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Vista's last mile
Previous page"He asks tough questions and he has high standards," said Mike Sievert, the corporate vice president in charge of marketing Windows. Sievert said he gets, on average, four e-mails a week from Allchin containing suggestions of things that need to be better.
"He's very interested in how we're doing in managing the reputation of Windows," Sievert said. Not content to let others handle all the Vista marketing, Allchin took to blogging on an official company blog about the many virtues of Vista. This week, he added a post on just how much of the 2003 vision actually did make it into Vista.
On the development side, Allchin was even more enmeshed. In the final days before Microsoft declared Vista done, Allchin and his technical assistant spent long hours testing arcane scenarios to try to spot bugs that either the development teams or the servers running automated tests might have missed.
As part of those tests, "I'm doing video calls with my mom in Boston," Allchin said during those last harried days in November. "I'm doing remote assistance to jump into a machine, and then I 'remote desktop' from that machine to another machine."
Allchin was also pushing for changes up to the very last minute, arguing that if there were bugs to be fixed, they should be.
"(If) there's a fix, I want to put it in," Allchin maintained. "It should be clear that date means not much to me, that quality is much more important."
Quitting time
But after months of sleepless nights, Allchin is ready for a break. He has been vague about future plans, saying he might do some contract work for Microsoft, but that's still up in the air. What is clear is that the Allchin era at Microsoft is over.
Allchin is skipping the big gala launch of Vista in New York, opting to preside over an internal company event in Redmond on Tuesday. A day later he will finish up at Microsoft and the next day he's headed on vacation. "February 1, I'm going to go where it's warm, on a boat."
Vista may be Allchin's final legacy, but he will also be remembered for other key initiatives: helping move Microsoft from a desktop software company to a formidable player in the server space and passionate advocacy for client software even in an age of networked computers.
"He's Mr. Distributed Computing," said Tod Nielsen, who worked with Allchin for years at Microsoft and is now CEO of software maker Borland. "He fundamentally has a belief that's the best way computing should be done."
Allchin will also be remembered for his role in the landmark Microsoft antitrust trial, where he was grilled about a Microsoft video that appeared to have been doctored, using different PCs in different parts of the video.
"He got caught up in that sideshow with the video stuff," said Nielsen. "It was really unfortunate. Jim had nothing to do with it. His role was (saying), 'I want a video set up to show X, and that was it.'"
Inside Microsoft, a new guard is taking over Windows management. The overall unit is now headed by former sales chief Kevin Johnson, while development is being led by Steven Sinofsky, who came over last year from the Office business, where he built a reputation for shipping products consistently and on time.
Ballmer has made it clear he doesn't want Microsoft to ever go five years between Windows releases again. But in its quest for speed, Microsoft has to make sure not to forget those all important details, especially now that its toughest critic won't be there.
Sievert, the Windows marketing executive, said Sinofsky has a big legacy to uphold. "In many respects, it will be Steven's job (to make sure) that focus on experiences, security and quality gets carried on."
Images
Behind the scenes for Vista
Photos from Redmond, where Microsoft is working hard to get the Windows update out of the door. November 8, 2006
Vista gets the shutter bug
The photo-importing wizard in Windows Vista has raised concerns. October 24, 2006
Security tweaks in Vista
Release Candidate 2 version lets people turn off feature. October 13, 2006
Power plans in Vista
Managing the drain on your laptop battery.June 2, 2006
Vista's got game
Taking advantage of 3D graphics and other features.March 21, 2006
Videos
Allchin's imprint on Vista
CNET News.com's Charlie Cooper, Mike Ricciuti and Ina Fried assess Allchin's legacy. January 19, 2007
Never-before-seen Vista features
Product manager Justin Hutchinson takes the CES floor to show off flashy new features. January 8, 2007
A secure Vista
A tour of antiphishing and parental-control tools. January 27, 2006
Does Vista mean business?
A look at Vista's office functions, including publishing and information sharing. January 27, 2006
A view of Vista
Windows' chief answers questions from News.com readers. January 27, 2006
Vista coming your way
More answers from Allchin. January 27, 2006
Credits
Editors: Mike Ricciuti, Leslie Katz
Design: Andrew Ballagh
Production: Kristina Wood
"During testing, he and Windows executive Dave Fester bemoaned how Vista handled music-related tasks. Not surprisingly, the competitive target was Apple.
"What is this?" Fester asked. "I am so confused as to what we are doing here. We just look so disconnected. We look so disconnected compared to the Mac."
Allchin responded, "I agree. I can't argue. I agree."
His critiques that day echoed the blunt, urgent e-mails Allchin sent in 2003 and 2004 while Microsoft was readying Vista. In one missive to Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, Allchin noted that he would buy a Mac if he didn't work for Microsoft, saying that Microsoft had lost its way."
Sounds like a Macintosh endorsement to me. Right from the head of the Vista OS team!
Granted, I had no idea who Allchin was six months ago (which probably isn't saying much since I also didn't know who Steve Jobs was prior to two years ago - which is apparently strange being a Mac-user), but I've heard a lot about him recently and it seems Microsoft may be losing one of their Most Valuable Chiefs.
As always with Microsoft, the new products look great but in reality they are useless. BTW, my All in wonder 9800 Multimedia card is not supported By Vista too.
Allchin: If I didn't work here, I'd buy a Mac
If there's one rule you'd think would be drilled into executives' heads, it would be this: Don't say anything in e-mail you don't want seen publicly.
That advice is being driven home for retiring Microsoft exec Jim Allchin. Groklaw has reported that an Iowa lawsuit turned up a 2004 memo of his sent to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, in which Allchin states that "Microsoft had lost sight of what customers need and that he himself would buy a Mac, if he didn't work for Microsoft."
Allchin has a bit of a reputation for being brutally honest, and trait that has sometimes gotten him into trouble. (He once referred to the iMac as "warmed over Mach kernel," and confessed that a Microsoft Internet strategy wasn't "fleshed out yet".)
He tried to explain the Mac comments in a blog posting, saying that he was "being purposefully dramatic in order to drive home a point," and that "Windows Vista has turned into a phenomenal product, better than any other OS we've ever built and far, far better than any other software available today."
But the original comments were enough to set off the bloggers, who reacted with glee to the faux pas.
Stop by on your way home from Redmond One, Jim!
Have a great retirement...
=8-)
In fact, Vista was done YEARS AGO. MS just had to wait until 2007
for hardware fast enough to run it. ;-)
The above is all in jest of course. Actually, I think you'll enjoy the
features of Vista. I've been enjoying them now for 18 months.
Happy Vista! :-)
- Why Allchin really left.
- by tfosorcim December 20, 2007 11:41 AM PST
- "That's the way we design our system to be--hard to use,..." [Jim Allchin]
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(25 Comments)'His critiques that day echoed the blunt, urgent e-mails Allchin sent in 2003 and 2004 while Microsoft was readying Vista. In one missive to Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, Allchin noted that he would buy a Mac if he didn't work for Microsoft, saying that Microsoft had lost its way.'
"He asks tough questions and he has high standards," said Mike Sievert, the corporate vice president in charge of marketing Windows. Sievert said he gets, on average, four e-mails a week from Allchin containing suggestions of things that need to be better.
'Allchin was also pushing for changes up to the very last minute, arguing that if there were bugs to be fixed, they should be.'
"(If) there's a fix, I want to put it in," Allchin maintained. "It should be clear that date means not much to me, that quality is much more important."
'Inside Microsoft, a new guard is taking over Windows management. The overall unit is now headed by former sales chief Kevin Johnson.'
'Ballmer has made it clear he doesn't want Microsoft to ever go five years between Windows releases again.'
...and the way to do that, Stevie boy, is to (a) get rid of anyone who's not a yes-man, and (b) put a sales guy in charge...