who speaks for microsoft?

If you want the story of Microsoft, how about “Barbarians Led by Bill Gates”. Both authors are, in different ways, Microsoft insiders. Jennifer Edstrom is the daughter of Pam Edstrom, Gates’s long-time PR chief and spin doctor. Marlin Eller is a 13-year veteran Microsoft developer who has worked on DOS, early versions of Windows, and pen computing.
Those that ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.
Blessed are those that go around in circles, for they will be known as the big wheels.
Microsoft needs to copy Apple (again) and re-invent itself by inventing a new category in the mind and exploiting it. However I fear Microsoft is full of corporate liggers whose own self interest are rotting the foundation and are fearful of change (perhaps not without good reason).
I work with a lot of techies who have been working with and supporting Microsoft’s products for the last 20 years. Boy do they have some stories to tell about Microsoft and its products! And boy are they buying Macs in droves!
Nothing lasts forever.

You are awsome and your work is really inspiring! Thank you!

Who should speak for Microsoft? How about employees and customers? Isn’t that pretty much what is happening? If we are missing anything, it is the sense that Microsoft is driven by a Big Ideal – something meaningful yet flexible enough to cover all of their disparate activities. Am I naively pining away for the company “vision” – maybe so. But just what do they stand for, what is important and shared inside the company. That is something that can be communicated from both the grasstops and grassroots to us outsiders who use their products.
And, ultimately, their actions are what we all need to talk about. What are the company behaviors that people discuss? Seems dominated by negative stories at times. There are better Microsoft experts on this thread than I (and some dedicated detractors, I am guessing). But I bet there are many many interesting and laudable actions taking place everyday inside the company. I want to hear those stories.
Anyone who starts the Gates Foundation cannot be all bad.

Microsoft’s products speak for it. And, increasingly, they suck. Explorer, Word, Power Point, and especially Outlook all suck.
And as you have often pointed out, it doesn’t matter what you say if your products suck. In fact, one of my favorites of your cartoons says exactly that.

There is no “The Microsoft Story.” A story is part of the person who writes it (and /or tells it). So everyone who interacts with Microsoft has their own Microsoft story, and the right to tell it as they please.
If some of the top employees at Microsoft tell a story (or pay someone to tell a story their way) and they call it THE OFFICIAL MICROSOFT STORY and forbid other employees from calling their stories that – so be it. It’s still just their story that they’re hoping you’ll believe.

I nominate Alfred Chandler…Barring that I’d like to see a musical penned by Mike Patton and Don Delilo…Uhm….Yeah…

I had this conversation (above) with someone yesterday… The problem is certainly a cultural one and an image that doesn’t necessarily project anything positive, exciting, consumer-focused and so on. Things aren’t too good when you have a bunch of people say, “I can’t stand MS and i don’t even know why!” – it’s something that’s happened over time, tinted with some arrogance and not enough understanding of what consumers want or need. However, as Steve Clayton said, what can he and others do to improve things… It’s so easy to bitch and moan, which we all seem to be doing, but no-one offers a solution to the so-called problem…perhaps they (MS) want to see some “jury-agreement” on a way forward that’s objective and not necessarily given by the biased insiders… Just a thought..

thanks BL – rest assured I missed both the sensitivity training and PR classes 🙂

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