Eric Rudder: What am I up to these days? (Channel 9)

I caught up with Senior Vice President Eric Rudder while in Denmark recently. We were both there for the Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen's TechFest 2007. Several ISVs come to MDCC campus to show off their innovations. You will see several of these technologies, and meet the people behind them, on Channel 9 over the coming days.

It's been a while since Eric has been on C9, so I wanted to see what's new in his world. What is he working on these days? We also talk about TechFest and, of course, Channel 9. Eric is a big fan.

This is a quick conversation. You will see more Eric on Channel 9 in the future when he is able to talk more specifically about what he and his team are developing.

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eagle

Dec 07, 2007 at 9:45 AM

It would be nice to see Eric at MIX08.
DenvilleSteve

Dec 09, 2007 at 10:59 AM

You had Craig Mundie on c9 about a year ago. Eric Rudder is as high ranked as Mundie in MSFT? My thoughts after listening to Rudder are the same as after the Mundie interview. Where are the intelligent thoughts you would expect from people running what is arguably the smartest corporation in the world? When C9 interviews Bill Gates I hear someone brimming with ideas and understanding of the still never ending potential of the software industry. Eric Rudder sounded like someone too important to talk and with not much to say.

Some of Microsoft's products are pretty lousy. gmail works much better than outlook. Vista desktop search never functions to my satisfaction. Search for F# in google and live search for an example of how poorly live search compares to google.

I really dont want to write such a negative post. Just to complete the thought, after listening to the non thoughts of the MSFT exec, I understand better how some MSFT software can be as bad as it is. ( I think Vista, VS2005, C# and .NET are outstanding. )

-Steve

p.s. Just listened to the Rudder interview a 2nd time. Based on what he says I cant say he is a detached dummy or anything. I dont understand why MSFT execs are rarely on C9. And when they do appear, they have very little to say.
Charles Welcome Change

Dec 09, 2007 at 11:57 AM

Steve,

As stated in the description, this is a quick chat with Eric to see what he's been up to. As he stated, he and team are working on an incubation project that is not public (so, he can't talk about the specifics). Eric is one of our brightest execs, from a technical point of view. You should think clearly before you post. His not being able to go into specifics has nothing to do with his ability to produce innovative software (which he and team are doing). Eric actually still codes.

As far as your Mundie comment, apparently you didn't actually listen to the interview? And for other execs, again, you must not listen very effectively?

At any rate, I do appreciate your honest feedback. It's just that you don't seem to have much in the way of real information that backs up your claims.

C
DenvilleSteve

Dec 10, 2007 at 8:10 PM

Charles wrote:

As far as your Mundie comment, apparently you didn't actually listen to the interview? And for other execs, again, you must not listen very effectively?

just watched the Mundie interview. Your right, Charles, I was off the mark with my comments. Mundie's comments are pretty substantial.

I still stand by my sentiment that I enjoy very much programming MSFT products, but using the end products is very often a sub standard experience.

It took me minutes to learn gmail. Vista desktop search is still a mystery to me. Outlook, excel, active directory - daunting all.

The sentiment behind my post is that the higher level execs at MSFT have to be held accountable for the useability of their products. ( All they have to do is spend a few days trying to use the stuff. ) If their products dont work well, they should have to answer for it. The leadership of Microsoft should not allow the google search engine to work better than search.live.com .

Your interviews are terrific. thanks.

-Steve