dantheman82

• Satya Nadella - Running the Dynamics Team

  Mar 27, 2006 at 6:49 PM

  pringles wrote:

  This Microsoft Dynamics thing scares me.  If my clients knew about this application family, I'd be out of a job.  From the demos on the Dynamics site, this thing does everything any business manager would ever need and more.  What does that leave me?  Why would somone wait 2 months for me to build them an application when they could just buy one that's built by the best of the best and have it running in a day or so?
  
  OK, so I don't really have clients yet.  But that's my dream; starting a business that builds line of business applications for my clients.  And my biggest selling point was gonna be that I am going to become an MCSE, an MCSD and an MCDBA. How am I going to do that when Microsoft itself has something that I couldn't do in my lifetime?
  
  I dunno.  It just makes me think I don't have a chance.

  
  
  All I can say is...pringles...move onto the web instead.  If you score big, Google will probably hire you (or Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) and you'll like it even more.  Or you'll fail like the many others out there trying to create startups.
  
  All I can say is that since the time when the tools have gotten tons easier, creating startups has never been easier, and yet the competion has never been fiercer.  It is not an easy time to create a startup right now...it seems.
  
  Think long term - vision stuff.  Otherwise, look for a large company to work for...
  

• Alan Cooper - Questions after his keynote

  Mar 14, 2006 at 8:33 PM

  WOW!  He's the one who wrote About Face, THE definitive book on UI design.  OK, so i'll watch this and then read the book. 
  
  http://www.cooper.com/content/insights/cooper_books.asp
  
  I must say, it was an amazing video!  And I'm happy to say our company seems to get it and doesn't engage in death marches to finish releases...
  
  I'm still learning a lot in terms of getting to professional level in User Interaction, but I love this stuff!
  

• Otto Berkes - Origami's Architect gives first look at Ultramobile PCs

  Mar 10, 2006 at 7:06 PM

  scobleizer wrote:

  One question was about battery life that didn't get answered to my satisfaction. The team tells me they are getting two to three hours of battery life with the first devices.
  
  Anyone have any other questions that haven't been answered yet?

  
  
  Hey Scoble,
  
  Great to see this little demo.  I'm not sure who else saw that whole Origami video marketing push, but it was a bit wierd/scary and gave a bit of a negative first impression.  But I'm looking much more interested after seeing this video.
  
  Now, I've watched the whole Tablet PC market for awhile, and I've always seen them cost way more than laptops, and I couldn't see myself doubling the cost of a low-end Dell and getting a Tablet, even though I'm sure it's cool in some scenarios.  For less than or equal to the price of a laptop, that's much better as far as price.  Now, I've seen PPCs retail for anywhere between 250-450 and so it would be quite cool to have this retail at some point this year or next for 500-700 depending on the manufacturer.  I'd think running Vista on this would be overkill, but I could be wrong...
  
  As a guy who has close to 3 hr daily commute to NYC, it is a very valid business scenario to have a miniature laptop/device around this size for my own development (VS.NET, etc.), movies (Movielink is pretty cool for that), perhaps music (although my iPod does that well), and the occasional game (sodoku, or even an occasional AOE II if that could work).
  
  However, I need at least 4 hr battery life (1 hr just in case of heavier processing, movie watching), a mini keyboard to hook up (USB/Bluetooth, whatever), and a decent HDD/RAM setup and I don't care if it had barebones Win2k or XP Tablet (sans Themes) as long as it's pretty fast.
  
  Does this appear to do this?  The "Does it run Photoshop" question is definitely one I'd like to see fleshed out more.  Also, what if...I'd like to set up a mini USB/bluetooth mouse or whatever?  Hey, with a 3 hour commute, I do carry more books and materials than your avg commuter, and I am hardly alone in doing that.  Any thoughts?
  

• Seventeen Minutes With Bill

  Feb 16, 2006 at 5:34 PM

  katapultman wrote:

  How many times can one man say awesome? Just because he pays your wage, don't suck his bottom!

  
  
  One quick question - how many times have you interviewed the richest man in the world who happens to be the CEO of your quite large company? 
  
  There is speaking in front of a large crowd of professionals,...and then there's speaking to a brillian billionare (with a camera fixed on both of you). 
  
  Great job, Charles and thanks for the very down-to-earth type of interview.  And to think, the marketing lingo was close to nil!  No value proposition BS or we totally kill our competitors' products hype.
  
  I really have a lot of respect for this man who doesn't waste his valuable time watching TV, who is accountable with respect to his schedule, and spends time with his family.  And who still reads the newspaper...
  
  Dan
  

• Reads Mini-Microsoft and Wears Shorts in Winter - Lisa Brummel, VP of HR

  Jan 27, 2006 at 9:52 PM

  Just a couple of other things: Lisa does know a lot about various groups and dynamics within those groups, and I'd love to get more of a detailed view as to how she goes about getting into the lives of so many diverse people.  She's very respectful of those who criticize her policies as long as they are trying to be productive, and not taking that stuff personally is a quality too many people in the biz world lack.
  
  My only thought is to encourage people to be themselves on camera.  She had no problem with this, but others seem very nervous.  For example, if you had the camera "around" but not actually recording for a few minutes as you discuss the weather and other small talk, some may warm up to an interview better than they have.  I guess it boils down to if people can hope to have respect when their interviews are posted and whether they ultimately care what people think about their looks, their presentation style, and other trivialities.
  

• Reads Mini-Microsoft and Wears Shorts in Winter - Lisa Brummel, VP of HR

  Jan 26, 2006 at 7:24 PM

  I must say, this was a great video.  She reads C9, watches videos, reads Mini-MS, has listening sessions.  She's very proactive and extremely down-to-earth.  It must be tough dealing with 60,000 people in a company...I guess I can somewhat relate being one of 200,000+ at Citigroup.  Having a good HR dept is very helpful and I've found that to be the case at Lava Trading (part of Citi).  So, you've seen the challenge - if you are productive in your comments on C9 or during the listening sessions, she will be listening as much as possible.  That's really cool.
  
  I'm not familiar with the whole mentoring thing.  I could see it potentially having benefits and possibly causing problems.  Perhaps a waste of time...although I only speak from my experience.  I like a tight-knit subgroup where the manager and us are close as it is currently in my group. 
  
  OK, so maybe my perspective on WM_IN is changing a bit.  Thanks Lisa for your positive attitude and focus on forward thinking w/r/t CS + other disciplines.  It's definitely high time that other backgrounds start to focus on technology and we can look forward to a renaissance in technical achievements by our younger technically-savvy students.
  I refer those interested to an insightful blog by Gayle Laakmann, a work friend of mine (fellow former Student Ambassador to Microsoft like I was). She's got an interesting post on Women in CS and technical careers as well as an insightful post on teaching CS in colleges. Anyways, she was an energetic person who has been an inspiration to me personally. She's now at Google, but we still keep in contact and discuss technology. To those in HR within MS (Lisa as well) - you have a great asset with your SAs. Don't outsource the interaction to Volt or another similar agency but devote some time/effort to getting these (generally) bright students excited about MS technologies. It could use a real revamping, at least from what I've seen as an SA for two years.

• Suzan DelBene: From referee to VP

  Jan 14, 2006 at 2:23 PM

  Charles wrote:

  This week we hosted a women in technology conference on campus and so I wanted to highlight some women at Microsoft on Channel 9. In general, we'll relase WM_IN episodes on a regular basis, like once or twice a month. This week was special, but I'm happy that we released 3 WM_IN videos, highlighting some excellent Softies and real leaders. 
  
  It's interesting that your reaction to the release of three women-in-technology-oriented videos is so negative. My advice to any of you who feel compelled to complain about this issue is simply this: Just don't watch the videos here that are of no interest to you, rather than complaining about how they are of no interest to you to the rest of us. We always relese a variety of content on Channel 9 so that people are free to choose to watch or listen to what they find interesting. I find this constant b*tching about the WM_IN series annoying. If you don't like it, then don't watch it. Sorry about being terse, but I'm a little angry about this and not afraid to share it with you.
   
  C

  
  
  Hey Charles, just a little FYI.  There were 4 WM_IN videos in the last 24 days, or one every 6 days.  This is 4 WM_IN videos out of 8 total videos, or 50% of the last month! 
  
  It's interesting you take the comments so personally.  If we have to sift through one out of two videos in order to watch some real technical content, that is not that great.  50% is not a passing grade for those who have complained, so perhaps look at their POV.
  
  I would be more interested in what MS is doing in the search/ad space, in Web 2.0, in innovation in new products.  And please limit the PMs and GMs and push toward the raw, uncut versions.  I used to watch a lot of vids back in the Sparkle, Avalon demo days, but now I wonder if someone's trying to educate us in the MS MBA of Middle-management.  And  the worst question that has popped up too often recently is "How does it feel to do [something]?" 
  
  Furthermore, I can't speak for others, but I seriously get enough diversity training at my workplace already.  I already get the picture...
  
  Please don't take my comments personally ... I've loved a bit of the content over time, but I'm not too keen on the direction we've headed.  More Virtual Earth and new/related stuff would be much more interesting...
  

• Rebecca Norlander: Security and Success at Microsoft

  Jan 13, 2006 at 7:32 PM

  Cornelius Ellsonpeter wrote:

  A dead plant is a good thing.  Consider this study.  All plants must go NOW. New policy. The plants are trying to destroy us all.
  

  
  
  So should I cut down a tree for every tree I've planted?  I suppose our scientists really don't have an idea of how to control global warming (or even if we can).
  

• Rebecca Norlander: Security and Success at Microsoft

  Jan 13, 2006 at 7:29 PM

  deedubb wrote:

  I don't believe she downplayed security at all. I believe what you're referring to is when she was talking about employees making mistakes and planning for worst case scenarios which she said was about motivating her team.

  As someone that has also had experience with a manager that doesn’t value leadership I can relate completely.

  In addition I’ve also suffered from some insecurity about making constant choices while developing and system administration.  Specifically when looking at security it seems there’s always new best practices coming out & with clichés like ‘the more lines of code, the more bugs’ you must start to think ‘do I really want to risk writing/exposing a new webapp?’

  If you’re so sure of yourself, your coding & your computing skills I’d say either you haven’t read enough or you should teach others because you’re very talented.
  

  
  
  I believe she downplayed worst case scenarios in security.  If you think the thinks hackers have dished up is indicative of the future, I think you'll be surprised.  MS has to seriously think about the consequences of bluetooth, wireless, and other interfaces to cars, household appliances, etc. which will be more and more commonplace.  Basically, the worst-case scenarios will be a lot more than loss of money or time in the future...considering the integration of technology with satisfaction of our basic transportation and other needs.
  
  I do agree with her stress on the importance of leadership, but in the back of my mind, I'd question whether someone with simply COM/Avalon experience is best suited making important decisions governing security of Windows XP (service packs).  Someone who's had a hacking background and/or who has the gravity for this type of position would strike me as best suited.  I would think she's a great leader, but I don't buy the idea that you can swap leaders of various segments of a company without regard to their technical expertise and background.
  
  I apologize if I have given the impression that I'm some great security guru.  I've simply observed that the best security people are paranoid about security/privacy and have a background where they have been eager to "break stuff", but in a legitimate context.  I'm not a big fan of "best practices" and have found that sometimes common sense dictates a totally different course than the "best practice" and some creativity is required.
  

• Rebecca Norlander: Security and Success at Microsoft

  Jan 12, 2006 at 11:53 PM

  I have a mixed reaction to the video, especially after reading the bitter comments of "Larbedo the Dog".  Dog, your ad hominem attack on her perceived fragility is quite a low blow.  She's drinking water and perhaps takes vitamins (like many others who actually care about their health and don't wish to be 300 lbs), but she is definitely energetic and very motivated, so stop the personal attacks!
  
  At the same time, I couldn't disagree with her more on the cost of mistakes.  I very much appreciate her outsider's perspective for the Security team, especially if this has played a part in making SP2 one of the easiest to use and one of the most secure patches to date (despite some designed-in flaws that date back to Windows 95, like the WMF vulnerabilites).  At the same time, I've seen that you need a high level of paranoia when you are designing for security, and it IS a life and death thing for your customers.  A virus that takes out an Internet-based medical system based on the Win XP/2000/ME/98/95 codebase hodgepodge and potentially harms or kills patients is definitely a possibility.  Or that same virus costs your customers billions of dollars of data loss, down time, and all that.  I work in the financial industry in NYC (developer on a Foreign Exchange platform) and I know down-time is NOT an option when millions/billions are being traded daily.  So please don't try to downplay the seriousness of Security, especially at Microsoft!!!
  
  Furthermore, I'm a 22 years old white male, so please classify me an over-priveleged and under-qualified CS graduate.  Or perhaps, you might want to know I'm the oldest of 8 children, I attended a private college without a penny of $$ support from my parents and am currently paying off my loans, and I went for the Masters because I could squeeze it in the 4 years for no extra cost (via the accelerated route) and saw a good deal.  Why all this info?  Well, I'd just say you can't pigeonhole geek white males into a group either, Ms. Norlander.  And as far as diversity in the workplace, I find the discussion somewhat tiresome and pedantic, especially as I consider the work environment where I am.  I can definitely say I'm the dumbest of the smart people in my dev. group, but interestingly enough (for the statisticians out there), I'm the only developer who's a Caucasian.  The rest include: 4 from Indian background, 3 from Asian background (1 woman), and 1 Hispanic (Columbian to be specific).  So that's my development group, so would that make me the underrepresented Caucasian white male?  I don't think in those terms really - my boss has been adament in saying he will pick the best qualified person for the job regardless of their background and I think it's more common out there than 10 years ago...
  
  Dan L
  P.S. Larbedo, next time think before you post and display your flamebait for the world to see.  And perhaps use a grammar checker (like MS Word for instance).
  P.P.S. I'd really like it if Charles or whoever shoots the video would include a synopsis/summary of the video so we can choose the salient bits if we're running short on time.
  
  

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