Microsoft tracks possible Windows code leak

TalkBack 28 of 103:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

You assume too much about Redmond.

You have some notion that the Redmond campus is a sort of Fort Knox-like establishment with people having to go through massive steel doors that can only be opened by insertng keys simulatneously and tunrning them on a count of ten...

It's not like that, you know .

The word "campus" is actually a very apt description of Microsoft's Redmond base. Until just a few years ago, there were even buildings that still ran their own electricity generators. Windows 98 was on the shelves before Trey himself got rid of his VT 320 and started using Outlook, instead of pine.

In part, this is deliberate. No matter how big it got, the founding members of Microsoft have aimed to maintain that temporarising, ad hoc atmosphere that you get within a struggling start-up. Teams are kept small, they are set massively over ambitious goals, that they invariably struggle to meet, fail - and in so doing fulfill the ACTUAL design targets that their managers had had in mind all along. Its a culture of burn-out and alcoholism; late night poker and horse-betting.

Gates has always aimed to keep each section of his empire small and agile. people are moved around frequently. Some say that this is simply to create an illusion of progress (Fred Moody, in his book "I Sing The Body Electronic", notes that in one of the company cafeterias, the following quotation, from Petronius Arbiter http://www.ag.wastholm.net/aphorism/A-1029, was pasted up, as seeming to have special relevance o the people who aet their meals underneath it... wondering what home looked like and whether their kids remembered them.)

In some ways, this works. Big Green has not grown fat and slothful in its old age. Whatever else may be said of this company, it does not grow old gracefully. It may now be a multibillion dollar business; it may well be showing DEFINITE signs of male menopaus... but if so, like many male-menopausals, its response has been to buy itself a Harley Davidson and a bandana.

The downside of all this is that it's a fairly leaky organisation (Cyberdyne Systems Incorporated IT CERTAINLY AIN'T!) As I say, people are moved between hopelessly overloaded taskforces and their response is often retain a network of loyalties with their former workmates. A subculture of leaking information between teams exists, in order to try and help desperately overstretched workers meet at least SOME of thier overambitious targets. Worse still, team managers often aren't computer programmers, themselves, but professional management types. They work their teams to the bone, simply because they know that the only alternative to having something to say for themselves at their next "Bill Meeting", is having NOTHING to say for themselves at their next "Bill Meeting".

Bill himself remains somewhat mercurial, even though he is said to have melowed a bit in recent years. His response to failure is still to yell insults at whatever unforunate messager brought him the news. His handing of the day-to-day running of the company to Steve "Macho-man" Balmer has not helped things, either.

No, there's absolutely no reason that I can see to suppose that this leak didn't come directly from within the campus. The questions really is: WHY? What is it about this, apparently highly selective, set of snippets that is so special? Does it contain some damning legacy from the Xenix days, or intance? Is there soemthing about it that people should particularly pay attention to?

It is interesting to note that this particular leak has taken place immediately prior to "Friday the 13th". Previous verifiable leaks from within the Redmond campus (such as the infamous "Halloween" documents, for instance) have had a decidedly horror-movie-title theme to them.

If there's more to this than meets the eye, it'll be because so little of it meets the eye...

Posted by: DanIelWalker_z   Posted on: 02/13/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now
• Reducing Server Total Cost of Ownership with VMware Virtualization Software VMware VMware virtualization enables customers to reduce their server TCO and ... Download Now
• Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now