Interesting Article on Microsoft
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The link is here[^]. This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal Europe yesterday. Since I don't know how reliable the link is, I have included the full text below. Sorry for the large post. By ROBERT A. GUTH Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL September 23, 2005; Page A1 REDMOND, Wash. -- Jim Allchin, a senior Microsoft Corp. executive, walked into Bill Gates's office here one day in July last year to deliver a bombshell about the next generation of Microsoft Windows. "It's not going to work," Mr. Allchin says he told the Microsoft chairman. The new version, code-named Longhorn, was so complex its writers would never be able to make it run properly. The news got even worse: Longhorn was irredeemable because Microsoft engineers were building it just as they had always built software. Throughout its history, Microsoft had let thousands of programmers each produce their own piece of computer code, then stitched it together into one sprawling program. Now, Mr. Allchin argued, the jig was up. Microsoft needed to start over. Mr. Gates resisted at first, pushing for Mr. Allchin's group to take more time until everything worked. Over the next few months, Mr. Allchin and his deputies would also face protests from programmers who complained he was trying to impose bureaucracy and rob Microsoft of its creativity. "There was some angst by everybody," says Mr. Gates of the period. "It's obviously my role to ask people, 'Hey, let's not throw things out we shouldn't throw out. Let's keep things in that we can keep in.' " Ultimately, Mr. Allchin's warning proved cathartic and led to what he and others call a transformation in Microsoft's most important product. A key reason: the growing threat from rivals such as Google Inc., Apple Computer Inc. and makers of the free Linux operating system. In recent years these companies have been dashing out some software innovations faster than Microsoft. Google has grown particularly effective at introducing new programs such as email and instant messaging over the Internet, watching how they perform and regularly replacing them with improved versions. Microsoft's Windows can't entirely replicate that approach, since the software is by its nature a massive program overseeing all of a computer's functions. But Microsoft is now racing to move in that direction: d
It is an interesting article. So interesting in fact that this is the second repost of it. I posted it a few days ago and Mikko reposted it just today, still on the front-page of the Lounge if you are viewing at 50. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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The link is here[^]. This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal Europe yesterday. Since I don't know how reliable the link is, I have included the full text below. Sorry for the large post. By ROBERT A. GUTH Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL September 23, 2005; Page A1 REDMOND, Wash. -- Jim Allchin, a senior Microsoft Corp. executive, walked into Bill Gates's office here one day in July last year to deliver a bombshell about the next generation of Microsoft Windows. "It's not going to work," Mr. Allchin says he told the Microsoft chairman. The new version, code-named Longhorn, was so complex its writers would never be able to make it run properly. The news got even worse: Longhorn was irredeemable because Microsoft engineers were building it just as they had always built software. Throughout its history, Microsoft had let thousands of programmers each produce their own piece of computer code, then stitched it together into one sprawling program. Now, Mr. Allchin argued, the jig was up. Microsoft needed to start over. Mr. Gates resisted at first, pushing for Mr. Allchin's group to take more time until everything worked. Over the next few months, Mr. Allchin and his deputies would also face protests from programmers who complained he was trying to impose bureaucracy and rob Microsoft of its creativity. "There was some angst by everybody," says Mr. Gates of the period. "It's obviously my role to ask people, 'Hey, let's not throw things out we shouldn't throw out. Let's keep things in that we can keep in.' " Ultimately, Mr. Allchin's warning proved cathartic and led to what he and others call a transformation in Microsoft's most important product. A key reason: the growing threat from rivals such as Google Inc., Apple Computer Inc. and makers of the free Linux operating system. In recent years these companies have been dashing out some software innovations faster than Microsoft. Google has grown particularly effective at introducing new programs such as email and instant messaging over the Internet, watching how they perform and regularly replacing them with improved versions. Microsoft's Windows can't entirely replicate that approach, since the software is by its nature a massive program overseeing all of a computer's functions. But Microsoft is now racing to move in that direction: d
...third time this week, the last one still amoung the first 50 posts... :rolleyes: But yeah, good article.
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It is an interesting article. So interesting in fact that this is the second repost of it. I posted it a few days ago and Mikko reposted it just today, still on the front-page of the Lounge if you are viewing at 50. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
Dammit, Paul - you should have known i was agonizing over a polite "repost" post, and waited - calling repost on something you posted yourself is gauche... :-O
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...third time this week, the last one still amoung the first 50 posts... :rolleyes: But yeah, good article.
Repost reposter. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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Uh... the purpose of LINKING to the article was WHAT again?!;P ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done.
heh, yeah...sorry about that. I didn't know how permanent the link was and you can't read it on the WSJ site without a paid subscription...
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It is an interesting article. So interesting in fact that this is the second repost of it. I posted it a few days ago and Mikko reposted it just today, still on the front-page of the Lounge if you are viewing at 50. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
:doh: Sorry about that. I actually didn't see it... :-O
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Dammit, Paul - you should have known i was agonizing over a polite "repost" post, and waited - calling repost on something you posted yourself is gauche... :-O
>gauche That's a designer handbag, right? regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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Repost reposter. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
:sigh: I'm debugging an instance of memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions - so i'm hitting CP while i wait for it. Really lags out my posts...
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heh, yeah...sorry about that. I didn't know how permanent the link was and you can't read it on the WSJ site without a paid subscription...
So does this mean that you are abusing your WSJ subscription by freely posting their articles all over the web?!:-D ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done.
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>gauche That's a designer handbag, right? regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
Right. Your posts, they resemble a designer handbag. Well-crafted, but ultimately the name means more than the contents. it's the wale-saving - can't beat a reputation like that...
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Right. Your posts, they resemble a designer handbag. Well-crafted, but ultimately the name means more than the contents. it's the wale-saving - can't beat a reputation like that...
>it's the wale-saving Hah! I wouldn't save Wales if you paid me. I far prefer Scotland. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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:sigh: I'm debugging an instance of memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions - so i'm hitting CP while i wait for it. Really lags out my posts...
Gah! Baffling me with technical jargon works everytime. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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>it's the wale-saving Hah! I wouldn't save Wales if you paid me. I far prefer Scotland. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
:laugh:
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:sigh: I'm debugging an instance of memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions - so i'm hitting CP while i wait for it. Really lags out my posts...
Shog9 wrote: memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions Hey, look on the bright side. At least it's a repeatable memory corruption bug...
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:sigh: I'm debugging an instance of memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions - so i'm hitting CP while i wait for it. Really lags out my posts...
Shog9 wrote: only shows up after 789 repititions That's a lot of "Hit OK to continue"'s... cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Shog9 wrote: memory corruption that only shows up after 789 repititions Hey, look on the bright side. At least it's a repeatable memory corruption bug...
Oh, i'm grateful. The previous steps to reproduce were, "move the mouse around quickly while rolling the mouse wheel" - this is much better.
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Shog9 wrote: only shows up after 789 repititions That's a lot of "Hit OK to continue"'s... cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
You know, sometimes i really miss
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It is an interesting article. So interesting in fact that this is the second repost of it. I posted it a few days ago and Mikko reposted it just today, still on the front-page of the Lounge if you are viewing at 50. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
Ops... sorry. I really tried to search older thread but it seems like that search didn't work :(
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