Has BillG Lost It?
All in the course of a single morning I had three negative Microsoft-related encounters. Loyal readers who secretly or not-so secretly believe that Chairman Bill is the Antichrist and the spawn of Satan rolled up into one might not raise an eyebrow at such a statement, but since my involvement with the company goes back to the week OS/2 was announced (April 20, 1987) I have a different set of expectations.
First the issues:
A public document, intended to show off a new product, actually had a typo in the first sentence. To further rub salt in the wound, the typo is a misspelling of the—of all things—product name! They've found it and fixed it now, but here's what it said: “Welcome to the Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 with Business Contract Manager Product Guide.” Great, except the word “Contract” should be “Contact.” Oh, those nasty spellcheckers…
Second, I was setting up email accounts on a new Dell workstation and while setting options in Outlook I came across a button to “Get a Digital ID…” for signing documents via a digital certificate from an authority like VeriSign. I thought this sounded worthy of checking out, so I clicked on the button, which invoked Explorer and took me to a MS web site. Problem was, it was the wrong web site: instead of being a digital certificate site, this page is titled “Presentation Broadcasting” and has the disappointing statement “At this time, Microsoft does not offer any third-party Windows Media service providers for live broadcasts.” Shoot.
Finally, right after these two goof ups came to my attention the phone rings and it's a telephone solicitor from Microsoft, who wants to sell us their search engine submission service. Problem is, we are already a customer. Microsoft should have known that before they put their telemarketing list together. Second problem, after I tell the caller this, she abruptly hangs up on me.
Three strikes and you're out.
I wouldn't sell short just yet. But the fact is, that one morning was enough to convince me that some of the key fire from the old company just isn't there anymore. I can't imagine these kinds of things slipping past the fanatical checks and balances that used to exist. The lesson here is true for all companies: you can't cut corners in excellence just because you get bigger.
