Microsoft fails, even for Bill Gates
June 25, 2008
For those who like to have laughs at Microsoft’s expense, this set of posts should provide a few giggles. As usual, my favourite takes come from my Irregular colleagues:
Of course, Bill Gates does not get the service he deserves even 5 years later.(Actually to be more precise 5 years, 5 months, 8 days later).
If he had called the help desk like the process says, the ticket would have been logged and escalated and resolved years ago.
The thing I love about this, aside from the man bites dog routine, is the fact that Bill Gates gets an urge to do something new in Windows and uses the product like a consumer would (except he can get immediate attention from support). Good for him. Of course he’s right about the usability… too bad he can’t switch to a Mac.
Michael Krigsman points to this PDF which shows some of the follow-up email correspondence - you’d think after the CEO /Chairman rants so explicitely, they rush to find a solution. Instead, what we find is fingerpointing, politics, total corporate inertia. That’s what kills (formerly great) organizations.
Over on IT Counts (login required), sponsored by Microsoft, I see a poll is showing that 43.3% of respondent have no plans to install Microsoft Office 2007 and that only 22.68% have made the transition. Makes you wonder why. Perhaps we have (a part of) the answer.
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You can’t pay writers to come up with this stuff!
You can of course ask what system was Bill using that whole time that he never had seen windows updates or any of the other items.
Most likely he was using MS Mail from 15 years prior on his own special modified Jet mail system because he could never be bothered to get trained on how to use this Outlook program someone dreamed up.
“You can’t pay writers to come up with this stuff!” - you can’t - that’s why the Irregulars are such a good bunch of people. Oh - you meant the story itself? Right.
fun reading for sure but think of it this way - how many other executives in his position would have gone through this, documented and been so critical with the aim of improving? self criticism isn’t a bad thing to have IMHO
kinda what Jeff is saying I guess
@steve: absolutely. Pity we don’t see more of it. Pity the Blue Monster got caught in MSFT PR’s clutches.
@Steve - yes, absolutely. Only problem is: he still can’t mobilize the troops. That should tell us something about the health of the company.
Dennis, not being picky but - according to the IT Counts survey, more than 45% have moved to Office 2007 (albeit half that number have only partially their org to it) with a further 8% planning to do so in the next 6 months.
I also think it would have been more alarming if an internal email from Gates praised the efforts on what (presumably) was a WIP project that failed to make the grade?
And I haven’t been chipped yet, despite appearances.
Facts as of now:
# 21.78% My organisation has already moved over to Office 2007
# 23.76 % We are using Office 2007 on just some of our PCs
# 7.92 % We plan to implement Office 2007 within the next 6 months
Still not a great take up whichever way you cut it. My sense is the usability stuff they did wasn’t thorough enough. The ribbon menus are horribly confusing for those with years of the other kind. Same old, same old problems when trying to make something better methinks.
Over to you Gary - or should I say #345128A/Q-UU ?