Diversity takes another one for the team

Belts are tightening everywhere – and though it appears that budget freezes might be thawing out slowly over the next 6 months or so, there are cost-cutting measures all over that are still being brought to bear.  One of the more interesting ones (that wasn’t in my company, that is) was the report that Microsoft was going to be ending its policy of letting employees expense fees for any Smartphone besides Windows Mobile devices.  So no more Pres, no more BlackBerries and no more iPhones.

You can read a blurb about it in this Network World article

These are tough times, and I will not fault any company for tightening the expense account reins.  Standardizing on one mobile technology is a fairly common practice for most companies, and not paying for other technologies is also normal in the business world. So, I’m not quite upset that MSFT has decided to only reimburse for WinMo devices.  Even so, part of me is a bit miffed on reading this one.

MSFT isn’t like other companies – in so many ways.  Specifically here, they make a product line (Exchange Server) that interacts and interoperates with iPhones, BlackBerries and other mobile devices either directly or indirectly.  The diversity of devices that their previous policies made possible was a boon to developers internally who needed to make sure that the latest changes to the Exchange line allowed the more popular devices to continue working correctly.  It’s much easier to see that Exchange Active Sync broke when the guy next to your cube suddenly finds his iPhone stops getting email.

Since real-world businesses are adopting devices like the iPhone and new new Palm Pre (at least if you listen to Palm they are), knowledge of how those devices interop with Exchange Server is critical.  MSFT would be technologically better off having folks using those devices every day right there in Redmond.  The easiest way to ensure that happens is to make them fiscally available to employees.

Granted, when push comes to shove, cost cutting is cost cutting.  Sometimes it’s just necessary to hold back on expenses in order to keep everything else running smooth.  So I do not fault MSFT for making this policy and putting it into effect.  I think that it may have a larger impact than just bottom-line savings, but it is a responsible, viable method for holding back costs while not resorting to more layoffs.

As we put notch after notch in our belts, and as we shakily get back to our financial feet again, there will be more of these cost cutting measures.  A lot of them will be much worse than this, but most will not have such a direct impact on the development of a product platform.  So, hopefully the Exchange team will continue to have Pres and iPhones and BlackBerries running around, even if the company doesn’t officially subsidize them anymore.