Julie Larson-Green leaves Microsoft, effective today

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A brilliant engineer – whether you agreed with her designs or not – is leaving, “to pursue new adventures in building great teams and customer-first p
[See the full post at: Julie Larson-Green leaves Microsoft, effective today]

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AJNorth

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This should get interesting, now that she’s freed herself. I wonder what her customer first declaration will translate to products and their user base.

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At her level she will have the luxury of leveraging her status if she joins another corporation. I would think the products with which she has the most experience will be secondary. However, she will more than likely have intimate knowledge of Microsoft’s strengths and weaknesses. It would be significant if that included the MS Cloud and AI initiatives. Unfortunately she will not be able to discus some of that with her new employer for a bit – most big corporations have NDAs that protect them from former employees spilling the beans. Then again she may start her own company.

Her next pursuit is ‘Customer-first products’ – I wonder what they might be?

I wish her all the best no matter what she decides. It is nice to see a lady engineer succeed in tech.

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SueW, Elly

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She finds the Microsoft Customers-First programs less adventurous now?

Can someone ask her, what she mean?

Best of luck, of course!

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Customer first product, isn’t that a synonym for a new OS opportunity due to insider information?

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Sounds like she may be listening to the feedback. It says leaving Microsoft.

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SueW, Ascaris

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Is she the one who’s responsible for Ribbons?

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Cybertooth

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Yes. And “responsible” for the Ribbon UI is indeed the right word for it.

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Yep, as well as tiles.

She’s going to be missed by many.  And I suspect that her directs and sub-directs are going to be living through a hellish shakeup in the next few months.

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Yes. And “responsible” for the Ribbon UI is indeed the right word for it.

Hah! Knew it. When Ribbons and all that came in, every person on my team said “Designed by a woman”. Heh. (Regarding the focus on aesthetics over logic / order / functionality of drop-down menus, and the hard-headed approach of not giving an option to use either).

Certainly won’t be missed be me, if she’s the one who brought in Ribbons & Tiles.

Wonder if also had a hand in the “Flat” style UI & the “Trendy” error / notification messages. (“Getting things ready! =-)” style c***).

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Cybertooth

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BobT wrote:

Certainly won’t be missed be me, if she’s the one who brought in Ribbons & Tiles. Wonder if also had a hand in the “Flat” style UI & the “Trendy” error / notification messages. (“Getting things ready! =-)” style c***).

The flat UI was perpetrated primarily by Jensen Harris and his team. I’m not familiar with the working relationships among the leading culprits for the Windows 8 ugliness, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that JLG also played a major role in it.

Our own @woody wrote about it here back in the day.

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Elly

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Interesting article– thanks for the link back to it!

Something’s wrong when a UI can be described as”dated and cheesy,” whether or not one agrees or disagrees with that characterization.  That phrase suggests that a UI is a fashion trend kind of thing, where the hot new styles come and go, but a good UI is one that does its job as quickly and efficiently as possible, then gets out of the way and lets the content get the attention.  A given UI paradigm either does that or it does not, and that’s been true of UIs since they first existed.  “Dated” is irrelevant, unless the UI design was limited by the available technology at the time.  Punch cards as an input method, for example, are “dated.”  Their usability is terrible, but it simply wasn’t possible to have what we now consider a good UI back then.

As for “cheesy,” well, that’s a matter of opinion too.  One person’s cheesy is another person’s idea of perfect.  It’s why we like having options.  One size does not fit all.  If you must inflict the ribbon on us, give us an option to replace it with the classic menubar.  Give us the option of using Control Panel in its Win32 goodness for everything, and the same for Settings for people who wish to use that instead.  Give us different themes, with fully selectable colors for every element like Windows Classic used to have from Windows 3.0 to Windows 7.

Then there’s this quote:

“Make your PC work like a device, not a computer.”

What a bizarre thing to say!

A PC is a device.  So are the various components within the PC (things you would find listed in the Device Manager).  So is a toaster or a can opener.  The term “PC” is just a much more specific term for one specific type of device.  The quote above is like saying you can make Lassie look like a mammal, not a collie.  Collies are beautiful being collies, and they’re already mammals!

Why would I want my personal computer not work like a computer?  That’s what it is!  Why would I want to buy a computer (so that I can do computer things with it, presumably), and then want to make it work like something else?  If I wanted something that worked like something else, I would just have bought that something else instead.

I get what he’s trying to say (what I wrote above applies to what he did say).  “Device” here means “touchscreen-equipped mobile device.”  Why he thinks that’s a device but a computer is not escapes me, as does why someone would think replacing a UI designed for computers (and honed by decades of experience and feedback) with one designed for something else would be a good thing for a computer.

Smart phones may be the hot new fashion trend, but that does not mean that their UI parameters should be applied to everything else in sight just because it’s “in” right now.  Once again, it shows that some people at MS are thinking of user interfaces as fashion, not functional, and that is a big problem.

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flackcatcher, Elly, Cybertooth

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As for “cheesy,” well, that’s a matter of opinion too. One person’s cheesy is another person’s idea of perfect. It’s why we like having options. One size does not fit all. If you must inflict the ribbon on us, give us an option to replace it with the classic menubar. Give us the option of using Control Panel in its Win32 goodness for everything, and the same for Settings for people who wish to use that instead. Give us different themes, with fully selectable colors for every element like Windows Classic used to have from Windows 3.0 to Windows 7.

Exactly. Classic Shell can do things like this, with a goodly amount of customisability. Why can’t Microsoft? Why do they always have to force us to THEIR way and no other?

As to “dated”, the horrible flat style looks dated to me. It’s like when you have to play an awesome PC game on a console and it just looks…basic, as if it’s meant for a machine that wouldn’t be powerful enough to run anything else, (it was, lol), I’d be fine if it was just a Theme though, (again, why couldn’t they do this?).

Regarding cheesy, lol [deleted]. “Getting things ready! =)” “Don’t worry, your files are exactly where you left them! As to your settings…say, that’s a nice haircut!“. I want my computer to WORK for me, to be a tool. I don’t expect a calculator to want to be my friend or make me feel good. If I wanted that kinda c*** I’d have bought an Apple computer..

“Make your PC work like a device, not a computer.”

Explains a lot doesn’t it…

EDITED for language – please observe the Lounge Rules

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Elly

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Ascaris, I couldn’t have put it better. Great analysis.

 

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“Make your PC work like a device, not a computer.”

If someone could make my PC able to brew me a cup of coffee and roll me a fresh cigaret, while I’m working… I’m all in!

Re. UI… if changes are made for a more efficient way of working, good! Changes just for changes sake is a pestilens! I only boot up the PC to get work done, not to be entertained, amused or wow’ed…

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Seems she did indeed have a huge hand in the “flat” UI, Metro and all the rest.

So we just need Jensen Harris and his cronies to leave also, and whatever hardheaded twonk is leading on the forced updates, and we might actually have a usable, new OS come 2020 for me to move from Win 7 to heh. Here’s hoping..

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Recently, she had undergone spinal cord surgery. Maybe, it was caused by too much sitting in front of the computer, eg carpal tunnel syndrome.

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The CARPALS are bones in the HAND.

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walker

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The Lady may be the first of many leaving Microsoft.   It would be nice to know what division at Microsoft has the most unhappy employees.  The survey done by businessinsider  (see attachment).

 

 

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Heh no surprise there, wonder if it’s anything to do with the attitude of the new boss…

Also surprised at Facebook, have you seen their “office”? I’d want to commit suicide if I worked in that. Maybe it’s just full of trendy millennials.

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Let’s wait until a very reliable source can post the real reason for Ms. Green leaving MS and what her plans are for the future.  Speculations lead to false rumors and mass confusion.  Woody and his professional staff will keep us apprised of developing information.

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SueW

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BobT wrote:

As to “dated”, the horrible flat style looks dated to me. It’s like when you have to play an awesome PC game on a console and it just looks…basic, as if it’s meant for a machine that wouldn’t be powerful enough to run anything else, (it was, lol), I’d be fine if it was just a Theme though, (again, why couldn’t they do this?).

Exactly. Windows 10 flatness and garish solid coloring look more like Windows 1.0 or 2.0 than anything that came in-between. But [sarcasm ON] I have to figure that today’s Core i5 Coffee Lake processors just aren’t as capable of handling 3D effects and Aero Glass as yesterday’s Pentium Dual-Core CPUs. [sarcasm OFF]

 

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Elly

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Not surprising. She is one of many Microsofties who have left. Fewer and fewer really talented people left. The ship is sinking and the most likely to leave are the ones that have the most talent. Overtime, and its starting to show big time now, MS will be a talentless empty shell. Lights are on, but no one is at home!

CT

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flackcatcher, walker

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