
Microsoft employees getting free Surface tablets, new work PCs, Windows Phone 8 - MarlonPro
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/microsoft-employees-surface-tablets-work-pcs-windows-phone-8/
======
brudgers
From word processing to servers to compilers, no tech company eats their own
dog food like Microsoft. They even have their own search engine.

It's an under appreciated feature of their corporate culture that first hit me
when I asked myself, "Why the hell does Microsoft sell project?" and realized
that just about everything they have developed since DOS has been something
they could use in house.

~~~
jere
>no tech company eats their own dog food like Microsoft

See, I've always assumed the exact opposite based on how rough the user
experience is on so many Microsoft products.

I've often wondered if it was possible for a web developer at MS to sit down
with IE for 30 minutes and not think "I have to fix this.... now!" When I
realized how awesome Chrome developer tools were I never wanted to go back.
But of course, as a web developer, you have to go back.

Or maybe that _is_ the problem. Maybe too much dogfooding blinds you to how
great the competitor is.

~~~
at-fates-hands
>"See, I've always assumed the exact opposite based on how rough the user
experience is on so many Microsoft products."

And you are correct.

I remember back in the day (2005) reading about MS employees hiding their
ipods when they were on campus:

[http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2005/0...](http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2005/02/66460?currentPage=all)

And then Steve killed everybody's buzz by banning Apple products entirely:

[http://www.cultofmac.com/155131/microsoft-bans-employees-
fro...](http://www.cultofmac.com/155131/microsoft-bans-employees-from-using-
apple-products-as-work-machines/)

~~~
ebf
The article states that company money cannot be used to purchase Apple
products, not that Apple products are banned entirely. I know plenty of people
that use iPhones on campus.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Which is also bogus. There are plenty of exceptions (otherwise, how the heck
does Microsoft develop Mac Office?).

~~~
wingspan
In some orgs it is actually relatively easy for a PM to get a MacBook Air, for
instance. You don't even need a bulletproof justification. Although with the
new crop of ultrabooks, the MacBook Air is no longer so unique, so it may be
more difficult.

------
wingspan
It's a small gesture when you look at the big picture (total compensation,
etc), but this means a lot to me as an employee, and really shows Microsoft's
commitment to the new era of Windows 8 on beautiful devices.

It will be interesting to see how the Windows Phone 8 devices are distributed,
as the previous deal for 7 was a free device only if you sign up for a 2-year
contract.

Unfortunately I just moved teams, so I was in the process of ordering a new
machine anyway; but still, a new Surface tablet will be awesome.

------
CurtHagenlocher
Obligatory snark: this will double the WinPhone8 installed base!

Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft but left the company meeting early.

~~~
reddiric
Response to snark (which I don't know why you think was obligatory):

PC World reports 5.4 million Windows Phone 7s sold this quarter alone
([http://www.pcworld.com/article/262287/windows_phone_fails_to...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/262287/windows_phone_fails_to_gain_traction_in_second_quarter.html)).
With 94,000 employees, this would increase Windows Phone sales by 1.7% in a
single quarter, and be a much smaller percentage of installed base.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Did he announce that all employees are getting WP8 devices or just American
employees (~45k)? Given that subsidies are not common outside of the US, I'm
thinking only 1%. We only just recently got our WP7 devices here in China (I
work for Microsoft China).

I still have not seen a Windows Phone device in the wild; I hope our market
share is much better in the states!

~~~
jimbobimbo
Meeting was webcasted around the world (within MSFT).

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Ah! Did they do a reasonable time delay for each market? Some of us need to
sleep.

------
farnsworth
There's a lot to this, for the company, other than employees getting bonuses
in hardware instead of cash. They're putting MS products in the hands of tens
of thousands of people most invested in evangelizing and evaluating them -
every MS software product benefits from dogfooding, why not hardware? It will
presumably give MS a chance to debug enterprise bring-your-own-device that
they are trying to support by implementing it on an enormous scale themselves.
These are developers who may be now inclined to write apps. And most MS
employees don't have laptops, so now they won't be stuck with pen and paper in
meetings.

~~~
wideroots
Plus, if they like it, they might buy a few for their family and friends for
the upcoming holiday season!

------
alttag
This mass upgrade will have the negative side-effect of moving all 94,000
employees to the same spot in their three-year upgrade cycle. If this proves
true, it's interesting, headline-grabbing, and ultimately short-sighted, as it
will result in a great deal of hurt feelings in the long run as the
replacement cycle is stretched out again (for logistics and accounting
purposes, if nothing else.)

Oh, and the many, many contractors look like they'll be hosed. Again.

------
Jarihd
I wonder how come MS is able to afford giving free hardware to so many of
their employees. Earlier they gave the Windows Phone and now the Tablet.

Is it a good marketing strategy. Do non-MS people buy their products, based on
word-of-mouth spread by MS employees. Does this strategy really work ???

~~~
wideroots
It's definitely a win-win scenario (maybe win-win-win): 1\. Every employee
will implicitly/explicitly become an evangelist for Microsoft products. I'm
not talking only about the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 but all the services
and apps that support the platforms and ecosystem. The marketing power and
reach won't be as wide as Microsoft's actual marketing effort (there is a
reason why Microsoft has a whole division of marketing), but this will
certainly do a good job of sparking the excitement for the community. 2\.
Employee morale will definitely go up. Employees will feel that they are being
cared. Employees will feel that they are getting treated well. This would
essentially lower the retention rate of the company. If less people are
leaving the company because they are unhappy, the less money Microsoft has to
throw out to replace those people. 3\. (maybe) People outside of Microsoft
would start to think that Microsoft is a good place to be. People would start
thinking that working for Microsoft is not a bad idea, after all. This kind of
decision shows the cult of the company. I think Microsoft has a lot of wrong
perceptions. They might have been correct a few years ago, but things have
started to change since Windows 7. Then, I keep hearing more changes and more
good stuff from Microsoft lately. Definitely, this is going to help making the
Microsoft brand better.

~~~
Jarihd
Well i believe; that for a Software company like MS; it should give software
for free to its employees instead of hardware - if it really wants to show
that it cares. Most employees will belong the software field and will most
definitely feel cared; if software is given to them for free - inorder for
them to explore their own development/testing potential along with exploring
the product potential. Also by giving the software for free; when an employee
leaves the company; due to his/her interest in what the software product can
deliver; they become lifelong customers - buy product upgrades and related
software.

as far as attrition goes; well I guess it is bound to happen in case of
experienced employees, no matter how great the company is; 'cause as one moves
up the ladder; number of higher positions(across various teams) start to
decrease. Talented employees hungry to explore their capabilities will leave
for sure due to lack of opportunity.

As far as people outside MS wanting to join - guess will automatically happen
if MS meets their requirements(job satisfaction + money + environment). The
case most generally is that a company will find a replacement for a vacant
position on its terms(there may be exceptions). But, It need not give hardware
for free to its employees - inorder to send a message to the outside world -
but rather give Software for free. Software given free to its employees means
a opportunity to grow; and guess that would definitely attract outsiders to
explore.

~~~
wideroots
As far as I know, every employee gets a MSDN subscription, which comes with
tons of Microsoft software for FREE. Plus, they dogfood their own products.
They dogfood Windows, Office, Hotmail (or Outlook.com), SkyDrive, etc, and
dogfooding is "free". If you hadn't known, now you know.

When I talked about the retention rate, I was focused on employees who've been
with the company for 3 yrs or less. In tech industry, especially in software
engineering field, people switch jobs fast. really fast. All my colleagues
switch jobs every 2-3 years. For companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple,
this is not good. They now have to spend money to find potential candidates,
spend more money to interview those potential candidates, make full-time
employees to interview potential candidates (5-8 interviewer per candidate),
etc.

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ixacto
Have fun working with Vista 2.0.

~~~
ebf
Could you clarify why Windows 8 is Vista 2.0?

~~~
CamperBob2
Like Vista, it is designed around things _Microsoft_ needs it to do, not what
the _user_ needs it to do.

~~~
ebf
That seems like a pretty vague explanation.

~~~
CamperBob2
Hint: Users didn't ask for a desktop OS that looks and works more like their
phones... or rather, like the phones that Ballmer hopes to sell them at a
later date.

------
niels_olson
The problem with selling things: if you can't sell them, you better figure out
how to eat them. I think MSFT is learning how to eat computers.

~~~
jobowoo
I think you're reading too much into this. Google gives out a free Android
phone to its employees every year.

~~~
niels_olson
Fair enough. Let's say their cost for a phone, computer, and tablet is $2000.
With 94,000 employees, that's 188 $M. I suppose that's pretty trivial when
your market cap is 259 $B.

~~~
inoop
More like $200 for a tablet, and $400-$600 for a phone. Those are retail
prices, and I'm sure MS gets a pretty good discount on those too. You tend to
get things a lot cheaper if you buy a lot of them.

