A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab 177
I'm Don Giovanni writes "David Weiss of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) gives a virtual tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab at Redmond, reportedly one of the largest Mac labs outside of Apple (includes 150 Mac minis!)." Great pictures. From the article: "The first area in the Mac Lab is what we call the Sandbox. This is where we keep all significant hardware configurations Apple has released that run our products. We'll use the Plasma display to, watch DVDs and play games, uh er, I mean, do important training presentations. ;-) It's actually very useful because everyone can be in front of a computer and still see the main screen and follow along. Often other groups at Microsoft (the games group, hardware drivers group and even the Windows media group) will come and schedule time in the Mac Lab to test their software on the different hardware configurations."
I feel a disturbance in the force... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I feel a disturbance in the force... (Score:2)
Otherwise, cool pics.
Re:I feel a disturbance in the force... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I feel a disturbance in the force... (Score:2)
Hell, the jobs I actually landed took longer than that. The ones that have nothing try to keep you in the hopper for several times that ammount before letting it slip that the position has been filled!
If you let your unemployment benefits run out while waiting to hear back from only one company, you are not being very serious about your job search.
Re:I feel a disturbance in the force... (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft's MBU: A perfect example... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Microsoft's MBU: A perfect example... (Score:2)
When it comes to Office, while it does have issues (there are one or two related to the OLE document format) it is the best Office solution that I know of. Please don't mention OpenOffice, as it is very lacking in terms of fitting in with the Mac user experience. If you know of a better Office solution on the Mac then I am all ears.
Re:Microsoft's MBU: A perfect example... (Score:2)
I ended up buying ThinkOffice, but I think if I had it to do again I'd buy Mariner's package.
How ironic... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How ironic... (Score:4, Funny)
Does that mean they're responsible for 0.05% of the market share?
Re:How ironic... (Score:2)
When the first "new" iBook came in for testing, there were more arguments over who got to play with it first than there were over who got to use the "sweet, sweet" Cinema Screen.
Re:How ironic... (Score:2)
Not even close, pal. MS sold their NON-VOTING shares in 2002. On top of that, the investment was $150 million, hardly making them a "biggest investor." Learn the truth before you post, OK?
Re:How ironic... (Score:2)
You spelled "Oracle" wrong.
Microsoft is a very small former investor. $150 million invested a company that was sitting on $4 Billion in cash at the time. All of those shares have now been sold (at quite a profit, too.)
Well OF COURSE they have a Mac lab! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well OF COURSE they have a Mac lab! (Score:2, Funny)
Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:1)
However, given that now Apple uses Intel, I'd bet an arm and a leg that they use Apple hardware now. After all, why not?
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:1)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:4, Insightful)
If Apple were developing systems software and operating systems for vanilla x86 PCs, then I will agree with your statement. Apple would need a vanilla PC lab in order to test all of the hardware combinations.
However, Apple doesn't develop systems software for Windows that require in-depth knowledge about hardware drivers. When developing regular Windows systems software, it doesn't matter if you are using a vanilla Intel or AMD machine or a Mac (there is no difference between a Mac and a PC other than the fact that the Mac doesn't use legacy components such as BIOS, serial/parallel ports, floppy drives, etc.). With the Intel switch, Apple doesn't need to run out and buy a lab of vanilla PCs; they can just manufacture a few more Mac Minis, install Windows, and start hacking.
In the real world, device drivers have bugs. (Score:3, Informative)
However, Apple doesn't develop systems software for Windows that require in-depth knowledge about hardware drivers.
But Apple still needs to test on a representative variety of hardware if Apple wants to make its applications robust against defective drivers that are, unfortunately, common in the Windows world.
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2)
I cannot purchase music from the iTunes music store and play it under Linux. That means that my free music that I purchased with my soda caps last year (quite a bit) can't be played under Linux.
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:5, Informative)
How else do you think they got BootCamp [apple.com] up and running?
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2)
I believe you meant to say "whether or not we eat our own foie gras".
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2, Funny)
Now that iTunes and other apps run in Windows, does Apple have a Windows lab?
Judging by the quality of Quicktime on Windows, apparently not.
Re:Does Apple have a Windows lab? (Score:2, Interesting)
What did surprise me was to learn that specific employees at Apple use Thu
Undercover marketing? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:2)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:2)
Re:Undercover marketing? (Score:2)
Yesterday ex-Unix programmer story was written about 2 years ago, so I highly doubt it is related.
The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:2)
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:5, Insightful)
Lamest excuse ever. (Score:2)
That has got to be one of the lamest excuses ever. Loading docks are not secrets anywhere. They are public places you advertise so that the public can send things you buy and pick up things you sell.
Re:Lamest excuse ever. (Score:2)
That said, I wouldn't have necessarily fired him because he was taking pictures in a place where one is not supposed to be taking pictures. The reason I would have fired the guy is because he was taking pictures of something his company was d
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:4, Funny)
Amost always??? Details, please...
Re:The last guy who did this got fired. (Score:2)
Made the news that this kind of crime is on the rise here and is executed quite professionally.
Microsoft Advocacy (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Usually a bit more sensible (Score:2, Funny)
Door label (Score:5, Funny)
Bug Testing (Score:2, Interesting)
"Mac Office is one of those "software in the large" projects. There's really no way a team of our size would be able to adequately test all of Office without the use of automated testing. Every day we get a new build of Office from the build machines, we copy it to our Xserve RAID connected to our dual G5 Xserve for access by our 249 automation machines. We then run thousands and thousands of tests on the new build. Typically we get 4 builds of Office each day: English Ship, English Debug
Re:Bug Testing (Score:2)
Re:Bug Testing (Score:5, Funny)
The testers investigate the failures, log any bugs and then move on to their other duties as testers.
It doesn't say anyone actaully fixes the bugs they log, does it?
Re:Bug Testing (Score:2)
Re:Bug Testing (Score:2)
But what they're talking about here are automated tests. The test suite is software, and like all software has bugs in it. The easiest bug to commit is a bug of omission: missing a requirement.
So, if Word on the Mac crashes because you're banging the apple-O key during start up, and its not in the test suite, then it won't be found until the hire a human tester with ADHD.
A Tour of Microsoft's Fucking Kill You Lab (Score:4, Funny)
Fucking Kill You Lab director Thaul Purrott tells me that this is "the future of Windows innovation" and not surprisingly, customer support just as an airborne chair caster nearly decapitates him.
Free Soda... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Free Soda... (Score:2)
Re:Free Soda... (Score:2)
Don't worry...there's plenty of Zima for the lame.
Linux Lab (Score:5, Funny)
Cool, huh?
Re:Linux Lab (Score:2)
Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is his blog not on an MSN domain or something like that?
Re:Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? (Score:2)
First and foremost, if it is on an MS hosted domain, the general public perceives it as "official," whether this is the case or not. Then if this guy makes any errors or says anything outside of the company line, he is in a world of shit. It also makes sense if he also uses this same blog for his "Janie took her first poopie today!" type posts.
Second of all, employees are reasonable. I work at a very large bank. I do not keep my mo
Re:Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? (Score:2)
Your bank isn't FDIC insured? or you just have more than $100,000 sitting in your account?
Re:Microsoft on Macs and a Google blog?!? (Score:2)
When it comes down to it, I would rather not take the risk of having my 401k, my savings and my job all lost in
PR crap (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, right. The Windows media group have given up on Windows Media Player for the Mac [connectedhomemag.com], so what are they testing?
And since when does the Microsoft games group develop anything for the Mac? Halo was ported by Westlake Interactive and MacSoft [the-junkyard.net], and they dropped the Mac port of Flight Simulator decades ago. So what games are actually written at Microsoft for the Mac?
Drivers? They licensed the code for their Mac mouse drivers from Alessandro Montalcini. Maybe they do a little testing now and again, but most of it is just USB HID anyway. Do Microsoft make any other hardware for the Mac?
Internet Explorer? Oh, sorry, they dropped that too.
The whole thing smells like PR crap designed to make Microsoft look like a major developer of Mac software, when in truth all they really work on these days is Office.
Re:PR crap (Score:2)
Re:PR crap (Score:4, Informative)
Office alone makes Microsoft a major developer of Mac software. The two most important ISVs for Apple are Microsoft and Adobe. One argue which one is more important -- I see the views of both sides, though I think Adobe is more important because recreating Office would be easier than CS 2 -- but they're both essential to maintaining the vitality of the Mac platform.
Re:PR crap (Score:2)
Windows Media group (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Windows Media group (Score:2)
I think it has something to do with money.
What Microsoft does not want is application parity between platforms. However, they want to become a media gatekeeper the way they are a software application gatekeeper though (or may be "land lord" is a better term). The way to split the Solomonic baby is to provide a better experience to thei
On the cutting room floor. (Score:2)
He continued, "and it hardly costs a thing compared our other labs. It takes one fifth the man hours to keep up and the hardware works for year and years due to it's modularity and minimalism," but the PR department cut that out.
A dream come true (Score:2)
Just like everywhere at Microsoft, we get all-you-can-drink beverages.
Does that include beer?
Gotta have that buzz when you're developing!
Re:A dream come true (Score:2)
Re:A dream come true (Score:2)
Back in the day.. when I worked a shourt tour of Duty at MS there was a semi regular (like 2 times a mont) BBQ outside with kegs.. and yes.. free.
Censored! (Score:3, Insightful)
I must have hit a nerve. Sure the story was about the lab. But don't people use the lab? There are a couple of people who appear way in the background of one pic, so small you can hardly see them, but otherwise the pictures are totally devoid of human life. I am sure the set of photos required clearance from Microsoft management, did they object to publishing photos of their personnel as some sort of security risk? Microsoft has been conspicuously touchy about bloggers describing their Mac facilities, remember the blogger who got fired from his temp job for posting a pic of G5s on the MSFT loading dock? So it wouldn't surprise me if the absence of people in the photos was a deliberate choice by MS management. And that is a lot more intriguing than the pics of a bunch of server racks.
Finally! Now we know... (Score:2, Funny)
"This is where we keep all significant hardware configurations Apple has released that run our products. We'll use the Plasma display to, watch DVDs and play games, uh er, I mean, do important training presentations."
Who would have thunk it? (Score:2, Interesting)
But on the other hand, I should have guessed, since they do make Mac software, that there should be a bunch of Macs of all models to test the software.
So that begs this question: Apple builds all the Macs. This means that there are b
Oh I see now (Score:2)
Building 115 (Score:2)
Re:Building 115 (Score:2)
Network Homes (Score:2)
All that work, and Microsoft Office: Mac with network homes still sucks shit. I could also complain about the Office Installer that is a "drag" installer, but then on first use it just runs a script to install crap everywhere. Yeah, that doesn't count--for it to be real drag installer, it has to be a drag uninstaller, too.
I would be willing to give MS a pass on network homes, as maybe it's a little exotic; but it's not that bad of an idea, and no other application seems to be as confused by it as Offic
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
-Kurt
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
The Omni Group, which had previously released Omniweb on OpenStep, had Omniweb 4 running on OS X's betas.
Mozilla released version
Opera released Opera 5.0b1 for OS X on August 31, 2001.
Apple released the first Safari beta on January 7, 2003.
Camino (then Chimera), which was meant to be a lighter version of Mozilla Phoenix, released version
Firefox (then Phoenix) first creat
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:5, Insightful)
Because (to paraphrase their official statement [com.com]) they could not hope to compete, because they couldn't get the kind of access to OS X that the Safari team could.
It's actually kind of funny when you remember that Microsoft always disputed other Windows developers' claims that they couldn't compete against Microsoft's own Windows applications for much the same reason. The term "Chinese wall" [google.com] comes to mind.
~Philly
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Amusingly enough, both Opera and Firefox are proof that both those claims are frivilous.
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Basically, Microsoft decided that they had won the browser wars and they s
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Maybe you could reread my post, since I'm not the one making the claim and am merely repeating what Microsoft's rep said in the linked article?
~Philly
Re:Internet Explorer (Score:2)
Re:old news (Score:2)
Re:A photog you are not (Score:2)
If your wife had to design a strip club you were going to visit, it would be lighted that way.
Re:A photog you are not (Score:2)
Not really sure where you were going with the strip club comment...
Flourescent lights make people look like sh