Former Microsoft evangelist Don Dodge on Google vs. Microsoft

I don't like how an evangelist can completely jump ship from all the things he loved and pushed and used before he changed jobs in less than a month.<p>In whole it makes one seem even less trustworthy than normal sales people.

My job at MSFT was to put Microsoft in the best possible light, not an easy task, and help developers get access to software and support. BizSpark helped with that.<p>At Google the job is much easier because the product strategy and technology is better. Chrome OS (open source), Google Apps and App Engine (cloud), and Android (mobile platform) are the waves of the future. I firmly believe Google has the right vision and the right products.<p>Microsoft is a good company, with good products, and good people. MSFT didn't get to be a $60B company on FUD.<p>Developers and customers make decisions based on what solves their problems easiest, fastest, cheapest. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem. Google has a pretty solid vision for the future, and new technology/products that will satisfy the needs of a large fraction of the market.<p>Your mileage may vary.<p>Don

One of things which annoy me is that he was an evangelist and didn't even try the latest products. Office 2010 preview was out which has threaded discussions he raves about in gmail. He hasn't looked at office online version but says he suspect that it won't be good. I guess he should have as an evangelist asked some questions and pushed few features in the product he would have been selling if he wasn't let go.

<i>IBM was king. I think in the late ’80s and early ’90s, we saw that shift and Microsoft became king of the hill. And in 2009, 2010, going forward, Microsoft is sort of like IBM. It’s a longtime company with a great tradition and still very profitable, but it’s not the leader.</i><p>Another sign that a company is at the top, but due to come down:<p>Awesome R&#38;D, which hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of getting to be a real product. (IBM, Xerox, the old AT&#38;T)<p>Apple and Google still seem to be actively turning new tech into product. Microsoft: mainly the XBox division seems to still be doing this.

With the vendor-based technologists and vendor-based evangelists, at least you are certain who is paying them to espouse their opinions; you know how they're going to slant.<p>Various Industry Analyst firms and Industry Pundits can undergo these same sorts of seismic shifts. And whether the opinion is with technical merit, a paid opinion, a troll for web hits, or a curmudgeon that has made a career out of being quotable, is far less certain.<p>Well, a few of the curmudgeons are obvious.

title says "vs" but there is no real comparison btw 2 companies.