MSN.com (Another viewpoint)

Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:38:37 -0800

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I'd like to provide an ex-insiders perspective on the recent events
around MSN.com.  THIS IS MY OPINION AND NOT THAT OF MICROSOFT.
=20
I used to run the MSN.com development team before leaving Microsoft in
2000.  It was a very hard job because we had limited staff and had to
produce the most visited dynamic web page in the world.  We had to run
the site on the latest Microsoft server technology and showcase the
latest features in IE while making it viewable to everyone. The home
page had to be extremely fast, personalized, provide great consumer
value, and drive visitors into the MSN network with using compelling
headlines and features.  The home page had to render correctly in many
languages, OS platforms, and browser versions.  To provide the highest
consumer value we couldn't just support the lowest common denominator
because that wouldn't showcase the capabilities of next generation
browsers.
=20
So you're the development manager, how do you create a quality, feature
rich, dynamic web page that is accessible to the widest audience?  You
make tradeoffs in your feature and testing matrix.  In terms of product
features and quality assurance you have to segment browsers by
capability.  This segmentation is based on statistical analysis of who
visits your web site, the amount and complexity of special case code you
need to write to support a particular browser, and the amount of QA
required.  Writing special case code for the quirks of every browser
makes your code hard to maintain, increases your time to market with new
features and fixes, and diverts resources from improving the site.  This
is a classic example of how you make tradeoffs to deliver a high quality
product for a majority of visitors.  If you think about it, MSN.com is
the default home page for Internet Explorer so non-IE visitors are a
very small percentage of total visitors.  I would be willing to bet that
they get more visitors running IE 3.0 than Opera.
=20
So, back to the original question: did Microsoft intentionally prevent
some browsers from visiting MSN.com.  Answer: Yes (just my view).  Why?
Not because it wanted some competitive advantage over Netscape, Opera,
or Brand X.  It was just a matter of trading off a writing special case
code, running through a larger testing matrix, and shipping on the
Windows XP launch date.  For over 2 weeks, MSN.com had a public beta of
their home page, beta.msn.com. The goal of a beta is to help catch
issues like this.
=20
I propose another question: if you were Microsoft how would you do it
differently?  Where would you draw the line? Would you increase your
testing matrix to include every browser? Would you go for lowest common
denominator and remove features that only work in current generation
browsers?
=20
=20
=20
=20

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<div class=3DSection1>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>I&#8217;d like to provide an ex-insiders perspective on the =
recent
events around MSN.com.<span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; =
</span>THIS IS MY
OPINION AND NOT THAT OF MICROSOFT.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

I used to run the MSN.com development team before leaving =
Microsoft in
2000.&nbsp; It was a very hard =
job
because we had limited staff and had to produce the most visited dynamic =
web page
in the world.&nbsp; We had to =
run the
site on the latest Microsoft server technology and showcase the latest =
features
in IE while making it viewable to everyone. The home page had to be =
extremely
fast, personalized, provide great consumer value, and drive visitors =
into the
MSN network with using compelling headlines and features.&nbsp; The home page had to render =
correctly in
many languages, OS platforms, and browser versions.&nbsp; To provide the highest consumer =
value we
couldn&#8217;t just support the lowest common denominator because that
wouldn&#8217;t showcase the capabilities of next generation =
browsers.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>So you&#8217;re the development manager, how do you create a =
quality,
feature rich, dynamic web page that is accessible to the widest =
audience?<span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>You make tradeoffs in your =
feature and
testing matrix.<span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>In terms =
of product
features and quality assurance you have to segment browsers by =
capability.<span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>This segmentation is based on
statistical analysis of who visits your web site, the amount and =
complexity of
special case code you need to write to support a particular browser, and =
the
amount of QA required.<span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; =
</span>Writing
special case code for the quirks of every browser makes your code hard =
to
maintain, increases your time to market with new features and fixes, and =
diverts
resources from improving the site.<span =
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;
</span>This is a classic example of how you make tradeoffs to deliver a =
high
quality product for a majority of visitors.<span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>If you think about it, MSN.com =
is the
default home page for Internet Explorer so non-IE visitors are a very =
small
percentage of total visitors.<span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; =
</span>I
would be willing to bet that they get more visitors running IE 3.0 than =
Opera.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

So, back to the original question: did Microsoft intentionally =
prevent some
browsers from visiting MSN.com.&nbsp;
Answer: Yes (just my view). &nbsp;Why?&nbsp;
Not because it wanted some competitive advantage over Netscape, =
Opera,
or Brand X.&nbsp; It was just a =
matter of
trading off a writing special case code, running through a larger =
testing
matrix, and shipping on the Windows XP launch date.&nbsp; For over 2 weeks, MSN.com had a =
public
beta of their home page, beta.msn.com. The goal of a beta is to help =
catch
issues like this.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

I propose another question: if you were Microsoft how would you =
do it differently?&nbsp; Where would you draw the line? =
Would you
increase your testing matrix to include every browser? Would you go for =
lowest
common denominator and remove features that only work in current =
generation
browsers?<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><span =
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

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