Microsoft's Vista Blogger Quits

Preedit writes "Nick White, the in-house Microsoft blogger who wrote about all things Vista, has resigned. White is leaving Redmond to join the blog-centric marketing and public relations firm BuzzCorps. White did not provide a reason for his decision. InformationWeek, however, notes that his position could not have been easy. White's posts often elicited hundreds of responses from Vista users complaining about the OS's numerous glitches and quirks. The story further notes that White is the sort of young, blogosphere-savvy manager that Microsoft needs if it hopes to outrun Google, and his departure raises questions about the company's ability to retain Web 2.0 talent."

Hyperbole

The story further notes that White is the sort of young, blogosphere-savvy manager that Microsoft needs if it hopes to outrun Google, and his departure raises questions about the company's ability to retain Web 2.0 talent.

Oh, please. Trying to assert that the resignation of one blog-savvy employee "questions the company's ability to retain Web 2.0 talent" is just sensationalism. Microsoft is doing a fine job of shooting itself in the foot, all by itself, without anyone publishing hyperbole.

Re:Hyperbole

Not only that, but the suggestion that Google will be outrun my MS if MS employs Blogosphere-savvy managers makes me, er, laugh (for lack of better words. Feel free to replace it.)

Re:Hyperbole

er, laugh (for lack of better words. Feel free to replace it.)

How about: fly my ROFLcopter to the LOLerskate rink.

Re:Hyperbole

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Now it hurts to laugh. I refer to this feeling as "Vistacular".

Re:Hyperbole

or not.

FTFA:

White's resignation is the latest in a string of key departures at Microsoft.

Joanne Bradford, who was chief media officer for the company's MSN Media Network, resigned last month to join advertising startup Spot Runner. Bradford had also previously served as Microsoft's VP for sales and marketing and as chief media revenue officer.

Information Weekly think they see a trend, so they're making an observation. Again FTFA:

The departures highlight one of Microsoft's biggest challenges as a mature company: attracting and retaining Silicon Valley's top talent. In its early days, Microsoft could entice recruits with an entrepreneurial environment and stock options that eventually turned secretaries into millionaires.

In 2008, however, it's hot Web 2.0 startups like Flickr and MySpace that can offer those kinds of perks and incentives.

They're saying that MSFT is facing problems with retention because there are smaller fish offering big bucks for those willing to take on the risk, just like MSFT was back in the day. MSFT need to kick it up a notch to compete for labor because of the *many* departures in the past year.

Re:

A "media officer" and a blogger are hardly "Silicon Valley's top talent". Information Weekly sounds very bloggish to me (without having RTFA), and most bloggers worst crime is thinking that blogging is in some way important in the overall scheme of things.

Re:

In fairness, the article gives some more prominent examples, although I doubt that Jeff Raikes and Bill Gates are leaving in the hope of striking it rich at a Web 2.0 startup.

Re:Hyperbole

Not to mention the fact 'Web 2.0' is probably the stupidest and non-specific internet term used by mainstream media/marketing since 'blog'.

Stupid Internet Terms

It's got a long way to go to beat "Netizen" or "Podcast".

I assume you're disqualifying "Blogosphere" because it's derived from "Blog".

Re:Hyperbole

Microsoft is doing a fine job of shooting itself in the foot, all by itself, without anyone publishing hyperbole.

I disagree. Microsoft have gotten so incompetent lately that they'd probably miss and shoot off an arm instead. While failing at failing might seem like a double negative, they seem to do it on such an unprecedented level that its more like 5 levels of failing. Maybe thats why Bill Gates ran off when he did.

Re:Hyperbole

Microsoft will announce yesterday that his replacement is pop singer Pink.

Pink is the new White.

No reason given?

The guy was a marketroid who got payed to blog about stuff. I'm guessing the motivation is that his new company offered him a basketload of money to blog about something else, and he took it.

Man finds new job, quits old one. News at 11.

Re:No reason given?

You have to wonder about the workplace dynamics. People where I work sometimes get up a lottery pool when the prize is big. What happens in a small shop when half the workers hit the lottery? Do the other half offer congratulations but silently resent them? It would take inhuman strength not too. In the Microsoft cafeteria, there must be a lot of younger employees eating with people who have been there long enough to be much more wealthy than the new guys could ever hope to be - at that company, anyway. It isn't any surprise that most of the ones who didn't hit the MS lottery look elsewhere for theirs.

"Web 2.0 talent" = Oxymoron?

"Web 2.0 talent" = Oxymoron?

C'mon - when was the last time writing anything that popped into your mind considered a "talent". Blogs...yeesh. I still can't figure out who has the time to read those things.

Re:"Web 2.0 talent" = Oxymoron?

I'm looking forward to Web 3.11 for Workgroups. (sigh) I miss Winsock.

Re:

You know, Slashdot is virtually a blog. But I guess that supports your talent notion.

Re:

I think you just proved their point. Many of the more innovative people in the IT industry see blogging as a good thing (if it's not a crap blog, of course). That you seem to think everyone who blogs is crap is a hang-up on your part and shows that you mig

Re:

I hope I'm not having a whoosh moment here.

No, it's just fashionable to sneer at blogs here on /.

It think it's the same group who claims they don't watch TV either. We can sneer right back at them for being elitist snobs, but we don't really care a

New Vista-Bashing Blog

It is tough being the public face of a company. One of my friends was the spokesman for a large aerospace company. He was always "on-call" and had to be familiar with a ton of information at his fingertips.

In contrast, a blogging spokesperson sounds easy, as you can triple-verify everything through the tech staff, legal, and the upper echelons before publishing.

I'd be quite surprised if he left due to anything related to Vista. Heck, MS paid him to support Vista, and I'm sure he will continue to do so under the principle of "never bash a former employer until you retire".

Instead, I think he left for either an easier life and/or more money.

Top 5 least Glamorous Jobs

#5 Rest room cleaner for the Saints Stadium after Katrina.
#4 Tank Ammo Tester (Think Bugs Bunny).
#3 Amish Mechanic (What do you call a man with his arm up a horse's Ass?)
#2 Thong Adjuster for Janet Reno. (Close your eyes and visualize it..AIEEEEEE)
#1 Microsoft Pro Vista Blogger.

Seriously, I wonder how long he had that job for. And now, how long will he need a shrink to regain his self esteem ?

When I Hear The Word "Blogosphere"

... I reach for my Browning automatic.

Job Opportunity!

I hear the US Military is hiring bloggers. >.>

All hype or not, MS *does* need an image makeover

Recent surveys indicate Microsoft's overall regard by college and university students has dropped over 40 points in relation to other, similar businesses since last year. Meanwhile, Apple was ranked #1 as having the most desirable image.

Today's college and university students are tomorrow's tech. consumers, so it actually IS important to maintain a good image with them.

Yes, paid corporate blogging and much of this other "Web 2.0" stuff is ultimately going to be shown to be more "fluff" than worthwhile pursuit. Still, sites like MySpace and Facebook are part of this "next generation of web apps", and by all counts, they DO succeed in keeping the attention of the younger computer-using audience. (History repeats itself, folks. Despite the nay-sayers who were USUALLY quite correct about all the stupid e-commerce ideas springing up all over during the .COM/.BOMB fiasco - survivors included Amazon and eBay. Both of those sites didn't do so bad for themselves, did they?)

Microsoft just doesn't want to miss out again, if they ignore the wrong trend and it balloons into something huge....

Right now, their image is really tarnished on many fronts, including the "red ring of death" issues with XBox 360's AND the choice of backing the wrong HD technology for DVDs, the whole Vista fiasco, and an overall perception that the latest updates to their products don't offer very much for the money. (I just don't see nearly the level of "excitement" over the Office 2007 release that I remember people having when, say, Office 2000 came out. Most people using it just seem to be doing so because it was bundled with a new computer system purchase, or they needed to buy it to be legal on a new PC that didn't come bundled with it. Many of these people are students who got a huge price break through their school.)

Honestly, I think as much as people liked to bash Microsoft in the past, they often had a love/hate thing going on. It was difficult not to admire Bill Gates for his success, and/or for his willingness to donate to charities. People were really interested to see documentaries showing the inside of his mansion and so on. He generated a certain amount of "buzz" whenever he gave a speech to discuss his views on technology and ideas for the future. But now, Gates has pretty much retired and people like Steve Balmer are the new "figureheads". Who thinks of Balmer and thinks of anything positive?? He's often referred to as "monkey boy" and is best known for throwing chairs.

Retaining talent & Microsoft's one unique abil

Back during the high tech bubble, you could make a pretty good bet that a job at Microsoft that included stock vesting privileges would make you a millionaire in about 5 years and set for life in 7. This allowed Microsoft to hire and keep some really talented coders and code managers.

And Microsoft was sort of able to do one thing that no other company could really do. Microsoft was (more or less) able to build some really huge software projects in a few years. Such as WinNT/Win2000 and the Office suite. I'm not saying they were perfect, but they were good enough. And nobody else could execute projects on that scale.

My reading of the (years late, mediocre) release of Vista is that Microsoft has lost that one unique ability. My guess is that the kind of coders that used to put in their 7 years at MS are now headed elsewhere, such as Google. And without that steady supply of top tier talent, MS can't innovate quickly. Regarding the loss of one PR flack, PFFFFFT!

Re:Retaining talent & Microsoft's one unique a

... This allowed Microsoft to hire and keep some really talented coders and code managers... My guess is that the kind of coders that used to put in their 7 years at MS are now headed elsewhere, such as Google. And without that steady supply of top tier talent, MS can't innovate quickly.

I have never applied for a job with Microsoft because I never thought I was good enough. Now that I hear that quality candidates are avoiding Microsoft for smaller fish, I am thinking about talking to a Microsoft recruiter. Since my coding skills are rather mediocre, I feel that I will now be a good fit as a Microsoft programmer. I'm certainly "Vista Capable" in terms of the quality of my coding skills.

I only hope I can get a job here in Canada so that I don't have to go through the hassles of applying for a Visa to work in the US or India (where most Microsoft jobs are located).