Working at Microsoft v Apple

[Synchromesh]

I wish everybody saw it that way but there are plenty of fanbois on practically every forum. I'm yet to see one that doesn't have any.

 

[puckhead193]

anyone else notice the intern getting out of a porsche...

 

[RawBert]

I think it should be fair. If you are putting down M$ don't put it down simply because it's M$ and you are an Apple fanboi. Have some facts maybe? Silly expectation that one, I know.

I've used Windows, Mac OS and Linux before. All of them have their good and bad points. Mac OS is also not the absolute end-all be-all OS out there. In general Windows does have some things it does better than Mac OS. And the other way around too. Why that's so difficult to understand is beyond me.

Being an Apple enthusiast isn't the same thing as being a blind fanboy and it's not about defending the 'honor' of a giant, multi-national, billon dollar corporation that only cares about what's in your wallet (be it Apple, MS, Adobe or Dell) but about making an honest effort to speak factually and w/accuracy.

There's no reason, IMO, why the MacRumors community should aim no higher than the lowest rung on the ladder.

Good points.

I think people who rant against Windows and/or MS are just fed up or frustrated with their experiences using that OS. I use two Win computers at work and Im ALWAYS cursing at them. But on these forums you cannot just generalize without giving specifics. Makes sense...

...Still, APPLE RULES!!!

 

[ethical]

anyone else notice the intern getting out of a porsche...

Haha yes! And he had a fantastic parking spot, right by the front door!

 

[nigameash]

I dunno about msft or apple but all the friends i've had who interned with google said that they have a very chilled out attitude at the office and that google focuses a lot on having its employees play sports

 

[jpyc7]

I've read bad things about working for EA. Probably more deadline pressure than MS or Apple. MS has the benefit of being a monopoly and doesn't have to release software with hard deadlines. Apple keeps things secret so the customers don't know when the next update is.

EA releases game software which have definite release dates. I guess they pre-announce them, but since I'm not a gamer I don't really know how those get chosen. Anyway, there were some articles in the SF Chronicle a few years ago about how their programmers have to work many hours per week.

 

[jav6454]

Microsoft has cut its workforce recently.
I wouldn't be playing XBOX if I worked there.
I'd be busy working!
Trying to keep from being laid off.

This, and also the fact that only the Entertainment Unit in Redmond gets to do stuff like this.

 

[notjustjay]

I think you'd be best to find actual employees and ask what they think of their workplace. The ads always show glitz and glamour. This may well be true, but there might be a reverse side to the story as well. Maybe the company serves you free meals and provides sports and wellness activities and video games on company time -- but maybe it's also because they expect you to spend so much time at the office, working long, hard hours and into late nights and weekends.

I don't get free meals or video games -- but I also work a 40-hour work week, and if I choose to work overtime hours, I am entitled to bill for each one of them, and get paid time and a half. My understanding is that this is rare in the software industry!

The real question to ask is how bad the company politics are. Are people in management positions so deeply embroiled in politics and jockeying themselves into position that things suffer as a result? Are different departments bitterly in competition, trying to outmanoeuvre and one-up the other? All companies have this to some extent, but some are much worse than others.