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Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

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Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#161

Post by cookingrobot »

ww520 wrote: post #132
psychotik wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Windows 7 had none of the services that it should. It's 2012, don't you think it's a bit late already?

Wasn't Windows Vista beyond bad at the time? Windows 7's mission was to retrofit that. Adding more features (cloud, services, whatever) would have delayed the fix to the damages caused by Vista. He's probably more focused in delivering a solution fast then. On that he had succeeded. The lack of services in Win7 was more of a fault of the guy(s) causing the Vista fiasco in the first place.

Vista wasn't a fiasco. It was a rushed, focused, and pragmatic fix to the fiasco that was Longhorn. Don't remember Windows Longhorn? That's because Vista was a success.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#163

Post by zizee »

cookingrobot wrote: post #161
ww520 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't Windows Vista beyond bad at the time? Windows 7's mission was to retrofit that. Adding more features (cloud, services, whatever) would have delayed the fix to the damages caused by Vista. He's probably more focused in delivering a solution fast then. On that he had succeeded. The lack of services in Win7 was more of a fault of the guy(s) causing the Vista fiasco in the first place.

Vista wasn't a fiasco. It was a rushed, focused, and pragmatic fix to the fiasco that was Longhorn. Don't remember Windows Longhorn? That's because Vista was a success.

Windows Longhorn was the internal codename for Vista. I think that you are thinking of Windows 7 being rushed, focused, and pragmatic fix to the fiasco that was Vista.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista

From the first paragraph of the article:

Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn"

edit: ref to wikipedia edit2: suggestion to parent.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#164

Post by cookingrobot »

benihana wrote: post #111
sriramk wrote: post #35

This is a stunning development and most of MSFT is probably in shock right now. It's hard to overstate the scope and influence Sinofsky had at MSFT. This was a man widely expected to be the next CEO and he had impact way outside his organization (the 'Sinofsky-ization of teams'). Also, his stock was rising inside MSFT (when you stay inside the company long enough, you can sense which executives are in trouble and whi…

Typical Microsoft of late. Apple makes a tablet, then Microsoft makes a tablet. Apple fires some executives, then Microsoft fires some executives.

I know you're being silly.. but reality is messier than that. Apple released a tablet in 1993. Microsoft released serious tablets in 2002. Apple again in 2010, and now MS with their own branded device. Reality is less about leading a trend than hopscotching the competitor.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#165

Post by cookingrobot »

randomfool wrote: post #36
benihana wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was his idea of an ideal organization?

He was a big fan of the triad- Dev, Test & PM, at every level. From what I experienced, at every level you'd have to get sign-off from all 3 for any features to be implemented. That, combined with Microsoft's incredibly deep org structure created a massive number of 'committees' to go through to get signoff for any work to be done. He was also one to dictate things from up above and it was extremely difficult to unde…

Honestly it wasn't so bad. PM's with vision and proof could force their will, devs with talent and credibility could dictate the approach, and testers with open eyes could hold the team to their commitments. It's ok to specialize and lean on your partners.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#166

Post by erikpukinskis »

colmvp wrote: post #124
psychotik wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I said it was underwhelming. Underwhelming != failure.

Even as a Mac only guy, I don't see how Surface is thought to be underwhelming. I think the tablet gestures they have, especially using the edges, are steps beyond the iPad and iOS and I expect Apple to copy them at some point in time. And then the actual interface is pretty nice as well: distinct, clean, beautiful. Again, I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple riffing on them.

I think the gestures are cool, and in a world where everyone was really into "neat" interfaces it'd be the way to go. They score particularly high on efficiency.

But designers tend to drastically underestimate discoverabity, particularly discoverabity by novice users. Many entire software companies exist purely because the market leader's product lacks discoverabity of a feature. Twitter, in some ways, exists because blogging software doesn't make it obvious that you can use their platforms for microblogging.

If you think of usability as a funnel, with discoverabity feeding into learnability feeding into usefulness feedin into ease of use feeding into efficiency feeding into fun, discoverabity is like your home page. It's where you have the biggest drop off of engagement typically, and it's where problems can absolutely make or break you.

Offscreen and corner gestures, while useful and efficient, are often so undiscoverable that they almost exist only for power users. On the lates Build and Analyze, Marco Arment said he has to include a button to show the side navigation on The Magazine because so many people have no idea they can swipe in from the left.

Apple typically gets this better than most companies, and will use a text button instead of a gesture because they know that even if 80% of users discover the gesture, they just can't rely on it for your core interaction. Because the 20% will just walk away and tell all their friends the product is crap.

My prediction is that over-reliance on gestures and hot corners will put a serious damper on Windows 8 and Windows Phone's network effects. It's good design for power users, but it's in no way universal design and for an OS universal design is a must.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#167

Post by bitwize »

psychotik wrote: post #47
sriramk wrote: post #35

This is a stunning development and most of MSFT is probably in shock right now. It's hard to overstate the scope and influence Sinofsky had at MSFT. This was a man widely expected to be the next CEO and he had impact way outside his organization (the 'Sinofsky-ization of teams'). Also, his stock was rising inside MSFT (when you stay inside the company long enough, you can sense which executives are in trouble and whi…

He was always polarizing and that his stock was rising is equally contentious, IMO. Windows 8 was late, Surface seems to be underwhelming and his inability to be a real team player are all likely factors here, as is his rumored disagreement with Ballmer (though I had Ballmer on the losing end of that one). You're right that this will change Microsoft at a deep level, but I think odds are good that it's a change for t…

He was always polarizing and that his stock was rising is equally contentious, IMO. Windows 8 was late, Surface seems to be underwhelming and his inability to be a real team player are all likely factors here, as is his rumored disagreement with Ballmer (though I had Ballmer on the losing end of that one).

If Microsoft is as full of smart people as is rumored, Sinofsky is far from the only guy there who disagrees with Ballmer.

If Ballmer fires them and installs yes-men in their place it'll be the end of Microsoft.

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#168

Post by gosub »

ww520 wrote: post #136
j_baker wrote: post #22

Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for. Dear lord. This sounds like something from Office Space. What exactly is the kind of "team player" the company is looking for?

I don't know. I found out the hard way that being too good a "team player" will hurt you. People would just shove work to you or to your team. Or take resources from you in the guise of good for the team. One time in a prior company, an important database/server was under my team's responsibility. Another team needed processing power and asked to borrow some capacity before they ordered their own hardware. Being a te…

renice 15 `pgrep other_team_process`

Re: Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

#169

Post by cookingrobot »

BarkMore wrote: post #126
Evbn wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That just means a six month vacation. Plenty of folks bounce around between the big cos.

The Microsoft employment contract has a one year non-compete clause. Microsoft has shown that it is willing to enforce non-competes and it is easy to do so under Washington State law.

That's why you file in California.
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