I just got back from Microsoft’s Company Meeting. My first “real” meeting. This is the one they hold in a local baseball stadium with 10s of thousands of employees.
The sheer scale of Microsoft is impressive. Knowing that probably only 1 out 4 employees are even at the stadium.
It’s very exuberant. Jim Allchin is on stage right now and is getting loud cheers. That’s one thing that’s neat about Microsoft. You can participate in this meeting over the intranet no matter where in the world you are. In fact, it’s a lot warmer here in building 18 than in the stadium.
Anyway, I got back to see a couple of articles. News.com reports: Microsoft’s nightmare inches closer to reality and CRN reports on an article on Wall Street Journal that says Microsoft Fesses Up to Longhorn Screwup.
Ahh, yes, Microsoft is done for. Google owns the world. Apple is designing the world.
You believe that?
Hey, aren’t you the same guy who said that Apple would go out of business in 1989?
Anyway, some highlights. Bill Gates showed off a futuristic office. One guy in front of me turned around and said “is that real?” I had seen this prototype and talked with the researchers. I answered “yes, it is.”
In another demo I saw I learned a bunch of stuff about Xbox 360 that I didn’t know. I’m ordering one this weekend. I have to do that down in California. Why? Cause the local stores here are already sold out of their pre-order lists.
Or, look at the new IPTV that a group down in Mountain View developed. Great stuff. They figured out how to let you switch channels almost instantly without waiting for the lag like you have to endure on my Comcast box (an earlier version done by the same team) or my Tivo box. And multiple channels on the same video. Awesome stuff.
And the whole day was like that. Demo after demo. Bill and others have taken on some of the issues discussed above. I’m sure it won’t make Mini-Microsoft happy, but that’s OK. I like that there are naysayers out there, even inside the company. Makes life interesting and challenging.
Anyway, I don’t wanna talk more, cause there’s a chance I’ll leak something that I wasn’t supposed to. When Steve Ballmer says that we have a huge product pipeline coming, he wasn’t kidding.
Oh, Mini, you might want to read Kathy Sierra’s guide to “Subverting from Within: a user-focused employee guide.”
She visited Microsoft yesterday and had some interesting insights.
Oh, here’s something else fun. Go go Google and search on “Google Headquarter.” Google+Headquarter”>Here, I did it for you. Now go to MSN Search and Google+Headquarter&FORM=QBHP”>search on the same thing. Which first answer is more relevant?
Are we out of the game? Go ahead and keep believing that. There’s lots of reasons I haven’t left Microsoft yet to cash out and make more money. I had those reasons reaffirmed today and it’s still not over.
Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.
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