Channel 9 Forums - Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

scobleizer — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 08:39:36 GMT

Macromedia is asking "What do you find to be the most obnoxious thing about Macromedia right now?" So, thought it'd be a good time to ask something similar: "what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?"

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

geoff.appleby — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 09:02:54 GMT

As a geek, I've been pretty damn happy in the last year - the amount of early info that we get these days is just incredible.

If there's a new product, we know about it. If there's a beta or CTP, they're available.

But service packs get hardly any mention, and they're almost as important (if not more so) as new versions of products.

How about getting more info out early on service packs - just that's it's being worked on would be nice to know (for example, I've heard a rumour that there'll be a VS2003 SP1 coming out soonish - but I can't confirm it at all!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Loadsgood — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 09:46:54 GMT

Hmmmm, I like the way MSN is going with all the new technologies i.e. MSN Spaces, MSN Messenger etc. Although I would like something done to put Channel9 on the map. What would be really good is if we made a Channel9 Messenger program But make it only Open Source to the dedicated C9 fans, this way we could make it perfect just the way we want it.

How cool would that be? Better than MSN Messenger C⁹ Messenger!
Loadsgood.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Rossj — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 11:02:59 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?

Wow, thats a much harder question than it first appears. I think I'd like to see Microsoft repair more bridges, be friendlier, be more open to competition (i.e. provide full unhindered* access to the documentation required by the SAMBA team).

*unhindered here means not wrapped in an .exe that carries a license.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

rhm — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 11:23:32 GMT

How about Microsoft using its patents to coerce ISVs into signing patent licencing agreements (which reportedly cover some things MS doesn't even own the rights to like TCP/IP) that forbid them to work on Free/Open Source software. That's pretty obnoxious as corporate activities go.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Barry Andrew Hall — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 11:40:53 GMT

Keep up the good work!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

ZippyV — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 12:22:04 GMT

Lower the software prices.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

eagle — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 12:52:00 GMT

I need Windows Mobile 2005 for my ViewSonic v37, please...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

dnrfan — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:49:33 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

Macromedia is asking "What do you find to be the most obnoxious thing about Macromedia right now?" So, thought it'd be a good time to ask something similar: "what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?"

I see your holding a large can opener there Robert, and worms are about to come out. You really want the answer to that?

This is just one:

MS keep saying that if they were to support more CSS, then it could break many websites.

Someone from MS plese explain how this could be? Cause I think many people might take MS's stance of webstandards for IE, as "We stuffed up by not doing it in the first place and it's too late to do anything about it now."

Here is a tip for you Scooby ( only suggestion and no offense intended )

Start holding the camera still
Stop laughing throughout the videos
Prepare some questions to ask and stick to them at minimum, then ad lib
Maybe use a RGB to Video Scan convertor and plug that into your camera for the shots of the computer screens. Easy enough to switch between cam and input.
Use an external mic thats between you and the interviewee

Channel 9 :

Offer better quality video clips. MS claimed years ago that they had DVD Quality at 500Kbps. Where the hell is that? QT Trailers are excellent quality for their size.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

ThomasAesir — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:52:29 GMT

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Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Rossj — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:03:20 GMT

^
Another Firefox user - are you actually ever going to fix that bug?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

David Oliver — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:11:40 GMT

Firstly, the level of transparence displayed by Microsoft over the last year is amazing already!

My highlights have been,

We Learning 247
The MSDN Achitecture section
Software Factories
Developer Security Training DVD
and best of all .... C9!

Afew of my suggestions are,

It would be nice to see more opportunities for the community to get more involved, for example, Community submitted articles, case studies and tech talks

It would really nice to have regular progress updates on how current projects are going, it doesn't have to be a Microsoft Project Plan! ... but something to manage expectation and to scotch rumour and hear'say.

I would love to see more work on Software Factories, such as more best practice, case studies and recommendations.

I would love to see an interview with Microsoft European Support someone like Mark Long.

**********************************************

Keep up the very good work and thanks for listening !

-Sabot

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

ThomasAesir — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:12:22 GMT

I'd like Microsoft to:

Support XHTML via standards mode in IE
Allow Managed Direct3D to run in IE (fix whatever security issue[s] doesn't allow that to happen at the moment)
Promote the .Net runtime to normal people
Keep doing projects like "VB.Net at the Movies" and add more content to them
Buy the BeOS IP from Palm and create an MS BeOS [with .Net support]

oh and fix the Firefox posting bug!

how hard can it be to collect data from a form post?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Blkbam — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:18:44 GMT

ZippyV wrote:

Lower the software prices.

Pace wrote:

Keep up the good work!

Seems I was beaten to it!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

OldManCoyote — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:20:11 GMT

More open source standards. Standards like the MS version for email verifications, in which no organization embrassing it (i.e. Apache, etc), except AOL.

Why would any developer bother to develop software, that is beholden to Microsoft in such restrictive manor. Getting a 'license' just to use the MS 'open source' standard of email verification; what a joke...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Minh — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 18:27:42 GMT

dnrfan wrote:

Stop laughing throughout the videos

Disagree. You gotta be yourself.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Sven Groot — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:00:41 GMT

Beer28 wrote:

jamie wrote: Sure there is Apple - but thats like trying to sell BMW to someone who can afford a Chrysler

I don't want to get too off topic, but Apple is a Chrysler. I've used it at friends, tried new versions at demo's ect... The UI is sharper than the major linux UI's, but I don't think it's way better. I've seen my share of mac's running OSx freeze.

They're more like a Mercedes then: they look cool, and hold high esteem in certain circles, but the build quality is shoddy.
(Well, maybe not for the hardware. You can drop an iBook of a 20 story building and it'd still work.)

What is it with computers and car analogies anyway?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

MisterDonut — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:18:11 GMT

I would like to see Microsoft invoke some excitement in people.. Not us Developers, per say, but the general public. Microsoft right now is pretty ho-hum.. Kinda like "I'm buying a computer" to a civilian means you're buying a PC (most likely). But "I'm buying an Apple" usually invokes an interesting response.

Excitement is generated at every Macworld expo. Sheesh, Apple can re-color an iPod and everyone goes gaga.. Microsoft releases a new product (say, Media Center 2005 and the extenders) and no one knows / cares.. I own a Media Center PC, and the only way I even knew about the extenders was by someone on Channel 9 (thanks, dude..).

Microsoft, in order to sell more products, needs to have the "wow, cool" excitement energy that Apple has. I wish I could tell you how to do that, but I don't (maybe more marketing? A very public contest / sweepstakes?) I know Microsoft had some sort of a re-do of some US Soldier's homes with Media Center stuff (don't know where I heard that), but it was pretty low key. I digress, though..

Anyone share the sentiment?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Maurits — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:33:25 GMT

Beer28 wrote:

Sven Groot wrote:What is it with computers and car analogies anyway?

Linux is the volkswagon!

I'd say Linux is more like a kit... you put it together yourself, and if it breaks you fix it yourself.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Rossj — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:33:40 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

What would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?

- Presentations.
- Take a lesson on what communism is, and why centralised control is one of the defining characteristics in non-theoretical socialism.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Maurits — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:33:59 GMT

Rossj wrote:

^
Another Firefox user - are you actually ever going to fix that bug?

It's probably a FreeTextBox bug, not a Channel9 bug.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Rossj — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:34:54 GMT

Well that's okay then. Feel free to leave it there.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

scobleizer — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:37:38 GMT

dnrfan: if I prepared questions ahead of time the teams would want to see them and prepare for them. Wouldn't be good. That's what MSDN TV is for.

I'll try to be steadier. This is an artifact of doing it all with one person instead of having a camera crew (and the fact that I am doing this with lightweight equipment, same as what you could buy at BestBuy. On the other hand you get to see people and hear their opinions in a way that'd never happen if a crew came along.

Yeah, audio is something we gotta work on.

The thing is there are some guiding principles that I'm following:

1) Use as little equipment as possible. Why? Because that puts people at ease and helps them give more candid answers. I've watched what happens when a camera crew shows up with lights, mics, and a big camera. People start "acting."

2) Have as few people involved as possible. Why does that matter? Well, again, people act less candid when more people are there. They feel more "on stage." I saw this one time when an interviewee's boss was in her office. She couldn't get a word out. Boss left, she became nice and casual again.

3) Make it as close to what you can do on real-world equipment as possible. One of the things I'm trying to show is that anyone can do videos. The only real barrier is distribution.

As to video quality. This is a function of how much bandwidth these things take up. Unfortunately I don't have an unlimited budget here, so have to live within some constraints. I'm experimenting with higher resolution stuff, though. Yeah, even Microsoft has to worry about how much bandwidth we're chewing through.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Minh — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:41:34 GMT

Sven Groot wrote:

What is it with computers and car analogies anyway?

It's a convient comparison device. You know, it's like the Seven-Eleven of comparison devices.

Not sure if I have anything that MS did to annoy, but I'd like to see (on C9?) more of the marketing side. I want to see the real people behind the marketing team. I want to see how they make some of the decisions they made. It's a totally non-techie side, and I think that'd be interesting.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

kovax12 — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:45:30 GMT

ZippyV wrote:

Lower the software prices.

I second that. I would also like to see Longhorn and XBox 2.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

bsilby — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:53:53 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

Macromedia is asking "What do you find to be the most obnoxious thing about Macromedia right now?" So, thought it'd be a good time to ask something similar: "what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?"

I'm really happy with microsofts work.

Next year I'd like to see MS promote the security fixes in SP2 more actively. There are sooo many people out there who still don't appreciate these improvements.

I think MS should promote specific features of IE that make it a browser that can hold its own against Firefox. For example, the new popup blocking (which many people don't know about).

Also IE's dhtml performance should be promoted. It really out performs Firefox in this aspect. A Firefox user recently wrote a review on one of my dhtml games. He said that the performance difference between IE and FF makes him want to boot up IE. Here's his comments:

http://www.rit.edu/~jhb4598/jblog/archives/000565.php3

MS should promote this sort of thing to help maintain a fair %age of browser market. I can't help thinking MS are just sitting back and watching FF steal the browser market.

Other than this, I don't think MS need to do much differently. I think MS is doing a great job and has been very open about their plans and new projects. This is appreciated.

Cheers,
Brent.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

MisterDonut — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 20:15:58 GMT

In addition to my other comments, I have to agree with Jamie (again.. ),
Microsoft has a bad reputation (deserved or undeserved is debatable). That being said, Microsoft needs to overcome it (see my last post). One great way of doing it is becoming an Advocate for consumer technology (Lobbying for more bandwidth, more computers in homes, etc..).

To paraphrase Alicia Silverstone, they need to use their power for good, not evil.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 20:35:56 GMT

thanks - i thought it was a good way to help make sence of all the right/left stuff thats been going on

Capitalism is GOOD - but the signals MS are sending
are very CORP - lighten up a bit - and beat OSS to the center

PS - add: Not enough Application support under Left

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Eddie — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:00:20 GMT

I want MS to come up with a company mascot (and not as crappy as the MSN butterfly...).

Think of the fun the MS community could have, creating anti-linux/BSD/OSX/etc images where the MS mascot kill/mames/dominates tux or the BSD demon (whatever his name is)..

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

christopher carfi — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:04:58 GMT

Kudos! Collecting the feedback is exactly what needs to be done. Now...what are you going to do with it? And by when?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Sven Groot — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:10:08 GMT

This car would be the ultimate OS:

Powerful (300bhp), incredibly fast (0-60mph in 2.9s, if you can change gears fast enough), cheap (only 29000 pound), lightweight (only 456kg), very, very open (you can see straight into its inner workings), and somehow, still gorgeous to look at.
The only thing in the world that was faster around Top Gear's test track was the Ferrari Enzo, which is about 15 times more expensive...

So, will Longhorn be the Ariel Atom of operating systems?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

scobleizer — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:55:18 GMT

Christopher: I just answered a bit over in the comment section of that blog.

But I forward a lot of this feedback on. Plus, my blog and Channel 9 have visibility very high in the company.

I'm forwarding emails to the teams and will remember this feedback when I go around with Channel 9's camcorder.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Eddie — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 22:09:02 GMT

How about moving into the VOIP market?
Surely it wouldn't be to hard to fit some voip functionallity into messanger. Get some sort of service up and running like skype's SkypeOut. or even use skypeout??

I think this, along with the work MS is alreay doing in the Media Center area could really help bring more cool tech to the masses.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

orcmid — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 22:30:03 GMT

I saw this on your blog, but I didn't think of anything until I just downloaded the Spyware Beta.

OK, this is turning into a rant. And I don't have time to write it cleaner and more objectively. I apologize and this is the best I can do right now.

--rant begins--
The first practice I want to see put in this year is people not providing links to the .exe in the download center and instead refering people at least to the download page, so they can see the beta declaration, advice about support and so on, and also be satisfied that they are making a download of an official MS distribution (even beta). After all, the greatest way to place malware on a computer is as a payload in erstwhile security software, yes? People associated with MSFT should know better.

But this does get me to the second recommendation. I think it comes to not allowing developers to run as administrator, and that includes the guys who make stuff for MSN. I don't want MSN Desktop search running in my administrator account, and I certainly don't want it running in the administrator account of my wife's system, where there should be no unnecessary services ready-to-hand as temptations for thoughtless behavior. (I finally figured out how to get Outlook be safe at the administrator level by not giving it any accounts to use, that was the best I could do, and that meant I couldn't run the MSN Outlook Coordinator or whatever it is called on the system at all, because it insisted on running in the administrator account too).

I think something dramatic has to happen around making desktop systems work well with simply-administered products. I don't want to have an MCSE to administer my wife's desktop for her, so asking me questions about ICMP in my installation of the XP SP2 Firewall without giving me a clue as to the consequences of my choices is really awful. A lot of MSFT security stuff is like that.

OK, so design simply-administrable systems for small SOHO purposes. All systems should be so simply-administrable and it should be the real dogfood. And always walk the talk in every way, every day.

That means stop requiring Microsoft sites to be privileged for mobile code and ActiveX in order for people to do something useful and maybe important (like report a security problem or troubleshoot a problem). So all of the advice that is given about the 3S's, cutting down the exposure footprint of the browser, etc., is then countered by MSFT requiring lowering of defenses to get anything useful done. (Actually, on MSN I just click the irritating do not permit ActiveX reminder all of the time and find that I lose nothing by ActiveX being declined.)

So, I bet you the spyware stuff still privileges MSFT and I notice the firewall comes prepped to do that.

What exactly is the lesson you want all of us to learn by what you do rather than what you say?

end-of-rant

High-level summary: MSFT needs to get real about who their systems are for, and how they support that. They also need to get real about what business they are in and how they walk their own talk. I don't think I should trust a media- and advertising-oriented business to offer me security against adware and malware, for example.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Maurits — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 22:41:11 GMT

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I'd like to see some form of sender verification built into Hotmail.
Not just "yes, the Hotmail server sent this message" but some kind of
public/private key signing thing. This could use S/MIME or PGP, or
both, or either at user preference. That would be totally sweet. And
GMail doesn't have it.
Hushmail does something similar... but I think Microsoft could do it
better...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Comment: pub key http://matthew.vaneerde.com/pgp-public-key.asc

iD8DBQFB3b0NUQQr0VWaglwRAvK+AJ9rzBYocCMhUAgD4SCk6XFaegg0TQCdH2Mn
hh/rGizyMrx+TxGE0/LPBNI=
=UYvI
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

EDIT: something like this... S/MIME wouldn't have all the extra PGP text of course...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:33:49 GMT

new Gates interview:

http://news.com.com/Gates+taking+a+seat+in+your+den/2008-1041_3-5514121.html

from article:

Q: News.com

In recent years, there's been a lot of people clamoring to reform and restrict intellectual-property rights. It started out with just a few people, but now there are a bunch of advocates saying, "We've got to look at patents, we've got to look at copyrights." What's driving this, and do you think intellectual-property laws need to be reformed?

A: Gates

No, I'd say that of the world's economies, there's more that believe in intellectual property today than ever. There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.

>>>>>>>>

re: what would i like to see microsoft do differently this year?

Stop refering to customers (that are concerned about too much corporate control) as COMMUNISTS

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Sven Groot — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:46:35 GMT

One thing is odd here.
Bill Gates talks about music makers, and we immediately think of Napster and Kazaa and MP3 and other ways to illegally distribute music.
Bill Gates talks about movie makers, and we immediately think of BitTorrent and DivX and other ways to illegally distribute music.
And in the same sentence, Bill Gates talks about software makers, and we immediately think about... open source?!?

He could just as easily have been talking about software piracy, ya know.

EDIT: Beer, I sometimes use BitTorrent (for legitimate purposes, yes, those exist), and my BitTorrent client of choice is written in Java, of all things. Saying Windows is responsible for file sharing is like saying guns kill people. If anything, blame Berkeley. After all, they invented IP.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:08:18 GMT

Well im a musician.. with 500 songs i wrote available online FREE - so i guess im a communist

but wait - i also "sort of" do development - by working on interfaces for open code - and re-releasing it FREE online - so I guess im really a communist

man - i better not make a movie and give that away or ill end up blacklisted like writers in hollywood!

Seriously - there is a place between left and right

lets get there.. and things will be simpler

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Cider — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:15:10 GMT

jamie wrote:

Well im a musician.. with 500 songs i wrote available online FREE - so i guess im a communist

That's not really what he's saying at all though, is it? If you want to give them away, fair dues. However, you aren't trying to get rid of the incentives for others to make money from their work by doing this, are you?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:34:50 GMT

not at all - that would be extreme - one side or other - on the other hand im not trying to limit them either - as DRM - left unchecked - just may

was trying to say there is a middle ground between left / right open / closed piracy / DRM

its defining the middle ground

this is what MS should step up and do

( apple sort of tried by getting individual downloads of songs for a buck and Fair play - share to so many friends computers etc.. but its not enough )

MS has the clout to say - guess what media companies - consumers can share to THIS many friends.. play on THIS many devices - copy THIS many times and actually put some weight on them

right or wrong - many people just think ms is in bed with media conglomerates and mivie studios while they build a software/music/movie lockin land - while preparing to sue the pants off OSS with the other hand

there has got to be a place between steal and sue!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Cider — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:37:07 GMT

If "giving stuff away" is his definition of communism, with his charity donations, Bill Gates' next book would be "Das Kapital Extreme!"

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:39:14 GMT

haha

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Cider — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:55:31 GMT

He's got far more worrying things to think about, like this incriminating picture:

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

MisterDonut — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:21:08 GMT

jamie wrote:

There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.

I think Bill needs to check himself here.. I think "anti-capitalists" would be better. Communists has other ramifications as well, but I think anti-capitalistic is a great way to describe those people. No one should make money from developing software (music, writing, etc.).. Even if they want to..

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Mike Sampson — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:36:04 GMT

* Ship software faster
* Continue to adopt more "Extreme Programming"-like practices
* Adopt more managed code
* Make LUA easier

And just for fun:

* Promote me again

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:47:09 GMT

MisterDonut wrote:

jamie wrote: There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.

I think Bill needs to check himself here.. I think "anti-capitalists" would be better. Communists has other ramifications as well, but I think anti-capitalistic is a great way to describe those people. No one should make money from developing software (music, writing, etc.).. Even if they want to..

so to use the democrat - middle analogy - people in the middle are anti capitalistic?

OK Stallman - you may be able to call anti-capitalistic.. but what are people who think a buck a song is ridiculous when its their time, bandwidth, storage space, removable media, ink, paper and case - and they are doing all the work?

can we not disagree with an antiquated business model - just because MS decides there is money in "rescuing it" ?

* dont forget we are talking millions and millions of peole here.. are they all anti capitalist / communists because the internet came along and "older" monoliths have not embraced it fully / properly?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 02:16:46 GMT

Beer28 wrote:

Maurits wrote:

Beer28 wrote:

Sven Groot wrote: What is it with computers and car analogies anyway?

Linux is the volkswagon!

I'd say Linux is more like a kit... you put it together yourself, and if it breaks you fix it yourself.

It's not a kit, because the most distros used for desktops come with a know nothing installer, and GUI confs for everything, they are plug and play ready for everything from a firewire cam to a sony cybershot usb drive. They come bundled with more software titles than you could imagine ever needing for a PC.

If you want to do more complex stuff then yeah, but that's the same with any system, mac and win included, or if you delete system files or whatever.

I'd say linux is die volksOS, it was coded by the public, somewhat, for the public/people

actually Linux would be what ever car runs without gas = no money to big oil

so hydrgen..water..battery.. Jolt cola
any car thats green / disruptive

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 03:05:00 GMT

here's a good/new stallman article for the "left" point of view

Jan 1st 2005:
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4933

..yes..hes an extremist nut - but how can you hate a guy out fighting for the consumer?

= the point

you dont have to be a "communie nut" to do something nice for consumer rights - and you dont have to be on one side or the other

i for one wish MS would do more of this somehow
after all, Microsoft is "the beatles of software"
(Q=Steveb)

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 03:09:22 GMT

Beer28 wrote:

jamie,

I'd like to see graduated pricing of digital media based on income, but since this will never happen, I guess....

.... well, I now see this post has no point.... Jamie, your idea sucks.

id actually like to see pricing based on released to market

so the new U2 comes out - it costs this much..while it's "hot" and goes down the longer its out - to settle at baseline price

* MS stepping up to help consumers in the area of fair use is NOT a bad idea = GOOD PRESS FOR A CHANGE

EDIT - re; "It can't be $10 a CD at the store then 5 cents to download a song online, that would make the whole album 50 cents."

but most albums in canada ARE 10$ at the store... and they are the same online! - no art - my paper my space my bandwidth etc = ms comes in and fixes - steals credit - good press

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Minh — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 03:27:03 GMT

jamie wrote:

Stop refering to customers (that are concerned about too much corporate control) as COMMUNISTS

You know, "communists" isn't such a common term anymore. I can imagine a broad glass door conference room with Bill sitting at the end and 20 marketing types trying to come up with the right word:

- scums
- too pejorative
- thieves
- well, that they are, but proving lost of $$$ will be tough
- liberals
- that's good, that's good, something worse...
- (All together) Communists!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 03:33:53 GMT

hahah

they stolds it from us!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:12:20 GMT

Back to original topic..

Re: What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Anything

lol

(c9 excluded - that was a good one.. regretting it yet?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

TimHare — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:16:54 GMT

1. Make all products work toward calendar standardization
    A. iCalendar is it for now, not the best but work with it
    B. participate in calconnect.org 's mini-iop and other lowest-common-denominator calendar interop projects.
    C. Frontpage needs to be able to build calendars with iCalendar links built in (-> an iCalendar event file, I can add it to Outlook with a click). Any other product that creates calendar/schedule information needs to be able to create iCalendar (or its successor) files.
    D. IE needs to support document.open("text/calendar") in javascript to allow creation on the fly of calendar objects.
    E. Web services for calendar manipulation?
    F. Realize that your customers want their calendaring to be as easy as their e-mail and their IM but it's not enough to handle it locally on one PC. Not only do they want to do this for workgroup/business reasons, but many families now have more than one PC and they need it at home.

2. Look at working with IBM to provide Windows APIs on z/Series boxes. IBM may balk because of their Linux support but it's worth a shot - it might sell hardware for them, and it might provide the legendary reliability underneath Windows server code.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:29:15 GMT

i remember emailing Ben Slivka (former ms employee - who bares the honor of being personally berated and called a "communist" by Billg over j+) a while back - we were discussing file sharing / consumer stuff etc.. he honestly just couldnt see the need for it

his angle was something like: why would i bother - i just go to HMV or whatever and buy the 20 newest cds i like... and my point was - alot of people cant afford to do that

i think ms needs to look at peoples side that arnt so financially well off

lets face it - if you work at ms - you arnt broke, a student, or welfare mom

Is a welfare mother a communist for downloading a song (legal in canada by the way)

anyway im rambling here

original point: ms could do itself well by pretending - how can we ensure a great digital future for the have NOTS

theres just too much press / fuss / hullabaloo about charging / controling / drm for me

( and im not broke )

.. so thats what id like ms to do: step up to the plate and make a difference for the less fortunate

***sorry last example ***

Routers: (fake)

Microsoft today released an update to messenger that lets consumers share or trade media with up to 30 online firends - eclipsing apple computers 10 friend limit

They also issued a press release chastising the current record and per song pricing citing bandwidth, harddrive space, blank media tax, lower quality and consumers time

"We believe mp3 quality songs should be priced in area of 5 to 10 cents a song" billg was quoted as saying " and we are working with our partners on behalf of the consumer to make this a reality"

In other news - a Microsoft sponsored bill in regards to higher upload speeds for consumers was passed. Comcast was the first ISP to make the new speeds available.

** ok i dont run MS - but this stuff just seems to make sence to me - but ive got no MBA

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

geekling — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 05:41:50 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

Macromedia is asking "What do you find to be the most obnoxious thing about Macromedia right now?" So, thought it'd be a good time to ask something similar: "what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?"

Offical support for IronPython (sorry, pet peeve).
Polish up the anti-spyware software offering and get it out the door as a 1.0 version so I can install it on my parents computer.
Give Beer28 the rabies shot he so desperately needs.
A XAML parser - not Avalon, just an "offical" XML format and .NET library for it, to be deserialized into Windows.Forms controls; you know, let people can start hammering out language agonistic designers instead of seeing the 60 bazillion "C# Forms Designer support!" crap everywhere, which does me no good.
Higher level API support - how many times have you had to create a simple dialog box with an edit control, an 'OK' button and a 'Cancel' button? Over and over again. System.Windows.Forms.Prefabs; an entire namespace devoted to prefabricated, basic Windows.Forms controls that most developers end up creating on their own anyway. I don't know, maybe System.Windows.Forms.HamSandwich.
Jim Hugunin on Channel9.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 06:02:01 GMT

Id like to see less Republican MS and more Democrat MS

example:

on the one side we have Linux / OSS / half baked well intentioned "open/freedom" software - read: green Party / Nader ticket

On the other side we have MS - huge corp, licencing, scarry EULA's, DRM, patents, in bed with big media = Republican party

In the middle there is nothing for the (aprox 50% democrats) in the USA and those damb 90% liberals in Canada. ( NY / LA / Can =Dem/liberal...thats alot of customers..)

Sure there is Apple - but thats like trying to sell BMW to someone who can afford a Chrysler

Please do more for consumer rights and liberties, pull the reins in on heavy handed media control ( you might sell a few more media centres in the process) and lastly do more to empower the client side of Web based computing ( like local portals, P2P, lobby for higher upload speeds for consumers etc.)

Thanks

PS to Macromedia: "The most annoying thing about macromedia is...

..that it EXISTS!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 06:14:59 GMT

Eddie wrote:

I want MS to come up with a company mascot (and not as crappy as the MSN butterfly...).

Think of the fun the MS community could have, creating anti-linux/BSD/OSX/etc images where the MS mascot kill/mames/dominates tux or the BSD demon (whatever his name is)..

theyve already got one and dont know it

* see top left of this page "beatles of software: number 9 number 9...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Mike Sampson — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 07:16:36 GMT

geekling wrote:

Higher level API support - how many times have you had to create a simple dialog box with an edit control, an 'OK' button and a 'Cancel' button? Over and over again. System.Windows.Forms.Prefabs; an entire namespace devoted to prefabricated, basic Windows.Forms controls that most developers end up creating on their own anyway. I don't know, maybe System.Windows.Forms.HamSandwich.

We have templates in VS 2005 with common dialogs (like about boxes, splash screens, etc.). Not great for you SDK developers out there but good for VS users.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

me — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 07:36:43 GMT

k - windows 2005
- sampy fullscreen face on the box (see above)
- tagline: I'm young! *as above=real

(like toyota does with seller commercial spots..real employees etc = that but cooler)

id buy it

haha

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

David Oliver — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 09:23:25 GMT

Paul Ballards 10 predictions

http://www.theserverside.net/articles/showarticle.tss?id=Predictions2005

I especially thought of Beer28 when I read this !

"Linux’s Jihad
After the declaration of a Holy War against Microsoft products, Linux will finally reach 2% worldwide market share on PCs and Servers. The other 98% of the world not living in their parent’s basement won’t notice or care."

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Blackice — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 11:10:35 GMT

well...

1) **Public** Longhorn BETA
2) lower prices
3) leave linux alone
4) port .NET framework to other OSes
5) actually make ANOTHER OS, not just a touched up version of WinNT (but i guess we have to wait for BlackComb for that)
6) admit that apple is a R&D department, not another company (ducks)
7) make XP MCE retail (update for prof.??)

ok, so 3,4,5 and 6 will never come true, but its what I'D LIKE to see....

the rest are in fact probable....

Blackice

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Tensor — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 12:17:45 GMT

Adopt Scobles $5 to Tsunami fund for using the word Blog policy company wide, but substitute "Service Oriented Architecture" for "Blog". Seriously if I hear that is the solultion for every frikin problem under the sun again this year I may explode.

Oh and some kind of anti-spywa...oh, wait...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

iStation — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 12:54:03 GMT

Please make "Smart Watch" with Tsunami Warning and Insurance!

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

matt0210 — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 12:58:23 GMT

Sven Groot wrote:

What is it with computers and car analogies anyway?

Hi Sven,
you don't remember the classic back-and-forth between the Chrysler boss and Gates a few years ago where Gates compared the PC development to cars??? It was a screamer because the was plaing at the CEO level!
I'm sure someone out there remembers the details (or even has a link). It was in the days of Win95 or 98, so it's been a while...

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

matt0210 — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 13:00:33 GMT

Rossj wrote:

scobleizer wrote:what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?

Wow, thats a much harder question than it first appears. I think I'd like to see Microsoft repair more bridges, be friendlier, be more open to competition (i.e. provide full unhindered* access to the documentation required by the SAMBA team).

*unhindered here means not wrapped in an .exe that carries a license.

I hear you loud and clear!!! Especially videos from MS are packed as an exe. WHY?? for goodness sakes!!!!!
I shouldn't get too exited. It's probably about choice

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

MisterDonut — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 13:56:02 GMT

jamie wrote:

so to use the democrat - middle analogy - people in the middle are anti capitalistic?

OK Stallman - you may be able to call anti-capitalistic.. but what are people who think a buck a song is ridiculous when its their time, bandwidth, storage space, removable media, ink, paper and case - and they are doing all the work?

can we not disagree with an antiquated business model - just because MS decides there is money in "rescuing it" ?

* dont forget we are talking millions and millions of peole here.. are they all anti capitalist / communists because the internet came along and "older" monoliths have not embraced it fully / properly?

To be honest, I'm didn't hear the whole context of his speech, so I might be incorrect here.. But my point is close to what you said in this quote, in regards to Stallman. I'm sure Microsoft can help make a better business model, but I think that for those people who want to charge a buck (or 10 bucks) a song, they should be able to do so, until they choose otherwise. Similarly, if someone wants to give away songs for free, they should do so as well.

I think we can agree on that Microsoft, although a for-profit company, should focus, in the new year, more on being a public advocate, even if profits suffer slightly. In the end, they do have to answer to Stockholders, but if Microsoft can change their public image from a predator to an advocate, well, I think that would be swell.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Simo — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 14:13:46 GMT

Eddie wrote:

I want MS to come up with a company mascot

They've got one, and he's called Clippit.

Admittedly, they've tried to disown him. But I'm not having any of it. You reap what you sow.

Clippit wrote:

Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?
Hello, you appear to be writing a letter?

Innocent member of the public wrote:

$#%&!^£ paperclip. $#%&!^£ microsoft can shove their $#%&!^£ paperclip up their collective $#%&!^£ $#%&

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Sven Groot — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 14:20:33 GMT

Simo wrote:

Eddie wrote: I want MS to come up with a company mascot

They've got one, and he's called Clippit.

Nah, Clippy did if for the money. Just see here! (Oh and btw, that penguin is not Tux)

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

geekling — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 17:28:11 GMT

Sampy wrote:

We have templates in VS 2005 with common dialogs (like about boxes, splash screens, etc.). Not great for you SDK developers out there but good for VS users.

That's great, but what if I'm using Boo?
Hell, even as an extra download from Microsoft I could still use'em in my client applications from any language I wanted; the VS 2005 templates would pin me to VB or C#, which is O-K but I like to use Boo in my spare time because its quick, fun, and clean.

I really can't muster up a coherent argument while staring at your avatar, dude. That thing creeps me out.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

orcmid — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 20:23:42 GMT

OK, OK, I'm calmer today. And I am having a great experience with the AntiSpyware beta 1 installation on both Vicki's computer (clean bill of health) and mine (a few gotchas that SpyBot S&D missed and some new things that I really like).

So there is no mystery privileging as far as I can tell. This material comes in fine, and it catches stuff about Microsoft sites/software as well as any others, so far as I can tell at this point.

Oh, and an odd thing of the kind that usually fires up my rant engine. The Adobe PDF plug-in for MSN Desktop Search code is unsigned, and on Vicki's machine either the firewall or the AntiSpyware (or a slight different setting in local security policies with SP2 maybe) caught it. It wasn't caught on my (no-SP2) laptop, so I will check the local policies to see if that's the deal. So my rant would be about the inscrutibility of this stuff, and a possible too-generous default policy thingie, plus having the MSN Search site recomment a plug-in that involves an off-site link and delivers unsigned code. But I don't feel like ranting about it today, just pointing out that there is more to put in on this particular journey.

[update: I had wanted to make this be a comment on my previous comment at http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=34827#34827 but my intuition about that failed. I could fault the Channel 9 UI design, but I don't want to be distracted from the topic of this thread. Heh.]

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

kenfine — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 22:40:14 GMT

What would we like to see Microsoft do this year? I'll bite:

Acquire Macromedia, Inc., and finish the job they've started in the RIA space. The Flash player is ubiquitous, it streams video, it does audio, it parses XML. You can do more-or-less mature class-based development with Actionscript 2. Flash has become what client-side Java was hyped to be: a rich, light, client-side playpen. Right now it's the best bet if you want rich cross-browser interactivity and don't have a whole team to work on the thing. I'd love to see a deep integration of MSFT's back-end technologies with the rich experiences that Flash can offer. I'd also like to see Microsoft bring a reasonable pricing model to the back-end technologies like FlashCom and Remoting. Macromedia is blowing it in this regard.

Microsoft should give away TechEd DVDs to any Microsoft Universal subscriber, and they should try to make Tech Ed and similar training as affordable as possible. When developers grow big smart and strong, they come back to buy lots more Microsoft technology. Win-win.

Assign a team of Microsoft developers to write something insanely great for the good of the Internet community. I'm thinking of a killer application that interfaces with USENET, which was once an ammazing place, and can become so again if the right tools are developed to interact with it. In the beginning, USENET was the domain of an educated, engaged community, and the experience was awesome. Once the big ISPs hooked up in the early/mid-90s, the community couldn't hold back the "barbarian hordes." USENET has been junked up.

Build moderation mechanisms into a newsreader, allow people to build "affinity networks," create XML services and plumbing that will allow localized "newsgroups" to populate a website while still the data still feeds to centralized, shared resources.

Centralize what Slashdot and other sites allow on the local level. Give people the client tools and database services to make USENET great again, and give it all away free, gratis, to everyone. A revitalized USENET will generate tons of goodwill, and it will be a service to the Internet community, which is seeing its dialogue fractured into a million local databases and a million isolated communities.

I think that's just about enough faux-manic ranting for the workday, and quite enough for Microsoft, Inc. to accomplish in 2005. Good luck.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Mike Sampson — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 23:23:57 GMT

Geekling wrote:

That's great, but what if I'm using Boo?
Hell, even as an extra download from Microsoft I could still use'em in my client applications from any language I wanted; the VS 2005 templates would pin me to VB or C#, which is O-K but I like to use Boo in my spare time because its quick, fun, and clean.

I really can't muster up a coherent argument while staring at your avatar, dude. That thing creeps me out.

Like I said, it wouldn't help you SDK guys out much.

The templates seem to be in Express SKUs (standard disclaimer applies) so you could grab them out of there and convert them to whatever non-standard language you want.

If they were base classes, they'd be much harder to modify and use. Samples are the clear way to go here.

...

Were you talking about my Avatar? First I'm the new Longhorn spokesman and now I'm creepy

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

KosherCoder — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:04:11 GMT

Get Bill and Ballmer on Channel 9!

I think the last year or so has been a turn around year for MS. I've seen the perceptions of bullying the competition and negative press about Windows security, etc, decrease or at least retreated into the rabid-anti-MS community. PR such as Channel 9 has really taken off, returning to MS a human face it somehow had lost.

So, as was said earlier, keep up the good work.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

geekling — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 04:22:01 GMT

Sampy wrote:

If they were base classes, they'd be much harder to modify and use. Samples are the clear way to go here.

Of that I am not so sure - the point of prefabricated higher level objects like an about box and a splash screen is that you are, in all odds, simply going to use them "as is" because you need it and you need it now. Or you don't care; maybe you've been hiting the pipe a little bit too much lately and don't want to waste five minutes whacking together an about-box in a form designer. The point at which you begin to change many a thing is the point in which you inherit the class and apply liberious butchering with a weedwhacker to it.

aboutBox = Prefabs.AboutBox()
aboutBox.Brand = Image("me_giving_middle_finger.jpg")
aboutBox.Text = "I'm stealing your women folk"

prompt = UserPrompt()
prompt.UserPromptStyle = UserPromptStyle.Textbox
result = prompt.Prompt()
if result isa string: (...)

Come to think of it, though, I'm probably just going to hack something like this together and sell it for profit to other lazy programmers.

We never had this conversation.

Sampy wrote:

Were you talking about my Avatar? First I'm the new Longhorn spokesman and now I'm creepy

You're a creepy Longhorn spokesman. How's that?

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Programous — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 17:07:57 GMT

1) Microsoft makes .NET for Windwos, Linux, and Mac
2) Microsoft makes a .NET C++ complier that can make programs writen n C++.NET run on Windows, Linux, and Mac
3) IE.NET, all in .NET, yes, every last line in .NET, no execptions
4) Make D++.NET for no real reason
5) Make it easer to add lanuages to VS.NET
6) Open beta of longhorn
7) More jokes about why its called longhorn
8) Bill Gates on channel9.msdn.com
9) Rename Microsoft Anti-Spyware with Microsoft Counter-Intelligence ops
10) Sharepoint on Windows Home/Pro

Thats about it, thanks

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

MisterDonut — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 19:14:48 GMT

Programous wrote:

1) Microsoft makes .NET for Windwos, Linux, and Mac

Gotta agree with that one.. .NET was billed as cross-language with the potential to be cross-platform as well. I know there's the Mono project and Rotor, but I'd really like to see a very public showing of cross language && cross-platform development on Macintosh systems.

Coffeehouse - What would you like to see Microsoft do differently this year?

Christian Liensberger — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 20:34:15 GMT

dnrfan wrote:

scobleizer wrote: Macromedia is asking "What do you find to be the most obnoxious thing about Macromedia right now?" So, thought it'd be a good time to ask something similar: "what would you like Microsoft to do differently this year?"

I see your holding a large can opener there Robert, and worms are about to come out. You really want the answer to that?

This is just one:

MS keep saying that if they were to support more CSS, then it could break many websites.

Someone from MS plese explain how this could be? Cause I think many people might take MS's stance of webstandards for IE, as "We stuffed up by not doing it in the first place and it's too late to do anything about it now."

Here is a tip for you Scooby ( only suggestion and no offense intended )

Start holding the camera still
Stop laughing throughout the videos
Prepare some questions to ask and stick to them at minimum, then ad lib
Maybe use a RGB to Video Scan convertor and plug that into your camera for the shots of the computer screens. Easy enough to switch between cam and input.
Use an external mic thats between you and the interviewee

Channel 9 :

Offer better quality video clips. MS claimed years ago that they had DVD Quality at 500Kbps. Where the hell is that? QT Trailers are excellent quality for their size.

Shake the camera as often as you want! I like it this way.
And laugh! It's really cool and gives the video a cool touch!