A funny thing turned up in my “Junk E-mail” box at my Microsoft Hotmail account last night.
It was an email to myself, from my own Microsoft Hotmail account—one of those automatic reminders you set up in the Hotmail calendar to notify you with an email when a meeting is coming up.
That’s right—Microsoft diverted its own email into the “Junk E-mail” box, along with emails from people with all kinds of wonderful free offers for me, including “Mariah” and “jessicafadmail.com” and “Tammy” and “GET-GREAT-CREDIT.”
I suppose you could look at this absurd situation two ways:
1. It’s yet another example of how clueless Microsoft has become regarding the mediocre technology it’s fobbed onto the rest of the world over the years.
Or;
2. Microsoft has finally gotten its act together, now that one of its software products has demonstrated the capability of identifying Microsoft’s own products as junk.
Your choice.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews’ recommendations.
4 replies on “How Screwed Up Is Microsoft?”
i read an interesting article, talking about IQ-obsessed tech executives (only smart people “deserve” to write software), which made this interesting point about microsoft:
“Whenever I mention how much Gates values high IQ employees, somebody objects that Microsoft’s software is lousy so his workers must not be very smart. But that assumes that Gates wanted his Microserfs to deliver good software. I suspect that he just wanted them to make him the richest man in the world. If they had to foist buggy software on the public to do it, well, that was a price Bill was willing to pay.”
I also like to keep in mind that although Bill is widely lauded as one of the wisest man on earth these days, a true tech visionary, I mostly think that his genius is in seeing moneymaking opportunities that are already out there, rather than dreaming them up and creating them. (hence, the google “surprise” and lame attempts to copy).
If a technologist can be considered a “squatter” in the same way that an oilman who sits on a piece of land in texas is also a squatter, then deciding that you’d get into the operating system software (DOS) game, and then later see the writing on the wall and move to GUIs, your genius is not in development, but in observation.
so, interesting observation, on the junk mail, thanks for keeping this website – i don’t know about the rest of us, but i think us readers are lucky that someone with your experience decided to share your thoughts in a blog.
I question the “genius” of Bill Gates (he’s smart, without a doubt, but..) versus him just being a person with the right background (both educationally and financially) in the right place at the right time.
In Microsoft’s defense, their latest offerings (Windows XP) have been excellent products from a technical standpoint. I’ve worked with plenty of other OS’s (I develop on Sun’s OS Solaris) and those Operating systems all have tons of problems.
However, with all of the morally and ethically bankrupt tactics that they’ve always used, and still use today, I don’t know if I’d call anyone at Microsoft “visionary.”
Doesn’t the stock price of Microsoft just say it all. Flatlineeeee!
Very funny observations…
However, I think by focusing on little details, the bigger picture is lost in the process.