(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Once upon a time, there was a dragon by the name of yksfoniS nevetS. Even the mention of his name brought impending DOOOOOOM!!!! Just kidding… The name mention didn’t bring impending doom, but there really was a dragon named yksfoniS nevetS. Can I get an “lol?” Anyway…

As a Microsoft enthusiast and one who would absolutely love to work on the Windows team in some capacity, I feel I have a unique perspective of the now infamous “Silence of Sinofsky,” as I will dub it. This isn’t the typical Sinofsky-bashing as we have all become accustomed to. This is in support of Sinofsky and an understanding of his silence. For those interested, read on. For those who aren’t, CLICK HERE!

Stephen the Microsoft Enthusiast: GIVE ME DETAILS! GIVE ME BUILDS! GIVE ME VISUALS! ALL OF YOUR BUILDS ARE BELONG TO ME!!!!!

Stephen the Corporate Worker Bee: For as much of an enthusiast as I am, I am moreover a rationalist. I currently work as one of only 3 technicians world wide for a major bank in the realm of security and prior to this, I worked as an installer of many corporate security systems (no, not just simple alarm systems that go *boop, boop, boop!* when people break in. I installed systems in places where I had to drill through iron mesh and kevlar walls behind the finished drywall to run wires, so… major, major stuff). Bearing this in mind, Sinofsky is doing exactly what I would personally want him to do if I were in charge of Microsoft.

While the silence certainly isn’t anything I like as an enthusiast, it is exactly what I expect and would require if I were running Microsoft. When Microsoft makes promises, Microsoft has a history of letting people down… and it’s NOT because the end product is a failure! People hold Microsoft to ridiculous standards and view the company in the following manner (I know I posted this yesterday, but it’s so true and I want to drive the point home to many people that THIS is how they act):

Personally, when it comes to the usability and functionality of a product, I don’t want hype. I don’t want promises, I don’t want filler; I don’t want any of that. I want to know what a product contains when the developer of said product is ready to tell me because THEY know what it will contain and what I can expect when I deploy it. Look, Windows 7 isn’t even at beta 1 yet. I mean, what do you HONESTLY expect from a company like Microsoft to tell you? Have you NEVER developed or created something that you didn’t want to tell anyone about until it was at a certain point of fruition?

Good analogy for you here: “I want a sandwich for lunch next Monday and I want it to be the tastiest damn sandwich EVAR! Now, go make it!”

If that sandwich maker tells you everything that’s going to be on it, that’s what you’re going to expect, right? And if even ONE of those tasty ingredients is missing, you’re going to know it and regardless of how good that sandwich may be without that ONE ingredient, you’re going to feel disappointed. Now, what if you had no idea what ingredients were in that sandwich until they were ready for you to sample it 3 days prior to that Monday? All of a sudden, you’re trying what they’ve made when THEY are ready for you to because THEY have a feeling you’re going to love what they’re making! At this point, you can say “okay, add this/take this away.” They take that feedback, apply it, and you’ll have your sandwich on Monday. You may or may not like it, but your input was definitely taken into consideration.

Okay, while that isn’t some Plato-grade analogy, it serves the point I’m trying to make here. LET MICROSOFT WORK IN PEACE FOR A WHILE! I mean, at LEAST until Beta 1! When they’re ready to say, “here’s what we ARE going to offer you for a FACT, now tell us what you think,” they will. What do you REALLY need to know about the next version of Windows at least a YEAR before it’s supposed to be released!? NOTHING! Not a damn thing. lol. Go install Vista! Go try it! Even if you’ve heard only negative things about it, GO TRY IT! If you don’t like Vista, you’re *probably* going to hate 7 from the stance of usability. Vista should serve as your Windows 7 primer. If you have Vista and you like it, keep using it! How long have you been happily using XP? Apply the same to Vista.

Anyway, the main point here is to have patience and learn to embrace the silence during this phase of development. Microsoft acknowledges many of the flaws that occurred with the development, marketing, and WAY too early evangelism of Longhorn and they’re doing something about it. Embrace the Sinofsky! It may just very well pay off when we have one hell of a version of Windows when he is finally ready to break the silence on everything. Those of you who may know Sinofsky, give him a big hug the next time you see him wondering around campus! Do like that one Stride chewing gum commercial where the big dude just randomly walks up to the guy and gives him a huge bear hug. Do that to Steve! Then, tell him Stephen said to do that!

Finally, I’d like to end with this (if you have an avenue to contact Steven, please direct him to this):

Note to Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft: I am an enthusiast who probably loves Microsoft more than half of your employees. I would LOVE to work for Microsoft one day and actually apply this enthusiasm to some sort of productivity for your company. I post the information I post because I am excited about what you are doing and your visions of the future. Steven, if you happen to see this, I hope you understand this enthusiasm and receive it as such instead of begrudgingly. I understand the corporate process and the desire to gag any and everyone with internal access to your product, but rest assured that my aim is not to tarnish the image of Microsoft or act in defiance, but rather to help in the ways I personally feel I can. I am trying to create a site where people can come to and celebrate being a PC, so to speak. I’m sure you were upset with the posting of the 2 screenshots of 6780 here but this is journalism… enthusiastic journalism! I consider myself lucky to be in this position and having the ability to put a positive spin on the exclusives I am made privy to. I’m here to help and spread excitement and enthusiasm about Microsoft. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you for your time.

-Stephen

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