Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

archan · Post by **archan** » 17 Jul 2014 22:08

If they make a smaller Oneplus, I'd be drooling even more.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Jul 2014 20:41

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-ope ... ly-layoffs

What does this mean? Foley has heard that some Windows engineers, "primarily dedicated testers" will be let go as part of the layoffs announced today and that product managers and development engineers could take over some of those testing responsibilities. The idea is that this should make the OS team both leaner as well as have them work faster instead of releasing new products in two or three year cycles. Microsoft is rumored to be developing the next version of Windows, code named Threshold, for a launch sometime in the spring of 2015.

In addition, a number of Microsoft's sales and marketing employees will be affected by the layoffs. Foley writes that, according to an internal email sent out by Microsoft's chief operating officer Kevin Turner today, the plan is to "reduce our reliance on contingent staff augmentation by over 20 percent year-over-year." In fact, she writes that the layoffs will have some effect on all of Microsoft's divisions.

In related news, the Seattle Times reports that about 1,351 of Microsoft's job cuts will come from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington and the surrounding area. That will affect just three percent of the 43,000 Microsoft team members who work in the region.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Jul 2014 20:48

Basically contractors are getting cut. Mickey has been moving away from SDET positions and experimented with it in a few of its divisions. I am note sure if that is a good thing though.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Jul 2014 21:42

Its typically a three-some - PM+SDE+SDET. PM is not what Anujan-ullah thinks it is, like in his KB or other places. In some orgs in MS they removed the SDET part. MS Office (and other products from that division) is a good example of where the three-some works extremely well. Any product involving hardware is a good example of where the three-some does not work well.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 18 Jul 2014 21:50

Raja Bose wrote:Program managers in MS are not middle management positions - they are entry level positions. They manage features, not people

This is for short term B1 visas and/or L1 transfers, moi thinks.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Jul 2014 22:48

What is?

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 19 Jul 2014 01:33

B1 visa can be given to people who manage something. That something need not necessarily be people. Same for L1 visas as well. In MSFT, looks like PMs are managing features and thus people not eligible to work in US may be brought to work at MSFT under B1 and L1 category visas. B1 is usually for a short term 1, 3, or in rare cases 6 months. L1 is a intra-company transfer with the proviso that the transferred person should have spent at least 1 year in the home country with the company asking for the transfer. The period could be anywhere from 1 year to 3 years. IIRC, L1 also requires the people to be working in managerial (people or function) roles.

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 19 Jul 2014 04:03

I am looking for a free iPhone music player app which can store music in folders, easy to upload. Any suggestions?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 04:13

Unless SDEs can be brought to US using B1/L1 visa, I doubt PMs in MS can be either. USCIS looks at the job profile instead of just the name.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 19 Jul 2014 04:29

USCIS has become lot smarter after the name change from INS.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 19 Jul 2014 06:16

matrimc wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:Program managers in MS are not middle management positions - they are entry level positions. They manage features, not people
This is for short term B1 visas and/or L1 transfers, moi thinks.

Nope, the PM position has existed in MS for a very long time, before IT boom started in India. It has been that way that MS always worked. In MS, the PMs are the ones who defines the features or functionality. The devs implement it, and SDETS write the automation to test it. They earlier had software test engineers (STE), which they cut around a decade back and converted all those capable ons to SDET. Now, in some orgs in MS, they have combined engineering, where everyone is a dev (responsible for both dev & test). I guess in some divisions, they let go of the SDETs now. I heard they also cut some projects and let whole teams go, though in reality, they get couple of months to find jobs in other divisions of MS.

In fact, MS hardly has anyone coming on short term B1 visas to work on projects. That is mainly what Infy/TCS do, and got caught. MS either hires full time or contingent staff. and the contingent staff are through vendor companies, and they need to have valid H1b visas. MS will not hire those on B1 even on contingent positions.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 07:30

PM-SDE-SDET shows the original software/enterprise roots of MS. Nowadays it can be hard to see the relevance given the wide spread of products and industries it plays in, from OS to CE devices to cloud and services. Chacha also shows a similar pattern where the default engineer is a software engineer. Now with a bunch of vertical HW plays, that will change slowly. If Chacha is successful in diversifying its revenue stream to other domains, then also it will change.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 19 Jul 2014 07:47

how come not kafir one here speaks about the position of managing director of the development team in microsoft?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 07:56

MD of a dev team? Which ITvity company has that? Sounds like VeePee of a bank

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jul 2014 08:01

my lumia725 had fallen into a deep hole. it claimed 20mb free when infact the usage bar showed 4GB free. no amt of soft reset or cleaning up apps etc worked. so finally hard reset it. to my surprise once connected to msft cloud ac it recovered all the apps and settings automatically and I have 4gb free properly now.

somehow, stealthily the system+apps had lost nearly 4GB with no visible trace.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 19 Jul 2014 08:42

putnanja: your "long time" and my "long time" are a little different IMHO. My Straight laced cousin even number of times removed (my SLACER) knew TCS when it was 450 strong and CBS (Complete Business Solutions) when it had a headcount of 40 that too in massa. Raj Vattiikuti is a nice and a very smart businessman though (and had about 51% of the KB). He took the company very far and sold it for $800 mil. Does anybody remember CBS?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jul 2014 08:48

another old chennai co is ramco systems.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 19 Jul 2014 08:58

matrimc wrote:putnanja: your "long time" and my "long time" are a little different. My Straight laced cousin even number of times removed (my SLACER) knew TCS when it was 450 strong and CBS (Complete Business Solutions) when it had a headcount of 40. Does anybody remember CBS?

What I meant was that the PM-SDE-SDET has been a MS process almost from the time MS started. At least a couple of the corporate VPs today are supposed to have joined as PMs in 80s. And MS was still very white-male dominated company till almost mid-90s and the people who joined on H1bs were mainly those who did MS in US and joined there. I personally know couple of MS PMs/Devs who have more than 20 years experience in MS. It was by no stretch of imagination a response to the H1b/L1 visa issue as you alluded to

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 19 Jul 2014 10:16

putnanja: you are going all defensive where none is required.

ca. 1985, (i.e. 29 yrs. back if my arithmetic is correct) the first "H1B in lieu of B1" visas were issued and the visa grantees were utterly confounded when they were told that they would have to to file a 1040 even if their taxes are 0

. One has to only imagine the confusion that ensued in their K (not so) Bs' HR Departments during those years, My ex used to have an "uncle" in a high position in one of those places around that time.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 10:24

I still don't get it....what does H1/L1 visa have to do with PMs in MS?

negi · Post by **negi** » 19 Jul 2014 11:09

MSFT still does B1s and H1bs for Indians travelling to US, so does every other ITVTY company based in Massa which has ops here in India, big deal.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 19 Jul 2014 16:02

Raja Bose wrote:MD of a dev team? Which ITvity company has that? Sounds like VeePee of a bank

ju kafir, you evil yindoo, you dont know about Amar Afzal then. he became md of windows 9 development team at 16, Bill Gates personally called him to take over and he has done 50 percent of the coding for windows 9. look up his greatness in googal. u r just jealous of this ghazi momeen.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 19 Jul 2014 16:05

matrimc wrote:putnanja: your "long time" and my "long time" are a little different IMHO. My Straight laced cousin even number of times removed (my SLACER) knew TCS when it was 450 strong and CBS (Complete Business Solutions) when it had a headcount of 40 that too in massa. Raj Vattiikuti is a nice and a very smart businessman though (and had about 51% of the KB). He took the company very far and sold it for $800 mil. Does anybody remember CBS?

He sold covansys for 1.2 billion dollars. I met him 2 weeks back. He wanted to talk to me and convince me to take up a job offer. what a humble man at that. First time I met a billionaire in my life. Our meeting was @ 7:30 in the morning. What awesome energy levels at his age. Has given away millions of dollars in charity.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 17:31

Yogi_G wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:MD of a dev team? Which ITvity company has that? Sounds like VeePee of a bank
ju kafir, you evil yindoo, you dont know about Amar Afzal then. he became md of windows 9 development team at 16, Bill Gates personally called him to take over and he has done 50 percent of the coding for windows 9. look up his greatness in googal. u r just jealous of this ghazi momeen.

Allah be praised!

This na-cheez yindoo made ghor mishtick. Please to read about Afzal mian's feats here: http://ammarafzal.blogspot.com

Our CEO Muhammad Ammar Afzal set World record in Oracle from Stanford University USA. After setting the World record We register our company in USA & Netherlands. After this now we are working with world wide & Microsoft give guarantee for our Company. Because CEO is the student of Microsoft in Windows development & showing exceptional results in Windows development. All videos have been uploaded at YouTube. If any one want to visit just mail at [email protected]

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jul 2014 17:57

To those is the know...does brins work matter in the Jedi council or another uh mayer who was in right place right time?

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 19 Jul 2014 21:57

Trying out my new lenovo a10 ideapad which is a hybrid laptop cum tablet. I love the keyboard provision with alt+tab function which makes it very windows style. not at sll bad considering its 10 inch with 9 hours backup and 13.5k rupees.

My only concern is the volume level, barely audible. Useless for movie watching and skype. Having to use my bluetooth hrsdphones. None of the speaker volume boost apps work and the device is on 4.2.2. What are my options??? return it for another piece hoping its a hardware problem or stick with it as many netbooks seem to have volume problems.

Surprising thing is that the volume seems high when the notebook boots and the lenovo logo and music plays. Dont know why the same volume doesnt come when entering android??

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jul 2014 22:59

Singha wrote:To those is the know...does brins work matter in the Jedi council or another uh mayer who was in right place right time?

Brin is no Mayer but he is not in the Jedi council. [x] is his sandbox while the big boys run the main company. Brin and Page are co-founders and did all the good work behind search unlike Mayer who just had to show up with a pair of hills and has no real technical contribution to her name despite all the PR BS that has been out over the years crediting her with all sorts of technical stuff.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 20 Jul 2014 00:00

Yogi_G: Yes he is a very charming man and a good employer - loyal to his employees and stands by them through thick and thin (up to a point, of course). After he sold CBS, he stepped down as Chairman. IIRC, he was brought back after a few years. I did not know he was the man behind Covansys.

---

RB: Imagine (as a cartoonist you would be able to) a time when there was no H1B - only B1 or PR and an INS hostile to India (ca. late 60s to early mid 80s - the era of cold war). There was lot of mistrust between India and US (thanks to the latter's munna) and a paranoid Iron Lady in India with a long list of dual use items (starting from 555s) denied to a long list of Indian defense orgs. Immigration rules were different, business environment was different, the largest number of students in US were from Iran (the Iran of the Shah Reza Pahlavi), Indian-Americans having no clout at all and hardly 200K (if that).

Anyways, it is all water under bridge and not important now other than to say that Indian consulting companies were placing their consultants on site flouting various INS rules and they had no choice but to break the law. US turned a blind eye during that time due to internal supply not meeting demand (as most people were becoming MBAs).

May be some labor economics historian/academic can throw more light. That same fight is going on even now, i.e. free movement of goods without free movement of labor. Prof. Bhagwati had been active then and active now on the same issue.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jul 2014 00:29

^^^^Ok but again, what does that have to do with being a PM in MS?

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 20 Jul 2014 01:29

If a firm wants to get a person on site in short order but fore a longish time there was no way they could wait for a few months to get the required work visa (which was called H1 at that time). They were sending people on B1 visas on which people were not supposed to work at all. "Not working" was sitting in on business meetings etc. B1 people should not be sitting in front of a terminal and keyboard and enter even a few lines of scripting code or correct bugs. Otherwise they would have to apply for an H1 and by the time the visa is issued, the urgency of the bugs is long gone and Indian programmers were tarred with the brush of incompetence. There were also support issues. What with the stone age telecom in India, it was very difficult to make international calls etc.

On one hand US companies wanted people to be there on site and on the other B1 was the only way to get them there double quick - one applies in the morning along with a confirmed ticket, required foreign currency and if the visa application is one was told to come back in the afternoon and collect all the paperwork. But the problem was that B1s cannot work. So, probably under pressure from businesses, GOTUS introduced a new category called H1B (this was just about 1985 time frame) which stated that H1B visa holders can work as long as there is a company to company contract and the consultant s paid by the Indian firm - bioth Indian salary and what weas termed "sustenance allowance" in US. Where as on B1 there was no requirement for SSno. as taxes were not filed. in case of H1B it was mandatory for the visa holder to get an SSno. within a week of landing in US and file taxes every year. When come time for them to leave US, they would have been asked to show tax returns. The lead time for H1B was same as B1, i.e. you can apply for one and fly the same day if need be.

To get around the timing issues, some firms were using L1s in that the visa can be obtained in a short enough time but they would have to go for managing either people or function. So is the case with H1B too I guess. One could not go as a person in the trenches but as a system analyst or some such.

By the way, MS went public in 1986 (Gates got a $900 check on that day

). My conjecture is that PM designation was created as a "distinct but not different" from SDE designation to take advantage of the existing rules. During those days too any changes in Immigration laws were as time consuming and fraught with politics as they are today. Money and lobbying power of the then nascent "new kid on the block" software companies was nothing to write home about. Hardware companies lead by IBM and telco AT&T ruled DupliCity in those days.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jul 2014 06:57

matrimc wrote:My conjecture is that PM designation was created as a "distinct but not different" from SDE designation to take advantage of the existing rules.

You seriously think MS changed its entire software development cycle and organization in the 1980s to take advantage of getting some SDREs over during the 1990s as contractors?

If you look at the job profile MS submits to USCIS for PMs, there is nothing in it which implies they are "managers" who can take advantage of any manager specific provisions for work visas or green card.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jul 2014 07:00

Chacha Sammy fight now out in the open

As expected.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 20 Jul 2014 07:44

Raja Bose wrote:
matrimc wrote:My conjecture is that PM designation was created as a "distinct but not different" from SDE designation to take advantage of the existing rules.
You seriously think MS changed its entire software development cycle and organization in the 1980s to take advantage of getting some SDREs over during the 1990s as contractors? If you look at the job profile MS submits to USCIS for PMs, there is nothing in it which implies they are "managers" who can take advantage of any manager specific provisions for work visas or green card.

Not to mention that the majority of the desis in MS were in SDE/SDET stream till 5-6 years back. It is only recently that more desis are opting for PM jobs.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Jul 2014 08:57

I am kind of finding it hard to believe outsourcing so big in mid 80s that MSFT to be creative with its job designations. most ppl I know from that era did MS there and converted from OPT -> work visa -> GC . almost none went there as consultants because the consulting bodyshoppers were not much then, infact this 1st /2nd gen of high tech workers later founded consulting cos on the side in 1990s to take advantage of h1 boom.

the truth could be some MBAgiri inside msft trying to sort out career ladders etc.

pretty much no other co has such a PM role from ground level and they also recruited H1s whether after MS or H1s from consulting cos without any issue , for developer roles.

L1 was not at all common then I think. L1 became prominent due to difficulties in bulk H1s.

anyways carry on the debate...my h1 days are well behind me and I dont have a stake in this fight !!

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 20 Jul 2014 09:50

Raja Bose wrote:[You seriously think MS changed its entire software development cycle and organization in the 1980s to take advantage of getting some SDREs over during the 1990s as contractors?

MS was no great shakes in mid 1980s. It was DEC, Sun, and DG which were giving IBM a run for its money along with MF competitors like Amdahl, Fujitsu.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 20 Jul 2014 09:52

Singha wrote:anyways carry on the debate...my h1 days are well behind me and I dont have a stake in this fight !!

Neither do I and hence my comment that what took place is a non-issue (there is an MS ism if there is one

).

negi · Post by **negi** » 20 Jul 2014 10:38

H1b visa technically is for candidates who possess a set of skills which are hard for a US based employer to get in Massa and hence require them to recruit from foreign countries, the issue is be it MSFT or Indian ITVTY companies all use it for also moving fresh Btech grads to US. Not all of them are highly skilled unless having a Btech with 9 pointer or distinction alone qualifies. Basically from there on it is a matter of forming a good argument and convincing the consulate which is done via playing with words in resume, visa application and giving instructions to candidates as to what to answer when asked about one's role and designation in the consulate.

On topic of why L1b use caught up 4-5 years ago , firstly with Indian players joining the fishing game the H1b cap was getting used within days of the quota being opened so employers started using the L1 route both blankets and individuals ; the hike in H1b fees also prompted the SDRE players to over exploit the L1 route .

B1 is abused by all and sundry for B1 is essentially a tourist Visa , one legally cannot do any kind of work on this Visa , internal training/meetings are the only genuine reasons why one will need this Visa as for generating business why would a company HQ in US need someone from India to come to US for that ? There are enough suits in Massa in any such setup to do the talking. So again whether B1 is being abused or not is anyone's guess .

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jul 2014 12:17

matrimc wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:[You seriously think MS changed its entire software development cycle and organization in the 1980s to take advantage of getting some SDREs over during the 1990s as contractors?
MS was no great shakes in mid 1980s. It was DEC, Sun, and DG which were giving IBM a run for its money along with MF competitors like Amdahl, Fujitsu.

And that proves the PM position was created for H1Bs and L1s? er...what? Anyways you are making no sense to me so no more on this from me.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 20 Jul 2014 12:41

So, after much consideration, I placed an online order for NEXUS 5 from flipkart.com.

I was looking for a phone in sub-30K category with preferable screen size between 4.5 - 5 inch. Looked at various models from HTC, Sony, Samsung but the best of draw turned out to be NEXUS 5. It helped that a colleague has one and was able to handle it over couple of days.

First love was NOKIA but they simply don't have a phone in this category. LUMIA 925 is still soldiering on with specs which would be termed as pre-historic in ever changing world of smart-phones these days. And still does not come with Windows 8.1. After launch of various phones with Windows 8 there seem to be some slack in introducing new phones. New models like 1320 and 1520 (with 6 inch screens) were launched but overall, they lack the kind of presence required at various price points.

Otherwise, they've done pretty well in sub-15K category with various phones. LUMIA 720 has been a sell-out and one which held the price longest. They've recently introduced LUMIA 630 with Windows 8.1 - overall, the phones seem to have been well received.

LUMIA 930 is expected by mid-August and looks like a really good phone - likely to be priced in mid-30K.

negi · Post by **negi** » 20 Jul 2014 12:53

Jolla is supposed to come to India, runs Sailfish OS. Some google chacha searching on Sailfish reveals it is based on Meego's successor Mer core. Looks like lot of Nokia guys might have jumped to Jolla and similar ships.