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Over the last couple of months, there has been a rise in discussion between Microsoft and VMware online. While both sides certainly have many moderate bloggers who are conducting civil and constructive conversations, both sides are also guilty of getting into more heated conversation.
VMware has sites like https://www.vcritical.com/ and https://vteardown.com/, while Microsoft has made posts like https://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/08/13/hypervisor-footprint-debate-part-1-update-microsoft-hyper-v-server-2008-vmware-esxi-3-5.aspx and https://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/04/03/Top-10-VMWare-myths-video.aspx
This has lead to many members of the community at large making a plea to both sides to “stop the mud slinging”.
Personally, I am not so sure about this.
Before I explain that statement – I would like to provide some background context. A common question I have heard is “Why do people go and write / say things like this?”. Well – in my mind – there are a couple of factors to consider:
Emotions are running high.
Talking about your product, and how it compares to competition, is always an emotionally charged activity. No matter how hard you try, you cannot avoid this. In my mind there are two big drivers behind this emotional attachment:
We live in a capitalist world.
Every time you hear someone talking about their product, somewhere deep in their mind is the understanding that if no one buys their product, their business will fail – and that will directly impact their ability to maintain their quality of living / support their family / etc… It seems odd to say – but you should not discount the impact that this has on people when they are trying to defend their products.
That is my baby you are talking about.
As someone involved in software development, I can tell you that over the last 4 years I have sunk huge amounts of time and emotion into the development of Hyper-V. I have worked long hours, fought many arguments and built up a high level or personal passion about our offerings. In this context, it is really hard to hear someone say negative things about Hyper-V.
Everyone is speaking from some innate level of ignorance.
Hyper-V, VMware and Xen are all very complicated products. And no one knows them as well as the people who developed them.
This poses a problem.
How can you hope to figure out whether one approach genuinely is better or worse than another? Your best bet is to go with an independent third party – like an industry analyst, but they often do not have the depth of knowledge that the product developers do. The problem arise when one of these product experts attempts to talk about the others products, because when they do so they are speaking from their personal world view. And when there are gaps in their knowledge about the competition, they tend to assume that the competition has made the same decisions as they did in that situation.
This is a trap.
I personally know that there have been many times when I have seen some technical comment from a VMware or Xen blogger and my immediate reaction was “Well that is just stupid!”. What I am really thinking is “If we were to use that approach on Hyper-V it would not make sense”.
Every time that this happens, I have started from the position of “these guys are competent and know what their doing, hence the fact that that seems like a bad idea to me probably means that I am missing some information about their overall technology” and gone digging for more information. And every time I have found it, and come away with a deeper understanding of my competition.
Different people communicate in different ways.
When I was growing up, my father had an interesting strategy for teaching me and my sisters to remain level headed when emotions were running high. If we ever raised our voices in anger when talking to my father he would simply state “You are speaking from emotion, therefore I cannot trust that you have thought through what you are saying. I am going to ignore what you just said. Come back and talk to me once you can do so in a calm manner.”
This certainly shaped the way that I try to communicate with the world. But not everyone is like that.
For example – imagine that you are driving in heavy traffic, and someone cuts you off. What do you do? Do you get angry, yell and honk your horn? Or do you shrug it off and say “it really is not that important, it is not going to make me any later to my destination at the end of the day”?
Me – I prefer to do the latter. If I yell and get angry I just find that I feel worse for it at the end of the day. But – I know a number of people who would yell at the other driver – and would feel a whole lot better for it.
For instance, I can tell you that when you read these posts from Jeff Woolsey (like: https://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/08/13/hypervisor-footprint-debate-part-1-update-microsoft-hyper-v-server-2008-vmware-esxi-3-5.aspx) – that is pure authentic Jeff. He speaks like this, and lives like this. He is a very passionate and persuasive person – whether he is being positive or negative.
So with all that said – let us get back to the original question: should we tone down the level of angst / mud slinging in the conversations that are going on?
I do not think we should. The reasons for my opinion here are:
- These people are just being passionate about their products and authentic to themselves. Party on!
- To bring in a bible quote: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17)”. Through these conversations we are able to reveal deeper truths about each others offerings.
- Whether people are being actively hostile, or are being polite, you need to be aware of their biases. I work at Microsoft – hence I am going to say good things about Microsoft.
So where does this leave you, the reader? Well, there are two suggestions I have:
- Do not hesitate to let me know if you think the tone on my blog is not professional. I do aim to keep things classy here – and I have no problems with you letting me know if I am not writing / speaking in a manner that you find helpful.
- Vote with your web traffic. The fact of the matter is that while an author / blogger continues to receive high web traffic (and trust me – these guys are receiving high web traffic) there is little motivation for them to change their style.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you like the drama? Do you prefer that things be kept “cool, calm and professional”? How would you like to see our online conversations developing?
Cheers,
Ben
Comments
Anonymous
August 25, 2009
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August 25, 2009
Count me in the "cool, calm and professional" side. Posts like the one you linked to don't contribute to the discussion. While some people are passionate and persuasive in person, that tone doesn't carry well to blog posts, and certainly not to posts from Microsoft personnel trying to make a point. For example, I have some factual comments regarding that post, but its tone has deterred me from participating in the discussion. Had it been written in a cool, calm manner, I would've chipped in with my opinion.Anonymous
August 25, 2009
Taking a step back; Passion is a beautiful thing. Speaking from experience, it is difficult [but not impossible] to balance passion with professionalism. However, I whole heartedly thank you for taking the time and opening up the discussion with us! Keep the discussion real, keep it authentic, and keep it transparent; back it up with facts, write with passion and enthusiasm – but keep it professional (regardless of whichever side you bat from) I’m sure us as readers, we are all smart, competent and intelligent people; and have highly tuned “fud filters”. So I personally look forward to every opportunity that we can [constructively] entertain and push the boundaries. Lastly, please keep doing what you have done so well. Rest assured if you “fall off the wagon” we’re sure to let you know, and keep you in check! =)Anonymous
August 26, 2009
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August 26, 2009
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August 26, 2009
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August 26, 2009
This is a wonderful post, and it makes me wonder if people are too sensitive about arguments and discussion - I personally don't see it as mud slinging, as both sides are presenting factual data that has an outlook from both sides, and none of it is sourced via dishonorable methods.Anonymous
August 26, 2009
Ben, Very well said. As for VCritical, I do not hear from my readers that I am unfair or misrepresenting. When companies stretch the truth, they should be challenged. I will continue writing competitive articles for my blog. Anyone who dislikes such content is welcome to ignore it. When my readership drops significantly, I'll get the message. :-) Regards, EricAnonymous
August 27, 2009
As an avid Microsoft Vitualization promotor I often write with the conviction there is a lot of ground to be gained. I like to think I am not overenthusisastic, but find customers like the story when I promote the MS stance on virtualization. When I read your blog, I recognize the often vile untruths that are blogged or tweeted. Sometimes I respond, sometimes I just ignore it, just as I ignore the propaganda of "the other guy". In fact I wrote a rather favourable blog on the introduction of vSphere (http://hyper-v.nu/blogs/hans/archive/2009/04/21/vmware-vsphere-maakt-indruk.aspx), although it was in Dutch so not many people could understand it. My blog histor on hyper-v.nu starts with my article in LAN Magazine in March 2007 explaing my vision on the approaching war of the hypervisors. I concluded with "Let the games begin!" Well clearly, they have started and in my view Hyper-V and System Center are tactically positioned. Nevertheless your article has made me rethink my attitude and ways of communication. See also @hvredevoort and @hyperv_r2Anonymous
August 27, 2009
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August 27, 2009
I disagree Tom. Both vcritical and vteardown clearly state that they are VMware employees. However, their opinion is not necessarily representing VMware's view and/or opinion. Same goes for myself, my opinion or views are not always the general view of VMware and that's why I have my own personal(!) blog and mention it's my opinion and not a fact or "the one truth". Now although I disagree with most of the stuff Jeff writes I do enjoy his enthusiasm. As a company however I would never support this way of competitive bashing, which it clearly is. Like others mentioned in the comments of his blogs focus more on what the benefits are of your products and the cool stuff you offer. duncan yellow-bricks.comAnonymous
August 27, 2009
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August 27, 2009
Hi Everyone, First I just wanted to say thanks for the constructive feedback posted here. I was a little bit nervous about wading in on this topic - but now I am certainly glad that I did so. Now for some specific responses: Andrew Dugdell - Thanks for having my back there, mate! Chris Wolf - Why am I not surprised that you agree on my statements about the needs for analysts? :-) Theron Conrey / Tom / Duncan - I do not buy the whole "this is my opinion, not my companies". Take Eric for instance - he works at VMware doing competitive analysis, he then runs a blog (www.vcritical.com) where he talks specifically about what he perceives to be the short comings in the competition. Eric's statement that the views on his blog are his own - and not VMware's - simply do not fly with me, when this is what he does for a job. The whole thing smacks of "plausible deniability" to me. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability) Personally, seeing this makes me thankful for Microsoft's stance around online (and offline) communication here. The summary is that as a Microsoft employee I need to understand that whenever I write or say anything - I am representing Microsoft - and people have the right to view what I say as authorative from Microsoft. As such the disclaimer you will see on all Microsoft blogs is: "This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. You assume all risk for your use." Now - do not get me wrong here - this is not an attack on Eric / Duncan / other VMware bloggers, as I know that if it were not for Microsoft's policies here I probably would have slapped a similar disclaimer on my blog. But I would also like to issue a (friendly) challenge to VMware bloggers to consider dropping their current disclaimers in favor of one more like the Microsoft one. Cheers, BenAnonymous
August 28, 2009
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August 28, 2009
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August 28, 2009
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August 30, 2009
Good post Ben. I really dislike the mud-slinging and unprofessional posts as well. I'd like to add one thing you left out and which irritates me a lot. That is the "it's free" thing going on at Microsoft at the moment. Just talking about pricing is bad for IT in general. In my opinion it "cheapens" IT. We've all seen the numerous problems and even disasters related to outsourcing and off-shoring. The main effect is that the ordinary office non-IT person gets a distinctly worse view of IT in general. It also feeds management with the wrong impression of IT. By talking up to "spreadsheet managers", people only looking for short-term paper gains, we can cause long term harm for the IT profession in general. Let's get back to bringing up what's good and (cost-)effective about virtualization and related technologies (VDI) first. Then we can get on with the details and comparisons of the different products.