[Sigia-l] [OFFLIST] WhatsWrongWithU

[Will Parker]

On Feb 6, 2007, at 2:01 PM, Ziya Oz wrote:

>  I've heard many MSFT designers and product manger types over the
> last decade either complain about or ascribe their strategy to that  
> fact.
> MacBU does that on occasion, too. :-)

I can't talk about it on the list, but the prime example of this in  
my experience was when one of the Mac Office PMs came up with a  
complete spec for a Mac-first, Mac-only feature for Mac Office that  
looked almost exactly like the Vista Sidebar. As a matter of course,  
he passed the design to the IP lawyers who check to make sure MS  
isn't _unintentionally_ violating any patents.

A couple days later, he got the intra-corporate equivalent of a cease- 
and-desist letter from the Windows group. Despite much legal  
wrangling and the full support of the MacBU GM, he was forced to  
abandon the Office Dashboard feature completely, because the Windows  
team was merely _considering_ adding something similar to Longhorn.  
This was in mid-2003, 3.5 years before Vista shipped.

- Will
Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com

"The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who  
already have it." - William Tozier