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8 Mar, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Ever wonder when and how Microsoft made a big bet on Windows? Today’s Hardcore Software shares what it was like to have a bunch of existing confusion clarified by the CEO in a memo. 1/5 …rdcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/p/011-a-strate…
2/ The memo was from Bill Gates and detailed a “A Strategy for the ‘90s Windows”. Seems kind of obvious now. But then the company was deep in a partnership with IBM to develop OS/2, the successor to MS-DOS. Windows was a side project. Infoworld headline from 2/18/91 “‘Advanced Windows’ Ma
3/ But Windows 3.0 was selling super well—sales of Windows 3.0 exceeded that if Macintosh by a huge amount, selling over 4M copies in the first year (2.5M Macs were sold that year). OS/2 was not selling well, nor was it making progress in product development that was needed.
4/ Bill spent “Think Week” reading and learning (more on Think Week in a a few more posts). He wrote a memo that was a long list of all the risks to Microsoft. And all of the opportunities. He also clearly stated Windows was the future. The simplest summary is to repeat our strategy in its simple
5/ This was clarity our team needed in order to move forward and build tools to help Windows programmers (and to compete with Steve Jobs’ NeXTStep) without being saddled with Microsoft’s own cross-platform mess.

More details and lots of fun stories on hardcoresoftware.substack.com. //

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Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
3 Mar
In the most recent Hardcore Software substack post, I shared the "turning point" for learning how to ship software. It was a memo/presentation based on the work of Excel 5 that shipped 11 days late. Let's look at the first "massive" project to ship on exactly time, Office XP. 1/ Bill Gates at Office XP launch.
2/ First a quick excerpt from hardcoresoftware.substack.com. This is the memo from 1990 on Shipping Software, written by the development manager for Excel (Microsoft legend Chris Peters). Cool Stuff.
3/ The key lesson is the most obvious which is actually having a ship date. It is amazing how many projects have dates that are "1st quarter" or "1st half". That's 90 or 180 dates. Second lesson, shipping is everything. It's all that matters.
Read 12 tweets
Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
21 Feb
If you’re following “Hardcore Software” on substack then we just finished the first chapter w/ Windows 3.0 ship May 1990 …rdcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/p/007-windows-… (pls subscribe it’s fun!)

Just before then Excel for Windows shipped in 1987—the first Windows version. Some fun Excel background 1/
2/ Excel for Mac shipped in 1985 and received very strong reviews and was quite successful. Between Mac Excel and Mac Word, Microsoft “Applications” had grown to be the leading Mac vendor and also about half of Microsoft!
3/ Windows Excel was built by creating a cross-platform layer (what it was called in code) enabling Windows and Mac to share the core engine for calculation/charting/etc. But it still needed Windows...but no one had Windows.
Read 7 tweets
Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
30 Jan
I ordered 4 accent pillows from a well-known home furnishings store. They shipped them in 8 packages. Each pillow ships individually and separately from cover. I received one today—the box that would easily fit all 4 pillows.

Gonna take me 3 weeks to recycle all the cardboard.
Update on my shipment. Part 2 of 8 scheduled to arrive today. But wait, what will arrive?
The box is here and it is enormous.
Read 4 tweets
Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
28 Jan
The number of iPads being sold is huge. It is worth putting it in context. (Horace does the best analysis and accounting of Apple's business) 1/
2/ Just finished a "blow out" year for PC sales, at 275 million. Sounds huge from a growth perspective, but that still doesn't approach estimates of 450 million or more from a decade ago. Gartner PC sales from https...
3/ The underlying shift that started in 2010--towards low power, high reliability, "sealed case", app store, connected to phones, WWAN, and more computers epitomized by the iPad -- remains in full swing.
Read 9 tweets
Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
28 Jan
ANNOUNCEMENT: tl;dr Please sign up for my new @SubstackInc "Hardcore Software—Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC revolution”. Tune into @joinClubhouse "Good Time" show 6pm ET *tonight* for a chat about it. …rdcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/about?utm_sour…

1/ It’s more than a book about Microsoft…
2/ Hardcore Software is my first-person account of Microsoft events from pre-Windows 3 through the rise of Office, building a new Windows, and disruption. Along the way came the internet, pivot to enterprise, antitrust trial, product quality crises, reorgs, Apple, …much more.
3/ My substack is a serialization of a book, or two, I wrote. I realized in working with a traditional publisher that I could tell a much better story for many more people by using Substack. So that’s what I chose to do. Here’s why:
Read 9 tweets
Steven Sinofsky Profile picture
9 Jan
Today is the 13th anniversary iPhone announcement—easily one of the greatest launch events and moments of technology change in history. What was the "world" like at the time? When something changes the world so much it seems obvious in hindsight. That was not at all the case. 1/
2/ First, Apple itself was on a bit of a rebound with the iPod and iMac. But that only made Apple part of culture and healthy, but still a fringe player in computing. In all 2006 Apple sold about 5M Macs, which was strong for them but not compared to 235M PCs (98%share). Revenue Exceeds $7 Billion; Record Profit of $1 Billion CUP
3/ Apple in the midst of the "Get a Mac" advertising campaign. That’s the "I’m a Mac" and "I’m a PC". These ads were brilliantly executed and brutal relative to Microsoft. These really hit where it hurt the most. So much we had endless fights over if they were true. They were. Get a Mac tv commercial feature Mac guy and PC guy.
Read 27 tweets

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