

J Allard Rumored to Be Leaving Microsoft - eplanit
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179446

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TomOfTTB
I think the article does a disservice by focusing on Allard’s work on the Xbox
and Zune. The truth is JAllard has been at Microsoft since 1991 and has had
some pretty big accomplishments. The man built TCP/IP into Windows for God’s
sakes. He’s credited as one of the people who put the web onto Microsoft’s
radar (he was the only non-VP involved in the original plans for Internet
Explorer and was pushing the web browser internally years before Gates knew
what one was). He (with his team) created IIS (Microsoft’s web server for LAMP
folks out there). And so on…

I mean, there’s basically a book written about him:
[http://www.amazon.com/How-Web-Was-Won-
Idealists/dp/076790048...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Web-Was-Won-
Idealists/dp/0767900480)

(Good book. Very pro-Microsoft but still entertaining)

So the fact that he’s leaving after 19 years says something very profound
about the current state of Microsoft. It says the wheels have really come off
the wagon at this point and that they’re pushing away the few good people they
have left.

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andrewljohnson
Couldn't the fact that he's leaving after 19 years be because.... he's been
there for 19 years?

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mortenjorck
If I'd been involved in any way with Courier, I'd be on my way out of there as
well.

I've heard Microsoft called "the biggest waste of some of the industry's best
talent." Courier may be the poster child for this, but if it's systemic,
that's how they're going to continue to lose people like Allard.

I'm sad to see this happen. He should have been on the way up at Microsoft; he
could have changed things for the better if they'd let him.

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snprbob86
"the biggest waste of some of the industry's best talent"

I've seen this first-hand. Incredibly talented people losing DAYS of
productivity to trivial disagreements, corporate power grabs, and other wholly
avoidable problems. If you start noticing it, it is really quite painful to
watch. Sadly, most people just let it float on by.

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awa
but then there aren't many places where you can basically work whatever you
want to on. Take Allard example, he has worked on TCP/IP protocol in Windows,
Internet explorer, Xbox, Zune, and now courier.

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j053003
This is why I prefer startups.

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hello_moto
Can you do anything you want at someone else's startup when startups are
supposed to be frugal and focus?

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MartinCron
At someone else's startup you're often required to do a variety of different
things, which provides the sort of intellectual stimulation that extremely
differentiated larger companies lack.

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hello_moto
Yes, variety of different things that most of the time didn't yield the best
solution.

Pardon me for being a bit sarcastic. It is what it is.

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wglb
While the article suggests that he is leaving due to cancellation of a project
that he was involved in, after 19 years anywhere, a person might consider
moving on just to see what else is going on in the rest of the world.

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jacquesm
Less interesting that he is leaving microsoft, more interesting is where is he
going to ?

