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Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

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Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#51

Post by gumaflux »

morgante wrote: post #11
ferentchak wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you played with Azure or .Net Core? People tend to enjoy the Surface products too. In this regard I would not say they are "back" but better than Microsoft has ever been. Are they the best at everything... nah but heck the fact that I am saying many of their products are compelling is a big improvement

I've played with Azure and it's terrible. If a client wants me to use Azure instead of Google or Amazon, I literally charge a premium because it's so much more painful.

Do you mind elaborating a little on that? Sounds like a rather sweeping statement, like just because...

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#52

Post by justinlaster »

morgante wrote: post #45
justinlaster wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It most likely is out of date, but I've continued to see the same sentiments echo'd from other people recently, so haven't bothered to fully revinvestigate. I got the impression from my time with Google's offerings that their culture of "we're consumer focused, not devop focused" (anything from API's to reporting) completely plastered their offerings in the cloud space. >most also support GCP, but very few support Az…

> I got the impression from my time with Google's offerings that their culture of "we're consumer focused, not devop focused" (anything from API's to reporting) Huh? What does "consumer focused" even mean in the cloud space? Google has made a substantial effort to buff up their cloud offerings in the past few years and it definitely shows. (AWS is still my first choice though.) > This might be a case of different tec…

>What does "consumer focused" even mean in the cloud space?

Nothing. It's their general company culture. They don't tend to actually create good API's/tooling in my experience. It always seems like an after thought. From google maps to their cloud offerings.

>If you're working with a Microsoft stack then of course Azure will come out ahead. I'm coming from a generic Linux background.

I work with Linux and Microsoft stacks on a daily basis, but certainly that could just mean I've chosen tools that explicitly won't conflict with each other. However, I'm still interested to hear what tools don't work with Azure (with the assumption that there is some quality about Azure that prevents/disincentives that tool from doing so).

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#53

Post by morgante »

okreallywtf wrote: post #40
morgante wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've played with Azure and it's terrible. If a client wants me to use Azure instead of Google or Amazon, I literally charge a premium because it's so much more painful.

What are the problems you have the most with it? I've been working with it for a couple years now and despite a clunky interface (and the bifurcation of the two portals) the infrastructure has seemed pretty solid and has saved us (small dev shop working for small/medium companies) a ton of time and money. For most things (spinning up a new env with databases, redis caches, storage accounts etc) it is remarkably easy…

It's been a while since I last used Azure, but here are some of the bigger problems I remember:

1. No managed option for MySQL or Postgres hosting.

2. Hard to find resources in the panel and lots of confusion on security practices.

3. Instances randomly dying at an astonishing rate.

You're right that "terrible" is hyperbole. I'm sure there are people who are happy with Azure, especially if they're using a Microsoft stack.

Your translation of "terrible" is how I feel about GCP: it's fine, but it takes me longer to do things because I'm familiar with AWS. Compared to Azure, where I would spend hours on trying to do something and still couldn't find a way to do it.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#55

Post by scholia »

rb808 wrote: post #14

I dont understand the new Microsoft business model. I've stopped using office, Windows is now free(?), but most stuff is in the browser anyway. We used to pay a lot of money for SQL server but now there are lots of free open source alternatives. Sure Azure might make some money but its a commodity business, I can't see how it will replace the old cash cows.

> Windows is now free(?)

To answer your question: Windows is only free on small-screen devices [1]. Windows 10 is a paid-for OS, but it was offered as a free upgrade to people who had paid for Windows 7 & 8.

Windows 10 includes free upgrades for the life of the device [2]. This is the industry-standard procedure. If you buy an Android or iOS device, you also get free OS upgrades for the life of the device.

[1] Microsoft was pretty much the only company that used Windows on smartphones -- at least in volume -- so it decided to stop charging itself.

[2] Windows 10 gets regular feature upgrades. There is no Windows 11, so there will never be a case for charging for a Windows 11 upgrade.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#56

Post by dpark »

UK-AL wrote: post #49
manyxcxi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like all big companies your experience depends more on your group than the company as a whole. I've got a number of friends at MSFT in various tech roles, some have their own office as a developer, some are in a cube or open floor environment. My personal experience, having worked on a few skunkworks projects over there with a couple of different teams was that there were two people to an office that was probably ori…

They've gotten rid off the office per developer thing now. So not surprised. A large part is probably demographics of developers is now changing.

It's not entirely gone but it's dying. I'm still in a private office. Lots of devs on my team are doubled up, though. Many teams have already moved to open spaces.

Demographics are a factor. Lots of devs, especially younger devs, and especially devs who've worked at other younger companies are asking for open floor plans. Not all of them, but a sizable chunk. That plus reduced cost for providing office space to devs is pushing the company in the direction of open office spaces. I haven't seen a building get significantly renovated and not end up with open spaces.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#57

Post by slumberlust »

rb808 wrote: post #14

I dont understand the new Microsoft business model. I've stopped using office, Windows is now free(?), but most stuff is in the browser anyway. We used to pay a lot of money for SQL server but now there are lots of free open source alternatives. Sure Azure might make some money but its a commodity business, I can't see how it will replace the old cash cows.

If you can't see the business model, you're it.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#60

Post by mikestew »

manyxcxi wrote: post #43
UK-AL wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft used to have a really good reputation for developers. Used to one of the few companies where each developer had their own office.

Like all big companies your experience depends more on your group than the company as a whole. I've got a number of friends at MSFT in various tech roles, some have their own office as a developer, some are in a cube or open floor environment. My personal experience, having worked on a few skunkworks projects over there with a couple of different teams was that there were two people to an office that was probably ori…

Like all big companies your experience depends more on your group than the company as a whole. I've got a number of friends at MSFT in various tech roles, some have their own office as a developer, some are in a cube or open floor environment.

Note that the post you're replying to uses the past tense. The vast majority of my tenure at MSFT was in a private office, but that was over ten years ago. It is my understanding that things have changed since.

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