Torres Talking: Microsoft

Dare on Ads: Vista vs. Mac OS X

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:36:20 GMT

Dare has a post up comparing a new Windows Vista ad with a new OS X ad. I'm going to give him credit for doing it first and then I'm going to blatently rip off his idea of posting the videos for people to compare. He's already received a bunch of thoughtful comments - I'd love to hear more about what people think about these ads.

Windows Vista:

Mac OS X:

I appreciate what Tim had to say about this in Dare's comments: "These advertisements are very much like advertisements in political campaigns. One says positive things about itself, the other says negative things about its opponent. I tend to cross out any candidate who needs to resort to mudslinging to make themselves look good."

And what Ben said: "The second one is typical of Apple's smug, arrogant ads. Note how they mention Vista several times, but never the Mac. Apple's ads are like Pepsi's ads - they spend all their time trying to tear down the competition instead of building up themselves, which leaves them with a real "second place" feeling. That said, unlike most Mac ads, this one doesn't lie - UAC is really annoying."

And finally what Josh had to say which made me chuckle: "In essence the Apple ad communicates that Vista takes itself too seriously and the Microsoft ad for Vista serves well to confirm this suspicion."

My 2 cents: I actually like the Vista one better. It's a little pretentious (is an operating system release really as inspiring as the fall of communism?) but it's a feel-good commercial. When you watch it, you feel a sense of awe about the world. The Apple commercial on the other hand is funny for anyone who has used Vista, but really only appeals to a small percentage of people today. 99% of the people who will see this ad in the next 6 months just won't get it.

Advantage: Vista. For inspiring instead of insulting.

(posted with Windows Live Writer running on Windows Vista on a MacBook Pro!)

It's funny...

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 05:59:56 GMT

If you read a lot of pretentious tech blogs like I do, you would have no idea that Microsoft has the world's best corporate reputation, just reported quarterly earnings that topped expectations and its own forecast, and is #1 in the world in overall web traffic.

Just goes to show that the echo chamber isn't everything. Do normal people (i.e. people who don't know what a WordPress is) really think Microsoft is "irrelevant" like some of the silly blogs I've been reading over the last few weeks? I don't know. But I seriously doubt it... and every conversation I have with non-techies validates this for me.

Oh well. Back to work.

Smartphones, Palms, & Zune

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 02:14:35 GMT

I was wandering around one of the buildings on campus the other day when I overheard some folks talking about the Zune. One of them loved it, the other one didn't. The one who was smitten with the Zune was quick to point out that whatever shortcomings people have with the current version of the Zune will be addressed within a relatively short amount of time. "Remember the first Pocket PC? That thing was a brick!" he proclaimed. "And what about those first Smartphones? Those things were absolutely horrible - now the best phones on the market are Smartphones!"

I couldn't help but chuckle thinking back to my first Palm Pilot Professional - a $300 purchase... which was ridiculous for a college kid with absolutely zero income (although it does seem my habits haven't changed much in the 10 years since.) I loved that little thing like a long lost sibling. The Palm Pilot was all over the place, even mentioned on primetime television much like the iPod is now. "Whatever Microsoft comes out with couldn't possibly get people to switch from the Palm Pilot!" they said.

Flash forward a little bit to the 1998 Windows CE Developer Conference where the "Palm-size PC" was announced. As an attendee, I got to take one home with me. The batteries had to be replaced every day with normal use (no joke) and ActiveSync was even worse then than it is now. I used it for less than a month and went out and bought a Palm III to replace it. It was a joke. I eventually upgraded to the Palm V (gorgeous!) and stayed away from anything with a Windows logo on it for a while. "They stand no shot, Palm is everywhere!"

Until the Compaq iPaq Pocket PC hit the scene. This thing was light years ahead of any Palm device out at the time and quickly because my PDA of choice. Even though I've owned a few Treos (three, I think) since then, this was a massive turning point for Windows powered mobile devices.

Now, when you take a look at the landscape of kickass portable devices, anything branded Palm ends up being just an option amongst many - and one could make a strong argument that the best devices (including, of course, the very best device Palm itself offers) are run on Windows Mobile. It took some time, but Windows Mobile has finally matured to the point where people are actually looking for the Windows logo before buying a phone. Crazy how things have changed. And it turns out Windows Mobile has caught up to both Palm and Blackberry in terms of marketshare this year, something no one thought was possible just a few years ago.

Seriously, take a look at these phones... I've walked through the Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint stores this past week and these are far and away the coolest smartphones out there.

Samsung Blackjack

Motorola Q

T-Mobile Dash

So what does this have to do with Zune? Well, if you're counting the Zune out of the race already, you may end up being surprised in a few years. Things have a strange way of shifting when you least expect it, especially with things that have a lifespan of just a year or two like a cell phone or an iPod. And with the inevitable convergence of entertainment and "smartphone", who knows what will happen? Then again, Apple has a much further headstart than Palm or Blackberry ever did in their niche ;)

Sidebar: if you're interested in the next-gen of Windows Mobile, check it out here.

Microsoft Momentum

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:34:16 GMT

Momentum is kind of a hard thing to define. In baseball, momentum is defined as "tomorrow's starting pitcher" as there's really no indication that momentum carries over from one game to the next as people might expect. Momentum in the stock market can't really be determined as stocks rise and fall for reasons us non-Buffetts can't explain. Rosabeth Moss Kanter wrote about momentum and the role confidence plays in the process in her book aptly titled Confidence. From Amazon's review of the book:

"Losing streaks are often created and then perpetuated when people lose confidence in their leaders and systems, while winning streaks are fueled by confident people who are secure in their own abilities and the ability of their leaders."

In my almost four years at Microsoft, I have very much felt like I play for a once-great team who just can't catch a break. Don't get me wrong, most of this has been our fault; wrong decisions have been made and products have slipped inexplicably... and because of this, negativity has permeated people's external and internal perceptions of the company. And typically, especially with the mainstream press and blogging community, the echo chamber takes hold and before you know it, everyone is starting their article with "The fallen giant" or XYZ "the Windows killer".

I think it's safe to say that confidence in Microsoft has been low for a while now. Confidence that we can deliver on time and confidence that we can deliver cool stuff. Well, I truly feel that all that is coming to an end. Right now. Today. I've personally never been more confident in the output of this company after the past few weeks' events.

Forget the fact that Microsoft is being overshadowed by Google and that Google is looking like the 800lb gorilla beating down Microsoft. Microsoft has other plans they’ve been working on — plans that have been really coming together the past few weeks and that quite frankly, I’m sitting here in amazement.
Source: Techcrunch » Microsoft’s Entertainment Domination Plan

There's just an amazing amount of momentum around Microsoft right now. I know I sound like a cheerleader again, but if you just take a look around the web over the past few weeks, people are starting to understand what the company has been up to for the past few years - and they seem genuinely excited again. The 2007 Office System was released to manufacturing, Live Search is cranking on all cylinders (see Live Local 3D?), Xbox and Zune are taking digital entertainment by storm with movie and TV downloads, .NET Framework 3.0 is out with all sorts of smart client and graphical goodness, and just today, Windows Vista was released to manufacturing! Oh, and the stock even broke 29 for the first time in a long time.

This week, Microsoft said that it would meet its forecasts for Xbox 360 console shipments and ship 10 million units by the end of 2006. That prediction, along with the recent debuts of eagerly awaited game titles such as "Gears of War" and "Call of Duty 3," puts the Xbox 360 in a tremendous position as Sony limps into the market with fewer PlayStation 3 units than previously expected.

In addition, Microsoft now expects to have shipped 13 to 15 million Xbox 360 consoles by mid-2007.

Source: Microsoft: Xbox 360 Shipments on Track

I'm seriously looking forward to seeing this confidence in the company and the positive momentum continue. Of course, in order to do that, we have to deliver. Hopefully we can continue to do that.

As with any self-respecting blogger, I hate to say anything positive about Microsoft because they are synonymous with evil (just kidding!), but I must admit that the latest update to Virtual Earth — or whatever we’re supposed to be calling it nowadays, which is probably Windows Live Web Search Satellite Virtual 3-D Planet — is pretty damn cool.
Source: Get your virtual billboards here! » Mathew Ingram

Let's rock...

Best Microsoft Blog

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:00:18 GMT

I've been meaning to say something about Jensen Harris' blog for quite some time. Every time his name appears bold in Bloglines, I know I'm about to learn something fun about the new (and quite frankly, amazing) Office user interface.

If anyone at Microsoft wants a template for the perfect employee blog, my vote goes to Jensen. He provides an amazing amount of clarity around a very interesting topic. And there's not a "wanna be celebrity" vibe to it for a second, which is refreshing.

Check out http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh

Microsoft & the Desktop

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:15:00 GMT

In taking a look at Windows Live Writer, Joe Wilcox writes:

Microsoft naturally wants to pull relevance back to the desktop. Where Web 2.0 services will rely on browsers, widgets and other light applications, Microsoft will offer its greatest Web service utility through heavy desktop software. Windows Live Writer is superb example and clearly foreshadows where Windows Live is headed.

Source: Microsoft Monitor

This is a typical stance taken by many, many people... who have never worked at Microsoft.

I've been in MSN/Live for almost four years now. I've been in a ton of meetings with executives (yes, including a few with Bill) and I've been in more planning meetings than I could possibly count... and I've never been in a meeting where an executive or anyone else a) handed out a mandate to "protect" Windows at the expense of the web or b) indicated that Windows Live is "headed" to the desktop... or that we need to "pull relevance back to the desktop".

It's just never happened. And I doubt it ever will.

This is also assuming that a) executives drive all priorities for teams in their divisions, b) product teams (especially those in different divisions) are in constant contact with one another, or that c) each team has commitments to drive Windows licenses. This is seriously bold... and seriously invalid.

We build software for our customers. Our customers want the best tools for the job. And no one could really claim that today's web beats a client-side publishing tool. We evaluate opportunities in small teams of smart people and try to make the best choices for our customers. And we make sure to take a detailed look at the marketplace to evaluate all of our options for the business before investing too heavily. It's really not much more complex than that.

(It goes without saying that this is me speaking and not my employer. Other people may have had different personal experiences at Microsoft. It's a large company.)

Photosynth rocks!

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 19:44:46 GMT

"What if your photo collection was an entry point into the world, like a wormhole that you could jump through and explore…" - Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Live Labs

Very cool stuff coming from Live Labs these days. This stuff is truly mindblowing; if you want to see the future of photos online, you have to check this stuff out. Imagine what this could mean for a service like Windows Live Spaces with millions of photos uploaded around the world every single day... Or Windows Live Local for navigation through the "virtual earth".

Check that crazy stuff out. You might want to start at the Photosynth homepage or with this short video.

BTW, I can't tell you how jealous it makes me that these guys are chilling in cool office space on the 5th floor of the Smith Tower while I have to drive 40 minutes every morning over to the burbs.

Windows: the experience

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 03:29:17 GMT

The rollout of Windows Live services continues at breakneak speed (which seems to have many people surprised) and the realization that Microsoft is serious about online services is starting to take hold. Because of this, both John Battelle and Tim O'Reilly say that Microsoft should spin off "LiveSoft" to compete with Google head-on without the "baggage" of the rest of the company. Come on.

Is it me or are people focusing on the wrong thing?

It isn't about Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X or Google vs. Windows Live. It's ultimately about the digital lifestyle and convergence. It's about the complete "stack" from your PC to your mobile device, television, the web, and beyond.

The thing is: Windows isn't just a PC operating system anymore; it's quickly becoming the best seamless end-to-end experience. Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, Xbox 360 (Windows Media Center Extender), and Windows Live. One without the other will work just fine, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

It isn't about the web any more than it's about the office... or the mobile device... or the living room. The key is to make it all work together like magic. And Microsoft, more than any other company in existence, is in a fantastic position to do this.

Origami Project

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 03:12:21 GMT

The web is abuzz with talk of a new "thing" from Microsoft.

What could it be? Scoble strongly hints that it's some new kind of device. All I can say is that whatever it is, I have seen it. And yes, it really is worthy of hype. If this thing (whatever it is) hits with the kind of splash it deserves, it'll be pretty revolutionary. Maybe not right away, but certainly in time. OK, I've said too much.

Check it out:

http://www.origamiproject.com/

(Side note: I don't know why Microsoft projects like this one rely on RSS for "notification"; that isn't really what it's for. We have this cool platform called Alerts that we've invested in over the years that's perfect for real-time notification via IM, email, OR SMS. Use this and RSS please! I want instant gratification when this thing launches.)

Talking about Ray Ozzie blogging

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 18:11:59 GMT

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's CTO, is blogging again using Spaces. You'll want to subscribe to this feed.

Check it out:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/rayozzie

Microsoft & Macy's

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 23:23:42 GMT

A very interesting post by Om Malik (here's a snippet; click the link below for the full post)

Om Malik’s Broadband Blog — What do Macy and Microsoft Live Have In Common?
The Web 2.0 pioneers who created some fantastic new apps are like those star designers. They created the template of what’s cool. A few months later, just like Macy’s Microsoft learnt the new babble. Microsoft Office Live, is the watered down version of Web 2.0, wrapped in a business model for folks who don’t know and frankly don’t care about Ajax or whatever that goes into the cauldron. I am not quite sure how it is going to play out, but that’s all that it is. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't necessarily agree with Om's comparison of Microsoft to Macy's but I can definitely see where he's coming from. We haven't done much over the last few years to be seen as a Web 2.0 innovator... but I have high hopes that over the next few months and years we can change that. And if not, maybe that's OK so long as we're building a great business out of it while delighting our users (...and I'm the first to admit we need to work much harder on this as a company).

Om does make a good point about the masses - this is something we've been saying about Spaces for almost a year now. We aren't just interested in early adopters and pundits. We want our services to be used by everyone in the world, so sometimes we pass on something that's "just cool" because we want to make sure we meet the needs of people in Belgium or China... It isn't easy. As a matter of fact, working on international software with complex underlying systems and loads of cross-network integration is really difficult. But at the end of the day, if we aren't the first to market with something, hopefully we're the first to get a bunch of people exposed to it.

For the record though, I'm personally not satisfied being a "watered down" version of anything... first to market or not.

Tomorrow's Big Event

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 20:41:22 GMT

I'll post a bit more tomorrow once I'm allowed to ;)

Quote

Microsoft May Expand Web-Based Offerings
Microsoft Corp. is widely expected to announce on Tuesday further forays into software and services that can be accessed over the Internet — a growing competitive arena that some say could eventually threaten Microsoft's biggest cash cows.

Microsoft Fingerprint Reader

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 23:01:29 GMT

I picked one of these up for like $20 at the company store last week.

I'm totally impressed with this little thing. It doesn't do all that much - but what it does, it does really well. You can train it to recognize any of your fingers for Windows XP login or login to any website (snazzy!). It's basically a password manager, but with a fingerprint trigger. Typing passwords has never been so easy ;)

Talking about Microsoft Gadgets

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:47:11 GMT

Crazy cool.

Quote

Microsoft Gadgets
What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business.

Bill Gates Webcast

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:33:09 GMT

Bill Gates' Webcast from the PDC starts right now.

Looking one year out...

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 07:02:11 GMT

With the PDC and the Tokyo Game Show both happening this week, I'm expecting a lot of cool and unexpected announcements coming from Microsoft and our partners. The next 12 months are, for a lot of teams, the culmination of 5+ years of work performed by thousands of people on a daily basis.

Windows Vista, Office 12, IE 7, Start.com, Xbox 360, SQL Server 2005, .NET Framework 2.0 & Visual Studio 2005, Smart Clients & XAML, amazing new Windows Mobile phones, Virtual Earth, MSN Spaces & Messenger, "Kahuna" Hotmail, the MSN Developer Network, MSN Search, and about a hundred other things no one even knows about outside of Redmond are set to absolutely explode. It's mindblowing to think about, really. It kind of makes you wonder how we got along this last year if the next one is going to be 5x as impactful.

I've said it a lot over the last 6 months, but this is exactly what I have been waiting for since I joined Microsoft back in January 2003. To me, this is New Year's Eve... I can't imagine a more exciting time to work in technology or at this company. And as a fan, I can't imagine anything better than sitting back and being hit with a firehose of new stuff, starting now and continuing into 2006... and hopefully never slowing down.

Say what you want about Microsoft being slow, old, and boring. Just make sure that before you open your mouth, you buckle up. The biggest year in Microsoft's 30 year history starts right now. Come along for the ride or watch from the sidelines. Either way, you can't miss it.