2007 New Year Resolutions for Microsoft
Suggestions to help Microsoft avoid trouble next year
I think the best book review I have ever written for About Visual Basic is the one for Merrill Chapman's book, In Search of Stupidity. I'm sure it was the one that ... well ... "impacted" me the most. It took me back in time like a bad dream. I still wake up at night thinking about things that happened back when personal computer software was being invented.
Most people don't realize how completely the "industry leaders" have simply stupidized themselves out of existance in the software biz. Author and guru Joel Spolsky pointed out in the introduction that of the top ten PC software companies in 1984, only one is still in existance today. Right! Microsoft. A lot of them had great technology at the time. It was mainly boneheaded management that buried them.
It seems to me that Microsoft is on a slippery slope right now, at risk of making mistakes just like some of former "top dogs" made. So, in the spirit of friendly concern, I'd like to present my list of 2007 resolutions for Microsoft.
- Make the top "per seat" price for any development software a reasonable number.
The listed price per copy of Visual Studio Team Suite is $10,939.00. Eeeeejahh! That's an extreme example, but ideally, the software for a professional developer shouldn't cost more than the computer it runs on.
It might take some reconfiguration of the product line to put some of the technology in servers. But the net effect of what you're doing is pricing anybody who doesn't have a deep pockets company behind them out of the business.
While I'm a little irritated at all the new hoops that I have to jump through to make sure that nobody, but nobody, uses Microsoft's retail software without paying for it, I can understand why that's a necessary evil. But it seems to me that there ought to be some price moderation in return. If you sell twice as many licenses because people can't pirate it anymore, shouldn't the cost be half as much?
And, while you're at it, make it possible to buy Visual Studio Tools for Office, too.
- Start paying more attention to fundamental maintenance.
Has anybody else noticed that MSDN just isn't totally reliable like it used to be? Information is sometimes out of date. Internal links crash.
I know it's a tough job. I could do better too. But then, I'm trying to follow your constantly expanding technology all by myself.
Recently in my blog, I mentioned what I call the “complexity expansion inverse square law”. When a technology keeps expanding in all directions, the complexity, and the documentation requirement, expands exponentially. And Microsoft is pushing the boundaries in all directions. That's why keeping the documentation updated needs to be a top priority.
And make sure there is also content on your site that doesn't assume that people already understand it. The people who want to learn your technology are called, new customers. What a concept!
- Be more open with your customers.
In your own new year resolution suggestions for your customers, you recently recommended that your customers should, "Implement an annual customer satisfaction survey." Good suggestion! And I'm sure that you have market researchers, poll takers, and focus groups by the gazillion doing exactly that. But to make it more real, why not make it an open process. Announce an impartially managed public survey and promise to publish the results, good or bad. Hey! It would probably generate some free publicity at the least.
The "technology evangelists" at your public events are great! They're the best thing you have done because I can actually talk to someone technical at Microsoft. But even they will admit, especially when the managers aren't listening, that there is a clear "Microsoft Message" and it's a priority to stay "on message". A "customer dialog" assumes that there are two sides.
And finally ....
- Send Steve Ballmer to some dance training
Comments
Ok, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the SB video. Even made a resolution not watch. Yes, I will break that resolution but hopefully before dinner.
I don’t know if MS is on a slippery slope but with .NET they seem to hitting the target much better. Make no mistake, there are solid improvements with 2005. Web development is almost as easy as desktop. While I liked the original IDE, the 2005 version is a bit of a learning curve. I have a simple guideline…when “upgrading” the UI should not change that much if the product was solid at the beginning. Take Office 2007. For someone who has never used office, it will be quite easy to learn but this is a very small group (mostly the unborn). For the rest of us, it will be major headache and MS did away with restoring the old toolbar/menus. It was supposed to be released this year and I believe it has been delayed to 2007 1st qtr. MS seems to be putting a fork in the road to separate end-users from developers. Time will quickly tell if this bold move will hinder/help. I don’t plan on use VS team system just based on the cost. Granted, source safe needed a major face lift but they added so many other things — and for what reason ? What kind of focus groups are advising them on these moves ? I will hold off on Office until I see the fallout - if any.
Don’t get me started on Vista. I can understand the reasons for compatibility only with VS 2005. When I read that, I went bought three books so far. My 2003 books are still good but I plan on using one version and I only have so much room on my bookshelf.
MS used to make just one release then we would wait for SP1 but now we have community releases, beta realeases,etc. Its difficult to keep up. I mean, we were just starting to learn 2.0 framework and 3.0 was released, what ? 6 months later ?
I get the impression the response to Vista will not be very enthusiastic. For me, just give me something that does the job well. I don’t need all that flash. Give users the options to use the product as they see fit.
There are days when I think back to simple days of DOS. What was that — like $60 upgrades ?
We’ll see what happens in the next few months. Usually, I will upgrade if my company decides to make the move.
$60 upgrades for DOS? I don’t recall ever buying a copy of DOS. It was, like, just always there. I always kept a few extra copies around just in case I needed them.
I think the first time I ever actually bought an OS was Windows 3.1.
“we were just starting to learn 2.0 framework and 3.0 was released, what ? 6 months later?”
ummmm … Framework 2.0 came out in November of last year and Framework 3.0 was released just a couple of weeks shy of one year later. Still … that’s pretty quick for a full number release.
Microsoft really had their hand forced on this one, however. Framework 3.0 is necessary for Vista development. There is no way they could have delayed it. We all know how late Vista is already.
Thanks for the post.
As a loyal Microsofty, I am profoundly disappointed by the level of buffoonery and hubris displayed by a man who should’ve matured somewhat by now, in order to take his company to the next level. In what I can only describe as a true masterpiece of concision, he has unwittingly declared what Microsoft is really all about: “I love this company!”
My New Year’s message to Mr. Ballmer: Microsoft didn’t make you rich; Microsoft’s customers did. It is a love for them you should be professing if you want to stay that way. (A Zen-like question I really hope you get: how does a giant like Microsoft fall? Answer: one customer at a time.)
Glen,
Thanks for your comment.
I read a lot of sites. I may be guilty of prejudice, but I think that for some reason, my site attracts more well written and reasoned comments … like yours.
I have been a proponent of Microsoft products from the very begining. I agreed with the vision Bill Gates had then and I still believe in it today.
Before I retired I worked for a large communications company. In my last ten years with them I did computer support and MS Access programming. I pushed hard for MS products because I thought they were they were the best available. I still do.
Even though I am retired (I still do occasional consulting) I try to keep up with their products. However, their pricing is slowly pushing me to the very bottom of their product lines. In some cases I can’t even afford that.
I admire that Bill Gates is giving away much of his wealth to notable charities. I believe that if he wants to continue to be able to do that he needs to show a little charity to those that made it possible, his customers. And he shouldn’t forget the developers whose efforts helped make a market for his products.
I believe that if MSs products were better priced there would never be any discussions about competing technologies (Unix, Macs, etc.)
Here’s hoping for a better future.
Robert …
Re … your message: “Me Too!!”
But, sadly, Bill doesn’t run the company anymore. Steve Ballmer does. I’m not sure how much involvement Bill has these days but my feeling is, “Not much.”