Required Reading: An Ex-Microsoftie Spills

This New York Times op-ed is a must-read for anyone interested in Microsoft’s future, especially those who wish it will re-emerge as a creative leader rather than an also-ran.

Is that a dis? Dick Brass, who ran Microsoft’s Tablet PC program (launched a decade ago; I remember prototypes at a Comdex trade show back then) talks about how Redmond’s corporate culture has squelched the creative spark.

Here’s a tease:

“Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for
innovation. Some of my former colleagues argue that it actually
developed a system to thwart innovation. Despite having one of the
largest and best corporate laboratories in the world, and the luxury of
not one but three chief technology officers, the company routinely
manages to frustrate the efforts of its visionary thinkers.

For
example, early in my tenure, our group of very clever graphics experts
invented a way to display text on screen called ClearType. It worked by
using the color dots of liquid crystal displays to make type much more
readable on the screen. Although we built it to help sell e-books, it
gave Microsoft a huge potential advantage for every device with a
screen. But it also annoyed other Microsoft groups that felt threatened
by our success.”

Required reading.