A buddy of mine forwarded a handful of e-mail messages floating around at Microsoft.
The e-mail discussion includes Brian Valentine, a senior VP with Microsoft, and seven guys (my source isn't one of them) who work for Microsoft. With the restructuring, I don't know Valentine's new title, but in the e-mail he says, "I am responsible for shipping Vista." That's good enough for me.
Valentine downplays the media spin saying, essentially, the delay is no big deal.
Here's what my source said when he forwarded me the e-mails:
"There was internal chatter here about Vista slipping, as the stock market noticed yesterday. Brian Valentine chimes in with this. He is very forthcoming, says share the info, so here you go."
My source continued: "As usual, the press spins it so it looks like a slip, but forgets the distribution channel time. I used to work in the channel, doing disk dup when we still had 5 1/4 floppies, and what he says makes sense. The bits will be ready pre-year end, and given to enterprise customers, but won't show up in the retail channel until after the first of the new year, due to the time it takes to get there from here."
FYI: I removed the names and e-mail addresses of everyone except Valentine, and included just the relevant messages. You'll need to know that "RTM" is shorthand for Release to Manufacturers, and "FPP" is a Full Packaged Product -- boxed, shrink-wrapped software for sale through retail outlets.
Microsoft's Confidential E-mails
From: Brian Valentine
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:36 PM
To: [names removed]
Subject: RE: Vista slips?????
I am ok with people sharing the jist of this email - i.e. you figure out the right way to say it to your customers (and the answer is not to just forward my email). There is nothing in here I would be too angry about if leaked... but we should not be in the habit of forwarding internal emails to customers, so feel free to use the info as you see fit with your customer, but control the message in the right way.
From: [name removed]
Sent: Wed 3/22/2006 7:19 PM
To: Brian Valentine; [names removed]
Subject: RE: Vista slips?????
Brian,
Thank you for taking the time to write this response; I think the reasons you mentioned are all valid ones. Could you please explain however why the "keep it MS conf" restriction? I will obviously respect the line in red, and will not share this mail with the customer (unless you decide otherwise :), but I am sure our enterprise customers will still demand an explanation. Any guidance that Windows division can offer us here would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
name removed]
From: Brian Valentine
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 8:47 PM
To: [names removed]
Subject: RE: Vista slips?????
I saw this thread and since I am responsible for shipping Vista, I thought I would clear up any confusion people might have.
First, we have set the RTM date for the product and we will make it. When we RTM internally, we RTM all versions of the client, at this time all the release machinery kicks in. The RTM bits are then produced on what we call Select DVDs for corporate customers with volume licensing contracts, finished package product (FPP - the Vista product/box you can buy in stores) and OEMs to pre-install on their machines they ship.
It takes about a month or so for the Select DVDs to be produced, so given our RTM date, those can start shipping by November and contain the "Pro/Business" editions of Vista. Therefore, a customer who is licensed to receive select DVDs can begin installing machines with Vista at that time; therefore the launch to the "business" segment at that time.
OEMs have to do final testing and build their images that they pre-install on their new systems once we give them RTM bits. These images are not just the bits we ship them, but they add stuff on to it specific to their machines (drivers, their add-ons, etc) and do any configuration changes they choose to make. Once they are done with this, they then start building machines with Vista on them and begin shipping them to retail outlets like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. This process takes roughly 8-12 weeks before machines start arriving in stores and put on display for purchase. Based on the RTM date, this makes it January before these machines arrive in stores; therefore the "consumer" launch at that time. The delay has nothing to do with finding lots of new vulnerabilities in the code at this time. With Vista, we have under-taken the largest pen-testing efforts ever, we have dramatically increased our static analysis tools, threat modeling, security reviews, etc. all targeted at finding vulnerabilities early in the process. and we are not finding lots of vulnerabilities at this stage of the project that are the cause for the delay - those have been found long ago. Delaying for security (as one of the things we wanted to take more time on) is about making the whole experience you get with Vista as secure as possible which includes making sure all of the things I listed and more work as promised and work very well together.
It takes roughly the same amount of time for us to get the FPP product to store shelves as it does for OEMs to get their machines there.
So in summary, there is no holding up a release of the consumer stuff, etc. We RTM all at once and then it takes differing times for the end resulting products to arrive in the stores.
We needed 8 weeks from the original RTM date to get Vista ready - it's not specific to any one area like security. There are various parts of the product that needed the time, not all, not most, but some. All along we have said Vista will be the most secure, most reliable, coolest and best OS we have ever shipped. And we will hold true to that. The reason we did the adjustment at this time is that all of the channels above need a very reliable date they can plan to sooner than later (it's the responsible thing to do) and after looking at the project in deep detail over the last few weeks - it was clear we needed a little more time in a few areas.
I have a saying: Customers will soon forget that you were 8 weeks late if you ship them a great product, but they will never forget if you ship them a bad product on time. Of course the best answer is to ship a great product on time - but if a tradeoff has to happen, the former is ALWAYS the right choice.
Make no mistake about it, I have been around here for 19 years and Vista is going to ROCK! We will make the company proud when we deliver it.
Feel free to ask me any questions, issues, etc you may have.
Brian
PS: Answering the question below directly:
In my mind, the biggest question (which I expect to get pounded on) is how could these vulnerabilities (whatever they are) have made it this far into the development cycle, given that Vista was supposed to be designed "from the ground up" with security in mind????
Security is not just about vulnerabilities in the code. With Vista we have new things built in like parental controls, protected admin accounts, real standard user accounts, BitLocker for secure boot on a trusted processor, Low rights IE, anti-phishing, anti-malware (like spyware and viruses), Dynamic location awareness for the firewall so as you roam wireless networks - your ports don't stay open, etc (I could go on).
Now It's Your Turn
What's your take on Valentine's explanation? Lemme know in Comments below.
It sounds to me like he wanted that particular email published (even though he said that forwarding emails to customers shouldn't be a habit). Maybe I'm being hard on him, but it sounds like damage control to me.
I think that his replies are professional and very well explained. If anyone takes a couple of minutes to image working in such big enterprise and have such responsibilities, you'll see that the way he handled the situation was very well executed. And I agree; I'd rather have a delay and a great product, then a respected deadline but with problems. And juggling all these different chanels can't be an easy thing to do.
I think this is a great example of what the underlings have to do to cover for poor decisions made by the higher-ups on the development side of things - which should come as now surprise. It's not like the channels wanted to delay the release to miss the holiday rush. Sad thing is I don't even care anymore - my next computer will be a Mac. I've had enough of MS's B.S. I wonder when the rest of the technology industry will say enough is enough. A whole new and younger generation already has.
I can see why Mr. Valentine has been around 19 years with MS. I love the unintentional, yet typical oxymoronic MS Corporate Exec "Group think" implied:
1."How could these vulnerabilities (whatever they are) have made it this far into the development cycle, given that Vista was supposed to be designed "from the ground up" with security in mind????" But, when his words are coupled with the good soldier's assurances that," Vista is going to ROCK! We will make the company proud when we deliver it."???? C'mon now. If it looks like it, smells like it, and tastes like it; it probably is it. But it will certainly ROCK!
Ya just gotta love it. And Steve Jobs is probably laughing his __ off again.
What is the big deal? My XP Pro works so well I see no problem with this minor delay. Grandpa missed the stagecoach and thought nothing of a month's wait for the next one. We miss one section of a revolving door and get apoplexy. Everybody just chill out.
Only cynics would find fault with the given explanation.
Steve Jobs' employees aren't lauging. There's more than a group think at Apple. There's a one-think: Jobs' viewpoint only. See Time Oct 24,2005. http://tinyurl.com/bfe72
Um, spin, spin, spin. More spin than a frontloading washer.
Look, did MS wake up and suddenly realize that they had a manufacturing cycle to go through, one that hadn't existed in the past? I doubt it. The original date *included* all this RTM stuff, no question, and through judicious coding issues, the RTM date was moved out, no question. Appending bad news by saying "and here's the plan on having disks made, too" is simply sleight of hand, focussing on something else.
The "What's the big deal?" comment is apropo. Vista might have some niceties, but the shortcoming in Windows were widely addressed by XP -- this is a much more solid version than Win2000 or 98 and except in rare cases, it will follow the buy cycle of new computers -- now ~ 5 years(!) -- instead of an upgrade cycle. Unless Vista has some real knock-me-down improvements that are as yet unknown, upgrading will be oulling teeth. Transparent windows look cool, but will that increase productivity 5%? Very doubtful . . .
Hard to say if there's a media spin involved or not.
In todays world, It's all about what you leak to the media as they generally will report 'leaks' verbatim.
The media is little more than a rumour mill and the rumours are exactly what Large Companies/Government wants you to hear and then spread world wide.
I have little faith in any media....
view 27 albums from the drop down menu at
http://spaces.msn.com/MOES-GARAGE/
I think it's important to note that the product WILL actually be ready in November. Personally, I work for a business that will be receiving the finished product through Volume Licensing in Novembr 2006. Sure, there won't be Vista PCs at Best Buy for Christmas, but I remember back to the months before Windows XP was released, and Dell included a free upgrade coupon to XP upon its release. I see no reason why something similar can't happen with Vista. I've learned to just roll with the punches as far as Microsoft is concerned; I can't say this delay comes as a surprise, but I am anxious to get the most reliable OS out there. I'm currently using the February CTP of Vista, and it is a great OS!
Having worked for many years for a large instrumentaion firm as product evaluation engineer, I see valentine's point exactly, and it is correct for a quality release. Yep, customers get PO'ed, but then, as he says, once the product is in their hands meeting or exceeding expectations, excitement mounts.
Trust me!
The pep talk in those e-mails strike me as having been intended for us, not the employees. I think he knew these e-mails likely would be leaked, and so planned for it.
If these notes are confidential, why are you shamelessly reprinting them?
This is BS. If Valentine truly is the guy responsible for shipping Vista, why didn't he have the foresight to schedule the RTM date in time to have the FPP on shelves before Christmas? No one is going to tell me this wasn't MS's original goal. Something or someone screwed up. Gates should have Valentine's head on a platter.
If Valentine believes the media is spinning it as a slip, why was it announced by Microsoft as a slip for "quality control" issues?
Excitement mounts? More like disappointment is quelled.
I'm looking forward to the new networking implementation in Vista. In XP, I've always had the Themes turned off, and was disappointed that it pulled the folder customization of 98, so I'm curious to see what Vista will do in that area. The stagecoach reference is inappropriate because the reasons things take a certain amount of time is what's at issue here, not how long they take.
Zip folders doesn't work very well in XP. If you start a copy from a zip folder window and you close the zip folder window, the copy fails.
Windows doesn't have Hardlinks and junction support built into the GUI. http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html
helps a lot, but I'd like to see a built-in implementation.
There are lots of other things that bug me at one time or another.
Also, it's easy to have professional and well explained explanations if you're not worried about information getting out to the contrary. The whole point of professional fiction writing is to have a professional and well explained explanation. Remember, the truth is stranger than fiction mainly because fiction has to appeal to more people.
Hmmm... all this spinning sounds faintly familar - and it ain't coming from my floppy drive. It reminds me of something I once heard another computer company supremo explain about a promised launch date that failed to materialise -
"We were over-optimistic and were two months out in our calculations. Next time we will be two months more accurate in our estimates. Most companies have, at some time, been guilty of promising more than they can deliver. We have done it for the last time."
That was Nigel Searle, the Managing Director of Sinclair Research being interviewed in July 1984 about the delayed launch of the Sinclair QL. Need I remind anyone about what happened (or rather didn't happen) to the QL and what we later found out to be the truth about the debacle that was going on at Sinclair Research at the time?
Seems like even after 22 years of reading this BS we still can't recognise it when we are spoon-fed it by the spin-doctors.
For those of you who are too young to remember - the QL was Sir Clive Sinclair's supposed Quantum Leap successor to the ground-breaking and amazingly successful Spectrum home computer. The QL was going to be the menoptra's patellae... umm... rather like we are told Vista is going to be... Could history be about to repeat itself yet again? Watch this space.
I highly doubt Steve Jobs will be laughing about this. Apple has always and will always be a hand to mouth company. They're one Ipod killer away from destruction. Maybe one day they'll grow up and give their users a two button mouse (maybe even three!!!) but until then I'm NEVER buying a crapintosh. There's even less reason to buy a crapintosh now because of the intel switch. Why buy a pc that costs way more to run an OS with no apps when you can just buy a Dell and get it over with?