How Microsoft gave customers what they wanted: An audience with Bill Gates

Microsoft had a special way of dealing with customers demanding to speak to its CEO. One that kept the customer happy without necessarily bothering His Billness. According to veteran Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen, there was a procedure followed by product support staff if a customer (presumably a prized customer) became …

[An_Old_Dog]

Chatting with the CEO

CoPilot would never lie and pretend to an irate customer that it was Mr. Nadella, would it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Chatting with the CEO

Co-pilot surely replaced the CEO as unnecessary by now. Just think of the share holder value in cost cutting the top.

[hedgie]

Re: Chatting with the CEO

And most like the overpaid execs, it's soulless, amoral, devoid of real thought and non-sentient.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Chatting with the CEO

> "it's soulless, amoral, devoid of real thought and non-sentient."

Board of Directors: "We already replaced the CEO with AI, you don't need to sell it to me!:

[hedgie]

Re: Chatting with the CEO

Could further increase shareholder value by replacing the board too!

[Roland6]

Re: Chatting with the CEO

Interesting article which suggests there is potential for change:

“How I Built a Personal Board of Directors With GenAI”

A potential development will be the development of GenAI influencers and life coaches…

[Doctor Syntax]

Email to the CEO email address* can be effective.

One trick I've used in respect of a collapsing section of road was to send an** email to the CEOs of the local council and the utility addressing them jointly and suggesting they sort it out between themselves. I prevented them from than simply pointing at each other which they may well have done if I'd written separately to them or called their help-lines. It worked.

* ceoemail.com is your friend.

** Just the one email with two To: lines, no messing with BCCs so both knew the other had got the same email.

[IvaliceResident]

Tim Cook sometimes responds like Steve Jobs used to.

He has mentioned he likes to read his emails in the morning to gauge what the customers are thinking about Apple products.

[ITMA]

It can.

However, there is one potential flaw with this approach.

It assumes the CEO gives a flying ***k about customers and what they think.

With Microsoft, I think the answer to that is a massive NO.

[martinusher]

The issue at this point becomes one of "for a given value of customer". But then a sufficiently important customer is likely to have dedicated support personnel.

[Blackjack]

Ah so is Satya Nadella the one who made Windows into AI and spyware crap? Good to know.

[elsergiovolador]

Unavailable

Their only job was to say that Bill Gates was unavailable

He was presumably busy discussing with Epstein the potential philanthropic contributions for global health initiatives.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Unavailable

All the while, providing hardened micro-support for their "newest" customers who only had 10-12 years experience at... umm... being alive.

[Ropewash]

Re: Unavailable

Going to have to alter an old saying a bit,

You either die a villain or live long enough to become a pederast.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not just BillG but Balmer too…

I was in a team called comphot (the compete hotline) within Microsoft, and many years ago I had a “case” passed to me from Steve Ballmer’s office as a small UK food distribution company had escalated a (commercial) situation that had got to the very top. Compared to most stuff the team worked on this was tiny money, but a weekly report to the CEO’s office was required… loads of stress for a small but very noisy customer, no fun for anyone involved but on the other hand being able to play the SteveB card did get things resolved quite remarkably.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Not just BillG but Balmer too…

"no fun for anyone involved"

Least of all for the customer. Food distribution is one of the most sensitive to delays and a computer system giving problems going to be very stressful for them. It might be small money to Microsoft but it would be big money to them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not just BillG but Balmer too…

This was not a support issue, but rather a customer threatening to go to a competitor due largely to commercials - and I personally think the threat was empty because the disruption of doing so would have been massive - but that became irrelevant as the situation was now “SteveB says don’t lose this one”... But I do get the point that life outside IT suppliers is very, very, very different.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: Not just BillG but Balmer too…

"comphot" — I mentally pronounced that as comm·fott which unaccountably seemed slightly obscene.

I am pretty sure Microsoft has never given their customers what they needed; very occasionally what the customer requested; but frequently what the silly sods deserved.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not just BillG but Balmer too…

A costumer had a problem with their investment account statement that our banking SW was unable to address and it somehow reached the global CEO of the bank, before being forwarded to the country CEO, then to the head of the investment dept., etc., down to the people who actually might be able to do something about it.

Top priority for a small problem affecting just one client. It wasn't even anything serious, it was just a wrong description on one of their holdings.

And as IT was unable to solve that particular issue without a major development, for which there was no budget, a business-side person had to manually make a daily change for that particular client's account, basically to mask the problem.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

Bill Gates May 1989: ‘The DOS gold mine is shrinking and our costs are soaring .. I want us to release Windows/386 without deletions as we can. It will confuse people somewhat. Some users will expect an "upgrade deal." It will delay OS/2 somewhat but it will help us to get IBM to allow us to make OS/2 reasonable.’

Bill Gates April 10 1995: “Given that we are looking at the internet destroying our position as the setter of standards and APIs do you see things we should be doing to use ACT assets to avoid this?”

“I admit I find it hard to focus lots of resources on trials and things when the Internet is taking away our power every day and will have eroded it irretrievably by the time broadband is pervasive on the course we are on right now.”

Jim Allchin Sep 2002: “My conclusion: We are not on a path to win against Linux We must change some things and we must do it immediately”

“We need the technical resource / strategy resource to look for fundamental issues about Linux that customers might not know. One that I thought of while on the trip that I used dealt with the fact you need to recompile your apps, etc when a new release of Linux comes out.”

“We need someone to tear down the indemnification offered from RedHat and IBM to customers. We need to understand exactly the risk a customer is under if a patent lawsuit happens and Linux ~s challenged. I’d like Dan to own this. There MUST be risks to customers that are being passed on. t want this understood precisely. We need to get the license from IBM given to customers and investigate.”

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

Let's hire Agent-P - may be he can enlighten us on system-d

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

The timing of the Jim Allchin memo is very interesting. The memo is 2002, the SCO suit started in 2003.

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

There is a prevailing suspicion that tSCOg was being "coached" in their baseless suit by a much larger company which had more to lose if Linux succeeded. There was also a suspicion that some of the costs of litigation were being underwritten by the same large company. That tSCOg was using the same firm of lawyers as said large company had used added to the suspicions.

[Tim99]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

For an interesting read, look at PJ's Groklaw (web.archive.org). The original site was my daily read at the time. The sections "MS Litigations" and "SCO:Soup2Nuts" are particularly relevant.

Caveat: I may be biased - some of my correspondence with PJ on "open source" matters is contained there (under my real name).

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

My suspicion is that SCO was as much the target as Linux. At that time it held a strong position in small business servers. If it had really gone for a mass-market/price cutting strategy Linux would never have got off the ground in such situations but Microsoft would also have been threatened. The litigation kept them busy while Microsoft took over the server market. The support they got was peanuts compared to the value of keeping them tied up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

> "... One that I thought of while on the trip that I used dealt with the fact you need to recompile your apps, etc when a new release of Linux comes out.”

And still not fixed 24 years later.

If Microsoft had made a big fuss about it perhaps ....

"No Jim, lets just keep schtum, and they'll probably never fix it, and it will still be annoying the shit out of people decades from now"

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

Oh, look! Another one showing us they've no experience whatsoever of Linux.

For avoidance of doubt very few users compile their applications. They get binaries and upgrades from their distro or sometimes in my case that's Seamonkey and LibreOffice) from the application's own site.

One reason for this is that distros for regular users are based on long term support versions of the kernel so kernel revisions are minor. Another is that one of Linus' maxims is "don't break userland", userland being where applications run. A third is that application code uses a lot of standard libraries and the way Linux updates libraries is that this can almost invariably be done seamlessly.* IME (Devuan) what happens is that every few months there's a biggish update with a new kernel, a new version of the compiler and several libraries. As ever the upgrade is seamless and the only reason fro rebooting is to bring the new kernel into operation - at my convenience.

Also IME I have a few applications including the KDE Falkon browser which weren't in the distro and which I compiled from source. In Falkon's case was in February 2022. There have been several kernel updates since them and also updates of some of the QT libraries it uses but Falkon has not been recompiled. A few others are older.

* By this I mean that next time an application is run it automatically picks up the new library version. Services which are intended to run continuously are stopped and restarted so that they pick up the new version. If the service runs stateless this won't be noticed at all; if it doesn't then in theory it might be noticed, an RDBMS might be an example. This applies to new versions of server binaries. In practice I've only come across one service at such a low level that a reboot was necessary after installing a new version of a service. Even then there was no urgency as the old code remained in memory and running until the next reboot.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

Yeah, who the hell compiles their applications?

I've done it a couple of times just for the pure fun of it, to see how it all went. Otherwise, I get auto updates for apps I've installed via my distro's repository.

[Eric 9001]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

I quite enjoy compiling all the free software from source code with the latest GCC versions.

But even then, Linux SYSCALL ABI has only been broken like 3 times, with an option to re-enable the buggy syscalls.

glibc is now ABI forward compatible, same as most other GNU libraries, thus what requires recompilation is generally libraries that are neither Linux nor GNU.

[Eric 9001]

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

It's incredible how afraid they were (and still are) about naming the GNU.

You never needed to recompile programs when a new release of Linux comes out, as the SYSCALL API and ABI is stable and almost hasn't changed (there are a few bugged SYSCALLs that were hardly used by software and that can still be re-enabled).

You originally did need to recompile everything when a new glibc release or any of the other GNU libraries or supporting libraries, but good libraries now retain ABI compatibility unless there is a good reason to break it.

[Recluse]

Off topic somewhat but …

Some years ago I had issues with my local UK domiciled Ford motor dealer (part of a chain of 3) Dissatisfied with the general level of service I looked up the company details for free on the Companies House site and after a bit of delving identified the ultimate owner of the business.

More in hope than expectation, I wrote a lengthy letter outlining the positives and also what I considered poor about interactions with his company. As I recall (as an example) a relatively minor item I listed was the absence of bell in the parts department (I’d previously visited and stood there for some minutes until some finally appeared to assist) There were also unsatisfactory warranty work issues.

The letter went off via Royal Mail Special Delivery and much to my surprise the business owner rang me at 9am the very next day to thank me for my letter and to advise he would speak to the local dealer. Minutes later my phone rang again and the Local Service Manager was apologetically rapidly resolving my outstanding issues.

Next time I visited the dealership I noted a new prominent bell in the parts department.

I had a similar experience with Wren Kitchens, when the local store were unwilling/unable to resolve an ongoing issues with my new kitchen. Letter to Operations director, who rang me, added his troubleshooting guy into our telephone conversation and the end result was him travelling from one end of the M62 to the other on a Bank Holiday to swap out faulty components and resolve the problem.

The moral of the stories (albeit it only likely to work for the smaller businesses - one of the reasons why I try and patronise the small guys) is if you are articulate, fair and polite and can find the right person to contact, there are still committed people out there, ready to help.

Companies house website is your (free) friend.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Off topic somewhat but …

A sane, reasoned, concise, professional letter written in grammatically correct English is your friend.

We live in the age of "Karens" that go absolutely ballistic over nothing, screaming and ranting like a 4 year old and foaming at the mouth to the extent that no one can understand what her issue is.

If you can send a letter that explains "hey, you're great, I love doing business with you, but there's a couple things you need to fix" and says it plainly and correctly, then you're head and shoulders above 90% of everyone else. Thus, you'll stand out and get your issue corrected.

"Articulate, fair and polite" is a vanishingly small segment of the population these days.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: Off topic somewhat but …

"Articulate, fair and polite" — another "pick any two" ?

"Ballistic Karens" a Space Karen tribute band ? Considering the previous point - none out of three isn't too bad if you are a trillionaire, I suppose.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Off topic somewhat but …

> "Articulate, fair and polite" — another "pick any two" ?

One if you're really lucky. Two is a unicorn.

Three is a unicorn squared...

[Marcelo Rodrigues]

Re: Off topic somewhat but …

"Three is a unicorn squared..."

Being square I take it not in a vacuum?

[MiguelC]

Re: Off topic somewhat but …

Once I had a cable TV installation crew break a transom window in my flat (the guy got shocked and flew from the ladder into the window). They said they would get in touch to fix it but whenever I contacted the company I was told, over and over, that they would "look into it".

One morning I got fed up and faxed the company's CEO complaining about it. A couple of hours later I had a (his?) secretary call me scheduling a glazier's visit for the next day.

[dmesg]

Emailing billg

I worked as contract help at Microsoft in the late 80s. At the time the word was that anyone, anyone, in the company could email billg. But it better be really important, and you'd better be right. Heaven help you if not.

[david 12]

Re: Emailing billg

Open Office was a management buzz-word in the early 80s, so lots of management was open like that.

I had a friend who started as an insurance salesman in a big insurance company, and was told that the anyone could talk to the CEO. So he walked into the CEO's office and said hello. And the CEO did talk with him.

CEO's get a lot more money than they did then, and last shorter periods in the job. They talk with junior staff less.

[Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck]

Tech support: where phone calls go to die.

[Lance the Boil]

the article closes with "unlikely to make much headway in similarly escalating their complaint in the modern era of AI and Copilot.".

Yet I have recently had a ticket closed by MS, after 3 months without contact from anybody. The closure simpy apologised and suggested I reopen a ticket.

So off I went to gather fresh evidence of the issue (it was 3 months old after all), oput it in a Word document, and tghen out of curiosity gave the Word doc to Copilot 365 and asked fro a diagnosis. It came back 30 secn ds later with the answer and links to arcane articles describing why.

If MS support actually used Copilot they may have saved the embarrassment...

[baseman54]

Bill Gates gave the World a buggy operating system, which has helped viruses and other nasties to thrive, and means that every medium-sized business has to have an IT department just to keep Windows going. Apple, on the other hand, is virtually bug-free, streets ahead of Windows and saves the user from downloading an update every time they boot up the machine. Windows 9 was supposed to be Unix-based but Micros**t couldn't hack it.

[trevorde]

An audience with Steve Jobs

Nobody wants that:

https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-being-a-jerk-2014-7

[richdin]

It WAS Bill

Back in the 90s, I was attending a demo at the Israeli Microsoft branch office, and the person running the demo (who thought he was offline) send a message to billg.

About 10 minutes later a reply popped up from Bill, asking to repeat the question in English and he'd be delighted to respond. Someone went beet red, but no repercussions happened as far as we know.

[Anonymous Coward]

Many years ago...

...like many years ago...I worked for a tech firm that built custom ISAPI filters and SQL solutions...we were a rinky dink little outfit but we seemed quite adept at finding (well not really finding, more like banging into) bugs in IIS and SQL Server...we hit upon an issue one day that caused SQL to just hard lock and it required a server reboot to fix the problem...I can't remember the specifics (it was a long time ago)...anyway, we identified the problem and got in touch with Microsoft about it...these were the days when you could, if you tried hard enough, get a custom hotfix produced to help you out with your bug...we spoke to the SQL team about the bug, which was a pretty small team then, we're back in SQL 7.0 days here...less than 10 people I think...it certainly wasn't many because we would regularly end up speaking to the same people over and over again...anyway, we called up to speak to them about this latest bug we found and a potential hotfix we needed to work around it...person that answered said "Microsoft SQL Team, Bill speaking, how can I help?"...we looked at each other as if to say "Nah, what are the odds?"...we cracked on with the phone call, explained everything and handed over everything we could to get the hotfix created...before we hung up, my team mate asked "Is this Bill Gates?"...dude replied "Sure is, have a nice day"...for about 3 days we thought the guy was fucking with us, but when the hotfix arrived, it was emailed from the man himself.

Back in the late 90s early 00s, Bill Gates was known to drop in to several departments and step in from time to time...aside from SQL/IIS we were aware of his presence in the Exchange team at least once.

I don't think the chances were high if you were just a random that called in, but if you were a fairly high ranking Microsoft Partner...there was always a chance you could end up speaking to Bill, particularly if you were dealing with the fringes of the technology of the time. He seemed to take an active interest in bugs...if you were reporting a bug, there was a much higher chance you'd end up talking to him.

[Sandtitz]

Re: Many years ago...

"less than 10 people I think...it certainly wasn't many because we would regularly end up speaking to the same people over and over again..."

I've known fine coding teams where the stereotype introverts with zero people skills would never answer a phone or would never be allowed near a phone or customer. Not everyone can get away with "You're holding it wrong".

I'm rather sure it was easily 100+ rather than 10 people not only because SQL 7 was major rewrite, but also for Enterprise Manager and other accessory software included, support for both Windows 9x and NT/2000 installations and of course testing. Micros~1 even back then had multiple SQL major versions concurrently under support, so bug/security fixes, backporting support for next Windows versions, and of course developing the next version or designing and outlining the versions beyond the next one does take its time. Micros~1 already had tens of thousands of employees back then.

[Anonymous Coward]

In around 2001 a younger naive me rang Microsoft because my laptop (a TINY) had broken and I had no installation media to reinstall Windows XP. I apparently managed to get through to someone high up enough who said they would sort it out and asked for my address. Not long afterwards I got a shrink wrapped retail box of XP home delivered to me.

How I expected anything to come of me ringing them I do not know. Actually getting my issue sorted to that extent impressed me no end.

[DS999]

Bill Gates probably DID take support calls from important customers

At some point when Microsoft was smaller, and he was more directly involved in the actual engineering. Over time they had to build some walls up to run interference so he only saw the important stuff, and probably by the time this system was in place the walls were essentially to prevent anything from reaching him directly.

[Anonymous Coward]

A Register reader told us previously that…

> …back in 1996, they fired off an irate email

They who?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A Register reader told us previously that…

Brad was his name-o

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A Register reader told us previously that…

> Brad was his name-o

He and who else?

[TDog]

Paul Kay

Dead now, had a memorable phone call with Microsoft support. This was about their original basic and the flood fill for a closed shape didn't work. This was at about DOS2.x level. He rang up the States using his work phone, and was told "yes we know it overflows to fill the whole screen." Paul simply and effectively demonstrated that only a bunch of wankers would still carry on selling something they new was defective. After several minutes of sledging the minion (78 employees in microsoft) he finally replied, "We can't change that code, Bill wrote it."

Anecdotal, obviously.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Paul Kay

I do recall having called Microsoft in the early 90s. It was something about interrupt handlers for those new fangled things called "mice".

I rang the "Microsoft support" local number, someone picked it up at the second ring, I exposed my problem, the very same guy gave a complete, accurate, and correct technical answer, we wished each other a very good afternoon and that was it.