????微軟（Microsoft）到底怎么了？我花了數(shù)周時(shí)間追蹤并采訪一大批前微軟員工，其中許多人都是效力于該公司長(zhǎng)達(dá)15年以上的資深業(yè)內(nèi)人士?，F(xiàn)在的問題是，你愿意花多少時(shí)間，聽我告訴你上述問題的答案。

????科瑞?索爾卡自1992年~2009年間一直效力于微軟。索爾卡提到了美國(guó)司法部針對(duì)微軟的反托拉斯之戰(zhàn)。微軟當(dāng)時(shí)決定反擊美國(guó)司法部的指控，拒絕庭外和解。事情從此開始發(fā)生了變化。索爾卡還提到，蘋果公司（Apple）在其“我是Mac，你是個(gè)人計(jì)算機(jī)（PC）”的廣告宣傳中嘲笑微軟時(shí)，同事們均備感屈辱。然而多年來(lái)，微軟默默地忍受這些，幾乎從不予以還擊。

????“如果換在上世紀(jì)90年代，微軟做此反應(yīng)，簡(jiǎn)直令人難以置信?！彼鳡柨ū硎?。在他眼里，微軟“與以前相比，已變得小心翼翼”。

????菲利浦?蘇在跳槽到Facebook之前，曾效力于微軟12年。他認(rèn)為，微軟喪失原有魅力的根本原因在于，公司員工缺乏進(jìn)取心。蘇還記得，上世紀(jì)90年代后期，他在辦公室的地板上用睡袋打地鋪的情形，彼時(shí)微軟仍是華爾街的一個(gè)傳奇。蘇表示，而目下的現(xiàn)實(shí)是，在雷德蒙德的微軟工業(yè)園區(qū)，每天下午5點(diǎn)，交通阻塞就開始了。

????這也是為何微軟股票不再像以前一樣，每1年半便進(jìn)行一次拆股的原因所在。過(guò)去七八年里，微軟股價(jià)始終徘徊在25美元。這一現(xiàn)象背后的事實(shí)是，與過(guò)去相比，員工們幾乎都趕在一個(gè)時(shí)間，趨之若鶩地逃離辦公室。

????“一旦辛勤工作與個(gè)人收入和其他獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)脫鉤，”蘇表示：“人們很難再像從前那樣努力工作了?！?/p>

????不少前微軟員工都將責(zé)任歸咎于公司首席執(zhí)行官史蒂夫?鮑爾默。他們又怎么可能不作此結(jié)論呢？11年前，當(dāng)鮑爾默接手公司時(shí)，微軟可以毫不自夸地說(shuō)，在軟件領(lǐng)域，它足以令競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手聞風(fēng)喪膽?，F(xiàn)如今，微軟更為人知的是其種種失誤，而非成功的舉措和了不起的成績(jī)。在平板電腦和智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)，它本該是一個(gè)有力的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者；因?yàn)槭嗄昵?，它就開始致力于電子閱讀器（e-reader）的開發(fā)，但是現(xiàn)在，當(dāng)批評(píng)者指責(zé)其業(yè)績(jī)乏善可陳時(shí)，公司高管只有一句對(duì)應(yīng)之辭：至少Xbox業(yè)務(wù)表現(xiàn)不錯(cuò)。

????去年10月，Glassdor.com公司對(duì)1,000多名微軟員工進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)研顯示，只有51%受訪者對(duì)公司首席執(zhí)行官鮑爾默的業(yè)績(jī)感到滿意。

????“與三年前相比，反對(duì)史蒂夫的人增加了很多?！币幻爸袑咏?jīng)理表示。他在效力微軟15年之后，于最近離開了公司?！耙虼?，員工們才會(huì)一致認(rèn)為，在他的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，公司已然迷失了前進(jìn)的方向?！?/p>

????所有人都認(rèn)為，微軟算得上內(nèi)部政治斗爭(zhēng)最為復(fù)雜的公司。過(guò)去，微軟在IT行業(yè)是眾人艷羨的對(duì)象，彼時(shí)，員工們與公司負(fù)責(zé)人私交密切，最佳產(chǎn)品經(jīng)理甚至可以脫口說(shuō)出首席執(zhí)行官子女的生日?，F(xiàn)在，公司首腦好像整天坐在自己的辦公室里，離員工們足有一兩棟辦公樓的距離。一名前公司高管曾用“雷德蒙德的壕溝”這個(gè)比喻，來(lái)形容這座城堡里的人，特別是那些身居管理要職的人，對(duì)外部世界關(guān)注之少。

????“微軟將全部心思都用在了內(nèi)部的勾心斗角上?！彼硎??！暗鹊侥阍诠咀搅烁呶?，你就會(huì)將90%的時(shí)間，用于內(nèi)部斗爭(zhēng)以及建立內(nèi)部權(quán)力網(wǎng)上?！?/p>

????比如，詹姆斯?維塔克爾就對(duì)這類事深感厭倦。維塔克爾是軟件測(cè)試領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)軍人物，于1994年開始擔(dān)任微軟的咨詢顧問，并最終全職效力于微軟。他在微軟的地位舉足輕重，會(huì)定期與比爾?蓋茨會(huì)晤。但他最終發(fā)現(xiàn)，即便像他自己這樣備受尊重的老手，也沒有了以前的精氣神兒，無(wú)法單靠能力和業(yè)績(jī)與人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

????“微軟的文化不再是：‘讓我們動(dòng)手實(shí)驗(yàn)，看看哪個(gè)點(diǎn)子更好，’而是：‘讓我們溜須拍馬，也許他們就會(huì)對(duì)我們的產(chǎn)品感到滿意。’” 維塔克爾表示。他于2009年離開了微軟，轉(zhuǎn)投谷歌（Google）門下。更糟的是：那些手中握有大權(quán)的人，之所以位居顯要，不過(guò)是因?yàn)樗麄儔蛐疫\(yùn)，在恰當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)間出現(xiàn)在了恰當(dāng)?shù)牡攸c(diǎn)而已，盡管其開發(fā)出的產(chǎn)品平庸不堪，隨著公司飛黃騰達(dá)，他們也步步高升。

????“微軟的企業(yè)文化，獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)的是政治殺手。”一名軟件工程師表示，他曾認(rèn)為自己可能會(huì)是個(gè)例外：盡管中途加盟微軟，但作為外來(lái)者，事業(yè)仍能一帆風(fēng)順。雖然他一從開始就深知，對(duì)于從其他公司跳槽過(guò)來(lái)，一加盟微軟就直接擔(dān)當(dāng)資深職位的人，微軟人向來(lái)心懷敵意；但是，在他剛剛到微軟辦公后不久，有一天，一名高管現(xiàn)身他的辦公室，大言不慚地向他揭示微軟“生存法則”時(shí)，他還是不由得大吃一驚。

????“他就站在那兒，對(duì)我說(shuō)：‘你給我記住，如果我愿意，隨時(shí)能讓你的團(tuán)隊(duì)土崩瓦解?！彼貞浀?。在他看來(lái)（他并沒有在微軟干多久），在微軟，某人勢(shì)力的大小，是通過(guò)其與鮑爾默、蓋茨或者是二者的關(guān)系來(lái)體現(xiàn)的。他稱這些人為“要人”。其中一個(gè)“要人”會(huì)不經(jīng)意地說(shuō)，自己最近曾跟鮑爾默共進(jìn)晚餐，接著再帶著威脅的口吻暗示說(shuō)，如果人們不聽話，憑他的影響，輕輕動(dòng)一下小拇指，就能讓他們死得很難看。

????“盡管如此，我仍然愿意相信，微軟仍然有機(jī)會(huì)再造輝煌。”里貝卡?諾蘭德表示。她在效力微軟19年后，于2010年離開了公司?！暗?，微軟必須得做出改變，而且某種程度上說(shuō)是劇變才行?！?/p>

????總體而言，前微軟員工都對(duì)老同事贊賞有加。（也有例外：有名前高管心中充滿怨氣，聲稱要將自己手中的微軟股票全部出手，因?yàn)椤艾F(xiàn)在公司已病入膏肓?！保?0世紀(jì)90年代，當(dāng)微軟身為面向大眾市場(chǎng)的廉價(jià)軟件廠商，宣布它開始進(jìn)軍先進(jìn)的商業(yè)應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域時(shí)，全世界都對(duì)之嗤之以鼻?，F(xiàn)在，在微軟的贏利中，每年有40多億美元源自公司的商業(yè)軟件部門。該產(chǎn)品家族的利潤(rùn)，已超過(guò)了多數(shù)《財(cái)富》美國(guó)500強(qiáng)（Fortune 500）公司的利潤(rùn)。而且，在微軟的總收入中，商業(yè)軟件只位居第三，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地被Windows和Office甩在了后面。去年，Windows贏利180億美元，Office收入也高達(dá)170億美元。

????但是，幾名前微軟員工反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào)，成功也往往會(huì)滋生出惡習(xí)。他們中，有不只一人引用心理治療師的術(shù)語(yǔ)，來(lái)形容Windows和Office之間不健康的伴生關(guān)系。小型設(shè)備才是發(fā)展的方向，而微軟恰在這塊前沿陣地上輸?shù)米顟K。他們接著表示，但是鮑爾默及其領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下的公司拒絕承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)。原因在于，Windows和Office兩塊業(yè)務(wù)就像兩眼金泉，巨額現(xiàn)金收入源源不斷地從中噴涌而出，以致鮑爾默等公司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人根本感覺不到調(diào)整發(fā)展方向的緊迫性。正是這兩塊堪稱商業(yè)發(fā)展史上極為成功的許可業(yè)務(wù)，掩蓋了諸多失意帶來(lái)的傷痛和煩惱。

????微軟還接二連三地否決了頗有發(fā)展前景的內(nèi)部項(xiàng)目。這些項(xiàng)目的發(fā)起人建議公司不再以Windows為核心，轉(zhuǎn)而建立新的平臺(tái)。微軟的軟件工程師們繼續(xù)埋頭編制運(yùn)行于Windows系統(tǒng)的應(yīng)用程序，之后，再在此基礎(chǔ)上進(jìn)行修改，并且不管兼容性多差，都拿到手機(jī)、平板電腦或者瀏覽器上去用。同時(shí)，盡管辛苦努力了十余年，微軟在智能手機(jī)操作系統(tǒng)市場(chǎng)僅名列第五，市場(chǎng)份額不足5%。而在平板電腦市場(chǎng)，微軟的所作所為，頂多也就是個(gè)馬后炮。

????“微軟的一切內(nèi)部機(jī)制仍然以Windows為核心?！闭材匪?維塔克爾指出?！癢indows永遠(yuǎn)都是最重要的，網(wǎng)絡(luò)只能屈居第二。因此，整個(gè)公司整天都圍著一個(gè)日漸落伍的平臺(tái)轉(zhuǎn)?！?/p>

????我共采訪了16名前微軟員工。其中一半認(rèn)為，鮑爾默該走人了。但是，這并不意味著，余下的一半人就認(rèn)為微軟首席執(zhí)行官干得很出色。盡管確實(shí)有幾個(gè)人持此觀點(diǎn)，但是，余下的一半人中，多數(shù)人都心存疑慮：誰(shuí)可能比鮑爾默干得出色？

????也許，對(duì)于那些將多年職業(yè)生涯獻(xiàn)給了微軟的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這是最重的批評(píng)之辭：微軟就像一架難以操縱又異常復(fù)雜的龐大機(jī)器，盡管這些人花了一個(gè)多小時(shí)，不厭其煩地歷數(shù)該公司走錯(cuò)的每一步，但即使他們，也不得不承認(rèn)，除非將微軟分成兩個(gè)或多個(gè)部分，否則該公司董事會(huì)除了繼續(xù)任用鮑爾默，同時(shí)希望他能知人善用，有效管理大批軟件人才，并扭轉(zhuǎn)劣勢(shì)外，別無(wú)他選。

????What's the matter with Microsoft? After spending weeks tracking down and talking with a long list of former Microsoft (MSFT) employees, many of them veterans with fifteen or more years with the company, the question is how long do you have to hear the answer.

????Corey Salka, who worked at Microsoft from 1992 until 2009, brings up the anti-trust fight. The company decided to fight the U.S. Justice Department rather than settle and things were never the same. Salka points to the humiliation colleagues felt watching Apple (AAPL) mock them in its 'I'm a Mac, You're a PC' campaign. For years Microsoft took it, he said, without so much as counterpunch.

????"That would have been inconceivable in the 1990s," said Salka, who describes Microsoft as "a more cautious company than before."

????Philip Su, who spent a dozen years working at Microsoft before taking a job at Facebook, sees a less motivated workforce as a root cause of Microsoft's lost mojo. Su remembers when he kept a sleeping bag at the office but that was in the late 1990s, when Microsoft still reigned as one of Wall Street's better stories. The new reality these days, Su said, are daily traffic jams in Redmond at 5 PM.

????That's the problem with a stock that is no longer splitting every 18 months, Su said. With a share price stuck at $25 for the better part of a decade, people tend to leave in a much more narrow time frame than in the past.

????"When there's so little correlation between how hard I work and my income and other rewards," Su said, "it's a lot harder to ask people to work that hard."

????Plenty of former employees point an accusing finger at CEO Steve Ballmer. How can they avoid doing so? When Ballmer took over the company eleven years ago, Microsoft had only to let slip it was entering a field to cause trembling among competitors. These days, though, the company is known more for its misses, fumbles, and stumbles than its hits and big scores. It should be a contender in the tablets and smart phone markets; it was working on an e-reader more than a decade ago but instead company executives have only one answer when critics bring up its flubs: Well, at least we didn't also blow the Xbox.

????A survey of more than 1,000 Microsoft employees conducted in October by Glassdor.com showed that only 51% of them approved of Ballmer's performance as CEO.

????"There's certainly a lot more dissension with Steve than there would have been even three year ago," said a former middle manager who recently left the company after 15 years. "There's this sense that under his direction, the company has really lost its way."

????By all accounts, Microsoft can be the most political of workplaces. In the old days, when the company was the envy of the tech industry, its people knew the competition so intimately that the best product managers could rattle off the birthdays of the CEO's kids. These days, though, it seems the competition sits in an office one or two buildings over. One former exec spoke of a "moat around Redmond" -- and how little attention those inside the castle, especially those occupying management positions, pay to the world outside.

????"Microsoft is such an inwardly-focused company," he said. "By the time you're in a senior position, it's like you spend 90% of your time focused on internal battles and internal power structures."

????James Whittaker for one grew sick of it. A leading figure in the software testing field, he started consulting for Microsoft in 1994 and eventually went to work for the company full-time. He was someone who met regularly with Bill Gates. And yet he found that even well-regarded old hands like himself didn't have the juice to compete on the merits.

????"Instead of a culture that said, 'Let's experiment and see which ideas work,' the culture is one of, 'Let's kiss enough ass so maybe they'll approve of our product,'" said Whittaker, who quit in 2009 to work for Google (GOOG). Maybe the worst of it: those in authority often attained their position because they had been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, succeeding when the company was riding high and despite producing a mediocre product.

????"It's a culture that actually awards the political assassins," said a software engineer who thought he might be one of the exceptions -- an outsider able to thrive despite moving to Redmond mid-career. He was well aware of Microsoft's reputation for being hostile to those hired into senior positions from the outside but he was flabbergasted just the same when a top exec showed up in his office one day to spell out the facts of life inside Microsoft shortly after he arrived on campus.

????"He's standing there telling me, 'I can have your team broken apart any time I want, just remember that,' " he said. As far as he could tell (he didn't last long), the coin of the realm within the company was one's relationship with Ballmer, Gates, or both. One of the "kingpins," as he described them, will drop that he recently had dinner with Ballmer -- and then hint darkly at how miserable someone of his considerable clout can make other people's lives unless they toe the line.

????"I still want to believe there's an opportunity for them to become a great company again," said Rebecca Norlander, who left Microsoft in 2010 after 19 years on the job. "But Microsoft needs to change. And in some cases change dramatically."

????Microsoft alum generally give their former colleagues credit. (Well, except the rather bitter former top exec who said he was selling every last share of stock in a company because "there's something cancerous inside the company right now.") In the 1990s, the world mocked Microsoft when this mass market maker of relatively cheap software announced it was getting into the more sophisticated world of business applications. These days, Microsoft's business software division contributes more than $4 billion a year to the corporate bottom line -- more in profits from this one family of products than much of the Fortune 500. And of course business software takes a distant third to Windows, which generated $18 billion in profits last year, and Office, which produced $17 billion in income.

????Yet success can breed bad habits -- a point several Microsoft alum hammered home. More than one employed the vocabulary of a therapist describing an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship when speaking about Windows and Office. Small devices are the future and it's on this front that Microsoft is having its biggest failures. Yet Ballmer & Co. remain in denial, they say, because the great gushers of cash Windows and Office generate means they don't feel the urgency they otherwise would –shielded from the pain of its many disappointments by two of the more successful franchises in the history of business.

????The company continues to thwart promising internal projects whose proponents who suggest a platform that isn't Windows-centric. Its people continue to write applications for Windows and then, after the fact, tailor them for use on a phone or a tablet or in a browser, no matter how ragged the fit. Meanwhile its in fifth place in the smart phone market, despite more than a decade of effort, with less than a five percent market share, and an after-thought at best in tablets.

????"All their internal machinery is still pointed toward Windows," James Whittaker said. "Windows always has to be first and the web is second. So the entire company is pointed at a platform becoming increasingly irrelevant."

????Of 16 ex-softies I polled, half thought it was time for Ballmer to leave. But it's not like the other half necessarily thought the company's CEO was doing a good job. A few did -- but most of the others wondered who else might do better.

????Maybe that's the most damning criticism offered by those who've devoted much of their work life to Microsoft: it is so unwieldy and complex a beast that even some of those who spent an hour or more telling me everything that's wrong with the company concede that, short of breaking it into two or more parts, the board has no choice but to stick with Ballmer and hope he can harness the company's considerable talents and turn things around.