This is important. I was initially shocked to hear of a big round of layoffs at Microsoft, until I saw the date. Maybe we can add the year to the link?
For those who haven't heard of mini before, this site was like Blind but only for Microsoft 20 years ago.
The blogger was anonymous but claimed to be a partner, which is a high level at Microsoft. He openly criticized aspects of the culture and company's direction. Notably he thought the company had gotten too big and needed to have fewer employees (hence the mini Microsoft moniker).
Employees would share salaries, bonuses, and raises every year after reviews in a giant thread of anonymous comments.
Mini-Microsoft is male (reported in both interviews).
He is married (reported in both interviews and occasionally referred to on the site).
At least one co-worker has figured out his identity (reported by Danny Westneat)."
Thank you; wasn't aware that MM had assumed their gender in interviews. Although it seems the obvious thing to say, to avoid getting discovered (even if MM is actually female or non-binary).
Definitely some ML models today capable of identifying writers from their textual idiosyncracies...
Although I guess some adversarial code will extend it, the days of being truly "Anonymous" (and therefore liberated to speak on topics like this) are probably almost over.
17 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 36.1 ms ] threadThe most interesting post was one of the final ones. In 1,000 comments speculating about Ballmer's successor, I saw only one mention of Satya Nadella.
The blogger was anonymous but claimed to be a partner, which is a high level at Microsoft. He openly criticized aspects of the culture and company's direction. Notably he thought the company had gotten too big and needed to have fewer employees (hence the mini Microsoft moniker).
Employees would share salaries, bonuses, and raises every year after reviews in a giant thread of anonymous comments.
He? I thought the author was anonymous and never came forward, so it'd be better to use gender neutral.
EDIT: given the downvotes, I'd imagine some folks have a disdain for precise language, and prefer instead to just perpetuate outdated stereotypes.
Nice meeting you here, btw.
"From his two known interviews, it is known that:
Mini-Microsoft is male (reported in both interviews). He is married (reported in both interviews and occasionally referred to on the site). At least one co-worker has figured out his identity (reported by Danny Westneat)."
Although I guess some adversarial code will extend it, the days of being truly "Anonymous" (and therefore liberated to speak on topics like this) are probably almost over.