In a recent article on Forbes, Matthew Wallaert took issue with the whole premise and tone of the question he is constantly asked by others in and outside the industry: “What’s the worst thing about working at Microsoft?”
He’s been there eleven months, and heads up the Bing for Schools program. And he loves it. And he provided this pertinent commentary on the negativity that is constantly thrown around with regards to the company:
The worst thing about working at Microsoft is the number of people outside the company who doubt us…. Google’s business model is ads. Apple is consumer electronics. And Microsoft has consumer devices and Bing sells ads, so we could have a reasonable argument about whether those other two companies are doing a better job in those two spaces. But we should recognize that while we’re having that argument, we’re only able to do so because of generations of Microsoft leadership in technology.
Which isn’t to say there haven’t been other leaders or to detract from Apple or Google (both of which are doing interesting work, in my opinion). But when you talk to most people, at least in the US, most are unaware of the role that Microsoft played in their life. Which isn’t a bad thing on its own; there are many important supportive structures that are mostly invisible until you think about them.
But Microsoft is a little different from most of those invisible structures. Because instead of being invisible, people are acutely aware of it and many have openly negative feelings about it….
And because Microsoft employees go to work every day faces with a world that refuses to believe that they could possibly admit to doing anything innovative, it makes going to work that extra bit painful. Because even if you know that you are working on something that will help save lives or make things better for humanity, you also know that the moment you release it, the vast majority of the tech community to which you belong will ridicule it for no other reason than it says Microsoft on it.
I hope you’re still reading. Because as someone who keeps a finger on the pulse of everything Microsoft (since we are a Microsoft certified partner and our software runs on ASP.NET technology), I read so many negative things about Microsoft. And I found this to be refreshing insight. After all, as he points out in the editorial, think of all the absolutely crucial components of our personal and professional lives, and how much sheer infrastructure, is possible because of hardware and software Microsoft is behind.
It sounds to me like maybe the industry has a jealousy problem.
Everybody likes to rag on the big dog, huh? What would the field look like without Microsoft? And I don’t want to hear that, “Someone else would have eventually done those things” argument. No, Microsoft did those things. So give them the credit and let’s have a discussion based in reality, not theoretical what-ifs.
What do you guys think? I’m interested in your perspective on his position.
