You did what?

I was the one who designed Windows 7!

I listed 23 things I wanted Microsoft to accomplish in order to make Windows Vista a success.

Little did I know that they were going to use those ideas as the baseline for Windows 7

And I have the proof: this is my wish list from Microsoft for 2008. Apart from #1, they are in no particular order. I have highlighted the copied ideas in blue.

1. Tell your own story! For the past several years, probably since the advent of the spate of antitrust lawsuits against it, Microsoft has let others tell spin The Microsoft Story. As a result, the public gets information filtered through the biases of the storytellers, usually wrong, and almost always pushing some agenda.

The perception of failure those erroneous tales dump on successful products, and the dreadful stigma of that stench of failure rankles. For goodness sakes, every 0.01% market share gain by Firefox is greeted by shouts of joy, while the news a few days ago that Internet Explorer 7, or IE7, had become the dominant browser was hidden several levels deep!

What I want to see in 2008 is Microsoft being proactive with telling its story, become more aggressive in debunking stupid myths and downright untrue stories, and attempting to get back to loving the consumer side of its businesses. I would also like to see the company re-engage Microsoft and Windows evangelism with renewed vigor and fervor, empowering committed evangelists and enthusiasts with the tools needed to battle the lies.

2. Participate in the 700 MHz auction. Either overtly, or through surrogates. In order to create new, subscription-based innovations. One can only imagine what would have happened if Microsoft had owned a national swathe of spectrum when it introduced the SPOT watches? Furthermore, securing this also flanks Google.

3. Simplify the EULA. The EULA continues to be a source of pain and confusion for end users. As a document written by well-heeled lawyers for other presumably well-heeled lawyers, it leaved end users out in the cold with legalistic verbiage. Simplify, and win back Joe 12-pack.

4. Reduce CALs fees. A personal peeve, one that always crops up during competitive bargaining sessions with L-heads.

5. Sunset Windows XP and lower with the next release of Windows. While painful, the down level floor set with Windows Vista (Windows XP) was the right thing to do. Microsoft should do the same and more for the next version of Windows.

6. Definitely make a HUGE consumer marketing push. While marketing to enterprises seems to be going about as good as can be, I will say that Microsoft has failed definitely when it comes to consumers, who seem to have been forgotten.

EDITED “Why don’t you expand on this”, asks Ash Nallawalla, (Net Magellan, ZuneUserGroup) FC member. Prior to the release of Windows Vista™, Microsoft inundated the airwaves with all things Vista. You had to be on the far side of the moon not to have heard about Windows Vista. Coupled with that was the incredible VanishingPoint game (I’m still looking for Loki’s phone number), which galvanized enthusiasts two ways: the promise of orbital travel, and the mental titillation provided by the clues to the game.

After that, nothing! Nothing at all from a consumer standpoint. It was as if it was left to the Team Blog, enthusiasts, and word-of-mouth marketing to carry the load.

Contrast that with the pervasiveness of ads and resources for IT professionals. Or, taking it to the extreme, the myriad number of ads for Apple’s music player.

Don’t get me wrong, from a business standpoint, the marketing to IT pros made my job easier. However, I want all the world blanketed with this OS, which I think is the best out there for consumers.

At this point, I see Microsoft running the risk of becoming IBM in their abandonment of the consumer.

7. Innovate, truly innovate, with both the user interface (UI) and the user experience (UE) from a consumer standpoint, not the staid/stale enterprise viewpoint; steal a play from the iPhone playbook for goodness sakes. From stuff I have seen (under a permanent NDA), Microsoft can be truly innovative when it comes to virtually everything to do with user interfaces and bringing a luxurious and breathtaking user experience to everyone. However, something gets lost in the translation from the designs to the delivered product, with the innovations being shed for conformal acceptance with the enterprise. The loops at #1, Infinite Loop nice up the very same product, and wow, a new paradigm is born.

8. Integrate application virtualization (SoftGrid) into every version of Vista. File this under no-brainer! This would mitigate the applications compatibility hassles for both this version of Windows Vista and the next.

9. Improve the usability of the default applications. Windows Mail. WordPad. Need I say more? While it cannot be on the same level as retail programs, basic default programs need to be useful.

10. Sign OEM distribution deals for Windows Live applications. Apart from the current shipping version of Windows Live Mail, the Windows Live family of programs deserves to be the default programs for Windows. Due to antitrust concerns, I understand why Microsoft cannot make them the default programs; however, I do not see why Microsoft should not aggressively pursue distribution deals with systems OEMs for the Windows Live products.

11. Make a definite push towards native 64-bit applications for Microsoft products. There is nothing more disconcerting than seeing that version 2007/2008 Microsoft applications are 32-bit only.

12. Stand fast on signing requirements for 64-bit apps. Another plus for Microsoft.

13. Make Home Premium the most basic model of Vista, killing Home Basic most unmercifully. This should be carried out with immediate effect! Right now, and with #15 below, Microsoft is getting killed on delivered features. I don’t see the business case for Windows Vista Home Basic, not from a consumer or IT pro’s POV.

14. Truly create a family pack for Vista, not the short-lived pseudo two-fer BS crap. Multiple households are the norm in the US of A. why isn’t there a family pack a la OS X?

15. On-demand paper manuals. For long-lasting consumer goodwill and reducing tech support hassles, restart sending out paper user manuals gratis; in this case, a truly useful manual. To save trees, the offer could/should be limited to a one-time offer mail-in or online redemption

16. Set a credible baseline hardware requirement for functional UE scenarios. Remember that OEMs right now can create the most basic, and basically, useless configurations, and offload buyer angst at Microsoft. I seem to remember somewhere that the Windows Mobile people got the message, and are vowing to limit certifications of Windows Mobile devices to those that would deliver a realistic user experience to buyers henceforth. The Windows client team would do well to require that sort of baseline, or a very visible disclaimer as well.

17. Create a series of reference designs embodying the most forward-thinking innovations in the desktop, notebook, Origami, and server spaces., and use them as a cudgel to move stale and environmentally unfriendly design forward

18. Use data collected by crash reports or the CEIP to create a database of programs to be SoftGrid’d. The usefulness of application virtualization cannot be understated. I would like Microsoft to use the collected data to create a database of SoftGrid containers for the most problematic 10,000 programs as reported to the databases for inclusion in either the next service pack or the next version of Windows, eliminating a source of customer anger.

19. Use the same data to expose bad software OEMs, either directly or using a proxy. I volunteer.

20. Expand the role and visibility of the Microsoft Solutions Accelerators program. While I know the wonks on the SA team have enough on their plates, I feel the gongs have not pealed loudly enough yet. This program is a godsend. It is my opinion that were evangelists sent out with the MSDN, TS2, and TechNet teams to proselytize the usefulness of the components of the Solutions Accelerators, much of the annoyance directed at Microsoft by IT pros in this Windows Vista migration era would abate, since these solutions would greatly ease, and in some cases, completely automate migratory tasks.

21. Improve and increase the current SkyDrive offerings. Seamless integration with Hotmail should be task #1 for SkyDrive. To a lot of users, it would represent Web 2.0 nirvana: Windows Live ID, mail, Office Workspace, collaboration, instant messaging.

22. Improve the stickiness of the Windows Live properties by adding usable VOIP phone services, or even a GrandCentral-like service, and a working Internet fax gateway such as j2.com offers.

23. Re-do Windows Search completely. Search as it currently is in Windows Vista, frankly, sucks! The UI is flawed, non-customizable, slow, and worst of all, the results are inconsistent. I get better results opening up a command line and entering in the search parameters there. Do I need to add that indexing is the mother of resource hogs?

Now you see why it is/will be so successful.

The original 3-part blog is here, here, and here.

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