Comments on: After The Vista Disaster, What Did Microsoft Do Differently To Create Windows 7?

By: Why Build a Better Brand | The Brand Files

Why Build a Better Brand | The Brand Files — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:06:29 +0000

[...] true when the company comes out strong after one. After the disaster that was Vista – “Vistake,” according to some – Windows Seven was considered vastly superior, even if it retained a [...]

By: Great IT Managers Aren’t Afraid To Stumble On The Way To The Top | ssphostdesign Blogs

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:30:22 +0000

[...] your job right now, what would happen to you if you failed? That end-of-year review is going to be a tough one to sit through, right? Let’s face it, [...]

By: Great IT Managers Aren't Afraid To Stumble On The Way To The Top (IT Manager issues) | The Accidental IT Leader

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:01:36 +0000

[...] your job right now, what would happen to you if you failed? That end-of-year review is going to be a tough one to sit through, right? Let’s face it, [...]

By: Dr. Jim Anderson

Dr. Jim Anderson — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:35:01 +0000

Jimmy: you bring up some very good points. Now the real question is why did both of these things happen? Who’s fault was it? I’m going to bet that somewhere in Microsoft’s IT department there were some IT managers who should have stood up and said “Stop, this isn’t right”. Clearly that didn’t happen…

By: A Tale Of Woe: What To Do When IT Is Too Complex? (IT Manager issues) | The Accidental IT Leader

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:06:26 +0000

[...] issue was the simple fact that for a customer who didn’t have a lot of existing technology, the solution that they had selected came across as being very complex. Multiple screens had to be navigated to complete a function and a new way of thinking about both [...]

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:47 +0000

There was yet another issue: never before Vista beta testing of the product was so blatantly offshored to call centers in India. Understandably, workers in those centers had “support” experience, had no idea about the objectives of the beta testing, and were trying to “help” everybody who was reporting a bug by doing everything they could to make the problem to go away. Another problem is that marketing apparently had infiltrated Microsoft beta program too much, so the center of gravity had moved from quality assurance to PR. With Windows 7 the first aspect has improved somewhat, but the 2nd remained the same.

By: Dr. Jim Anderson

Dr. Jim Anderson — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:07:55 +0000

Stephan: fantastic — if I’ve been able to write the worst blog post that you’ve read recently, then I truly feel as though I’ve accomplished something because there’s some really bad stuff out there.

You took some time to write your comment, but you didn’t really point out what you thought was wrong. A couple of facts that you can’t argue with are that the Windows 7 product did take less time to create than Vista did (so there!) and they seem to have done a better job of having drivers ready when the product came out (if for no other reason than Vista drivers work with Windows 7). So what’s your point?

The creation of a software product is really a development function — more like a factory than an R&D shop. IT Management is closely tied to how that factory is run. The creation of the Windows 7 product required substantial changes to both how the software was written and how the development process was managed. So how about you explain why you think that there’s been a disconnect here?

Trust me, I’ve got no deep desire to work in the boiler room of Microsoft’s OS development shop; however, after spending 20+ years doing IT development and management I’ve got a pretty good idea how it all works. Microsoft isn’t perfect, but they can show us how to make changes when things go wrong.

Oh, and you were spot on about the broken link to Blue Elephant Consulting — it’s now been fixed. Thanks.

Happy New Year!

By: Stefan

Stefan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:34:02 +0000

This is the worst BS piece I read in a while. Not only you don’t communicate anything of substance, but you clearly have no idea how Microsoft develops products. What’s worse, you don’t even understand the difference between software/product development which is a R&D function and IT management which is an Operations function.

Here’s a tip: talk to someone who works there before you write anything and if you don’t know anyone who works there, abstain from voicing opinions which make you look like a wanna-be insider.

Fix the bad link to your “consulting” website from the about page and give me back the 10 minutes I wasted reading your brain fart and writing this. Merry x-mas!