RSSWindows Veteran Jumps Ship to Google
By Nate Mook | Published March 3, 2005, 10:51 AM
A top Windows architect has left his Redmond home to join the ranks at Google, although it's not clear what his new position will involve. Marc Lucovsky, a 16-year Microsoft veteran, joins a number of high profile developers hired by the search giant, including Mozilla programmers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher.
According to the Microsoft Watch newsletter, Lucovsky voluntarily left his Microsoft position last November. Coming from a post at Digital Equipment Corporation, he was involved in the creation of Windows NT and the Win32 kernel. Most recently, Lucovsky was named chief software architect for the now-defunct Microsoft's .NET My Services, or "Hailstorm," project.
Google's recent hiring blitz has sparked a wave of speculation regarding the company's closely held future plans. Rumors range from Google developing a Web browser to topple Internet Explorer, all the way to a Google operating system. In his new Web log, Lucovsky offers no hints, but has lambasted his former employer.
"Being a 16 year Microsoft veteran, a Distinguished Engineer, key architect and code writer for windows, architect of the largest source code control and build system ever attempted, I deeply believed that Microsoft knows how to ship software," Lucovsky wrote. "I am not sure I believe anymore."
"When a Microsoft engineer fixes a minor defect, makes something faster or better, makes an API more functional and complete, how do they "ship" that software to me? I know the answer and so do you," said Lucovsky. "The software sits in a source code control system for a minimum of two years (significantly longer for some of the early Longhorn code)."
Beyond the criticism, Lucovsky's words offer insight into possible reasons he abandoned Microsoft for a young, fast-moving company such as Google.
"I would argue that Microsoft used to know how to ship software, but the world has changed," he added. "The companies that "know how to ship software" are the ones to watch. They have embraced the network, deeply understand the concept of "software as a service", and know how to deliver incredible value to their customers efficiently and quickly."
He made the switch Nov 2004.
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"According to the Microsoft Watch newsletter, Lucovsky voluntarily left his Microsoft position last November."
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how in the world did I miss that?
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maybe it slipped through a hole in the code?
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All it will take is for Google to partner with & or acquire/modify any of the following, EACH & ALL of which works NOW across the various 64 bit platforms: Linux, Mac, Solaris...& keep in mind that a lot of the new developments: multi-gig grid memory-- both flash & ram, terabyte hard drives and compact disks, the new 10x faster processor, etc. are in the hands of entities that have had bitter rows with MS, others that also got shafted by MS re the Power Pc architecture brouhaha.
If additionally any of these jump on such a bandwagon, it won't take much to derail the Wintel duopoly.
This needs to happen if we are to progress technologically to our FULL capabilities: we could all have been using supercomputer processors & operating systems since a decade ago-- and instead we got enslaved to a wintel system several times slower & much more inefficient....
witness in parallel also the shambles made of the broadband industry in this country by selfish, proprietary & monopolistic excesses: while other countries have several times faster broadband & cellular service, we lag far behind...
The times are overripe for changes to the better...
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I'd agree with most of what you are saying...but in regards to broadband connections in America...i dont see it beeing that much faster... Yea we can sit here all day any compare us to japan and see that on average every citizen in Japan has 8.1 MBPS internet... at least thats what i've read...but it is alot easier to lay fiber down across the nation of Japan that it is to run fiber from LA to Miami...
-Chris
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Most servers do not allow downloading at more than 1.5Mbps anyway (which is quickly increasing already--should average about 2.0Mbps or more later this year)--the only time you really use the bandwidth is when you download from 2 places at once, say ftp.dell.com and ftp.download.com simultaneously.
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