There was probably from lower decks, where they are closer to reality. However, people are scared for their jobs in this economy and likely didn’t take it farther.
Emphasis on "part." I'm totally guessing on this, but I think OP may have been talking about PMs where the MBA is their only notable feature rather than those where the MBA is just one part of a well balanced whole.
> You can teach a tech person to understand business, vision, strategy, finance, etc. You cannot teach very well the business person who has all that the intricacies of technology.
I'm inclined to agree with this. The thing about business degrees is that they are so minimal effort that actually understanding business isn't a prerequisite to being awarded one. I would know, I have 2 of them.
There's no guarantee a "business person" actually learned business, much less that they are capable of learning tech. Don't get me wrong, I'm not by any means implying that all business people are inept or that they are collectively unable to learn tech; it's often unrealistic, but not impossible.
When going to school for tech, such as an MS in engineering, CS, etc., typically requires enough effort that one will end up learning their respective field (I have met exceptions to this and interacting with them is infuriating) whereas going to school for an MBA is one of the easiest ways I know of to get government financing for a decade of partying.
Well this wasn't in the brochure. Best look into it!
Microsoft is just tripping over themselves right now bringing AI to market because they don't want to miss the boat. Their copilot for office 365 stuff is hardly working, it's real beta quality. No normal company would have released it to market in this state. But they're just terrified that Google will eat their lunch.
I don't think security and privacy concerns are much on the radar there anymore. They just want to establish their name in this new market at all costs. And I think in their eyes it makes sense, they've always succeeded because they had the biggest installed base, not because they were the best. It makes sense they see value in being first mover at all costs.
It's just a bit frustrating as a customer. As usual with something they launch it's more promise than substance. I have to say that usually they do have the follow-through to really make it a success. But it does take time.
Part of me wonders if this is the consequence of how accessible tech has become, and the prevalence of increasingly non-technical product managers. I'm a former PM, and I'm not here to denigrate the PM role, but the fact that a product like Recall got shipped says a lot about the makeup of the product org that shipped it.
While I get that younger people tend to see privacy differently, I'd argue this isn't really a privacy issue, it's a security conversation, albeit with obvious privacy implications. Leaking what apps I use or what sites I visit is mostly a privacy issue. Leaking what I type into the boxes on those sites is a security issue. If the end result of leaking this info is the attacker can pwn all of my bank accounts, we're solidly into security territory.
The fact that this got shipped means that multiple levels of leadership either didn't think about the consequences or didn't care about the consequences. I hope it's the former, because that means they can learn from the backlash and hopefully recalibrate.
Microsoft is in a position of power that IMO requires a significant duty of care and responsibility to their customers, and lapses like this need to be judged through that lens, i.e. it is their entire business to make sure features like this are safe.