On 'Seamless Computing' and Other Microspeak
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More than a few Microsoft-spawned terms have made their way into the wider tech lexicon. Think "dogfooding," "show stopper," "three-finger salute," etc.
(Hats off to the MicroNews crew, the folks who produce Microsoft's internal company newsletter, for keeping tabs on the latest lingo from Redmond, documenting everything from "blibbets" to "Lake Bill.") Check a Partial Guide to Microspeak (from MicroNews) But Microspeak is always morphing. Just this past week, we heard Chairman Bill Gates toss around his seeming new favorite: "Seamless Computing." Gates used the term in both his Comdex keynote and subsequent press interviews, ad nauseum.
Microsoft execs first began talking about seamless computing (no "TM," but Microsoft is using initial caps when referring to the term) back in 2001, when the company rolled out Windows XP. Microsoft seems to be equating Seamless Computing with interoperability. But Redmond's kind of Seamless Computing isn't focused interoperability among heterogeneous systems and software from different vendors (which is what most folks mean when they talk interoperability). Instead, Seamless Computing, according to Microsoft, is all about interconnecting Windows-based systems, from the Auto PC, to the Media Center PC, to the data-center hub. Gates Details "Seamless Computing" at Comdex Microsoft is hardly the first to focus on seamless computing. There are early public references to the term from Microsoft nemesis The Object Management Group. By relying on the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (the OMG's alternative to Microsoft's COM), some companies have attempted to build seamless, heterogenous networks for decades. And more recently, the Globus Alliance, a group of companies (including Microsoft Research) working to build computational grids, has been working the seamless computing/collaboration angle. Keep in mind that Seamless Computing is only the latest of a seemingly endless parade of Microspeak emanating from Chairman Gates' and other top execs' lips.
We've already harped more than once on another of our pet peeves – "Integrated Innovation." Read "Since When Is Integration 'Innovative'?" For More Here are a few of our other current favorites, for good measure: It started out with a single reference or two. But within a matter of months, everyone in Redmond has gone "ecosystem" crazy. They are talking about security ecosystems, wireless ecosystems, sales ecosystems, Xbox ecosystems. Do a search on Microsoft.com, and you get 100 matches for "ecosystem" from the past year alone. American Heritage defines ecosystem as "An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit." When you think about the symbiotic relationship between Redmond and its "partners," it all starts to make more sense.
Microsoft blogger Walter Smith, who works on the Windows Client User Experience team), brought this one to our attention. Think of two Microsoft teams that are supposedly working together on a project (but who are, in fact, not playing together very well at all). Nothing will bring them together better than a project review or external demo, a k a a "forcing function." So, next time you need something on deadline from Microsoft, it might be time to call for a forcing function of your own.
Ring Fencing is very "in" in Redmond right now. Think of ring fencing as similar to "fencing off." Incubating might be a good synonym. Or isolating, on either a temporary or permanent basis. Example: The Productivity and Business Services Group (PBSG) at Microsoft "ring-fenced" the Tablet PC until it was well established and well understood by the Office team. Now the Tablet PC is no longer under PBSG unit under Group VP Jeff Raikes. Instead, it has been moved to the Windows Client group, where it more appropriately belongs. Is it a positive thing to be "ring-fenced"? Guess it all depends on whether you are the fencer or the fencee - or someone who has a vested interest in liberating the fenced in product/team/unit. Just when you think you've figured out EAI (enterprise application integration), Microsoft tries to rearrange the terrain yet again. EAI was too small (!) a goal. Too simple. Too finite. (Just forget the fact that Microsoft's EAI solution, BizTalk Server, met with limited acceptance, at best.)
Got any favorite Microspeak of your own to share? We'll publish the best examples in an upcoming column. Send your entries to me at mswatch@ziffdavis.com (and don't forget to provide some juicy examples and context). |
