January 2004 - Posts

• IMO: What Microsoft does right that other software vendors could learn from

  One of my principal motivations for joining Microsoft four years ago (when the .com boom was still in full swing and Microsoft was a very unfashionable place to be!) was because I wanted to understand what they were doing differently than the other companies Read More... Posted Thursday, January 29, 2004 5:55 PM by DarcyBurner | 12 Comments

• A tisket, a tasket, a logo in your basket?

  In my current role, I'm the Microsoft business owner for the .NET Connected logo program : Because a significant portion of my job involved providing training and information about Windows Server 2003 to ISVs , I also spend time thinking about the Certified Read More... Posted Thursday, January 29, 2004 1:31 AM by DarcyBurner | 6 Comments

• On opting in and opting out

  I've developed a bad habit. Whenever I'm asked for marketing information and then given one of those checkboxes which allows me to specify that I don't want anybody to contact me, I click it so that nobody will contact me. It's an understandable reaction, Read More... Posted Tuesday, January 27, 2004 4:42 PM by DarcyBurner | 3 Comments

• The disconcerting thing about being a Microsoft employee

  So as I said in an earlier post, I've been at Microsoft for almost four years. I worked in other places in the industry prior to that, in a variety of roles, including in technical sales roles. I've talked to a lot of customers, and I still have a lot Read More... Posted Monday, January 26, 2004 5:35 PM by DarcyBurner | 10 Comments

• On programs for small ISVs

  I got a fair amount of feedback on my first post, all of it (so far) very constructive. So today let's walk through some of the queries posed. (Microsoft legal would like me to add the following disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, Read More... Posted Monday, January 26, 2004 5:00 PM by DarcyBurner | 7 Comments

• Software vendors, aka "ISVs" in Microspeak

  Imagine, if you will, that there is somebody in Microsoft whose job it is to make sure that companies who want to develop software on the Microsoft platform have everything they need to do so successfully. They need to have developer tools like Visual Read More... Posted Friday, January 23, 2004 5:03 PM by DarcyBurner | 20 Comments