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As most of you know, today is my last day as a fulltime employee at Microsoft. It’s been an exciting 16+ years and all I can say is that I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be in this industry and at Microsoft. What an incredible chance to work with such a great set of people. I was also very fortunate to be in an environment that allowed me to work on a team that was able to have such a positive and significant impact on the way people play and work with technology.
What’s truly amazing to me is that we are just at the beginning for what technology will be able to do. The next 50 years are going to be much more exciting than the last 50 (and that’s saying a lot!) when you consider the potential impact technology advances will have on people and businesses.
Lots of people have been asking me what comes next. In the long term, I can tell you honestly that I don’t know. While the term “retire” has been used to describe people at all stages of their lives as they leave a job, for a guy my age it’s a pretty strange term. I’m not exactly the golfing type. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and frankly getting some rest.
While I don’t know what I will be up to in the long term (although charity will be one key focus), I have a pretty good sense of what I will be doing in the near term, so I thought I would share what I think a typical day might look like.
It might go something like this:
- 7:00 AM: Breakfast with my sons. Ended up doing a product comparison review of the various cereals we had in our pantry. Sugar does beat the natural stuff and my suspicions about the impact of packaging on the post purchase experience were spot on. It turns out the box does matter.
- 7:40 AM: Kids off to school.
- 7:45 AM: Went to check email. Only two pieces.
- 7:46 AM: Checked network connection to see why I am not getting any email. Everything working perfectly.
- 8:00 AM: Went to clean up the playroom so that it’s organized for when the kids get home. Ended up building an application to sort the Legos using a SQL Server backend and a Windows Presentation Foundation front-end on Windows Vista. Can’t decide whether the primary index of the database should be color or size of the piece. While searching the web discovered that Lego means “I put together” in Latin.
- 9:30 AM: Spent 45 minutes looking around the house for the big refrigerator with the free soda just like Microsoft – was unable to find it.
- 10:15 AM: Worked on my Windows logo latch hook rug – another couple days and I’ll finish the red.
- 11:00 AM: Watched Rachel Ray – god is she engaging. Maybe she should do the launch of the next version of Windows.
- 11:30 AM: Checked mail again. No messages.
- 11:31 AM: Turned off Spam filter.
- 12:00 PM: Went out to lunch with my wife. Was surprised to see so many other people out for lunch during the week. I wonder if they have been buzzing around for all of these years that I have been in building 26.
- 1:30 PM: Went to check out the Apple store at University Village to see what all of the hype was about. Ended up demoing Windows Vista for all of the employees (and a few customers). All they could say was “Wow.” Ended up leading a group of them over to BestBuy to help them pick out new PCs with Windows Vista pre-loaded. Need to go to the Bellevue store tomorrow.
- 3:00 PM: Checked email. 150 unread messages. Unfortunately, 149 of them were spam.
- 3:10 PM: Turned Spam filter back on.
- 3:15 PM: Went to drive the afternoon carpool run. Spent 20 minutes waiting in line behind other parents whose kids weren’t even outside yet. Need to write paper about Next Generation Carpool Queuing solution (NGCQ) that integrates Windows Live Presence with the driveway scheduler. Must get appointment with school principal when it’s done.
- 4:00 PM: Home with the boys. Went to the playroom to help them build a train layout. Ended up doing interoperability test to study compatibility issues related to using Thomas trains on Brio track. Turns out while they work, the trains perform better on their native platform. Need to try Brio trains on Thomas track tomorrow.
- 4:30 PM: After a phone call with my Mom, I decided I needed to configure her account as a standard user for Windows Vista. This gives new meaning to “parental controls”, but a son has to do what a son has to do.
- 5:00 PM: Dinner with the family. After they finished asking who was this strange man sitting at the dinner table, we had a great conversation about the kids’ day. May have spent too much time asking them “how they would have done things better” and “what do they see as their key areas for growth.”
- 6:45 PM: Read kids a bedtime story. They seem to be recently interested in “chapter books.” I was amazed by how quickly they feel asleep when I read them one of my favorite classics, “The Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability” by Rogers.
- 7:30 PM: Checked email. Again. No new email.
- 7:31 PM: Turned Spam filter off again.
- 8:00 PM: Went down to my music room to play my guitar. Dozed off on the couch.
Anyway, on a serious note, a few months ago, when I decided to start blogging, a lot of people thought I was crazy. It was certainly an experiment, but in the end it’s been very rewarding for me, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed it as well. I’m about to walk out the door, so clicking “post” on this blog will be my last official act as a Microsoft employee.
I love this company, and I have the utmost confidence that the great people here will continue to bring their creativity, passion, and drive to building world-class software that help our customers do amazing things.
See you on the Internet,
jim
From the Windows Vista Team Blog
Thank you and farewell.
Over the years, anyone with any knowledge of Windows has come to appreciate and respect the way Jim Allchin managed the team.
On the client side, Jim was tasked with preserving and extending the most important, and undoubtedly the most valuable brand in technology, Windows.
And what a remarkable job he has done!
While America slept, and contrary to the beliefs of mainstream media, Jim and his team delivered several updates to Windows since the debut of XP:
As he rides off into the sunset of his life at Microsoft, Jim Allchin leaves with the knowledge that his indelible mark is upon the next version of Windows, Windows Vista™, and the way most of the world would be computing for the next several years.
Thank you, Jim.
Adiós.
Slowdown?
What slowdown?
PC unit sales grew 8 to 10% in that quarter alone.
Or more than the entire Apple Mac sales.
Still, some tossers are lobbing SCUDs at Microsoft
Businessweek: ...the coupon satisfied a lot of people," says Goldman Sachs (GS) analyst Rick Sherlund. Overall, Microsoft's Windows for PC business was up 9%, to $3.7 billion, including the deferred revenue.
Microsoft beat analysts' estimates, even the so-called 'whisper numbers'.
The financial magazines are calling it what it is: a very good quarter.
Yet mainstream and computer industry 'analysts' are calling it a bad quarter!
Thank God these yum-yums do not run Wall Street.
In this article, Forbes covers the "Unmaking of Motorola".
What a fall!
Whoever says this fall was unexpected is a moron!
Period!
My POV has always been, beware the faithful long-serving subordinate who is either told he/she won be ascending to the peak, or is removed from propinquity to total power in the enterprise.
These people, if they are able to worm their way into a chief executive position at another firm, usually proceed with disastrous results to the shareholders.
For them, the ambition for ultimate power makes them a satyr for such power.
However, since they were under the tutelage of a master, such discards are given more credit than they deserve.
When Jeffrey R. Immelt was installed as CEO of General Electric, I screamed at the TV in dismay, stunned as was the rest of the world
Just WTF, I asked, is Immelt.
Now I know.
As a holder of GE, I cannot thank Jack Welch enough for Immelt’s selection.
When Zander was installed at MOT, it was as if The Master has arrived to take Motorola to the Promised Land.
Zander?
Eh, excuse me, but didn’t McNealy, himself in no way a Welch, reject this guy for Jonathan Schwartz? Could he have missed it so badly?
Anyways, since I did not own any of MOT, so I could give a fu*k.
He came in and did the usual: layoffs, spinoffs, Steve Jobs-like platitudes about feel-good-to-Wall Street policies.
Then came the product announcements. And the stock blew up.
All of a sudden, he was seen as a visionary.
Zander?
To an observer, it seemed that all the glory rightfully belonged to Chris Galvin, who had the misfortune of being seen as a scion of the founding family, not as someone who returned Motorola to its engineering and innovative roots.
Think about it: every new product in the mainstay cellular phone line was conceived under Galvin.
Nevertheless, homie rode the wave.
However, you can fool people for so long.
Jim Hightower, former Texas agriculture commissioner, once predicted the fall of Newt using the African baboon proverb, “The higher a baboon climbs up a tree, the easier it is t tell that it has a dirty a$$”, a bushman’s take on the emperor has no clothes.
Zander?
Quick, think about all the Motorola innovations of Zander’s reign?
None?
OK, what about product intros?
Several, OK.
How many were developed by him?
None?
OK.
See what I mean?
Some companies come to mind: Home Depot, Nike, etc..
Even in sports, where you have a coach fired, another comes to take his place, has a superb first year, and then proceeds to ride the team into the ground. Tampa Bay, Notre Dame, come easily to mind, though I’m sure there’s a multitude out there.
They're at it again!
That group of whinnin' losers, NOISE (Nokia - replacing Novell, Oracle, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Everyone else*) have reportedly pleaded to that idiotic ho' Kroes in the EU about Windows Vista.
Dudes, why don't you compete in the marketplace?
Let's see:
Shake yourselves.
The market spake then, and is about to speak again.
Losers!
* Adobe, Red Hat, etc.
In an article in the excellent Vista Team Blog, Nick White interviews Dave Marsh, a lead PM for video handling on Vista about the concerns of consumers on Vista's DRM.
Marsh's answers to Nick's questions are illuminating as to the lengths Microsoft has gone as a company to appease content producers/providers while shirking its fiduciary duty to buyers of Windows.
Forgive me, but WIIFM?
The answers by Marsh just reek of the Costco scenario: all our customers must be thieves so we have to re-check their trolleys at the exit.
With all the visible, and not so visible benefits in Vista, all this talk about DRM and DRM benefitting consumers is not just utter nonsense, but is on track to defeat the humongous amount of benefits Vista delivers to users.
For example, as it stands right now, I can take HD content freely broadcast over the airwaves and record it to any medium and media I want. However, I will not be able to do so with Vista.
In what way does this constitute an upgrade?
How is Vista, and by proxy, Microsoft, able to arbitrate between our congressionally mandated and constitutional rights, and the reduction/violations of said rights by content providers?
Why doesn't Microsoft go to the courts in order to get a directed verdict on behalf of consumers with regards to content?
Anybody with the right tools, and the time, can create a shim to bypass the controls in cable- and sat provider-supplied boxes in order to retain control over their legally acquired content. For which I have no doubt that such a workaround will pass judicial muster.
Must we have to go this route?
Microsoft definitely has kowtowed to content providers on this issue to the detriment of consumers and in so doing had completely and utterly failed in its commitment to consumers. Any argument to the contrary is specious at best, and dishonest in the very least.
It is virtually safe to say that this seemingly tiny issue will get a lot of ink as when Vista lands and consumers start banging their heads against that wall
The NDA has been lifted, so..
Microsoft is allowing, for the first time, a Family & Friends Discount on its flagship operating system, currently Windows Vista.
First disclosed to me under a strict NDA on Saturday, January 6, 2007, at the recently concluded Windows Vista RTM Labs in Las Vegas, the Windows Vista Family Discount (the official name) plan gives purchasers of the retail SKU of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition the right to purchase two licenses of Windows Vista Home Premium Edition for only $49.oo USD each, a savings of 69% over the upgrade price of $159.
Indeed, a 3-computer home currently running Windows XP, upgrading to Windows Vista, will experience a total discount of $220, or 38%, if this plan is utilized.
Props to Microsoft for this as it somewhat mitigates the pain.
The NDA has been lifted, so..
Microsoft is allowing, for the first time, a Family & Friends Discount on its flagship operating system, currently Windows Vista.
First disclosed to me under a strict NDA on Saturday, January 6, 2007, at the recently concluded Windows Vista RTM Labs in Las Vegas, the Windows Vista Family Discount (the official name) plan gives purchasers of the retail SKU of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition the right to purchase two licenses of Windows Vista Home Premium Edition for only $49.oo USD each, a savings of 69% over the upgrade price of $159.
Indeed, a 3-computer home currently running Windows XP, upgrading to Windows Vista, will experience a total discount of $220, or 38%, if this plan is utilized.
Props to Microsoft for this as it somewhat mitigates the pain.
Talk about the dawn of the Vista era!
Microsoft has announced the gold release of the Microsoft Business Desktop Deployment 2007 tool which facilitates enterprise deployment of Windows-based desktops.
This is a must-have, and even more relevant with Vista deployment looming.
Both x86 and x64 versions are available here.
Not even Alexander Graham Bell had the chutzpah to bestow all those nonsensical platitudes on the first telephone as Steve Jobs did on the iPhone iBrick.
But, worse than Stevie is the media, especially mainstream media and Apple fanboi.
Following the press conference, they all anointed the iBrick as the second coming.
Wow.
Are you freakin' kiddin' me?
Have they no shame?
In one fell swoop, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericcson, etc., etc, are irrelevant?
Can someone perform emergency recto-cranial de-insertion surgery on all these tossers? Please? Pretty please?
People, back away from the ether and regain your senses.
Then revisit your articles/posts/blogs/whatever, and redo the absolutely stupid and hypocritical banalities in the fishwrap/glossy/whatever medium you morons earn your pitiful remuneration.
Sheeez!
© 2006, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
NeoSmart Technologies' EasyBCD, now in version 1.52 is a new addition to our Technology toolbox, and a must-have.
Download it today.
NeoSmart Technologies' EasyBCD, now in version 1.52 is a new addition to our Technology toolbox, and a must-have.
Download it today.
And got a surprise from him:
A Thank You award for our assistance in beta-testing Vista™
To say that I am overwhelmed by all this is a great understatement!
On behalf of Logikworx, SmallBizVista.com, The SmallBizVista Informer, AbsoluteVista.com, the Interlocutor, and all our clients, I gladly and humbly accepted it.To crown it all, as Michael Reyes, Sandi Hardmeier, Mauricio Freitas, and I were leaving the restaurant after lunch in order to catch the monorail to the Las Vegas Convention Center, we were fortunate enough to get our rather pedestrian mode of conveyance changed to a limousine. Niiice!
© 2007, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
Session 1: A tour through the 2007 Microsoft Partner Pavilion
2007 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center
Several Microsoft Employees
For the second year, Microsoft gave members of the Microsoft Featured Communities a private tour of the Microsoft Partner Pavilion before the opening of CES.
There was an added treat this year at the Microsoft Partner Pavilion: an august visitor!
William H. Gates III
Yes, Bill Gates, aka, Bill G. himself.
Taking a tour around the pavilion, Bill introduced himself to us – as if he needed an introduction to a group of alpha-geeks – and thanked us for our help in the Windows Vista beta process.
Bill Gates still has a lot of passion in him for computing in him, despite his looming retirement from Microsoft. As usual, Bill was very forthcoming about Vista, Microsoft, and the state of computing today. He was very stoked about the relatively smooth transition from 32-bit to 64-bit computing.
Session 2: Toshiba PC Innovations
Masa demonstrated the new Toshiba Portégé R400 and the new near-field access point, the Toshiba Wireless Port Replicator.
Session 3: Windows Live
I cannot say enough about Bruce and his crew. As I have mentioned in the past, the Windows Live team is one of the most energetic teams at Microsoft, even more so since they do not have the baggage of legacy applications.
They are very nimble and have many game-changing ideas. Their only barrier just might be the imposition of an innovation tax by established divisions within Microsoft.
Watch this space for more information as soon as I can release it.
Session 4: Windows Vista Ultimate Extras
Vista Ultimate Extras is Microsoft’s way of continually adding value to the premier SKU of Vista.
At the consumer release of Vista, the following Ultimate Extras would be available:
· Windows Hold ‘Em, a game which is Vista’s take on Texas Hold ‘Em
· Multi-user language packs for Windows, a total of 36. English plus 35 other languages.
An impressive feature of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is the dynamic way users can utilize the multiuser language pack.
· Windows BitLocker™ Online Secure Key Storage
· Windows DreamScene™ which allows for high-resolution video on the desktop. This video can also be integrated into UI content and the APIs are exposed to partners and developers.
· Digital publications, such as
1) Tips and tricks
2) Blog tips
3) Backstage pass to the world of Windows Ultimate Extras, and many more.
Session 5: AMD Platforms
Pat Morehead, AMD
Pat on behalf of AMD gave us a briefing about their current desktop performance flagship, the Quad-FX, a two-socket solution that aims to preserve a user’s current investment in CPUS and expand on that by allowing the upgrade to AMD’s single-chip quad-core microprocessors when they are released later in the year.
Session 6: Windows Vista & Photography
Art Wolfe
The internationally-acclaimed photographer and TV host, Art Wolfe, was kind enough to share with us his success with (photographic) content delivery using Windows Vista.
More information on Art Wolfe can be found at his eponymous website, www.artwolfe.com.
Session 7: Office 12
For Office 2007, Microsoft recreated the old user interface replacing it with an entirely new and extremely intuitive UI known as The Ribbon.
(Jensen Harris’ An Office UI Blog details the thought, and processes behind this revolutionary new interface.)
Since this was the umpteenth in a series of briefings, Jared decided to show us the impressive graphics and presentation capabilities built into Office 2007.
Copyright © 2006, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®Session 1: A tour through the 2007 Microsoft Partner Pavilion
2007 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center
Several Microsoft Employees
For the second year, Microsoft gave members of the Microsoft Featured Communities a private tour of the Microsoft Partner Pavilion before the opening of CES.
There was an added treat this year at the Microsoft Partner Pavilion: an august visitor!
William H. Gates III
Yes, Bill Gates, aka, Bill G. himself.
Taking a tour around the pavilion, Bill introduced himself to us – as if he needed an introduction to a group of alpha-geeks – and thanked us for our help in the Windows Vista beta process.
Bill Gates still has a lot of passion in him for computing in him, despite his looming retirement from Microsoft. As usual, Bill was very forthcoming about Vista, Microsoft, and the state of computing today. He was very stoked about the relatively smooth transition from 32-bit to 64-bit computing.
Session 2: Toshiba PC Innovations
Masa demonstrated the new Toshiba Portégé R400 and the new near-field access point, the Toshiba Wireless Port Replicator.
Session 3: Windows Live
I cannot say enough about Bruce and his crew. As I have mentioned in the past, the Windows Live team is one of the most energetic teams at Microsoft, even more so since they do not have the baggage of legacy applications.
They are very nimble and have many game-changing ideas. Their only barrier just might be the imposition of an innovation tax by established divisions within Microsoft.
Watch this space for more information as soon as I can release it.
Session 4: Windows Vista Ultimate Extras
Vista Ultimate Extras is Microsoft’s way of continually adding value to the premier SKU of Vista.
At the consumer release of Vista, the following Ultimate Extras would be available:
· Windows Hold ‘Em, a game which is Vista’s take on Texas Hold ‘Em
· Multi-user language packs for Windows, a total of 36. English plus 35 other languages.
An impressive feature of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is the dynamic way users can utilize the multiuser language pack.
· Windows BitLocker™ Online Secure Key Storage
· Windows DreamScene™ which allows for high-resolution video on the desktop. This video can also be integrated into UI content and the APIs are exposed to partners and developers.
· Digital publications, such as
1) Tips and tricks
2) Blog tips
3) Backstage pass to the world of Windows Ultimate Extras, and many more.
Session 5: AMD Platforms
Pat Moorhead, AMD
Pat on behalf of AMD gave us a briefing about their current desktop performance flagship, the Quad-FX, a two-socket solution that aims to preserve a user’s current investment in CPUS and expand on that by allowing the upgrade to AMD’s single-chip quad-core microprocessors when they are released later in the year.
Session 6: Windows Vista & Photography
Art Wolfe
The internationally-acclaimed photographer and TV host, Art Wolfe, was kind enough to share with us his success with (photographic) content delivery using Windows Vista.
More information on Art Wolfe can be found at his eponymous website, www.artwolfe.com.
Session 7: Office 12
For Office 2007, Microsoft recreated the old user interface replacing it with an entirely new and extremely intuitive UI known as The Ribbon.
(Jensen Harris’ An Office UI Blog details the thought, and processes behind this revolutionary new interface.)
Since this was the umpteenth in a series of briefings, Jared decided to show us the impressive graphics and presentation capabilities built into Office 2007.