of Interest: Jim Allchin blogging on Vista

If you haven’t seen it on the http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/, Jim Allchin (Co-President of the Platform and Services Division) is blogging now. From Jim:



“Welcome to the new and improved Windows Vista blog.  A few months back, I pushed our team to bring the blog from the blogging Dark Ages into something a little more modern.  The blog back then wasn’t quite doing the job.  Postings were infrequent, and the site wasn’t particularly helpful.


“In May, the team really turned the corner and today we’re launching the newly updated look and feel.  I hope you’ll agree it’s a big improvement.  It incorporates some key parts of the Windows Vista visuals.  We’ve also improved the organization of the site, so things should be easier to find.  The team’s providing great information, and I’m happy to see the comments and feedback from the community through the comments on the site.  I read these regularly, as do many others in the Windows leadership team, so please keep the feedback coming.”


The feedback is heard, circulated, shared and acted upon. I think that you’ll see more concrete examples in the weeks and months to come as Vista roles out.


Of further interest: see the interview with Jim on channel9.


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Your questions: Should I upgrade to Windows Vista?

I was asked via email this week a couple of times for my opinion on whether consumers should upgrade their Windows XP computers to the upcoming Windows Vista. Today in the Seattle Times, there’s a question from a reader of the Personal Technology Q&A column who asks “whether there would be any advantage to my upgrading to Windows Vista?”


The author, Patrick Marshall, recommends that they hold off on upgrading from XP until Vista is glitch-free:



“I wouldn’t recommend anyone upgrade to Vista on a machine they care about until the new operating system starts shipping, and maybe even for a while after that. I’ve been using Vista on a test machine for several months and there are still a number of glitches.


“Once Vista ships, you may want to consider upgrading, especially if you’re using your computer for such things as online banking. Fact is, while Vista offers a new slick look to the operating system, the more significant improvements are in security.”


OK, that makes sense, and falls in line with my general advice: waiting until Windows Vista is released and shipping makes sense for many consumers. At our home, not all PCs have been migrated to the latest Vista builds for various reasons… mainly related to legacy games for the kids that only run under Win9x compatibility mode. Many advanced consumers and computer users have already installed the Vista release candidates to get an early look at what to expect. I know of many consumers using the latest versions of Vista, and their experiences have been generally positive.


At home, I have found that the latest release candidate performs much better and is more reliable than XP (disclaimer: I work at MS), and admit that I run Windows XP and Vista side by side for various reasons. (In one case, I’m waiting for a hardware BIOS upgrade for my Tablet). That’s why I set up a dual boot system when I started with Vista RC1.


PC World published their own Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista last February, when they said…



“while the sleek new look and polished interface caught my eye, it’s what’s under the covers that impressed me most. Microsoft’s done a great job of improving security across the board. Things like Windows and spyware library updates are streamlined, and I definitely appreciate the more robust Backup software.



“Here’s what to be excited about:




  1. Security, security, security.


  2. Internet Explorer 7.


  3. Righteous eye candy, with the Aero Glass interface.


  4. Desktop search.


  5. Better updates via Windows Update, making it easier to keep your PC secure.


  6. More media: Windows Media Player, Windows Photo Gallery, DVD Maker and a new Movie Maker.


  7. Parental controls.


  8. Better backups with improved built-in data-backup software.


  9. Peer-to-peer collaboration.


  10. Quick setup.”

If you have one PC at home, run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to evaluate your current PC, as I mentioned in a previous post. That will provide a good assessment.


There are also reasons that some customers may decide not to upgrade, due to PC hardware limitations or legacy software incompatibilities – that will be the case for our kid’s PC, until we test their must have game software. That includes their favourite educational software like Encarta that is included in Microsoft Student, edutainment titles (Knowledge Adventure’s Adiboo!), general entertainment titles like our own Zoo Tycoon, online sites like PBS Kids! to MSN Games and Disney’s ToonTown (which seems to work fine so far in IE7). 


I’m off now as the kids are up – time to finish making Halloween costumes. We have an extra hour thanks to daylight saving time.


More information:



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A look inside the Microsoft Home

Today, MSN Tech takes you on a tour of the Microsoft Home.


“A shining steel, geodesic structure where food appears upon command, robots handle all manual chores and families in unisex jumpsuits gather around the hologram station before tucking themselves into their sterile sleeping pods for the night. Does this fit your general vision of the home of the future? Blame that on Hollywood. What might the average American home look like in the next few years? This big question floats around the Microsoft Home, situated within a building on the company’s main corporate campus in Redmond, Wash. The home’s mission: To explore ways technology could improve our daily lives in the near future.”


Per the web page on our corp site, “Located on Microsoft Corp.’s Redmond, Wash. campus, the Microsoft® Home is a concept facility that models technology that might enhance life at home five to 10 years from now. Microsoft uses the facility to research and test future consumer technology concepts and explore how people use technology in the home. The Microsoft Home is housed within Microsoft’s Executive Briefing Center. Although it’s not a stand-alone house, the Microsoft Home simulates a domestic environment including a front door, entry/foyer, kitchen, family room, dining room, entertainment room and bedroom.”


More information:



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FC’s “Talk to Our Customers? Are You Crazy?”

In Fast Company, there is a good article (quick read) from the July issue, Talk to Our Customers? Are You Crazy? by Ian Wylie. The author looks at how Credit Suisse is working to “think different” about its customers.



“Stephan Kubler spends each and every working day spying on Credit Suisse customers. He’s part of a small team led by customer-experience renegade David McQuillen, a 36-year-old American who’s challenging the top executives at the blue-chip Swiss bank to get out of their Zurich offices and–gulp!–meet some customers.


…says McQuillen: “You need to go out and talk to customers to find out what they want.”


“You can do this stuff in two or three days–you don’t have to spend half a million dollars on research. Just go and observe.” 


I completely agree.


I was asked recently how much I interact with customers. I’ll argue not enough, but as I’ve noted previously, we run surveys, focus groups and lots of meetings to talk about customers. I meet with people across the company and hear what their customers — our customers — are telling them, asking from us, lamenting about and (in some cases) giving us praise. I get more out of visiting with customers in retail shops, on the road, in formal gatherings (sometimes in our Executive Briefing Center – here’s one example), via phone and email. And I share this with the people I work with across the company: some people are better at getting the word out than I am, but I work at being an advocate every day for our customers and partners…


And our execs hear the word on the street, too: this from Fortune Magazine:



“[Steve] Ballmer asked [Kevin] Johnson to work closely with [Ray] Ozzie and run organizational interference for him. Before this new platforms job, Johnson had spent 2 1/2 years running Microsoft’s sales, where he talked to customers every day. He shares Ozzie’s user-first obsession more than any other top executive, and the two bonded immediately.”


And this from Kevin Turner in the Mercury News:



“I travel around the world. It’s a global job talking to customers and partners and our people. Here I’m meeting with an all hands. I’m meeting with customers and partners and having the same spirited discussion and take it a back to our people.”