Dear Microsoft,
I thought you might like to hear from an outside voice about some of your products and your future. While I am a professional consultant who works mostly with Apple products, I spend plenty of time with Windows (mostly in Parallels), and I have been an Xbox gamer since the beginning.
I know you have struggled to figure out your place in the world where Apple has surprised you with the iPhone and iPad, and Google has done so much in the internet realm. I applaud you for your bravery in making some bold changes with Windows 8. I had my first look at it on a consult recently. It certainly looks much different from any other Windows on the surface, and I think the tile-based interface is intriguing. I still think it may need some more interface tweaking, as I found it a bit difficult to figure out how to change things and set things up.
I see that you are now requiring anyone who wants to use the built-in email program to register a Microsoft account. While I can sort of relate to this, since you have to have an Apple ID to use the iTunes Store, App Store, or iCloud, it has never been required to simply configure email. I had to create two accounts and jump through several hoops since I was setting up an account for a child. I had originally created an account for the parent to buy Office online for Windows, but had to go through a totally different interface for the same parent to get a new license for the Mac version of office. Then, after those two purchases, I still had to go through additional purchase-based id verification when configuring the parental stuff on the child’s PC.
Wasn’t it verification enough when we used the credit card to buy an office license? Please unify these things. I also could not use self-signed SSL certificates that are fairly common for hosted small business email. I had to setup email without SSL, which I hate doing, and then enable it later. I was happy that it at least let me do that.
Microsoft, while I don’t think you will win over most Mac OS or iOS users with Windows 8, I really do appreciate the fact that you are taking risks with your user interface and trying to make a big leap forward instead of little incremental moves from the XP lineage. I do wish that you would ditch the backslash for paths and follow the *nix OSes of the world, and web addresses, and just use slashes. This is just nitpicking, I know. Having an actual *nix core might make things really interesting in the future, but that is another topic.
Now, I want to let you know what I think you are doing right, and what I think should be your template or inspiration as you move forward: firstly, the Xbox and Xbox 360. You have earned my loyalty in my living living room by providing a solid gaming platform, with (and this is really important), the best gaming controller on the market. When the Xbox first came out, I bought adapters so I could use Sony PS2 controllers on it, and then when the smaller Japanese Xbox controllers hit the market, I paid extra to use those. I am very happy that those are basically the standardized controllers that the Xbox 360 shipped with. While Kinect is cool, and it is great that you released a developer SDK for it, don’t forget that millions of gamers, however athletic we might be outside the home, just want to sit on the couch with friends and family and game with a controller in our hands.
The Xbox interface has evolved over the years, and it now seems to be some of the inspiration for the Windows 8 interface. I think that whenever your customers tell you that something is difficult to figure out in Windows 8, you should keep going back to the Xbox dashboard to see how you did it easily there. I find the Xbox interface to be very easy to use, and it really helps bring some consistency among games. The fact that things like audio music control, chatting and friend management are system-wide and not dependent on other developers to get them right, are very important.
The next piece you have gotten right for years running is Xbox Live. I signed up on the first day (for Mech Assault) in November of 2002, and have been a happy customer every since. While Sony Playstation customers may argue that they get to play for free online, I am happy to pay a yearly fee for dedicated servers, reliable matchmaking, consistent chat interface, and other benefits. I think that by paying for this service, it makes you accountable to your customers to deliver good service year after year. I think Xbox Live is one of the best things you have ever done. Please don’t forget what makes it a success!
Finally, thank you very much for your new SmartGlass iOS app! I really appreciate that you understand that those of us who are loyal to you in the living room might have chosen other platforms for our mobile devices. Now that I can use my iPad or iPhone with my Xbox as a supplemental interface, I think you have already countered some of the things that Nintendo might be doing with its new system. Please make the next Xbox even more friendly in interfacing with Macs and iOS devices. While you might hope to grow your ecosystem with Windows PC and phone tie-ins, please resist the urge to lock out Mac and iOS users. You live in a mixed world. Embrace it.
Thanks for listening.