There's no question Research In Motion is in the midst of a major transitional period. The company is planning to launch a brand new product line based on a brand new operating system within the next 12 months, and even though the first device born out of RIM's new QNX OS was impressive in some ways, it was incomplete. There still is a chance for RIM to deliver some really interesting competitive products, but time is quickly running out, as we have written time and time again. Update: RIM's response.
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Member since:2005-09-10
I think it wouldn't be too difficult to identify him. Besides, what would have telling his name accomplished?
On a side note - there are more letters now coming from other employees:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/01/more-letters-to-rim-employees-rally-a...
Member since:2011-06-21
I don't think that the desire to remain unnamed is an indication of cowardice. It is not an easy thing to blow the whistle in any organization, but sometimes it needs to be done. If the motive is to improve the organization, of what use would it be to do so in a way that would cause your potential removal from said organization?
Is that likely... yes. I work for a company that "values open communication" and I can state beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is complete bs. I have watched over the years as people that stuck their neck out in disagreement, especially over culturally endemic problems, got their heads cut off. Labels like "negative person" and "not a team player" come to mind. The truth is that very few of these people struck me as negative at all, and all of them save one (in my estimation) sought to improve the team position through their dissent, not undermine it.
The fact is that any organization is made up of human beings. Human beings have a natural drive for self preservation, and also issues like ego and hubris come into play. I think that it is often the case that those in leadership positions are incompetent. But they are also in a good position to ensure that no one finds out - or that those that do are "taken care of." And to do so in a way such that their actions do not look like direct retaliation. It is corruption through and through. And it is business as usual. Expecting the poster of this letter not to take these facts into account is unreasonable.
Telling the world that the Emperor has no clothes can be a difficult and dangerous job. We should comend those that have the courage, yes courage, to do so regardless of the venue. Perhaps a case could be made that this communication should have been made to other members of the company and not to the public. Perhaps that was already tried and the attempt(s) failed. But clearly this person felt that nothing short of this would yeild results. He/she has invested his/her future in RIM and their success. He has every right to attempt to shape that future and to do so in a manner that minimizes the likelyhood that he will be singled out to be "corrected."
Member since:2009-12-07
I wrote the anonymous letter. I have it on good authority from senior BGR editors that they wrote it. I have verified this.
Seriously wtf passes for "tech journalism" these days. It's a fake and just BGR pandering for page views. They have zero credibility for putting something on the web without putting a name to it. This isn't whistleblowing or corporate malfeasance, it's whining and has no place in any publication of basic journalistic integrity.
When people start writing "Open Letters" to management, they are either recently fired/laid off, about to be laid off, and have an axe to grind, or just need to quit and move on, because if they know so much about how to succeed and are in an environment that is "holding them back" whining is about as productive as cashing that paycheck every month (See Nokia Plans G, H, X, Y, Z).
Either way it doesn't matter. The letter was completely off-base. The number one problem with Blackberry is and always has-been marketing. They blow it consistently and are synonymous with boring hardware and "old" software no one wants to admit they own at a party.
Doesn't really matter if it's even true in the smartphone consumer segment. The qualities of the product no longer drive sales anymore just absurd perceptions of them.
(eg., OMG the iPhone has 1.1 million apps in the App Store therefore it must be the best smartphone for me) or (OMG Android is activating 500,000 phones per second(!) it must be the platform of the future)
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Member since:
2005-11-05
So much so that he remains anonymous!