How to use the Armchair CEO Forum!

[bloodyripper_au]

First of all, Put out a memo to Microsoft staff, "Political correctness is now banned, that fab is over. " And hire Sir Richard Branson to do that on stage thing where you tech companies release your products, and get a couple of hot chicks with big titties in bikinis on stage for **** to Motorboat. This will do two things, attract a hell of a lot of media attention. And extend the message of Microsoft is now a cool product with balls.
Next step, Make sure every UWP app is on every platform of Windows, it was a big letdown that Microsoft went to the trouble of merging everything into one system then fail to put its own apps on every UWP. Not having office on Xbox was a big letdown.

 

[bloodyripper_au]

Next, Build a Mobile phone, who gives a crap about how many units are sold, when trying to break into the market you have to be consistent when it comes to releasing new models, When Microsoft released the 950 and 950XL I thought it was on the right path but then Microsoft failed to stand behind the product in both advertising and the future of the mobile platform. Offering two sized phones is all Microsoft needed. offering phone like the 550 and 650 was just too much and it dumbed down the product. If Microsoft wants to be in the market it has to be done with a flagship product. Look at Apple, they never invented anything, they just take others ideas and sell them better.

 

[bloodyripper_au]

Everyone know in todays world people are mobile and Continuum was not a totally bad idea, but when people said this is stupid i'm not going to carry a keyboard around Microsoft should of ask them self's "What can we do to solve this problem" the technology is already here to answer that, with a laser keyboard. Microsoft didn't even need to build it into the phone, "That would be cool" but could of built it into the dock. And why on earth do we never hear of the Microsoft wireless display adapter, I stumbled across it about the time Google starting flogging the Chromecast. Microsoft had the better product but never pushed it to consumers.
Next step in online content, Not sure where to start there without seeing what sort of deals have and are being done. but without music in the Microsoft store, puts a shadow on the TV & Films.

 

[bloodyripper_au]

Anyways that's enough from me right now. I got to get ready for work. with a bit of luck my new Android phone will show up today, "That's right, I'm switching mobiles, Being one who has only ever used a Windows platform smartphone is jumping ship" My 950 has been having major issues and with no new mobiles available from Microsoft. I'm left with no choice. But on the plus side I will filially be able to use the NFC feature on it, my 950 had NFC but my Bank never came out with the feature in its Microsoft app, yet it does have the feature in its Android and IOS app. I did have my hopes up at one point Microsoft was going to allow cards in its Wallet app (Non USA versions, I'm in Australia) but it never happened. and the Phone i'm getting is a DooGee S60. Most the specs are higher then the Microsoft 950 except the USB port is only a Micro USB not USB C. but I can live with that as buying USB-C cords in servos has been an issue, but only of late have I started to see the odd one or two in stores.

 

[Touseef Malik]

The most important thing and priority should be UWP.
And another thing which no company focuses on are Indie Developers.

There are many brights minds out there with brilliant ideas and hunger to develop something great both in apps and in web. Microsoft and other big companies as well just assume that every new startup will have a team.

Sometimes there is just an Indie Developer who wants to make great apps/ web apps or games, but he doesn't have any investment. So do the following for the indie developers.

1. Simplify Azure : Azure has too many resources and too many options to be understood by one person.
2. Simplify Web : Web development is getting more and more complex with way too many options out there, and too many frameworks, just like xamarin is trying to simplify mobile development, web should also be simplified as well.
3. Extend Bizspark : Extend bizspark to 3 years again.

SUMMARY : If I am an indie developer who has limited or no budget but some great ideas for apps/websites/games. I should be simple and easy for me to go on and create my app one time with simpler cloud technologies, just straight forward as templates in visual studio. and also I can use bizspark for 3 years so I can confidently take my first step. Microsoft can have its share later on if my company generates revenue, but if I don't even have confidence for first step how will I start my company?

 

[genuinefrand]

For consumer part:

1) i would totally stop this hypocrisy of Windows 10 Mobile. It's too late. No one cares anymore
2) I'd stop selling Music, films and tv shows on Microsoft Store. Too expensive
3) I'd stop all efforts in mapping solution from Microsoft. No mobile platform to use it. No one use maps on Windows 10. Google with maps and Waze are too far ahead from Microsoft. There's no hope to catch up one day.
4) I'd stop all efforts with the browser. Let's make a deal with Firefox and make it default browser on Windows 10. Waste of money, waste of time and make Bing the search engine

Improvements
5) Improving touch UX on Windows 10 devices. Touch is very important to compete with Ipad.
6) Let's make phones again. Real Nokia hardware and camera experience with Android but new customization from Microsoft and all Microsoft apps preinstalled and Cortana
7) Focus on integration between phones and Windows 10 devices (remember oneclip)
8) Keep pushing efforts with new Microsoft hardware (Panos if you hear me)

 

[OldSchoolTechie]

1. Acknowledge that we live in an Hybrid world with the cloud and on-prem and working together to have at least an on-premise friendly version the original products with a future for the next 10 years.

2. Revive the reference labs to demonstrate how system and apps should be built, beyond doing the simple samples. Get someone who has some real world experience on the product teams, and can consider what the consumerization of IT has done to ITPros and help fill the expectation void that the greenfield apps create, because they don’t have to legacy and don't deal with it. Using a combination of reference builds and example models, write the documentation at the time of release (not 18 months after).

3. Reset the Store with a new set of policies on quality and duplicity. I think we have enough versions of the flashlight app or the Calculator, time to clear out the bottom feeders. Form a team who work on behalf of major names to set a UWP foundation which brings some quality and elegance to the store, with apps that flow and are crisp and minimal. Jumpstart and stick with it, to address the gap to catch up UWP to iOS. This would include MS funding for companies to build quality apps to bring to the store. Not some race for volume of apps. Sit with legal and form a new approach that put someone in charge of cutting the junk out of the Store. Take a look at the top 250 apps in all stores, pick 20 apps, build and release a similar type app, then publish the full code base to github to energize UWP developers with a high bar set of feature rich apps to model after.

4. Add to the team for Azure, someone who is motivated into unifying the portals into a real one stop management experience, instead of multiple variations which run out of capabilities which forks into a whole new design. Finish making the migration before you establish a new design style and make someone responsible for turn off the portal because all necessary and useful features have been completed.

5. Establish a Wizards builder team, who created bullet proof set of wizards to help Small and midsize Business people move safely to O365. The team would acknowledge that ITPros mostly make a mess of their operations, embrace that, and still help them make the migration without bring the crap, bad practices or security holes because they don’t know how to make it work properly. This would include Wizards that converted/upgrade (Word 97 .doc) files to a new generation, so the valuable information is kept alive on support formats.

6. Continue to build bridges to others and be seen as the one who brings great cross vendor teams together for the betterment of all.

7. Bring focus to the Edge team so they can finish the feature build and bring it to the level it needs to be.

8. Establish a Concepts education team, to help educate the fundamental concept shift for both internal people (new and old) and external customers, so that people speak and understand common metaphor, which includes translating from old school Windows 2K concepts into new gen Container and data government. Get everyone to understand what the direction is so they all row together.

9. Form a public service group (with other partners) which helps to educate people how to deal with cyber-security risks and their personal responsibility to keep themselves safe.

 

[Shawn Cicoria]

Graft the Windows shell to Linux and dump the core os

 

[MetalFan777]

I would buy Cakewalk out of Gibson and make Sonar the Logic killer for Windows PCs. And make Music Creator a Garage Band killer for 2 in 1s and make it for the store.

Make Sonar as a Office Suite with pay once per big change version and a 365 versjon. And make both as Insiders so that we have a say in the direction for the development. And that we have a service team that can fix bugs in a resonnable time.

A rebranding might be the only way, but stay true to the history of Twelve Tone Systems/Cakewalk. And of course make it backward compatible to current Sonar, Music Creator, Effects, Synths and Sample pack. Everything that is in the Cakewalk Store today.

 

[Nehemoth]

Well, it looks like I would do something different.

For once I will continue the same model which Nadela had implemented, so Nadela stays there, I would only add a little something: A Mobile Strategic.

Mobile Strategic

I would build like 3 Phones, like great Nokia Phones.
The OS Would be Windows Mobile of course.
My expectations for these phones would be to fail but I will provide Support for the Next 3 years.
Every Year and a Half or so I will released an upgraded Phone Experience, I mean, New versions of these phones.
And the most important thing, I would create an app for every major service out there: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. And when I mean an App I'm talking about to create the best experience possible that can been bring to the end user with the allowance of the service owner.

When you think about these apps, think about that great app of IMDB when Microsoft released Windows Phone 7.5 years ago.

Then these apps should be differentiated from the one which can be found on Android and iOS. But the Microsoft Apps should be exactly the same but with better features.

This strategic should last at least for 10 Years. I would released companion hardware (for the cost) like Samsung Dex which will allow us to get into the enterprise segment.

So would be cheaper for a company to invest in a Windows Phone and a Dock instead of a whole computer or a laptop. Of course this would be exclusive available to companies which have a Microsoft contract.

So Microsoft would have an approach to consumers and the enterprise in place. Windows Mobile (I would change this name too, something which can be relatable or 'verbable' [Blackberry, Android, those are cool names]). Microsoft OS should be Closer than Android but more open than iOS.

As per investment this approach shouldn't be expensive as Microsoft it's continue developing the OS for Mobile devices, has continue to developing Mobile Apps (they're will have to add the new Apps teams but that shouldn't be expensive either), Microsoft has continue doing research and development of Mobile devices too, so shouldn't be expensive either. Thing about a One Plus One like company inside Microsoft with a Development team to build the great apps.

Everything else will arrive by itself. When people see how great Windows Mobile its, that every app they're need is there, that those apps are better than their counterparts from Android or iOS. That you can access all the services from Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc without losing any functionality and even gaining some. When the enterprise see that Microsoft is really about long commitment and they hardware delivers and its cheaper because you already have a Microsoft Ecosystem in place (Exchange, Skype, Office 365, Windows, etc).

In essence that would be my approach.

 

[anon(10324754)]

Nadella doesn't pay attention to this forum in any way. MSFT is not a community driven project. Why do we keep on acting like it is?

In any case, and in the spirit of the thread, I would just keep on with what they're doing. Keep the important apps on ios and android so there is a mobile presence, half-assed is better than none at all. Half of their consumer driven app ideas are useless without mobile so I would develop them only within the business sector. They need to keep people who stick with and like office 365 and the related software. That way, we can still keep Cortana and maps etc, firing for business informational uses and not used at all for navigation in daily life. Then I would develop a device, called Office Mobile, that is designed for pure business use and integrates everything in suite of Office 365 apps with a concentration on pulling data from the cloud and collaboration. If they are pulling out of mobile they need to concentrate on what's left and go for it. And then, I would tell the public that this is very definitely what the organisation stands for and where they are headed.

 

[soulcancer]

Create an apple and android app for every single windows 10 service and app. Maps, contacts, movies and TV, photos. Then I would license out Microsoft specific phones with as little Google apps as possible and all Microsoft apps.

 

[Donald Rowland]

To the frustration of many/most consumer and corporate customers Microsoft has a long running habit of bringing a product just to the point of being truly ready for market only to then bail on it to run to the next shiny idea. R&D is a good thing but not the only thing. It is this habit that has denied Microsoft key earnings and Market share. So the 1st thing to do is to correct that bad habit. I would start with the Phone market. The most recent bail that really has core MS supporters really questioning if they should stay a supporter. Nadella broke his promise in this space and therefore is not the right person to bring it back to life. He will need to step aside, perhaps to focus on Cloud but no longer the CEO. It will take time and many cases of MS sticking with a product and successfully marketing it before the reputation/perception can be reversed. But this is the only path forward. Microsoft used to be known for thier dominant marketing, they need to bring back that success as part of the habit correction.

 

[Ecafrus]

We created the Armchair CEO forum to provide everyone with a place to enter their thoughts, suggestions and opinions on what Microsoft should do next. What would you do if you were in charge!? Share your thoughts, plans and opinions right here!

Please: Keep all threads productive, respectful and on-topic to the original post!

 

[Ecafrus]

Microsoft needs to humbly appreciate Steve Jobs' intuitive sense for clean, clear messaging. A well named product is worth billions (in name only).

 

[Dennishuang]

1) Improve Windows feedback hub. Add facebook-like social aspect, so as to create a bridge to communicate between users, insiders and product manager.
2) Unify outlook task, Microsoft todo, office task and other task-taking platform into Microsoft todo. Integrate Skype for biz into Microsoft team.
3) Add core principle into fluent design (animation, light and other elements are too distant and not representative as a design language).
4) Make visual studio free for all, add Dart and Swift support.
5) Improve spider web and ranking system in Bing, pursue Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter integration.
6) Accelerate LinkedIn integration in Dynamic CRM and PowerBI.
7) Unify design language for all Office 365 and Azure web service (reference to google's approach)
8) Shift core office feature to cloud and web, improve office document multi-person collaboration and sharing.
9) Adobe acquisition. Microsoft needs Adobe and Adobe cloud.
10) Improvement on Mixed Reality: Enable room camera image for AR-like features, materialize Cliff house, lower computer prerequisite, add wireless module for headsets to cut cords. Introduce the hero VR headset from Microsoft.
11) Postpone Hololens 3 introduction for further active research development, promote low cost mixed reality device for eco-system.
12) Introduce Microsoft Windows Core and Windows shell. Eliminate tethering between explorer.exe and other win32 remains. Eliminate dynamic library (although I do not see this coming).
13) Buy Valve. Steam is very crucial, importance equivalent to Nokia previously.
14) Buy more CRM companies for knowledge and talent acquisition.
15) Stop/sell Microsoft film&TV. Microsoft is not a content creator.
16) Add facebook twitter integration back to People apps.
17) Introduce completely folk Android OS, targeted for Business Users, pre-installed on Business phones made by partners.
18) Introduce Surface 4 with phone and LTE feature. ID will be booklet-like, dual screen with minimum bezels, and run Windows on ARM.
19) Build Data Centers in China, India, Singapore, Spain and Netherlands powered by clean energy.
20) Open Microsoft Store in London, Paris, Rome, and other Europe countries.
21) Buy Quora.

 

[Brian Mueller]

1. Stop rebooting and start evolving platforms.
2. Solve the app gap by bringing back the Android Bridge and updating the iOS bridge to the latest API and the ability to run without any changes. Expand the bridge to full windows.
3. Keep developing windows mobile for the low end, while developing Windows on Arm for the high end.
4. Evolve UWP to UAP (universal app platform). Leverage PWA and WASM as target to natively support iOS, MacOS, Android, Legacy Windows, Modern Windows, Windows Mobile, Linux and any new platforms that support PWAs.
4. Bring Java and Swift support to .net CLR to attract Android and iOS developer.
5. Develop an ecosystem of devices to cover every catagory possible. Low cost TV device, cross platform watch platform, smart speaker, home server, smart home, etc.. build first party devices in every catagory and license out to third parties as well.
6. Rework XBox UI and capabilities to enhance media capabilities. Use this UI on low cost first and third party TV devices and built in to TVs.
7. Buy Nintendo, let them manage the Japanese market and bring their ip to Xbox.
8.Buy Adobe
9.Build out an ecosystem of entertainment services ( music, movie, books, audio books, podcasts, etc..) Support them on as many platforms and countries as possible. Make family accounts.
10. Buy Spotify.
11. Create an ecosystem of services like maps, bing, pictures etc. Support on as many platforms and countries as possible. Make all these services best in class.
12. Concentrate and expand on business verticals like healthcare, education, legal, etc.. flush out support for specific niche needs in these areas.
13. Flush out OneDrive with more capacity options shared storage space, cold storage, back ups, etc..
14. Expand Mixer capabilities to become YouTube competitor.
15. Treat everything as a platform with built in APIs that allow extending the capabilities of everything.
16. Engineer in deep customization options into everything.
17. Keep Cortana relevant by getting together with other smart assistants vendors and making cross platform API.
18. Fix Skype
19. Keep promises we make. If we can't make them we explain why and make some kind of amends.

 

[ScubaDog]

Genuinefand: First, quite a few posts on this thread should make it clear that SOME people DO care about Windows mobile still, myself included. Second, some of us ONLY used Microsoft to purchase our music because A) we hate the randomness of streaming and B) loved the immediate integration of purchased music with our account and library and C) DIDN'T feel it was too expensive. Third, some of us ONLY use Bing maps and wouldn't use Google if it was the only way to find the Holy Grail. Fourth, I partially agree with the browser point--except I think they should DUMP ALL EFFORTS TO MAKE THE BROWSER INTO ITS OWN SUITE OF TOOLS. I simply want a browser. A browser the easily, quickly, consistently opens websites. Period. I completely agree with your fifth point, though. Windows 8 was FAR better at touch than Windows 10 will ever hope to be...making a bunch of hard to see, idiotic wireframe icons needs to change. Also agree on your sixth point. I knew Microsoft would ruin Nokia's devices once they got a hold of them. Your point seven is spot on and I'd agree with point eight, except I want Panos gone just about as badly as I want Nadella gone.

 

[anon(7824163)]

OneMan's OneCore

I grew weary of fighting the spam messages as my weekend honey-do list is still active. I attached my response as a *.pdf.

 

[andrew-in-woking]

If I was CEO of Microsoft, I would redesign the company and it's products and services around what customers actually want and value, rather than around what the company wants to deliver to them.

For enterprise customers, I would reposition Microsoft as a business solutions company, not just an IT solutions company. I would make Windows hardware OEMs into suppliers by offering enterprise customers total solution packages, including hardware that was purchased on their behalf and included in solutions as a service packages. This would give Microsoft greater market power in that space through a more comprehensive relationship with business customers. I might do this through a strategic alliance (e.g. like the one MS currently has with BDO) or by buying a company with similar capabilities and scalability.

As CEO I would have to accept that Microsoft had missed out on a whole cycle of tech industry innovation, namely the move to mobile devices.

Windows, MS's flagship product which they have sacrificed so much to protect, is not what customers actually value. Both businesses and consumers value the software that has been written to run in a Windows environment which enables them to work or do whatever it is they want to. While some of that software is written by Microsoft, the majority of it is not and so I would redesign the way Microsoft works to better deliver the value that customers want, i.e. I would get Windows out of the way as much as I could.

One option for this, especially for enterprise customers, is to make Windows entirely cloud-based so that the only hardware needed locally was thin clients. If the nature of the "OS" or remote software execution environment was extensible to run on any size of screen, e.g. 4-6 inch phone-type devices, 7-12 inch tablet devices and then full "PC" type devices, this would overcome the problem of the mobile gap. The requirement of course would be that all apps running in the remote execution environment would have to be extensible, like UWP, responding to different screen sizes by changing the UI.

The difference with a completely cloud-based execution environment is that it could be per session so you could be using an app on your phone-type device and be half way through some data entry when you get to your desk and turn on a desktop-type device which simply carries on from where you stopped on the smaller screen, but now the UI is ideal for mouse and keyboard input and you are able to finish what you started.

Blockbuster famously refused to buy Netflix, in 2009 I think, for $50m because they were convinced that people would always want to go into a shop and hire physical DVDs. The tipping point for Blockbuster was when they ignored Apple's removal of DVD drives from many of their Mac devices. I see the number of apps that are being pulled out of the Windows Store as the equivalent of Apple's decision to phase out DVD players. If somebody was writing software now for the open market, it seems very unlikely that they would target Windows 10.

If I were CEO of Microsoft I would fire anybody who thought that "people will always want a full desktop PC experience" as that attitude will destroy the company.


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