Microsoft Jack (Schofield) Cites Microsoft Employee About Apple Product, Without Disclosure (Corrected)

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-06-04 13:01:26 UTC
Modified: 2010-06-05 05:16:39 UTC

[Correction: there was a mixup here. The reader who sent us the information confused two usability/user experience people from the Technical University of Denmark. They are not the same person. This post is therefore not correct.]

Photo by Doc Searls

Summary: The Guardian shows how to belittle Microsoft's competition by approaching Microsoft employees without naming their relationship

Microsoft Jack (Jack Schofield [1, 2, 3, 4]) has mostly retired from The Guardian, but he still writes for the paper just occasionally.

"Jakob Nielsen critiques the iPad's usability failings," tells Microsoft Jack in his latest article's headline, but he describes Nielsen only by his umbrella company, Nielsen Norman Group. Microsoft Jack 'forgot' to mention ~~Nielsen's job at Microsoft [DOC]~~ (see correction at the top). To quote for those who cannot open .doc files:

Jakob Nielsen Principal User Experience Manager, Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Corp.

Jakob Nielsen is the user experience manager for Microsoft Dynamics at Microsoft Corp., and is passionate about improving the experiences people have with Microsoft’s line of products for enterprise resource planning (ERP). He plays a leading role in driving the RoleTailored design approach into the development of the Microsoft Dynamics products, resulting in a user experience that enables people to be more productive in their particular role and thereby contributing the highest value to their business.

Nielsen joined Microsoft in November 1996 as a senior consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in the Nordic region, where he specialized in IT strategy and technology consulting. Before Microsoft’s acquisition of Navision a/s in 2002, Nielsen spent three years as a product manager at Navision designing the user interface for Microsoft Navision Financials (now Microsoft Dynamics NAV). Before that Nielsen worked as a development manager for INFOFLEX A/S and as a developer for BRUHN DATA A/S, both Denmark-based companies.

Nielsen earned a master of science degree in computer science from the Technical University of Denmark in 1991.

This was last updated in 2009. Microsoft Jack went to meet Nielsen in his hotel room, which worked out pretty well for Microsoft. He ended up with an anti-Apple piece and as Microsoft's CEO considers Apple to be a top competitor, maybe Schofield will find a place as a Microsoft employee (PR/"communication"), just like Peter Galli. They love hiring journalists who attack Microsoft's competitors with false claims and omissions. We gave another example earlier this week. ⬆

Comments

bugstomper

2010-06-05 00:36:41

Wrong Jakob Nielsen!

Compare these two profiles on LinkedIn, the Microsoft Jakob Nielsen at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakobnielsen

and the famous Jakob Nielsen at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakobnielsenphd

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-06-05 05:15:03

You are right. The person who mailed me about it suggested it's the same person as their background and name are almost identical. I will add a correction.

verofakto

2010-06-05 07:18:07

That's fascinating. Because I've noticed you rarely seem to miss an opportunity to mention that something you're publishing was provided by a "reader".

I guess it was just an oversight. It happens.

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-06-06 06:31:22

Groklaw adds: "Nielsen is criticizing the apps, not the iPad itself, and first he says they are not enough alike and so Apple should exert more control, and then he says Apple exerts too much control. Anyhow, anyone who has used an iPad for more than a day knows exactly how to use it and that it's more than easy. It's intuitive and fun. And may I just add that there is no such thing as an overemphasis on aesthetics? It's what people buy Apple products for, the sheer beauty of the products. And as Johnny Holland points out, Usability Ain't Everything: "The iPad does not have a Graphical User Interface but a gestural one. GUI design guidelines do not necessarily apply when users can interact directly with the content." And updating: There's more than one Jakob Nielsen. See the two profiles on LinkedIn, both with pictures:

"The Microsoft Jakob Nielsen and the well-known usability specialist Jakob Nielsen."

SLAPP Censorship - Part 103 Out of 200: Telling People What They Know and Don't Know About Death Threats They Receive: patronising letters sent on behalf of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft
Links 10/06/2026: More Microsoft Layoffs, Sweden to "Ban Mobile Phones in Schools": Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre (in Portugal) Falls Apart…: Luís Montenegro became embroiled in a conflict-of-interest controversy
IBM Lost About 18% of Its "Market Value" This Month: In IBM's case, a lot of the latest "pump" was Arvind's "quantum" hype/fantasy
Gemini Links 10/06/2026: Signal to Noise, Cancer, and Permacomputing: Links for the day
Communities and "Prosumers.": today's meetup will be about community
Gemini and Gopher Links 10/06/2026: Roasting, Changes, and Harms of Slop: Links for the day
IBM Genies in the Bottle: for ordinary people working who at at IBM, it's not hard to see that IBM is floundering
Microsoft Azure Shrinking With More Mass Layoffs: "Reports suggest the layoffs will impact close to 200 out of 400 workers, who are set to cease employment at Azure on July 6"
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 09, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre-Right "Social Democratic Party" in Portugal: Quite an achievement for a former Maoist radical and aspiring champion of the Portuguese proletariat to be invited to join Goldman Sachs
SLAPP Censorship - Part 102 Out of 200: Maybe One Day Whistleblowers From Brett Wilson LLP Will Tell Us What Really Happened: Maybe one day some former staff of Brett Wilson LLP will also approach us to blow the whistle
What LibreOffice and TDF Get Right About Document Formats (and What They Get Wrong): OOXML is a phantom - it is something nobody implements, not even Microsoft!
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: "The Mist of the Lands Between", Board Game Concept: Links for the day
2026: The Year Slop Companies "Made an Exit" (Threw in the Towel Over to Wall Street): Remember 2026 as the year two major slop companies (which we won't name) sought an IPO
Links 09/06/2026: NSO Group still cracking, "FOI tribunal throws out £14k costs claim against journalist Barnie Choudhury": Links for the day
Links 09/06/2026: "Smartphones Broke Dating" and "EU Open Source Strategy": Links for the day
Cannot Speak About IBM Wrongdoing or Jobs Being Sent Overseas (Lower Salaries): IBM has long attacked the media, the whistleblowers, and even online forums
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The CIA-Funded Centre-Left in Portugal: In the political turmoil which followed the fall of the old regime, the communists seemed to be acquiring a dominant position and there was a very real risk that Portugal could end up aligned with the Eastern Bloc if they were not stopped
This Coming Friday: Richard Stallman (RMS)
Yesterday Afternoon The Register MS Published a Fake Article That Says "AI" 31 Times Because It Got Paid to Do This: What will happen when all those loans for slop (Ponzi scheme) stop and companies' marketing budgets - which include media bribes for hype campaigns - are no more?
Extraordinary General Meeting of Staff Union of the European Patent Office Ahead of Intensifying Strikes: We will, in the meantime, run a series about EPO corruption, which is now connected to corruption in Portugal and to corruption inside the EU
Several Slopfarms That Target "Linux" Seem to Have Died: Or perished severely
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 08, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, June 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: Tanana River, Cassette Beasts, and Emacs: Links for the day

Microsoft Jack (Schofield) Cites Microsoft Employee About Apple Product, Without Disclosure (Corrected)

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts