Robert Scoble wants Microsoft to be perceived as a “we” company. I’ve taken a few jabs at Microsoft here in the past, but you know what? I’ll give them credit for already making big steps towards becoming “we” instead of “us.” The most obvious example is how Microsoft has embraced blogging in a much larger – and much more honest – way than many other companies. The mere fact that Scoble’s blog exists shows that they’re taking “we” seriously, and they deserve some recognition for this despite their past indiscretions.
Scoble also suggests that Microsoft needs to get along better with others, and he’s put his finger on Microsoft’s biggest problem right now: lack of trust. Let’s face it, even Microsoft’s friends don’t trust the company due to past behavior, and that’s a hard thing to overcome.
Funny enough, this is another lessen that Google may find itself forced to learn. As the auto-link controversy showed, there are a lot of people who are starting to mistrust Google, and Google will find it extremely difficult to keep expanding without the trust of its users. So far I’ve given Google the benefit of the doubt and have continued to believe that they really are working to make the world a better place by enabling access to information. But it will take a single big misstep for me to change my mind.
Yup, it’s gonna take years, maybe even decades, to get people to trust us. And that’s if we don’t screw up anymore.
I give you credit, Nick…as much as I have difficulty with a number of MS products and attitudes, you are right that MS should be commended for the positive steps they are now taking (regardless of whatever motivations may be behind those steps). By listening for (seemingly) the first time in years to developers in regard to IE, by making its Anti-Spyware software available freely (as well as downloads like the Baseline Security Analyzer), it seems that MS shows some very positive signs indeed, and they should be congratulated–it is hard for me to admit, as I do now, that Google could learn from MS that “actions speak louder than words.”
Kudos also to Mr. Scoble for his praiseworthy humility about this (in his comments above)–more people like him could do MS (and its customers) a bit of good.
As for Google, I believe you’ve just seen that “single big misstep”–aka Autolink: Google’s arrogance, condescension, and utter disregard for those who provide the very pages they index does not bode well, either for Google itself or for the future of the web. I have enormous respect for Google’s tech abilities–they have transformed the web in so many wonderful ways–but this shows me that, as a company, its technological know-how far outstrips its ethical sensibility. See this morning’s Steve Rubel article at http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/03/size_matters_sl.html for why this is so important–I couldn’t agree with him more.
Thanks for reminding us all to praise good, whenever and from wherever it springs.
Trust Microsoft? How can you trust a company that doesn’t do what they say. They keep preaching they are committed to security, if thats the case then why do we see new CRITICAL vulnerbilities nearly every month?