Great Expectations
(Sorry, Charles.)
Hiya folks! I'm Erik Schwiebert, one of the development leads here in the MacBU. I wanted to jump in here quickly to set some expectations based on some of the comments I've seen here about our team blog.
A number of people have said that the content they really want is stuff like "When will MacBU release a universal binary of Office?" or "Where's feature X and why don't you have it NOW?" These are great questions and we always appreciate the feedback, but I think you are unlikely to see answers to them here. Feature announcements (both new items and removals, such as Windows Office 2007 file format support and the removal of Visual Basic) will generally always come out first as a true press release or official statement. Once things have been formally announced, we are able to discuss them both here and on our personal blogs.
So, if that's the case, then why are we here? Well, as Chris noted in our inaugural post, "We are developers, testers, user assistance managers, product managers, usability engineers, product marketers and executives who offer different perspectives but share the same passion for Office and the Mac. We hope this blog provides you with a deeper insight into our work and who we are, and we’re very excited to be out here talking to you!" At the risk of committing a faux pas by linking to myself twice within one post, I personally want to show you that we really are human. Whether you actually trust us or not (hopefully you do), I believe we're here simply to show you who we are, what we do, and why we like it.
I think you'll find over time that this blog really is not about marketing fluff. Brad's post on debugging through VPC gave me an idea for my first real post with content, and neither of us is likely to write an official press release any time soon. So, stay tuned for the harrowing tale of the newbie developer and the heisenbug! (Sometimes I kid myself that it might have been worthy of Kon and Bal...)
Comments
- Anonymous
September 02, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 02, 2006
To have this kind of a blog is great. To be given faces and of real persons behind the corporate wall is absolutely fantastic. I think you are doing better than Apple in that respect.
But...
At the end of the day it's questions like 'Why can't I have video in Messenger - no REALLY' (regardless of who developed it in the first place, or who's doing it now) or 'How will you ensure cross-platform compatibility in Office after removing VB' that people want to know and are now puzzled when not given a proper explanation. Hiding behind 'Sorry, we can't comment on that' leaves people always thinking that there is some <i>inconvenient truth</i> behind your actions. And even if there was no conspiracy, instead of giving an impression that you know something you can't talk about but which would otherwise shed light to the issue; i.e. that there is a agood explanation to all this and that all will turn out fine in the end - which I doubt - I wish you could simply sayt that you DON'T KNOW, if that is the case or even admit that your company has made a 'faux pas' if you personally think so. But of course I don't really expect that to happen in a corporate blog.
Thanks anyways for giving a forum to air my views - and to vent my frustration. I'll go and post feedback on Excel macro issue, Project Centre quirks, Entourage mail and calendar problems and hope that doing so makes some difference in the future. And of course I continue to read your blogs hoping to eventually find some explanations to the things that now seem inexplicable. - Anonymous
September 02, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 02, 2006
When will Entourage be able to share/sync with Address Book entries? - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
I applaud you for creating this blog. Many people will read it with cynicism and see it as an opportunity to complain publicly. Don't let this discourage you. A blog like this puts a "human face" on MacBU, and that is great. Keep up the good work! - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Hi Erik!
Don't worry, you folks keep writing and those of us who are interested will keep reading, and we'll just dodge around the "but when will X happen?" posts...
I think your messages got through this time -- there were four whole posts before somebody asked when a feature would be available. - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Oh, and, uh, where's that IE blog everyone keeps mentioning? - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Scott,
Did you not read the first two sentences in the second paragraph? - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Scott -- If you're using Tiger and Entourage version 11.2.3 or later, you can do that right now. (That update also provided Spotlight support, and also requires Tiger.) In Entourage, open the Preferences Pane. There are two new entries in the Preferences Pane: one for Sync Services, one for Spotlight. Click on the Sync Services entry, then click the checkbox next to 'Synchronize contacts with Address Book and .Mac'. There's a couple of other syncs in there that you might be interested in: events/tasks with iCal, and notes with .Mac. - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
I am hoping that in future blog entries, you can touch on why product X might make it to the Mac and product Y doesn't? Basically the decision making process on what your team decides to take on or pass on and why?
I'm also hoping this type of discussion can not only include the major players: Office, Visio, Project, Access -- but also include such technologies like DirectPlay, VBScript.
Last, maybe some discussion on why some things are developed by the MacBU while other Mac software is not, such as Windows Media Player & Expressions (though this appears to be now dead) - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
It's been really great to hear from the MacBU on this blog - giving an insight into what goes on down there.
Just one question - now that Office 2007 is in the beta stage, is there any hint of when the Mac version will be released?
Some discussion of upcoming products would be greatly appreciated, if not just to keep us looking forward to something. - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
I enjoyed reading all the blog entries so far, particularly the historical details about how folks ended up in the MacBU. But (and you know there had to be a "but")...
I am a Mac user for 25+ years. I am thoroughly indoctrinated in the dogma that the Macintosh UI is "better, easier to use","just works", etc. and to some extent I believe it. I do not like using Windows XP because of the GUI.
Nevertheless, I have been using the beta of Office for 2007–the Windows version–ever since it became available. I used to use Microsoft Word for Mac 2004 many times daily, writing not only papers and such, but newsletters, etc. It's the only WP for the Macintosh, for all practical purposes (and I'm including Pages and the rest). However, from a strictly usabilitiy perspective, in the few weeks I've been using Microsoft Word 2007 for Windows, I have been totally converted from Word 2004 for Mac. The UI for Word 2007 Windows "just makes sense"–as far as anything can be intuitive regarding computers, that piece of software is not only pretty, but has been assembled with a great deal of thought about how users at many different levels will interact with its features. I use a MacBook and end up booting up in Windows for most of the day simply because I want to use Microsoft 2007 on Windows–despite the fact that I dislike the underlying OS.
From a financial standpoint, Microsoft wins either way. However, IMHO, the MacBU would gain instant credibility (i.e., that it is not simply an afterthought meant to placate those worried about monopolistic trade practices) if you guys (in the generic sense, I'm not being sexist) would let devoted Macintosh users like me have some input into the UI of the upcoming new version of Microsoft Word for the Macintosh. What have you decided upon for the UI? Is it going to be similar to the Windows version? How will it take advantage of some of the features of 10.4/10.5 that are unique to the OS? If NDAs are signed–and upheld–why not have thousands of seasoned Macintosh veterans who rely on Word take an active role in trying alphas and betas of the product?
The same argument applies to PowerPoint and to a lesser extent, Excel (there's only some much you can do with a spreadsheet). I am very much against Apple's emphasis on secrecy and the snide remarks by Jobs & Co. at the recent WWDC; their smugness and hubris is a bit much, even for me. I would like Microsoft, through the MacBU show how software UI/features development and testing can be done right, in an environment in which one person does not dictate and micromanage each and every aspect of a major software upgrade.
Sorry for the length of this comment. Whatever I may think of Microsoft's corporate philosophy or its OS, I want the new version of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh to be so good that my 10 year old (who's plenty computer savvy) can sit down and create a two page newsletter for her school and have the layout and formatting exactly the way she wants it, without relying on a prefab template. I think the MacBU is up to the challenge. If I had the opportunity to work as an "UI consultant," I would take the job in a second...but in this life, I think Ed Tufte already has that title.
Thanks for listening.
ishan@sbinet.com - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Salu2 desde Chile!! - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Ishan - One way for you to have some say in what the next version of Office:Mac will look like is to participate in our usability tests. Most of them are conducted in the Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas. We also travel around the US and the rest of the world to meet our users.
We're not quite at a point where we're ready to talk about the beta programme. One thing to keep in mind is that a beta programme with thousands of users is a huge amount of overhead for us. We have to keep our beta programme to a managable level so that we can handle the feedback that we get from it. - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 03, 2006
Thanks for the reply, Schwieb.
As you said, it's probably you MS bloggers who are in the most inconvenient spot in this whole situation: not being able to tell everything you know, and at the same time being plagued by inquisitive users through these blogs.
Anyway, I hope that this blog evolves into a truly useful forum for interaction and feedback. Maybe Mac users get their voices heard a little bit better this way. It's a good start, at least. - Anonymous
September 04, 2006
Why aren't Microsoft's beta Mac products available through Microsoft's Connect program? Couldn't the MacBU utilize that resource? - Anonymous
September 04, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 04, 2006
Erik, you wrote "We hope this blog provides you with a deeper insight into our work". Well the only thing i read is really only about marketing fluff. I don't speak about specs bevor they are public throug press releases and stuff. Ok. We all know the gap between official press releases and the reality, comparing to Microsoft Vista. You also won't speak about issues, whishes and bugs the users report to you. So in the end, some faceless people are writing about a faceless BU saying nothing. And this should give me a deeper look into your work? Come on Erik.
Let us know, on wich big are you working at the moment? What about some pictures? Let us take a look into your labs. How about some realy interaction? I give you a detailed plan of ma infrastructure and all of my Office Issues and you rebuild it. Thats what i call a deeper look into your work.
Everything here is about marketing fluff! - Anonymous
September 05, 2006
When you work for a big corperation like Microsoft or Apple, you will realise what you CAN and CANNOT talk about. Ignorance is not an option or you find yourself another job. - Anonymous
September 06, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 06, 2006
chuckbo --
Neither of those two statements is really correct. Access relies (or relied, the last time I know we looked into it) extensively on the JET database engine on Windows, which was itself tied very tightly to the Windows OS. Porting Access to the Mac would mean either porting a very large chunk of the Windows OS to the Mac or rewriting the entire database engine from scratch. We have to weigh that work in comparison to the data we collect periodically on which people want Access, how much they would use it, whether they would be more likely to buy Mac Office if it had Access, and how much they might pay for it. I don't know any of the specifics of the latter assessment (I just know about the development requirements) but I believe the actual predicted gain from having Access has always been lower than the predicted cost of doing it (cost being dev time not spent on the rest of Mac Office or on Messenger, etc).
I've posted quite a bit on my own blog about the decision to drop Visual Basic, if you haven't already seen it. - Anonymous
September 21, 2006
If the Mac version doesn't support VB, then Excel is worthless. The file formats might as well be considered non-compatable.