I wanted to make that post for a long time now, but I just got the last kick in the butt this morning. I attended a Microsoft presentation about Software as a Service architecture and technologies. Thought it was supposed to be addressed for Technical Decision Makers and Developers, it clearly lacked any form of technical merit. It was just "what" is SaaS, and "why" you should adopt SaaS, but nothing about "how". Even the single sample (which you can find on CodePlex) is no indication of how Microsoft suggests addressing SaaS, but only an excuse to show what it could be.
For long, I've been somewhat uncomfortable with Microsoft's positioning in the development industry, but couldn't put in exact words what was tickling me. This morning, I found the perfect punch line: "Microsoft is nothing about recipes, but all about ingredients". They don't care how you really use their ingredients, as long as you use theirs, and they have ingredients for any meal. The initial goal behind this attitude is a noble one: Address everybody's needs, whatever the needs.
In the general consumer market, this is all wrong. Take Apple for example. Can you find a better example of a company boxing their customers in closed solutions? They target specific markets with very specific and Apple-tied solutions. But it works.
Microsoft, on the other side, is trying to shoot in every direction when it comes to development. But why should it be different from broad consumer goods? Why wouldn't they be able to set standards instead of simply addressing them? Why couldn't they put their fist on the table and clearly say "we believe things should be done exactly like this", instead of trying to save the goat and the cabbage ? That's probably why there wasn't any technical content in their presentation this morning, even though the presenters were highly qualified technically. Their mandate was clearly to mention as many (marketing-oriented) keywords as possible, so to hook any potential people not interested in SaaS. But it wasn't a sales initiative that made them stay too general (btw, sales and marketing are not the same), but simply the inability to choose a particular solution, based on culture, merit, or whatever they'd be comfortable with. How stupid is this when the attendees have clearly expressed their interest in SaaS by their mere presence. Don't sell me SaaS, sell me SaaS the Microsoft way... Ohoh... I just said something very interesting here that you may not have noticed.
The Microsoft Way - What way is this again?
I'm sorry Microsoft, you may have among the best technically knowledgeable and capable individuals in the industry, if you don't put some kind of Corporate Culture in the way you expand and express your goods, you'll keep being perceived as a software wholesaler. It's the agile development put in the geeks' hands, without any marketing or constraints. Why is Microsoft too much into marketing? Because they lack marketing culture and heads. They have the Sales Department, but not the Marketing Department. Apple, on the other side, lack technical software leaders, but compensate with great marketing. The funny part about this morning's presentation was their repeated allusion to The Long Tail. Microsoft has the people to put worth a Long Tail target audience, and their opening to the community in the last decade proves it. But it's like their mentality is still targeting The Narrow Tower (hey, I think I'll trademark that sentence!).
So for me, the "Microsoft Way" is only a street name, as there is no Microsoft Way, no real influence in the future decisions we make, no single "graspable" philosophy, just an aggregation of bits. Microsoft sells bits. Microsoft sells ingredients. But don't ask them for recipes.