Ken Levy - In the field in Switzerland
- Posted: Jan 09, 2006 at 12:10 PM
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- 25 Comments
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During his trip to several European developer events last November, Ken Levy stops by the Microsoft offices in Zurich Switzerland and goes to lunch with Simone Stocker and Corina Erny-Boehi. During lunch, the topic of Channel 9 is brought up and Ken learns
that they watch Channel 9 videos weekly. So he takes out is digital camcorder and starts interviewing them without any upfront notice, not even Ken planned it in advance.
The 6 minute discussion is about what they both do in the Zurich offices, various community efforts, and what they would like to see more of on Channel 9.
The 6 minute discussion is about what they both do in the Zurich offices, various community efforts, and what they would like to see more of on Channel 9.
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Thanks for the great content, Ken!
C
Fun video. Although the first two of "Scoble's Rules for Channel 9 Videos" have been violated:
C
About the rules mentioned. I didn't start the video with "Who are you" since it was not planned and I just basically turned on the camera while we were talking. In fact, I didn't even plan for the video I recorded to go on Channel 9, but then after I reviewed it later and after Charles reviewed it, we realized it would be good to post since it adds some information and transparency about Microsoft people who work outside of Redmond, in this case Europe.
The "Look at me, not at the camera" was because I was holding the camera right in front of me, again not even thinking of a formal Ch9 video but just something for fun, maybe even something to delete later. But as the conversation got going, some interesting stuff was discussed about what they do in the Zurich offices that relate to other external field offices at Microsoft.
Probably because Scoble gets Paid to go to all these cool different places around the world, and just blog about it (CES, Paris, etc.); while the rest of the team is stuck in their offices.
Company picks up the tab...Scoble files a $400 dinner expense, man Scoble has it real good!
Neither. Your interpretation is incorrect. I have nothing but good feelings for Scoble and consider him a true asset to Microsoft and the industry at large. Without a doubt, Channel 9 would not be as successful as it is without Scoble. Plain and simple. True story.
Sometimes people think that only one person drives the content on Channel 9 and decides what's the "right" way to "do" Channel 9. Fact is, even though Scoble is the most prolific content creator on Channel 9, he is not the only one and we like people to feel that they are free to be as creative as they want when making content for Channel 9, not having to follow so-called Scoble Rules of Video creation.
Make great content. Have fun.
C
I could be wrong (I live in the USA) but it would seem to me that a large part of the increase in price would be the VAT. Tax levels on software are nowhere near those levels in the states.
They both are.
If you're gonna be jealous of my lifestyle, then remember the downsides. I was in an hour long taxi line at midnight on the way to CES and got home at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning coming home and was so tired I slept all day long. I also slept a night with Paul Mooney (I'm jealous of him, he went to 24 conferences last year) in the Sin City Hostel. Top THAT! A story like that could make the tabloids.
But, I do have an awesome life. I pinch myself every day.
By the way, the reason that I don't like it when you look in the camera is cause it makes it seem like you're pitching. Er, selling. And Channel 9 is anti-selling.
The reason I ask people their names is cause I'm lazy and want to be able to figure out who I interviewed when I get back to my computer.
They are like best practices. You can break these rules, but you break them at your own peril.
Speaking of which, I gotta break them myself. I've been following too many rules lately...
Sorry, I didn't expect this to be taken serious, I was just kidding. Of course videos should be different, especially if they are from different interviewers.
VAT is not the problem if the price difference is 200%.
Work hard and you'll get there too, LaBomba. There's no feeling like the feeling you get when you finish a big project and the big payout comes.
- Steve
To answer the question posted about why Microsoft software products are sometimes priced different in the U.S. compared to other countries, I asked someone on the international product management team to provide me with some details. Here is the response, I would call it unofficial in the sense that it is not a formal statement but how we would answer if someone asked us in person:
I don’t have an official answer, but my understanding is that Microsoft prices are the same world-wide. You need to understand that the price for Microsoft is the COGs (cost of goods) price, meaning the price we charge to a distributor. Then you have to add the cost of shipping, customs, distributor margin, etc. Microsoft doesn’t sell directly to customers so we don’t control the retail prices. The only cases I know were Microsoft doesn’t have the same prices for a product in a specific country is because we offer a lower price because for competitive reasons.
Prices are generally set the same or lower in other countries, but I think the costs of customs, shipping, distributor market-up, and other import taxes can all add up for some countries to sometimes make the price higher.
... unless you are into chickflicks which C9 is not my source for.
This vid should be in Ken's private library and nowhere else. What did I learn from this: People have dinner together, they have a nice time and maybe afterwards ... more nice time, which is non of my business, of course.
No can do, we keep 'em here
However, we have a lady by the name of Helga Kikurnutz who would like to come over
It's the same with Novell who you'd think might want to compete on that in Europe. You pay more euros than dollars, even when the dollar is worth a rupia against the euro
When you convert the price tag in euros to dollars and compare it to the US price, the difference is hard to explain.
Example:
ZENworks 7 Suite 1-Device/User e-License
US: $130
Europe: €146 = $177
Difference 36%
That's quite a bit of p&p, thank you very much.
Looking around on the net, I cannot find any MS software that is 200% different between the us and europe. 15-20% difference seems to be the norm, and that can be attributed to VAT differences. Unless of course you are also adding in the difference in currency exchange rates. These change every day. 5 years ago the Euro to Dollar rate was much closer to 1:1. Are you suggesting that Microsoft should change its software pricing on all products in all countries every day??? That would be kinda ridiculous. The costs involved in hiring people to do that alone would increase the prices by more than 200%.
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