

Coin-operated Borgocrat goes to Google, acquires whole new set of opinions - javery
http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/11/hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-borgocrat-scorned.html

======
jfager
Clicking through to the cited posts:

1\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/12/optio...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/12/options_on_goog.html)
\- Most of this post is praising Google for their TSO program. Microsoft is
mentioned almost as an afterthought, to show that they also have good employee
benefits (not exactly a secret).

2\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2005/11/googl...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2005/11/google_data_cen.html)
\- This was written in 2005, and is pretty much exactly in line with the
predominant sentiment of that time. It's hard to make the case even today that
Google has yet really attacked MS directly (no desktop OS, a much lighter
office suite, etc).

3\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/10/offic...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/10/office_20_free_.html)
\- Again, mostly in praise of Google, talking specifically about how online
office suites are a potentially disruptive technology that MS is scrambling to
get a slice of like everyone else. And, feature-for-feature, um, of course MS
Office wins. But if you don't care about feature count, so what?

4\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/12/googl...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/12/google-
vs-micro.html) \- He specifically says Google is to today's MS as Toyota was
to Ford or MS was to IBM 30 years ago. The whimper about MS having smart folks
who have played disruptor themselves doesn't exactly equate to "Google won't
disrupt MS".

5\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/02/googl...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/02/google_apps_tak.html)
\- Alright, Fake Steve has this one pretty spot on.

6\.
[http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/05/windo...](http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/05/windows_live_ho.html)
\- It's a product blurb, followed by the drooling endorsement of pointing out
that people usually don't completely abandon their old email addresses even if
they move on to something else.

~~~
sgk284
It's worth noting that every single quote is from 2005, 2006 or 2007. A lot
has changed in the past 2 to 4 years.

~~~
slig
> Gmail is a reasonable alternative to Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, but it doesn't
> compare to Microsoft Outlook

Gmail is pretty much the same, sans themes and offline access.

~~~
gecko
Adding themes; adding offline access; adding IMAP, POP, and SMTP support;
allowing labels to be treated like folders; allowing forwarding; adding in-
browser chat; adding keyboard shortcuts; adding online preview and viewing of
many documents, including notably Microsoft Office formats; adding contact
groups; adding muted conversations; adding to-do lists; integrating with
calendaring (Gcal didn't even exist when he wrote that article, let alone
integrate tightly); and adding synchronization with BlackBerrys. And that's
off the top of my head.

Gmail's UI may be roughly the same as it was in 2005, in the same way that
Outlook 2007 is basically the same as Outlook 2003, but the actual experience
has markedly changed and improved--certainly enough that I think his claim
could be reasonable then, but moot now.

~~~
slig
I guess you're right.

------
ewanmcteagle
I think this deserved pointing out. I'm not sure where this Don Dodge is great
stuff comes from or what it's based on but these few posts about him do make
him seem coin-operated. The best developer evangelists are able to be sincere,
thoughtful and helpful. Without those qualities it's a job that tends to make
you into a shill.

~~~
endtime
Agreed on all counts. Never heard of him until the news he was fired from MS,
read his goodbye blog post that was pretty Microsoft-friendly, and threw up in
my mouth a little when I saw this new one. I'm sure Don's done some good work,
but based on the exposure I have to him (the two aforementioned blog posts) I
find it hard to respect the guy.

~~~
jey
I agree that it looks pretty bad, but for the sake of playing Devil's, er,
Don's Advocate: maybe he was feeling down from being unexpectedly let go from
MSFT, and is now having a rebound where everything about his new job looks
extra rosy? Just saying there's a human/personal element at play here too.

~~~
endtime
I can understand feeling down after being fired. I can't understand magically
having opinions opposite to those you held when employed by your new
employer's competitor. The flippant and unprofessional tone just exacerbates
the problem.

~~~
seldo
I don't think any of his opinions expressed are actually a turnaround from his
previous statements. He used to talk about the good things at Microsoft and
not mention the bad things. Now he is talking about the good things at Google
(with comparison to bad things at Microsoft), and not mentioning the bad
things at Google (which I won't attempt to enumerate, since I work at Yahoo).

I think he is just trying to remain upbeat about his sudden and clearly quite
wrenching departure from a job he loved at a company he respected.

------
ShabbyDoo
I don't see much in the way of inconsistencies. In _2006_, Don notes:

"Google knows that on a feature comparison basis there is no contest.
Microsoft Office wins."

And, in the SAME blog posting also says:

"Feature comparisons aside, I think the real story is free online
collaboration, which is the next battlefield."

Now that he's left MSFT, he says:

"I can’t think of a single feature missing from what I need every day. There
may be some edge cases, but I haven’t bumped into any yet."

I haven't used Google Docs much, but haven't they improved significantly in
the past three years? Furthermore, he noted while at MSFT that the killer
feature is collaboration, not the number of unique word count statistics. I
see little in the way of inconsistency here. Doesn't Ballmer change his
arguments at least twice a year when it comes to dissing competitive
offerings?

~~~
Periodic
Many of those quotes are 2-3 years old. Google has been consistently improving
their web offerings and the speed of web apps has been getting better and
better.

I have changed my opinion of products and companies over a the span of years
many times. I think we should agree that he can too.

~~~
ShabbyDoo
Perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear...I agree with you entirely. And, I don't
see much evidence that he's actually changed his opinion much over time.

------
padmanabhan01
'Even Microsoft’s online version of Outlook called Outlook Web Access is far
better than Gmail'

Even according to the standards of marketers/evengelists, this is so
overboard.

~~~
kqr2
I am one of the unfortunate people that have to use Outlook Web Access at
work. Unless you use IE, you lose a lot of features.

Since I use firefox, I find that even Hotmail is better than OWA.

~~~
aufreak
You can actually use your gmail account to check your exchange accounts. If
your work place allows that, go right ahead! I've been accessing my univ
exchange account via gmail and never regretted it.

------
anApple
I guess he never really had to work with Office or Outlook, or otherwise he
would have known their advantages.

Firing him was just a logical consequence, since he didn't seem to do an awful
lot of work.

------
ramanujan
I believe Scoble at least waited a few weeks to make his conversions seem
organic.

I think this would have less of a bad taste if we thought of these guys as
being particularly conniving salespeople rather than "evangelists".

After Goog prevented Jon Skeet from getting his MS MVP award, this post might
also have been internall encouuraged by Google. Nothing would demoralize MS
more than seeing its ex-girlfriend sleeping with its hated rival (even if they
initiated the breakup).

------
mattmaroon
FSJ is the tech industry's court jester.

------
wgj
The point should be that every platform company needs great developer
evangelism, and a great developer evangelist should certainly be serving the
developer community as much as they serve the company that writes their check.
This is why the current situation is ultimately a win for Google and a loss
for Microsoft.

Fake Steve misses the point on this one, which is a surprise considering how
amazingly great Apple is doing with developer evangelism on the iPhone. No
wonder he wouldn't want Don Dodge. What would he do with someone like that?

~~~
chris100
FSJ has a point here. The blind endorsment of Google technology within a week
of switching jobs is fishy. Plain and simple.

~~~
colbyolson
As a tech evangelist, you could say he's just doing his job very well.
(sarcasm.)

~~~
potatolicious
The fact that we're having this discussion means he probably failed. The
evangelist needs to make with the awesome about products without raising
suspicion.

------
c00p3r
The point is to get well paid for publishing such blah-blah-blah. And he did.

------
dpapathanasiou
" _I sent a copy of this to Katie with a note asking how we missed out on this
guy, because he's exactly the kind of coin-operated true believer we need
around here._ "

LOL

