Lets take a closer look first. Google has redesigned their direct up to the point search engine. The major theme of those changes were additions to the search pages, be it a sidebar with additional search options, instant search results, instant previews, more advertisements and mashups with other Google services like image, news and video search.

The Mozilla team is about to change some fundamental Firefox designs, from moving the link hover information to the address bar to the tab management feature Panorama and tabs on top.

What do most of these changes have in common? The companies do not offer options to disable or undo them. In the case of Firefox, most of the changes can be undone with extensions. Some, like Panorama on the other hand cannot be disabled at all.

The same is true for Google’s changes. Can you turn off Instant Previews? No you cannot, unless you install a third party solution or use one of the other workarounds. Can you remove the sidebar or the inclusion of mashups in the search results? No you cannot do that in the options, you once again need to rely on third party workarounds to do that.

Don’t get me wrong. Every company has the right to modify their products the way they want. But some changes alienate part of their user base to the point were some of the disgruntled ones switch to other products.

Would it be that hard to offer options to disable new features? Why is there no option to disable Instant Previews or Panorama? Is it really that complicated to add that option to the application? And even if it would be, would not the benefits of offering users an option outweigh that?

Google and Mozilla are just two companies that seem to have lost some of their mojo in the last years.

What is your take on this? Let me know in the comments.

While many will argue about Microsoft’s first attempt at getting into the ad business, one thing is for certain, using Seinfeld for the ads got people talking. Marketing 101: your ad doesn’t have to be relevant to your product for it to be effective, just ask Geico, Anheuser Busch. Microsoft followed that up with the “I’m a PC ad” which had moderate success, but nothing got people talking as much as the “Laptop Hunters” ads which hit Apple right where it hurt: price!

And according to Microsoft the ads have been doing so well that they’ve gotten calls from Apples legal department. Microsoft has been playing their cards very well. In all their ads nothing has been mentioned about the OS (which currently is Vista), instead they have poke fun at Apple’s pricing, limited variety and of course the whole idea that Apple computers are more powerful than PC’s.

But advertisement is not all, Microsoft has also been courting the love of the tech world with their forthcoming Windows 7 OS which as the name suggests is the 7th installment of their ever so popular Windows OS. I have been surprised to see so many blogs and magazines who just a few months ago cussed the hell out of Vista are now talking about how Windows 7 rivals that of Snow Leopard. Don’t get me wrong, Windows 7 is an awesome piece of software (that is what I am writing this post on), but to be frank, (just like Snow Leopard), it’s nothing more than a glorified Service Pack.

Other PR stunts that Redmond has pulled include Microsoft’s new online store as well as a revamped head of operations. If that wasn’t enough, Microsoft has now decided to launch its own set of stores that, yes, will be popping up near Apple stores all over the world. When I first heard the idea, I was like an entire store that’s ells Windows 7? But then it hit me that we’re not dealing with stores that are catering specifically to Windows, but Microsoft as a company.

Remember that Redmond not only has Windows but Office and if the latest ads about the 1020 version of Office say anything, Microsoft is planning something big. But they just don’t stop there, on the list is Xbox and Zune and of course their venerable Windows Mobile OS.

I’m not saying this will knock Apple out of the park, but after talking to a few Best Buy and worse Wal-Mart employees I can safely say that Microsoft is doing themselves a favor by taking it out of the hands of the incompetent.

Last but not least, Zune is getting its first major update since the system was released. Again I’m not gonna talk too early but if the preview of the new Zune’s have said anything, it’s the fact that they’re finally taking their game high-tech.
Taking any of these aspects by themselves doesn’t say much, but put together and you can see the working of a stellar PR team and of course the billions Microsoft has lying around just itching to use. So as it seems Redmond will be around for a little while longer, and let’s be honest, you wouldn’t mind using a “Surface” at one of those new Microsoft stores now would you, I know I wouldn’t!

“…a career and workplace community where anyone can find and anonymously share real-time reviews, ratings and salary details about specific jobs for specific employers — all for free. What sets us apart is that all our information comes from the people who know these companies best — employees”

I’ve always been a little skeptical about these kinds of projects and services as all too often the main contributors tend to be those who are generally dissatisfied, often posting multiple times to bring down people or companies.

Glassdoor so far seems to have some good balanced contributing, and you’ll find some interesting insights into companies and people through it. However it’s easy to make conclusions based on feedback here, so I would recommend keeping in mind that only a very small percentage of company employees have actually responded.

To access the entire database you must contribute a anonymous review yourself, but if you would just like to try it out then a couple of the biggest companies such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are all accessible with signing up.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Glassdoor is that without the bias provided by media reporting we can get a real look at how employees themselves see CEO’s and their company.

For example we often see Google portrayed as this fantastic workplace of free food, massages and a fun culture and a place engineers are encouraged to develop their own ideas. Yet looking at the employee feedback for Google and Microsoft approval ratings for CEOs’ Balmer and Schmidt really aren’t too different.

Balmer is getting a 3.9 approval rating (Satisfied!) and Eric Schmidt is on 4.1 (Very Satisfied!). Yes it’s a difference, but not on the scale you would expect of the in-need-of-anger-management Balmer image we get given from the media.

Looking through the Google and Microsoft reviews I picked up the general consensus that Google’s biggest issues are with its culture; fitting in, being part of the googley group and dissatisfaction at management.

At Microsoft the employee dissatisfaction is largely to do with its seeming inability to effectively use the talent present in the company, the feeling that the company may deliver good products but it’s not what the consumer wants and lack of communication between management and departments.