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Valid reasons to quit Google, but then he joins Microsoft?
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/research/default.aspx
[edit] If I have my James Whittaker's straight, he worked at Microsoft before going to Google. If I don't, he probably didn't.
Bad UX was forgivable a few years ago, but that is no longer the case. Google has not figured it out yet, but with the web maturing, I am glad that they are trying to evolve to be a more UX focused company.
Weird choice to post such an article on msdn.com, of all places.
In this regard, Microsoft's culture actually does a very good job of encouraging its employees to blog from the inside - I've never felt quite the level of direct engineer access and communication working on Google platforms as I have on MS platforms, even in cases where Google's platforms are actually superior. (Chalk it up to Google groups being a little opaque and Google product blogs being run by product managers.)
Between attack ads and blog posts it seems like Google is all that Microsoft have to discuss lately. Not sure if Google is flattered by this obsession. Wonder why the author chose not to post on his personal blog, a Microsoft employee bashing Google on an official Microsoft blog rings hollow, specially with the use of the same generic talking points. And using engineers as PR people isn’t the most sepathetic thing ei…
How does that work on the managing level? Are Microsoft engineers encouraged from top down to do this? Is it just a culture that gets passed indirectly through informal conversation between employees that influences this behavior? Or is just the PR firm they hired that keeps insisting on the same weapon?
Valid reasons to quit Google, but then he joins Microsoft?
The conventional wisdom is that people leave big companies to form startups. If he did that, Whittaker wouldn't be able to do anything that he wants to do- startups do not have the resources for large-scale "big thinking" and idea testing. They have a laser sharp focus on one thing. It sounds like Whittaker has no interest in that.
Valid reasons to quit Google, but then he joins Microsoft?
My impression is that Microsoft is actually very diversified and focused on technology. There was an article a while back about where the various large companies (Google, Apple and Microsoft) make their money; Microsoft had the most diversity by far. Microsoft is also not afraid to fail or try random things, which makes it much like the "old Google" in this blog post.
Valid reasons to quit Google, but then he joins Microsoft?
My impression is that Microsoft is actually very diversified and focused on technology. There was an article a while back about where the various large companies (Google, Apple and Microsoft) make their money; Microsoft had the most diversity by far. Microsoft is also not afraid to fail or try random things, which makes it much like the "old Google" in this blog post.
My belief is that Microsoft will improve, but I would not go there because they already have their technology goals right. (I would go to Microsoft as an intrapreneur trying to fix their technology/innovation story).
I am not a Google Employee - but I do want to defend Google here. Yes, Google used to be a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. However, in the process they built a huge amount of UX Debt. Bad UX was forgivable a few years ago, but that is no longer the case. Google has not figured it out yet, but with the web maturing, I am glad that they are trying to evolve to be a more UX focused company.
Google's recent UI changes are about branding, not UX.
Valid reasons to quit Google, but then he joins Microsoft?
Microsoft is unlikely to shut down MS Research. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/research/default.aspx [edit] If I have my James Whittaker's straight, he worked at Microsoft before going to Google. If I don't, he probably didn't.