CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft & other big enterprise IT firms miss Best Places to Work cut

Airbnb tops Glassdoor's Best Places to Work in 2016 rankings

It’s not that the biggest names in enterprise IT and networking aren’t good places to work, according to employees submitting reviews to jobs and career marketplace Glassdoor. It’s just that they aren’t “Amazing!” or “Great!” places to be employed, according to Glassdoor’s list of the 50 Best Places to Work in 2016.

When approached by Glassdoor about this list, we weren’t surprised to see a buzzy young company like Airbnb atop the rankings, dethroning Google, which fell from No. 1 last year to No. 8 this time around. The likes of Hubspot, Facebook, LinkedIn and Zillow in the Top 10 also didn’t come as surprises.

But the very top companies weren’t all fresh faces: 40-plus-year-old Bain & Co. came in second.

So why didn’t some of the biggest names in enterprise networking and IT make the top 50? (Rankings are based on a proprietary algorithm that crunched information from 1.6 million anonymous reviews.)

Well, first, consider that the numbers across many of these companies are pretty darn close. The 50th company in the rankings, SolarCity, had a rating of 3.9 stars, whereas Microsoft, for example, has 3.8 and Cisco has a 3.7.

What passes for fun these days at Google, #8 on Glassdoor's Best Places to Work 2016 list

A Glassdoor spokeswoman says that for Microsoft, “What seems to make the difference based on the data we're seeing is Microsoft's reviews are more subdued, and use the word ‘good’ a lot. For example: ‘Good salary and benefits’ and ‘Good work/life balance’ and ‘Good environment if you are in a good team with good management’.”

Compare that to the sort of language used in Airbnb reviews ("Amazing people, vibrant workplace, and an unbeatable culture" and "the founders are great people and I believe they have the best intentions for the company, the employees, and our community.")

Common themes among the top-rated companies included employees feeling valued, unique cultures aligned with mission, smart colleagues, and great perks/benefits.

All this isn’t to say enterprise IT companies didn’t show up in the Top 50. In fact, #3 Guidewire makes back-end software for insurance companies – so, an enterprise IT company, but one you might not know if you’re not in that market. More familiar enterprise IT companies such as Akamai (#31), Salesforce (#32), F5 Networks (#33), Workday (#35) and Red Hat (#37) are all on the list, and then there are those big consumer AND enterprise outfits like Apple (#25).

Looking back at Glassdoor’s recent rankings – it has compiled this list for 8 years now – enterprise companies (depending on how you define them) are actually making a slightly stronger showing than in years past. So, it’s not like people working for Airbnbs and other cool companies are having all the fun.

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10 key moments in the history of Apple and Microsoft

Apple and Microsoft recently renewed their alliance with the goal of tackling the enterprise market, but the latest partnership is just the most recent turning point in the two companies' intertwined histories. Here are the defining moments that led up to the new pact.

Apple and Microsoft's history of highs and lows
Apple and Microsoft share a common history and bond in the evolution of personal computing. Relations between the two technology pioneers were generally cordial when they were founded in the 1970s, but that sense of mutual respect quickly turned to discord. The founders of both companies were at loggerheads often in the past. Today their new leaders appear determined to bury the hatchet and partner for greater opportunities in the enterprise.

Youthful innocence of the early '80s
Microsoft was a critical Apple ally during the first Macintosh's development. At an Apple event in 1983, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates told attendees Microsoft expected to earn half of its revenues selling Macintosh software the following year. He called the Macintosh, "something that's really new and really captures people's attention."

Jobs ousted from Apple, forms NeXT
In 1985, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was ousted from the company he cofounded nine years earlier. He immediately sold all but one share in Apple to fund the launch of NeXT, where he would spend the next 12 years building computer workstations for higher education and business.

Jobs says Microsoft has 'no taste'
"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste," Jobs said in the 1996 "Triumph of the Nerds" TV documentary. "They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products."

Jobs returns to Apple, partners with Microsoft
When Apple acquired NeXT in 1997 and brought Steve Jobs back into the fold, the company was in disarray amid growing uncertainty about the future of Microsoft Office for Mac. During his keynote address at the Macworld Expo that year, Jobs extolled the virtues of partnering with industry leaders and spoke of the need to improve Apple's partner relations.

Gates addresses the Apple faithful in 1997
"Microsoft is going to be part of the game with us as we restore this company back to health," Jobs said at Macworld, before asking Gates to address the crowd via satellite.

"We think Apple makes a huge contribution to the computer industry," Gates said. "We think it's going to be a lot of fun helping out."

Gates and Jobs take the stage together in 2007
A seminal moment occurred between the leaders of both companies when Gates and Jobs jointly took the stage for an interview at the D5 conference. Both men praised each other in their own ways. Jobs commended Gates for building the first software company in the world, but Gates was more flattering. "What Steve's done is quite phenomenal," he said.

'Memories longer than the road ahead'
When Jobs was asked to describe the greatest misunderstanding of his relationship with Gates, he said: "I think of most things in life as either a Bob Dylan or a Beatles song, but there's that one line in that one Beatles song — 'You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead' — and that's clearly very true here."

Apple invites Microsoft exec on stage for iPad demo
A new era of partnership buoyed by opportunities in the enterprise began to blossom in the early-2010s. At Apple's September 2015 new product event in San Francisco, the company invited Kirk Koenigsbauer, vice president of Microsoft Office, on stage to demonstrate Office 365 apps working in split-screen mode on an iPad Pro.

Microsoft CEO uses iPhone at Dreamforce
At Salesforce's 2015 Dreamforce conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demoed the company's iOS apps on an iPhone. When Nadella did the once unthinkable, using an iPhone on stage, he acknowledged it as such but also made clear that it wasn't his phone. "It is a pretty unique iPhone," he said. "I like to call it the iPhone Pro because it has all the Microsoft software and applications on it … It's pretty amazing."

Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't hold a grudge
During a keynote at cloud-storage company Box's BoxWorks conference in September 2015, when asked about the company's renewed relationship with Microsoft, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he doesn't believe in holding grudges. "If you think back in time, Apple and IBM were foes. Apple and Microsoft were foes," Cook said. "Apple and Microsoft still compete today, but frankly Apple and Microsoft can partner on more things than we could compete on, and that's what the customer wants."

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First look: Project Spartan, Microsoft's next-generation Web browser

Microsoft’s new browser combines a minimalist look and feel with a rendering engine designed to keep pace with a rapidly evolving Web

Microsoft's faster release schedule for its Windows 10 Technical Preview kicked into high gear yesterday with the release of another build a mere 12 days after 10041. This time, with build 10049, Microsoft has added one of Windows 10's major new features: its next-generation Web browser.

With the new browser (code-name Project Spartan), Microsoft finally breaks from the need to support even the oldest of Web pages and Web technologies. Instead of incorporating Internet Explorer's Trident HTML and CSS rendering engine, Project Spartan is built around a new engine that is based on Trident's HTML5 features (and has been available in previous Windows 10 builds as Internet Explorer's Edge rendering option). Unlike Trident, the new browser engine is designed to be updated, which allows Microsoft to keep its new browser current in a way that was impossible with IE.

 for enterprises and take a look at the latest beta of Microsoft's new OS. | Stay up to date on key Microsoft technologies with InfoWorld's Enterprise Windows blog and Microsoft newsletter. ]

Maximum possible score is 555. Windows 10 browser HTML5test.com compatibility score
There's a lot in Microsoft's new browser and, at least in this build, a lot that's been left out. You won't find support for device-to-device synchronization of tabs and browsing history or for the promised new extension model. Other features still to come include a download view, browsing history, a roaming reading list (synced across Windows 10 devices), and offline reading. You won't get access to all of Internet Explorer's plug-ins, either. Project Spartan will provide a level of plug-in support similar to Windows 8's Metro IE browser.
Microsoft Project Spartan Reading View

Microsoft is promising an offline reading experience that works across all your Windows 10 devices. While parts of it are still missing, a refreshed Reading View gives you a clear look at Web pages, which is ideal for reading on tablets and phones.

Project Spartan's user interface is reminiscent of other modern browsers while still remaining familiar to Internet Explorer users. There's direct access to Cortana from inside the browser (as demonstrated at Microsoft's January Windows 10 event in Redmond). Cortana can be activated from the browser's search bar. Building a search-based agent into a browser makes a lot of sense, especially when it's able to use the context of your searches and browser history to make inferences about what information you need -- initially giving you weather and stock information.

Microsoft Project Spartan Cortana
Microsoft has integrated Cortana with Project Spartan's search tools. While it's not yet ready to proactively notify you, it's able to quickly deliver relevant, up-to-date information about the weather and financials.

Another new feature integrates the browser more closely with Microsoft's OneNote note-taking tool. You'll be able to annotate pages using ink (a feature that's focused on Microsoft's own Surface tablets) or by typing into a Web page, sharing the results as a Web note. You won't need Project Spartan to see shared Web notes. They can be saved into OneNote as an annotated screenshot of a Web page or emailed to contacts, with the added option of sharing to social networks.

Microsoft Project Spartan annotations
Project Spartan's new annotation tools let you quickly add notes to a Web page, using a pen or a keyboard. You can then share your annotated Web page through social media or email -- or save it to OneNote as part of a research notebook.

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Project Spartan improves on Internet Explorer's Reading View for viewing page content without distracting graphics or advertising, with a page layout that's easier to read. Reading View is also integrated with Project Spartan's Reading List (formerly a separate Windows 8 app). As offline reading won't arrive until a future build, you'll have to read saved pages while connected to the Internet. The final version will allow you to share your Reading List across devices, including Windows Phones and small tablets running a mobile version of Project Spartan.

Microsoft is putting Project Spartan front and center in Windows 10, with the new browser pinned to both the Start menu and the Windows task bar. You'll still be able to find IE, and if you've already pinned it, then it won't be removed. Microsoft recently announced that IE and Project Spartan would have separate rendering engines, and the change has now made its way to Windows with the Edge engine removed from IE in Windows 10 Build 10049. The old IE will remain part of Windows 10 (if only visible from All Apps) for businesses to use with legacy apps.

Web developers will find this build of Windows 10 to be useful for tuning sites and applications in preparation for Windows 10. You won't find any surprising new HTML or CSS features in this release. Project Spartan is based on the same version of the Edge engine used by IE in build 10041 with some minor additions, among them support for responsive images.

Microsoft Project Spartan tools
Developers will find the latest version of Microsoft's Web page debugging tools built into Project Spartan, which is handy for getting sites and applications ready for the launch of Windows 10 and the final version of Microsoft's new browser and rendering engine.

But as in IE of the previous build, there's support for much of ECMAScript 6, as well as Web Audio, CSS Gradient Midpoints, CSS Conditional Rules, and Touch Events. Now that Microsoft has divorced its new rendering engine from IE's Trident, Project Spartan will be where you'll find new Web technologies in the future, making it important to add the Windows 10 Technical Preview to Web test suites.

With only a week or so of development time separating this Windows 10 release from build 10041, Project Spartan is not merely the big news but the only news in this release. Apart from the new browser, there are only a handful of bug fixes in build 10049. Still, it's another step on the road to Windows 10's promised summer release.

Remember: This is still an early beta release of Project Spartan. On the HTML5Test, Project Spartan beats Internet Explorer 11 (375 to 336) but still lags the latest versions of Chrome (518), Opera (497), Firefox (449), and Safari (396). Much remains to be revealed before Windows 10 launches, including -- one hopes -- improved compatibility with HTML5.

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Microsoft prepares Windows 10 for panoply of sensors

With the Microsoft's HoloLens headset, users can view virtual 3D images within the everyday real world.
Credit: Microsoft

A unified sensor interface will allow Windows 10 devices to support a slew of new environmental, biometric, proximity and motion sensors

Windows 10 devices in the future could be measuring temperature, environmental pressure and carbon dioxide levels, as Microsoft provides an interface to support a wide range of sensors.

Microsoft is building a unified sensor interface and universal driver for Windows 10 that will support a slew of environmental, biometric, proximity, health and motion sensors, the company said last week at the WinHEC trade show in Shenzhen. Microsoft is also providing the building blocks for Windows 10 to support sensors that haven't yet been released.

With support for more sensors, Microsoft hopes to bring "new functionality" to PCs, smartphones, tablets, gadgets and electronics running Windows 10, according to a slide from a presentation.

Microsoft is putting Windows 10 -- which is due for release later this year -- in PCs, tablets, smartphones, smart devices, wearables, gadgets and Internet of things devices. The company has also shown the future-looking HoloLens holographic headset working with Windows 10; together, the OS and the headset could act as a launchpad for new sensor applications.

Device makers could add barometer, pollution, ultraviolet, temperature, altitude and other sensors to Windows 10 devices. Also through the drivers, motion detection sensors will be able to track activities such as the number of steps users take in a day, and exchange data easily with other Windows 10 devices. The motion detection sensors will also take into account where devices are -- on pockets, in hand or in bag -- to ensure accurate measurements.

Microsoft is also using sensors to improve the way users interact with Windows 10 devices.
For example, a major attraction of Windows 10 is its ability to automatically switch between tablet and PC modes, which is made possible by sensors in hinges that detect the position of a laptop. Through a feature called Windows Hello, Microsoft is also using sensors to bring biometric authentication to Windows 10 PCs and tablets.

Windows 10 is friendlier to sensors than predecessor operating systems, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard officials said at a press gathering last month.

But sensors need to be identified and supported by the OS, much like other hardware components. The universal driver is designed to let device makers could plug a variety of sensors into Windows 10 devices and not worry about driver development. Microsoft will also provide a separate development kit for those who want to develop independent sensor drivers to expand the functionality of hardware.

Sensors are ubiquitous across devices, and a unified driver interface could aid Microsoft's effort to put Windows 10 in more gadgets, appliances and other data-collecting instruments, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Supporting more sensors in Windows 10 is also a key part of Microsoft's plans to expand into the Internet of Things market, which revolves around data-collecting instruments feeding telemetry to Microsoft's Azure cloud service, McGregor said.

Device makers could put sensors in mobile devices, but some sensors such as temperature and pollution monitors are more likely to go in street lamps or traffic lights. As part of Microsoft's "mobile-first, cloud-first" strategy, data from such sources could be fed to Azure for further analysis, McGregor said.

"You have to be able to support the broadest array of applications, and the sensor data is critical," McGregor said.

Microsoft is trying to unite disparate mobile, PC and embedded Windows operating systems under the Windows 10 umbrella. The company is encouraging the development of Windows-based devices via boards like Raspberry Pi 2 and Qualcomm's DragonBoard 410c, which will be able to run a custom version of Windows 10 called Athens. Makers -- do-it-yourselfers -- have developed sensor-packed robots, drone, health monitors, gadgets and wearables with those boards.

In a separate presentation at WinHEC, Microsoft said it would also bring Windows 10 to its own Sharks Cove and Intel's MinnowBoard Max board, which are used to prototype electronics, appliances and devices with sensors. The devices have low-power ports such as GPIO, SPI, I2C, and UART to which a variety of motion, imaging and other sensors can be attached.

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Windows will be crucial to a PC market revival in 2015

Gartner projects Windows XP upgrades will stop the PC market bleeding next year

Microsoft's Windows OS could play a crucial rule in returning worldwide PC shipments to modest growth next year after multiple years of decline, Gartner said on Monday.

PC shipments could reach around 317 million in 2015, increasing from 308 million units expected to ship this year, the research firm said in a study. Shipments this year are expected to decline by 2.9 percent compared to 2013, which is lower than previous yearly declines.

The "revival" of the PC market will be driven by upgrades of old business PCs with Windows XP, which are no longer supported by Microsoft, said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. He estimates that roughly 60 million PCs will be upgraded this year.

Businesses are largely upgrading to Windows 7 and avoiding Windows 8, which is viewed more as a tablet OS. Microsoft could release a new OS sometime next year, which could supplant Windows 7 as the OS of choice for businesses. However, it takes time for companies to test and deploy PC OSes, as happened with Windows 7, which took more than a year to find a foothold in businesses.

Counting PCs, tablets and smartphones, Gartner said overall shipments of computing devices are expected to reach 2.4 billion units this year, increasing by 4.2 percent compared to the previous year. Shipments will further increase to 2.6 billion units in 2015.

After the first iPad shipped in 2010, tablets were increasingly adopted as alternative computing devices to PCs. Gartner is projecting tablet shipments to increase to 256 million this year, up from 207 million last year. Tablet shipments will reach 321 million in 2015, overtaking PCs, Gartner said.

Tablets will get cheaper and more functional, Atwal said, adding that these trends will continue to drive adoption in the coming years.

Worldwide mobile phone shipments will be 1.86 billion units this year, rising by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year, Gartner said. The worldwide growth will continue in 2015, with shipments totaling 1.95 billion units.

Android will continue to be the dominant OS across devices, according to Gartner. The OS will be installed in 1.17 billion devices shipped this year, an increase of 30 percent. Apple's iOS will receive a boost from the new iPhone due later this year, and the company's iOS and Mac OSes will be in 271 million devices shipped this year, increasing by 15 percent compared to the previous year. Microsoft's Windows desktop OS and Phone OS will be in 333 million devices shipped this year, rising slowly from 326 million the previous year.

But Windows will be in 373.7 million devices shipped in 2015, overtaking the combined shipments of Apple's iOS and Mac OS, which will be in 301.4 million devices, Gartner said. Android will remain the dominant OS, installed in 1.37 billion devices shipped next year.

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Microsoft boasts favorable Windows numbers at Computex

Computex is a hardware show, but Microsoft was there to promote Windows as a platform, including recent developments like Windows with Bing, Windows 8.1 Update, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows universal apps.

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The keynote was presented by Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president responsible for device partnerships, and Tony Prophet, corporate vice president of Windows Marketing. The numbers they listed were impressive.

OK, so he glossed over a few problems. Windows Phone remains stalled at 4% market share, Windows 8.1 numbers were nowhere to be found, and he didn't get into Xbox One, which is currently lagging behind the PlayStation 4.

What these figures have in common is online/cloud. The OneDrive numbers are not a good measure because a) not every Windows 8 user is using it and b) other platforms like Windows 7 will account for some users. The Bing numbers are not too surprising; Microsoft is focused only on the U.S. for now. If the number was worldwide, that would be far more impressive.

Parker showed off more than 40 new Windows devices on stage, including all-in-ones, laptops, 2-in-1s, tablets, and smartphones, including new devices exclusively for the Chinese market. His talk focused on how Microsoft and its partners can build the next 1 billion devices together. This includes steps like no charge for Windows for devices smaller than 9 inches, relaxed certification requirements, the release of Windows 8.1 Update, Windows Phone 8.1, and Windows universal apps.

Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon, managing director of Microsoft Research Asia and distinguished scientist at Microsoft, joined the two on stage to discuss future computing and key areas of investment for Microsoft Research. They include Big Data, machine learning, datacenter, sensors, computer vision and natural user interface.

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Leaked features in Windows 8.1 Update 1

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 8.1 Update 1 for free, either next month or early April. It won’t be as extensive an update in terms of features and codebase as Windows 8.1 was for Windows 8. Instead, it will add functions that appear to be aimed at improving the experience for users who interact with the OS through a keyboard and mouse (or touchpad). We acquired a leaked build of Update 1. Here are the new functions it will add to Windows 8.1 (and the rumored ones that it probably will not). Of course, keep in mind things may change (i.e. features added, removed or revised) before this update is officially released

Context menus for apps in the Start Screen
When you right-click the shortcut tile of an app in the Start Screen (or its icon in the Apps View), a context menu will pop open, which will make things easier when you’re using a mouse.

Pinning apps to the taskbar
You’ll be able to pin Windows apps to the desktop environment’s taskbar, by right-clicking its shortcut tile in the Start Screen (or its icon in the Apps Menu). Then when you click its icon on the taskbar, you’ll launch the app or switch to it if it’s already running.

This will make things visually simpler to keep track of, from the desktop, Windows apps you have running. Previously, you could only do this by summoning the Switch List (a sidebar that shows thumbnails of Windows apps running on your system) by moving the mouse cursor to the upper-left corner.

Desktop taskbar set along the bottom of apps and Start Screen
The desktop taskbar will appear along the bottom of Windows apps, as well as the Start Screen.

Title bars for Windows apps with minimize and close buttons
A Windows app will display a title bar with the app’s icon on the upper-left corner of the app, and minimize and close buttons set to the upper-right corner, when you move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen. Clicking minimize will send you to the desktop, where the app’s icon will be set on the taskbar.

Access split-screen mode through the app’s title bar icon
Clicking the Windows app icon on its new title bar will present you the option to send the app into the Snap split-screen mode, either into the left or right panel.

Search and Power buttons on the Start Screen
On the Start Screen, there will be a Search tool icon and Power button set to the right of your user account picture.The search icon is simply a shortcut that will open the search tool in the Charms bar. Clicking this power button will give you the options to sleep, shut down, or restart your computer.

List apps by their first letter
Under the Apps View, you will be able to narrow down your list of apps by the first letter of their names.

Show more apps
Additionally, there will be a setting which will size down the icons in the Apps View.

Make visual elements of the OS even bigger
Under the Display settings window, two more sizing presets will be available to your computer if it’s capable of displaying a resolution of at least 3200-by-1800 pixels: 250% and 500%. These ranges will further enlarge the size of text, icons and UI elements.

Control Panel in PC Settings
In the PC Settings app, there will be a link on the lower-left corner that will launch the desktop Control Panel application.

A very slight update to Internet Explorer 11
A new version of Internet Explorer 11 may be part of Update 1, although there may not be any noticeable changes to it. The version number for the browser in the leaked Update 1 we acquired does not list an exceptional increase in value over the current one. So maybe it will just be a minor, bugfix update to the browser that Microsoft will roll into Update 1 for convenience.

Lower memory and disk space requirements
Supposedly, Update 1 will reduce Windows 8.1’s system memory use and on-board storage, in order to tune up the OS to run more efficiently on low-end tablets. This may benefit owners of Windows 8.1 tablets with 8-inch screens and Intel processors from Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.

Boot-to-desktop by default?
Early on when news about Update 1 hit the Internet, there was a rumor that booting to the classic and familiar-to-most-users desktop environment would be set as the default. But the latest leaks don’t have this setting switched on, so it appears you’ll still need to turn this on manually if you’d rather bypass the Start Screen whenever you first start your computer.

The return of the Start menu UI?
Another early rumor that likely won’t pan out: a “mini version” of the classic Start menu UI, application launcher would be included in Update 1. There hasn’t been official confirmation yet by Microsoft that such an interface even exists for Windows 8.1.

So if you’d like to be able to find and launch your desktop applications through a Start menu interface like the kind found in previous versions of Windows, you’ll still need to use a third-party program, such as Start8.

Available through Windows Update
According to a leaked report, unlike the Windows 8.1 upgrade, which was released as a free download for Windows 8 users but only through the Windows Store, Update 1 will be pushed through the standard Windows Update tool. This will probably (and hopefully) work out more conveniently, as the Windows 8.1 upgrade process tends to be inconvenient due to the quirky nature of the Windows Store UI and what has appeared to be its servers’ difficulty in delivering the download quickly.

Prepare thy Windows 8.1 computer for March
The speculation is that Microsoft will release Update 1 at its weekly “Patch Tuesday” schedule, which would mean either March 11 or April 8.

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