Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Why "Vista" Nick White Left Microsoft

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Fri Apr 04, 2008 04:29 PM
from the spinning-the-spin-control dept.
Operating Systems Software Windows News
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this week Nick White, Product Manager for Windows Vista and blogger at WindowsVistaBlog, announced that he was leaving Microsoft. Geek.com previously interviewed Nick about what SP1 for Vista was all about, so they sat down with him yesterday to get the details behind his departure, his proudest moments at Microsoft, a few regrettable moments, and more."
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] What Vista SP1 Means To You 340 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Geek.com has an interview with Nick White, Microsoft's Vista Product Manager, covering the upcoming release of Vista SP1. The interview goes over some of the new features, how the change will affect admins, and how Microsoft decides if a change should be rolled out as an update or as part of the service pack. One of the most interesting questions asks whether people should feel that they have to wait until SP1 to upgrade to the operating system, a common practice with Windows users. White writes off this practice as no longer being necessary and notes how Windows Update has lessened the importance of the release of a service pack. Just the same, a News.com article explores the possibility that this update will finally begin driving users to Vista."
Submission: Why "Vista" Nick White Left Microsoft by Anonymous Coward
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Why "Vista" Nick White Left Microsoft 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • For those not into RTFA (Score:5, Funny)

    by kipman725 (1248126) on Friday April 04 2008, @04:36PM (#22968274)
    For those not into RTFA here is a summary: Proudest moment: Dodging the chair as I ran out the door Details Behind departure: DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS... need more be said?

    • Re:For those not into RTFA (Score:4, Insightful)

      by GWLlosa (800011) on Friday April 04 2008, @04:44PM (#22968346)
      Except for the fact that neither of the things you mentioned were so much as alluded to in the article, that's an awesome summary :)

      It's actually just about how he likes to blog, he's generally positive on Microsoft, claiming that they allowed him complete freedom to write whatever he wanted to in his blog. His reason for leaving was basically that he thought the new job with some start up was a 'big opportunity' for him.
    • "[..] they sat down with him yesterday to get the details behind his departure, his proudest moments at Microsoft [leaving microsoft], a few regrettable moments [working on vista]."

  • Eeenteresting (Score:5, Funny)

    by 26199 (577806) * on Friday April 04 2008, @04:46PM (#22968374) Homepage
    So he sounds like a reasonable guy, and from what he says he was allowed to be honest and make his own decisions.

    Unfortunately it's one of the laws of PR that a dishonest PR person can claim to be honest just as easily as an honest one.

    Ah well. I have faith in humanity! I believe him.

  • The new gig is not about me blogging, itâ(TM)s about helping bloggers do what they do best â" shape opinion through the sharing of information â" hand in hand with helping companies understand the role they can play in that conversation.


    Mmmmm, the lovely taste of vomit. I never knew 'shaping opionion' by 'sharing information' was what 'bloggers do best'. That statement is even more ironic considering only a few paragraphs earlier he said:

    Listen to your readers â" theyâ(TM)re the reason you get a paycheck. Case in point[blah blah blah](


    I won't argue with whether Vista is good or bad, because what galls me about this interview is not the debate over Vista but the man's presumptions about his audience and the supposed purpose of marketing being to '[change] the prevailing âoewisdomâ around [the product], one user at a time[...]'. And one does this by 'to explain things in terms that didnâ(TM)t sound like spin but rather presented the facts without being leading, and in a manner that respected our readersâ(TM) intelligence.'

    Because, 'I learned that companies ignore or attempt to manipulate public opinion around their products and services at their peril.' And we know Microsoft (or any other corporate "blogger" (I'm sorry, let's call him what he is: Shill) would never do such a thing - right? I mean, Lord help the company that tries to 'manipulate public opinion' with lies - whoops, I mean market-speak.

    Asshole.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by nsayer (86181) *

      I'm sorry, let's call him what he is: Shill

      Folks, words have meanings.

      Specifically, in this case, a shill is "an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others."

      Now.

      Can you produce any evidence that while this guy was blogging for Microsoft that he in any way hid his affiliation? If you can't, then he's not a shill. He may be something else, but that being the case, you should have picked the correct word for whatever it is you want to call him.

    • And we know Microsoft (or any other corporate "blogger" (I'm sorry, let's call him what he is: Shill) would never do such a thing - right?

      No, he's not a shill [wikipedia.org] because everyone knew what the blog was and who was hosting it. He also openly admits that he was working for Microsoft which is completely opposite of what a shill would do while astroturfing.

      To call him an asshole might be true, I don't know him personally but to call him an asshole because you confused about what the words you use mean is another

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ILikeRed (141848)
      What piece of shit software are you using that can not handle simple English text and insists on inserting (TM) trademark symbols where I assume you meant single quote mark? And, yes - it is a serious question - I have seen it in other places - just wonder what piece of Software is responsible for such garbage in something so simple as plain text entry.

  • And we care why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LostCluster (625375) * on Friday April 04 2008, @04:47PM (#22968382) Homepage
    Marketing writer leaves Microsoft... and this becomes a /. story?

    • Re:And we care why? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gmuslera (3436) on Friday April 04 2008, @05:22PM (#22968628) Homepage Journal
      Well, if an economist quits department of treasury, or a priest quits church, is something to note, someone is quitting from a place which main speciality is what does that person.

      And now that kind of things happening to a company that is part of /. culture... yes, is stuff that matters.
          • lurk more, please, okay, thanks :) I didn't bother thinking what it meant til I saw your reply, but yah the inside jokes get okay after a while, despite sometimes being overdone or improperly applied

  • spin spin spin (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bored MPA (1202335) on Friday April 04 2008, @04:49PM (#22968392)
    name recognition, name recognition,
    rolodex, rolodex,

    blah. why are there even MORE stories about this on slashdot. it was obviously hype to benefit nick, benefit his new employer, and then play down the MS leaving angle to make somewhat/all nice with his old employer. everybody wins. even slashdot. go go gadget newscycle.

    everybody except me, im the idiot taking the time to click the link and write this little rant. and you're the idiots taking the time to mod me -1 troll and +5 underrated.

      *headdesk*

    • blah. why are there even MORE stories about this on slashdot. it was obviously hype to benefit nick, benefit his new employer, and then play down the MS leaving angle to make somewhat/all nice with his old employer. everybody wins. even slashdot. go go gadget newscycle.

      everybody except me, im the idiot taking the time to click the link and write this little rant. and you're the idiots taking the time to mod me -1 troll and +5 underrated.

      It's called "circlejerk". [urbandictionary.com]

  • Why is he leaving? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Friday April 04 2008, @05:00PM (#22968492)
    Considering it's MS, my guess is, he knew too much.

    How you interpret that now is up to you, I think both ways could be true.

  • Save your time - he said nothing (Score:3, Informative)

    by ahabswhale (1189519) on Friday April 04 2008, @05:01PM (#22968502)
    I read the whole article and nothing was actually revealing probably because he failed to say anything negative whatsoever about his former company (and everyone has something negative to say about their employer), yet he offers no real reason why he left but it's supposedly an interview about his leaving Microsoft... Sorry for the run-on sentence.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by gujo-odori (473191)
      Heh. I'm a former Microsoft employee and I have loads of negative things to say about Microsoft. Some positive things, too, but the negative list is far longer and contains more "heavyweight" items. He may be under heavy NDA, but OTOH I never signed anything regarding not saying bad things about Microsoft after I left, and I was a manager there, FWIW. Probably, as others have suggested, he doesn't want to piss off Microsoft by saying negative - if truthful - things about Microsoft or its products.

      On the thi
    • he makes his living by being a voice on the internet for companies. You don't go to an interview and bad mouth you're previous employers. It's the quickest way to end your career opportunities with the company interviewing you. Which is another reason why no one seeking or thinking about ever wanting to seek employment should blast their former employers in publicly accessible forms like postings on the internet. If you are one of the top three coders in the world, you can probably say or do anything and no
  • He had me at:

    "PR had a voice in what content appeared on the blog but they were only one stakeholder among many."

    It was the only statement he made that had any substance. And if you think for one minute there never has been, isn't, never will be a muzzle on this dude:

    [geek] "What feature did you want to see in Vista that was dropped at the last minute and why?"

    [nw]"I came onto the Windows team too late to have an informed opinion, and what I do know should probably remain non-public information. Sorry."

    Pfff
    • And Vista(TM) which I use every day makes me more productive(TM). It must be all the forest creatures who fly in to help with the housework.

  • My take (Score:5, Informative)

    by Archangel Michael (180766) on Friday April 04 2008, @05:35PM (#22968706) Journal
    Marketing Droid speaks Marketing Noise, to people who really don't care.

    "Did you ever post something that Microsoft wished you hadnâ(TM)t?

    The first post I put up was on the use of BitTorrents to distribute Beta 2, and I gave it a rather sensationalistic title. It got senior managementâ(TM)s attention, and from there we had a blank check to engage anyone we needed in order to get the story in time for it to be relevant to our readers. So while it was perhaps a risky route to go in the short-term, it was that story that ensured our blog was apportioned the resources necessary to get the job done right. In short, Iâ(TM)d do it again and in the same way (only Iâ(TM)d blame it all on my managers :) )."

    If you read this, he never answer the freakin question, as asked! In fact, he said he'd do it again. I don't know if that was sarcasm, which doesn't work well in written form, or what.

    Why can't people ever answer the question? Seriously. Crap crap crap. I just wasted 5 minutes

  • The real reason... (Score:4, Funny)

    by San-LC (1104027) on Friday April 04 2008, @05:48PM (#22968788)
    The real reason why Nick White left is because too many people kept calling him "Vista" Nick White, and as soon as the ladies correlated that, like Vista, Nick White underperformed and was overhyped, they left him like a chubby kid at fat camp.
    • Don't forget, he also needs higher-end, expensive hardware to perform adequately and doesn't work well with others, so he's kind of like a belligerent, high-maintenance, chubby kid at fat camp. None of that's good.
  • Someone who has held a position like that is unlikely to fight back and burn bridges by slagging off Microsoft. In fact you would think he still worked there given the positive spin his article provides.

    There's no way he'd ruin his career by giving us any dirt on Microsoft and Vista, future employers wouldn't like that. He's probably signed an NDA anyway.

  • New job training astroturfers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JebusIsLord (566856) on Friday April 04 2008, @06:45PM (#22969218) Homepage
    This quote, at the end caught my attention:

    Q: "Are you going to be blogging for BuzzCorps?"

    A: "The new gig is not about me blogging, it's about helping bloggers do what they do best - shape opinion through the sharing of information"

    So he's moved on to a far more luctrative career in training astroturfers. Great.

  • I'm now part of BuzzCorps, a word-of-mouth marketing firm

    I always thought that Word of Mouth Communications (WoM) could be a great way to spread news about the best products and companies, but I realized that my friends were simply unable to communicate their thoughts and opinions all on their own.

    That's likely why I went and installed Linux - the word-of-mouth for Windows just simply wasn't there.

    But now there is a whole emerging INDUSTRY leveraging the idea of word-of-mouth!

    Just think: This new industry could make this whole recession thing go away by spreadi

  • Regrets? (Score:3, Informative)

    by MoeDrippins (769977) on Friday April 04 2008, @07:41PM (#22969496)
    Can someone point out the regrets? I couldn't find any. Neither could firefox.

    • Re:Vista windowing (Score:5, Funny)

      by Gat0r30y (957941) on Friday April 04 2008, @04:43PM (#22968340) Homepage Journal
      And That is why Nick quit!

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Tony Hoyle (11698)
      Uhh.. often when you move windows on OSX the *whole* window flickers... at least since the 'leopard graphics update' that screwed everything up. And that's on a top end MBP.

      It's not only microsoft that can fuck up graphics.

    • I've noticed that too, and decided it was one of the main reasons why I always felt Mac and Amiga OS were just more 'solid' than Windows. I can't believe they haven't sorted that out in Vista? What a bunch of morons.. presumably all it takes is some double buffering..
    • As opposed to the subtle propaganda you are accustomed to getting elsewhere?

    • Re:Propaganda (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Technician (215283) on Friday April 04 2008, @06:36PM (#22969172)
      I can't believe the propaganda is so blatant!

      I'm glad you brought that up.

      Here is an example;
      "Frankly, I think Windows Vista has gotten a bum rap, as I use it every day - even after having left MS - and I would have a hard time using anything else and still be as productive."

      He gave the reason I gave up on Vista. I couldn't get anything done. In a meeting I tried to show a DVD. It started OK but stopped to ask if I wanted to upgrade my AV. The stupid computer asked me to upgrade now, even though we were doing a presentation and had no network connections at the time. I wounder if it would have crashed if I told it to upgrade.

      We wrote documents and tried to send them to the laser instead of the default inkjet printer. Couldn't find any way to do it without changing the default printer. Later a Google search told me to use the big round logo. It's really a button. Who would of guessed?

      The Ubuntu install went fine. I was able to log into my network, attach to printers, edit documents, burn CD's, edit photos, scan documents, etc. on the default setup. Vista was full of shareware requesting upgrades for everything. Almost nothing worked. It couldn't log into my servers, I couldn't select printers without a Google search, and movies stopped after playing for 15 minutes for a stupid dialog box.

      With lots of training and system customization, I might be able to become productive on Vista, but the first attempts very poor.

      • Re:Propaganda (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 04 2008, @07:26PM (#22969430)
        Hmm, let's think about this:

        - The DVD playback software doesn't sound a Vista component itself, although it's hard to tell from your description.

        - "stopped to ask if I wanted to upgrade my AV" - Anti-Virus? That sounds like a 3rd party component rather than a piece of Vista.

        - The "big round logo" is a part of Office 2007, which is not part of Vista. It looks exactly the same on XP.

        - The "Shareware requesting updates" are not part of Vista and were installed by your computer manufacturer.

        Sounds like you got a crappy OEM machine and none of these are really Vista issues ...

        • Re:Propaganda (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Technician (215283) on Friday April 04 2008, @08:17PM (#22969692)
          too bad you posted AC. Most of your points are correct.

          My point is a new Visya machine out of the box from most retailers is not production worthy. It needed an Office Application. Office 2007 has it's own issues. Sorry I mentioned it. My Linux machine came with an office application installed and it worked, was intuitive and the minor bugs were easy to figure out. The biggest annoyance was the default printer paper setting of A4 instead of Letter. It did not require a Google search to fix.

          The stopped to ask, I do blame on Vista. When updates are available in Ubuntu for a background task, it simply winks the toolbar item, not stop the foreground task like it did in Vista. This is a Vista fault. I've seen the same task done much better elsewhere.

          The Shareware requesting updates being installed by the computer manufacture is a problem with Vista. They should not need the DeCrapifier right out of the box to fix a new machine.

          The fix is here;
          http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home [pcdecrapifier.com]

              • Re:Propaganda (Score:4, Informative)

                by jimicus (737525) on Saturday April 05 2008, @12:04PM (#22973698) Homepage

                Erm... It's the way most people get a copy of Vista. The license permits this crap... So out of the box, it arrives very badly broken. This is Vista's fault. That crap should be on an included CD just in case you are interested in any special offers....
                I would point out that a few years ago Microsoft got a minor rap across the knuckles for refusing to allow OEMs to install non-Microsoft software.

                • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

                  by Technician (215283)
                  I would point out that a few years ago Microsoft got a minor rap across the knuckles for refusing to allow OEMs to install non-Microsoft software.

                  Now vendors should get a rap on the knuckles for installing any software that isn't a full functioning product. You want to install a photo editor, fine, but it better not expire. Only subscription based services such as AV updates should require a payment to get the signature file updates. Nobody should have to sweep off all the declined offers. They should a

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Technician (215283)
          'm not so convinced you've even *used* Vista/Office 2007 (as is the case with so many who spew out the same garbage reasons why M$ is the suxorz). Nice rant/push of Ubuntu, though.

          You got me there. It's my wife's new machine. She got it for school. She wanted to connecto to the home LAN. No prob, gave it what it needed to get on the web. Set it up to use our networked printers, and inkjet and laser. She wanted to transfers her stuff from her very old Win ME laptop. She transferred the files to the Si

    • Proudest Moment: (Score:4, Funny)

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (137) * on Friday April 04 2008, @04:59PM (#22968484) Homepage Journal
      Vista wins the coveted "Glass Turd" award.

      Most disappointing moment:
      Vista wins the coveted "Glass Turd" award.

      Windows 7? Going 2 for 2.
      • Despite my very unpleasant experience with Vista (before I went back to XP), I will still take a look at "Windows 7", and I'm sincerely hoping that Microsoft gets it right this time. Windows XP has been one of the more successful products I've used on a computer, and it's provided me with a platform for nearly a decade of productivity.

        I think there's still a lot of life left in the concept of a Personal Computer Operating System. I use a PC to produce media, and that's not something I expect to be doing o

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by PopeRatzo (965947) *

            OS X. Another system that pretty much just works and works and works.

            I like OSX, too. However there are so many high-end audio plugins and VSTi that don't yet work on an Intel Mac that I can't fully use it yet. I have other reasons for not making a Mac my main production machine that are admittedly more idiosyncratic. One of them is that I'm really uncomfortable associating with religious zealots. I had a bad experience when a neighbor saw me carrying my old dual G4 into my house and decided that we w

    • Sounds like he's still on their payroll to me. He completely avoided the last question. He's as bad as the damn politicians! That's pretty bad.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.