Internet Changes Everything

More on XP Evangelism or lack thereof

Seems there is quite the debate going within Microsoft, which seems to net out that they have been so focused on Longhorn, which is due out in 2006, that they forgot the issues customers are having with XP, notably that most have no idea of what XP does. Similar concerns are being expressed about Office and the lack of knowledge about the functionality therein.

This is an intersting concern. Software is supposed to be seamless; or is it. Reality is that software training doesn't happen. We all get MS Office and XP on our company laptops, but most people probably use 5% of the available functions.

Case in point: how may people use styles within Word to create reports? I would guess 1 or 2% maximum. Yet styles have been a core part of Word for several versions. Who knows what is being missed in Word 2003. And the the most common accolade I hear for XP is that its stable, and doesn't crash! Ouch .....

Either we all get training on Microsoft products on a regular basis, or the new functionality will continue to be lost on 98% of the users. The addition of new complexity coming within Longhorn and the paradigm shifts anticipated within that platform with regard to browsers, for example, could generate an enormous demand for training ..... or companies will choose to not spend that money, and will avoid the upgrade. Worse they will upgrade just to keep current with the enterprise license, and users will contunue to use the product just as they used the first version they encountered, probably three or four back.

This is going to be a challenge for Microsoft - the world is getting very complex, and maybe its time for simplicity and seamless functionality. How about customer user-testing of the interface just as we do with web sites?

The Microsoft evangelism approach is fabulous, and I happen to be a Microsoft fan. But the model needs work, and the strategy re-thought. Microsoft is too big to just be a software developer. They need to get outside that box.

Michael Gartenberg: More on XP Evangelism or lack thereof

Allchin was bemoaning the fact that few users were using MovieMaker 2 and other Windows XP features. I suspect the reason is no one told them they were there.

February 26, 2004 at 11:17 PM in @ My Views @, Microsoft | Permalink | TrackBack (4) | Top of page | Blog Home