It's a sad tale, if you hear Dick Brass tell it. In a new op-ed for the
New York Times, the former Microsoft VP explains how he thinks the Microsoft corporate culture has "never developed a true system for innovation," and that while the company is obviously strong at the moment, he doesn't see the company retaining its dominance if or when the Office and Windows revenues die down. His own anecdotes are a little heartbreaking: his team developed ClearType (first announced in 1998), but due to infighting and jealousy within the company, was kept from shipping as a default until 2007 with Windows Vista. Similarly he argues that the
Tablet PC was much restricted by an Office team that didn't believe in the concept, and therefore never developed a version of Office that was stylus-friendly. Dick left the company in 2004, and he says the tablet group at Microsoft has since been eliminated, and that almost all the executives in charge of "music, e-books, phone, online, search and tablet efforts over the past decade" have also left. The man isn't out to get Microsoft: he sees the company as important, and its profits have obviously gone to great philanthropic ends through Bill Gates and others, but if what he says about the anti-innovative corporate culture is true, it sounds like Microsoft has some work to do before it can return to its place of preeminence as an innovator, instead of the fast and effective follower it seems to be becoming in many areas.
posted February 4th 2010 9:31AM
I wonder if this is entirely true. If so, it's a real shame that awesomeness from within failed to come out.
@Rem DX
I have heard in past an insider opinion that MS has too much career managers. After couple of "good" years on mid-management position in MS one can easily find a top management position in smaller company. That attracts lots of people to the management positions who want their time in MS to be as safe as possible. Obviously innovations bear lots of risks and consequently gets shuffled on mid-management level.
@Rem DX
I have btw recalled the context. It was about testing: why in MS no manager want to be responsible for the testing. When testing software, one makes few friends and receives even less positive recommendations. What also looks bad on manager's CV so nobody picks the job.
Innovations I think are in the same boat.
@Rem DX
I have some really good friends that have worked at Microsoft. Every one of them complained of this. Doing things "different" is looked down upon. That is why they no longer work there.
The other thing they have mentioned to me is that there is a "kiss-ass" culture. Know this happens at every large company, but apparently at Microsoft, it is over the top.
@Rem DX
Undoubtedly a lot of it is true. That doesn't stop him from coming across as a bitter ex-employee who left over 5 years ago (when MS were crap) who isn't really up to speed with the massive change that's taken place over the last 2 years.
Just sayin'
@Rem DX
MS lost its capability to innovate a few years ago ( maybe after Billy retired?) , it still produces some solid products because of the sheer mass of its quality filled human capital and their legacy patents and because it can play catch up with products from really innovative companies.
I guess that being a big multinational company and being nimble at the same time is not an easy feat to achieve.
I remember an interview with L. Page and S. Brin in which more or less they said that they see MS as a warning and as a constant reminder of what Google has to strive never to become.
Well it seems to have worked: Google is a big multinational giant and it still managed to mantain most of its nimbleness and much of its innovative capability.
Chapeau (as my french mom used to say).
This is what happens when a company is too silo-ed. For example, they actually purchase services from one another. Lots of times, a business group will decide it's cheaper to develop it's own software or service rather than purchase it from the group like they're supposed to, because they believe it's "cheaper". They have the time and the talent, so why not? The problem is, in the end, it's much more efficient to purchase it from the other group. I won't give specifics but I've seen it happen.
@Dnnr
This is something accountants love because it allows every business unit to have relavance to the bottom line. It may be a no-bid situation, but having to "purchase" from your own company keeps internal-only departments constrained. On the flip side, if you have to purchase from your own business units - managers may forgo using a service that keeps the internal department up and running. Simple solutions don't always get the right answer.
unfortunately, i don't think this is going to be much of a wake up call for Microsoft. i didn't know that the tablet team was dead, rather sad to hear. what will happen to the MS Courier?
@Precision
Just because some guy who used to work there 6 years ago says it's dead, it doesn't actually mean it's still true.
It's not like they'll still be sending him updates.
@Precision, 11 more days and we may find out. We still don't know if the Courier is an overlay/application in Windows 7 which would be the Tablet team or if it is a Tegra 2 type implementation which could be another team entirely.
@Precision MS Courier...
The font or the tablet?
@Rem DX Very true, this dude worked in the Longhorn/Vista era of turbulence, when Gates was wrapping up. Look at how on the ball Microsoft was in 2009
@Rem DX Very true, especially since he was "pushed out" of Microsoft so pinches of salt at the ready.
@Rem DX
no, but if he worked in the company for 7 years you'd assume he made a friend or two along the way that he still has contact with.
while i won't take his words for the whole truth, i don't think you can dismiss them completely either.
@Precision I had many close friends during my 12 years of elementary and secondary education... However, even 12 years of friendship doesn't exactly translate into good relationship six years later when you are in the real world (including 4~5 yrs of college years that you don't really see your old buddies and... beerponging with your college buddies started in freshman year). I doubt just because you've worked 7 yrs in the big company... you so called friends at old company would tell you such important thing. It's borderline corporate espionage at least.
@kittridge
fortunately kittridge, business relationships are a bit different than those you formed in elementry school. in business, what "connections" you have sometimes give you more value then your actual skill set.
if he was a VP in microsoft, i'd assume he was smart enough to appreciate maintaining those contacts.
@Precision Hey! Tablet's not dead, I work with that product team.
This is absurd. Look at everything that Microsoft Research has done. They are a powerhouse in innovation. Although their research may not reach the consumer level, they are still very much "bringing us the future" much like IBM's research arm.
@radio2, what I find weird is that he is viewing it from the consumers perspective since he has been out of the company so long. I would agree their innovation is mostly seen in the corporate world. I really see Microsoft taking great strides at developing their business toward the consumer market. Especially with the hopes of making partner projects like the Courier (if it is real).
@radio2 - that guy left MS 6 years ago, which is half a millennium in the tech world. A lot could have changed in that time, and haven't there been some pretty massive organizational changes recently?
Also, why should Cleartype have been the default setting in 2001, when XP shipped? It only works with LCDs, and LCDs were few and far between back then.
Sounds like a lot of rather meaningless bla bla to me.
@radio2 You've hit the nail right on the head. Microsoft is at the leading edge of innovation is lots of fields. It's just that unless you work as a robotics engineer or research scientist you'll never see or hear about any of it. Microsoft has their hands in lots of markets and seem to keep expanding, but I don't think anyone would be surprised that normal individual consumers make a small percentage of their revenue and because of that receive less of their focus.
@radio2
MS research licenses their tech to 3rd parties to develop. So even if MS doesn't turn the promising ones into products it is likely someone else will.
@radio2
i think Microsoft has a lot of great stuff coming out of R&D its just not a lot of it is actually ending up as real products.
@Precision
You nailed the problem right on its head. Now if someone can just answer the 64 billion dollar question: Why?
@radio2
Very true, a number of very cool and interesting things come out of Microsoft Research, but the true measure of innovation that we're looking at on a broader scale is what makes it to consumers. The courier tablet will do little good for the industry as a whole unless it actually makes its way to maturity and gets out into the world.
The same with the Surface team's Second Light, the demo video of that blew my socks off, but I have yet to see that kind of technology implemented in the real world, and to me that's a little sad. I want to see these crazy concepts succeed, and unfortunately they don't often go beyond a leaked video or two.
I can't speak quite as specifically to IBM's research arm, but my impression is that more of that makes it to the real world. Mind you, a lot of that isn't meant for direct consumer consumption, but rather for companies to license/use, so it's harder for me to gauge how much of it makes it to market.
@NewL
I remember at the time it also seemed to slow down some of the (low end) hardware we had back then. I often left it switched off for speed.
I think this guy is telling the truth. Just look at Microsoft, it's bleeding talent and playing catch-up in everything. There's clearly a problem in leadership here.
But how do we know he's not just lying?
@HardToBelieve
Because a.) a lot of other Microsoft employees and ex-employees have talked about it, b.) his story jibes with what we all see from the outside: a stagnant, bumbling company living on past glories, and c.) his story follows the familiar pattern exhibited by companies that have successfully monopolized their markets.
My only objection to the article being reviewed is the title: "Microsoft's Creative Destruction". "Microsoft's Creative Self-Destruction" is more accurate.
@(Unverified)
a.) Who are these "a lot of other Microsoft employees and ex-employees"? I know a couple of ex-microsoft employees who have moved onto other things, and they bitch about every company they have worked for too.
b.) Who is "we all"? I'm not entirely sure where you are coming from. Personally I see Windows 7, WM7, Natal, the Courier concept etc. as non-stagnant.
c.) What I see more from this following trends of large companies, is perhaps the usual empire-building, politics and in-fighting, something that every single large company has to some degree and rampant in government agencies.
Apple is the fashion designer, Microsoft is the pimply faced CS major. (with all due respect to my CS buddies)
Apple might not have much under the hood but dang is she sexy and just showing up to the party demanding attention. Microsoft on the other hand brings the goods but sends a guy in a khakis with a slideshow presentation and can't figure out why no one thinks they are hot.
@DizWhiz
What a silly overgeneralization. One of the reasons macs gained serious traction in the 2000s was because many people (including a significant fraction of geeks who didnt want to use linux for various reasons) found OS X to be superior to the stale XP. Microsoft didnt really strike back until last year with 7
@billobob But silly overgeneralizations are my specialty... I don't really have any other skills alright! Do I show up and call you out on your lack of depth or personality? NO!
Excuse me I need to go get a hug from Yeoman Chambers...
Nonsense. MacOS had considerable advantages to Windows all along. It only gained traction against Windows when more pervasive and more effective marketing came into place. Apple just put on a tight dress and high heels.
@DizWhiz I would have agreed with this comment, maybe 5-10 years ago. Back then Windows XP had a colored task bar, but that was the extent of looking good that Windows had. And back then OS X was lacking much more internal power other than a pretty GUI.
The fact is, neither is true today. With Vista MS tried to move towards a "sexier" experience with Windows, and with 7 they seem to have nailed it pretty well. At the same time, OS X has more an more power with every version. We've gone to more powerful Intel CPUs, 64 bit, and now things like OpenCL to get every last bit of power.
I'm on neither side at all. I have a PC and a Mac in front of me now, both working in perfect harmony doing their own things, but I can't honestly tell friends that one is pretty and one is functional anymore. With Windows 7, Windows has become a VERY good OS in nearly all aspects, but with 10.5 and now 10.6, OS X has done the same.
I'd say the playing fields are getting MUCH more even these days.
@AJerman Okay I think everyone missed the humor behind my post. I never implied that one is actually sexier than the other, I described how people (not us silly the other 99% of the population) see them as different.
Right or wrong (and I own Mac and Windows machines cause I swing both ways) average people may love their windows box but they are still aware that Apple = sexy, cool and hip right now. Is it true? Many say it's just brilliant marketing (which it is) but perception counts more than truth in our society which gives them the upper hand.
@DizWhiz I see what you mean. You didn't make any indication that you weren't saying it as you felt. I thought you were referring to the fact that Windows really was ugly, and Mac OS really was useless at a time.
I think most people get an idea in their head and are never willing to change their mind. A lot of people may have heard people talking about how PCs were boring and Macs were just pretty and useless, and now that things changed, they still continue to think the same way.
Things change though. As much of a power user as I am, I use my Mac on a daily basis and have a very hard time trying to find something I can do on my Windows PC that I can't do on my Mac. With 7 and 10.6 I really do think the playing fields are even. I don't see either as better than the other now.
@AJerman you are right in the OS stakes. Its a level playing field and both have there advantages, however there is one contributing factor that still keeps me leaning more towards PC's, and thats cost. I am getting more and more enquiries on how to replace OSX with Windows 7 on a variety of Mac Platforms, which as I see is a bit of an idiotic thing to do, you're paying for a premium on hardware with a mac that is considerably higher then a PC so that the hardware is perfectly harmonised with the OS, then replace it with something you can do with more power on a PC for less cost. Unless Apple do something about there price point (and hopefully reach an out of court settlement with some of there ongoing court cases) then I'm thinking they may need another "big boom" product and i'm talking more ipod then ipad. The problem with all inovation is the cost to success ratio, products spend years in development usually by smaller research companies before the big players can visualise the marketing and strategy that will make it a success. Taking this into account I think its pretty wrong to say that companies like Apple and MS have ever been innovative, and more correct to say the have "Marketed Innovative Products".
Basically this reflects a major problem in corporate America. Management wants credit but not responsibility....this leads to "Take no risk" and "Do not talk to anyone outside your department".
And then there is the thinking that the shareholders are the customers.
The good news is given the poor design (sorry implementation since it wasn't really designed) of Office 2007 I would not be suprised to see MS lose that too.
@LongKnights you speak in truths, spot on.
I've escaped the corporate world (for now) and it is true, from small to giant companies, that the mindset of low-risk, high-exposure or I'm not touching it mindset kills creative thinking and innovation.
Microsoft never adds anything to their product line that hasn't been proven by someone else having developed it already that is worth a tinkers dam. The last thing they produced that was revolutionary was Bob, and we all know how successful that was. Way to go Melinda!!!
@ctp
So you know of some other product that can encapsulate encrypted IPv6 traffic through the IPv4 HTTP protocol and re-assemble the IPv6 packets at the other end, operated at the machine level, and allows a laptop user to be always connected to his home LAN without having to initiate a VPN?
@Ordeith2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6to4
@ctp
That is not the same thing. Let me try to explain.
With Windows 7 your machine can operate as if it connected to a switch in your sever room wherever it is in the world if it has internet access. Proxy's and firewalls won't break the connection as the packets can be wrapped in standard IPv4 protocols such as HTTP.
It isn't a routing stopgap like the article you mentioned.
While Dick Brass's comments could be correct at some point, it's not fair for an ex-VP to make such comments publicly about his previous company. After all he quit (or was fired I'm not sure). I wouldn't take his comment too seriously. MS is too huge for just 1 or few people to judge, not even a VP.
@Pork
It might not be fair to the incompetent boobs running the stagnant company but I don't think Mr. Brass will be getting any hate mail from the stockholders who are all probably wondering whether the company has any mojo left at all.
Layers of middle management. Although I really don't like the way Apple is going with their closed approach, false marketing, and elitist attitude - I will hand it to Steve Jobs for being a clear leader/figurehead and keeping his vision clear down the chain of command.
Microsoft needs a visionary leader that is passionate enough to get into the trenches to lead things. No offense to the current upper management of MS - but from the press it seems like they are all just money guys. And, yeah, that is important.
Man, I would love the job of company visionary. I bet a lot of Engadget visitors would too (and do a great job!). The problem is, like breaking in the movie business, there is a lot of talent and vision that will never stand the chance of leading a tech army to success.
@Anatidae I've seen plenty of up-beat brilliant minds join an organization full of ideas and years of experience have their soul crushed within 6-12 months due to the low risk, high exposure culture. Suffice to say they left soon after.
It isn't so much a Microsoft problem as it's a peek into a larger US corporation problem of having the wrong set of goals - Self Image > Shareholders > Sales > Innovation
So all those executives that were in charge of stuff that went to nowhere during those days.. did they leave because they were being blocked, or were they just ineffective?
The author's description of MS as a "fast and effective follower" may be both kind and true, but I also believe Microsoft innovates as well. They just don't seem to be defining the industry with their visions.. Google and Apple are somehow able to influence the future via adoption when they release products. Moreover, the things that Microsoft is most innovative on are never really pushed to the forefront (Courier for example, speech, plenty of Labs and Research stuff) except in the few cases where the public begged for it, like PhotoSynth.
Thngs are different now though. Ideas seem to be implemented when they are thought up (look at Bing's excellent Maps product made in Silverlight). It shows where they are hungry. As was said the company is "obviously strong at the moment" and therefore something's going on for them.. They have my admiration and I hope they live up to it be ***releasing product*** with great new ideas.
Just so it doesn't seem like I'm giving them free pass: These guys are really wasting lots of opportunity to introduce NEW. Picasa and iPhoto came and obliterated Windows Live on Face tagging and recognition. Office 2010 looks a whole lot like Office 2007.. better, but 2007 was really innovative so this could be more. Zune is awesome, why does WMP12 suck compared to WMP11? List goes on