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com2kidHNSource author
Lessons learnedExperience excerpt · English

> What are we reading here? These are extraordinary statements

> What are we reading here? These are extraordinary statements. Also with apparent credibility. I left Microsoft in 2014. Already back then I could see this sort of stuff starting to happen. The Office Org was mostly immune from it because they had a lot of lifers, people who had been working on the same code for decades and who thought through changes slowly. But even by 2014 there were problems hiring developers who knew C++, or who wanted to learn it. COM? No way. One one team we literally had to draw straws once to determine who was going to learn how to write native code for Windows. It wasn't even a talent thing, Windows development skills are a career dead end outside of Microsoft. They used to be a hot commodity, and Microsoft was able to hire the best of the best from industry. Now they have to train people up, and Microsoft doesn't offer any of the employment perks that they used to use to attract top talent (Seattle used to be a low CoL area, everyone had private offices, job stability). …

Original discussionDecisions that eroded trust in Azure – by a former Azure Core engineer648 source comments · at import
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vintagedaveHN

What are we reading here? These are extraordinary statements. Also with apparent credibility. They sound reasonable. Is this a whistleblower or an ex employee with a grudge? The appearance is the first. Is it? They’ve put their name to some clear and worrying statements. > On January 7, 2025… I sent a more concise executive summary to the CEO. … When those communications produced no acknowledgment, I took the customary step of writing to the Board through the corporate secretary. Why is that customary? I have not come across it, and though I have seen situations of some concern in the past, I previously had little experience with US corporate norms. What is normal here for such a level of concern? More, why is this public not a court case for wrongful termination? Is Azure really this unreliable? There are concrete numbers in this blog. For those who use Azure, does it match your extern…

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derwikiHN

Antivirus wasn’t mandatory in 2007 after the 2003 Blaster Worm, that required no user action to compromise the PC? Wild

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pjmlpHN

> But even by 2014 there were problems hiring developers who knew C++, or who wanted to learn it. COM? No way. It doesn't help that there are some teams that are hardcore in keeping things as they are and don't want any tooling that might improve COM development experience. To this day Microsoft is yet to have any COM related tooling for C++ as easy to use as C++ Builder does it. MFC, ATL, WRL, WIL,.... you name it. The only time it seemed they finally got it, with C++/CX, there was a group that managed to kill this product, replace it with C++/WinRT, with no tooling other than the command line IDL compiler, now also abandoned as they refocused into windows-rs.

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markus_zhangHN

“One team we literally had to draw straws once to determine who was going to learn how to write native code for Windows.” Jesus, you have tons of people who are willing to do that, even now. Microsoft just don’t care to hire from non-target schools, or ordinary professionals and train them —- sure the reason is, people believe that you cannot improve mediocrity, which I don’t believe so. On a completely different page, most of the generals and advisors and high level bureaucrats of the first Emperor of the Han dynasty came from exactly one county — the county of Pei. But in peaceful time they are just “ordinary people”.

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