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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frederick Smart who wrote (44567)	5/9/2000 10:55:00 AM
From: Michael L. Voorhees	Respond to of 74651

The corporate values have gone over the edge. Evidence such in the "new" breed of young people that are protesting vigorously against these skewed values. These young people's values (and God knows we need them badly) are reminiscent of the 1960's and some of the cleansing values exhibited by that culture. The problem is corporation's have simply pushed the "greed,control,lie,environmental losses" values too far. It's ironic that many of these company's are run by people who embraced the 1960's values. The problem is many of these people in high places have "sold out" to the system and are becoming older faster than they should. You can not sell out to the "humanistic" values to the degree that is being exhibited today. First of all, it's boring (notice recently that monetary wealth is sliding down the scale of most desirable life qualities); second we might as well become animals and forget about our most endearing quality; i.e. our humanity. When you think about some of these worst corporate values are truly animalistic when pushed to extremes. MSFT exhibits these debased corporate values to the largest degree of any company I am familiar with. MSFT needs a good healthy dose of Dr. Edward Demmings "Quality Management" which by the way is the corporate culture used by GE and SUNW in their "Six Sigma Quality Program" (this program is almost completely based on Demmings Quality theory). This program has a distinct "humanistic" flavor that highlights "human" empowerment within the corporation. Gates and Ballmer need to go to one of these classes. I recall the President and CEO of Ford Motor Company went to Demming's class and Demming "tore him a new one" while teaching his theory. The result; the complete turnaround and resurgence of Ford Motor. Demming's theory was also the theory that molded Japan into such a competitive force.

To: Frederick Smart who wrote (44567)	5/9/2000 5:42:00 PM
From: mozek	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 74651

Frederick, I agree with some of your ideals, but not your conclusions. I believe that the real change you're describing will be the death of large, conservative organizations that do not offer "employees" the same kind of benefits (in the life sense of the word) they could get on their own. I don't think of Microsoft as one of these corporations, and I think there are many newer or revitalized corporations that will maintain their health going forward. When I first started at Microsoft, I had done various things for the previous 10 years from working as an employee of small corporations, consultant to large corporations, to running my own traditional businesses. What I found was that I really preferred to leave certain parts of running a business (operations and administrative functions) to others. These functions are necessary to support others' ability to perform specialized tasks and to establish/maintain structured communication, both of which will still be required as long as we have organized efforts of any magnitude. I think the fundamental area where we may disagree is the characterization of some corporations, their environments, and the benefits they can provide employees. In fact, I have been with Microsoft for over 7 years. I started as a developer, and I have felt throughout that 7 year period that I have been more a part of a group of people trying to solve problems and get things done than a faceless, manipulated employee of a large corporation. I'm not going to pretend that it's all been positive. I have had some very trying times, but usually, they were caused by the inevitable difficulty of standing alone with unpopular ideas. I was never penalized for maintaining an unpopular position. Over time, people often came around to my good ideas and convinced me that there were better solutions to those that could have been better. All in all, I believe Microsoft continues to be a great environment for individuals to realize their vision and make a difference, while other functions are managed by people with interests in that area. I'm currently considering getting back into the water alone, but not for the reasons you may think. I'm not primarily motivated in either direction financially. Microsoft has put in place a compensation package that I still believe offers incredible potential, but that is not the issue. I've done well over my career, and I have confidence that my family will manage whatever my decision. My real decision revolves around the potential to realize ideas that I believe can improve peoples' quality of life. I've been weighing the benefits of staying with Microsoft vs pursuing these ideas on my own, and Microsoft is working with me as an individual to structure things in a way that will work for my life and the company as well. Whatever I decide, I believe that many people at Microsoft are there not just to make the big bucks or get a big title, but to work closely with others to make things better, generally. I sense a renewed commitment by a lot of people at Microsoft as they pull together in the face of what seems to be a very unjust action by the government and a few competitors. This recent move by Steve Ballmer to double up on last review's option grants was seen by many as a substantial, positive step by the company to support its employees in the face of adversity. Overall, I believe that Microsoft has a good shot at a positive, bright future. While Cheryl has outlined some real market issues that must be overcome, I believe that Microsoft has solutions for many of these that will likely become known this year and over the next 2. While it can be argued that the biggest threat is not the government action but industry trends, I think that we are at the precipice of a new kind of regulatory environment where behind the scenes political contributions, power/fame mongers like the Joel Kleins of this world, and people unwilling to take responsibility for their own education before brandishing a torch in the mob can swamp us in a transitionary period where we remain slaves for far too long to much of the technology that was supposed to make our lives better. Mike