In all my travels throughout the blogosphere, I've met quite a few people who viscerally hate Microsoft. In fact, a few even admit it openly on their weblogs.

So, I figure I'd write a guide called “how to hate Microsoft.” The problem is, there are two types of people:

1) Those who hate Microsoft.
2) Those who hate Microsoft but want to see it improve.

So, if you just plain old hate Microsoft, here's what to say:

“I hate Microsoft. Your monopoly is the only thing keeping you in business. You guys are unfair in business. You are weasels. Your software sucks. You smell. Anyone who works at Microsoft is a shill. Why do you keep bringing out software that infuriates me?”

If you hate Microsoft, but want us to improve, here's what to say:

“I hate Microsoft. Your monopoly is the only thing keeping you in business. You guys are unfair in business. You are weasels. Your software sucks. You smell. Anyone who works at Microsoft is a shill. Why do you keep bringing out software that infuriates me?”

Whoa, there's no difference between the two, right? Might look like it on the surface, but the person who wants us to improve will keep reading. After all, if you just hate Microsoft, why you reading a Longhorn blog?

If you want us to improve, now we're getting someplace. Take a deep breath. Relax. Feel better?

See, next week we're doing something different. We're asking you to help us improve Longhorn so it's an operating system that you can't hate.

Why is this a massive change? Everytime we've released a version of Windows before we kept it secret. We made anyone who saw it sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Even many of those of you who signed NDAs weren't really given full access to the development teams and often if you were, it was too late to really help improve the product.

Let me explain. I've only been a Microsoft employee for five months. Back in the good old days I was a beta tester. First with Windows 95 and NT, later with 98, ME, 2000, and XP.

I never really got to work with the development teams while the software was in a “pre-beta” state. I never had a weblog where I could tell them “I hate the UI” years before the software will ship. Yeah, we had secret newsgroups back in the good old days. Some of us even got invited to meet with the development teams. But, never did Microsoft ask me to write on my public weblog all of its dirty laundry so that it could improve.

Next week, that's exactly what we're asking for. Tear into Longhorn and tell us what you think.

We're giving our developers open access to a very recent build of Longhorn. Just days old at this point. And we want you to hate it. Openly. On your weblog. Tell us what's wrong with it. What can be improved about it.

On Monday we'll open up newsgroups where you can talk directly to the product teams here and tell us what you hate about Longhorn. We'll be there, listening. Taking notes. Having conversations with you.

Why is it different this time around? Because when it ships, we want it to be a product that's impossible to hate.

We're a long way from that, believe me. Next week I'll be joining you and posting things I hate about Longhorn (I have a long list myself). We want you to be brutal. Tough. Critical. Negative. Harsh.

Don't worry, we can take it. We want to have an operating system that's beyond reproach when it ships.

This is a big chance Microsoft is taking. We're bringing customers directly into our design process. We're giving our community members extreme power. We're giving the press an unparralleled look at how an operating system is designed and developed. Many of our executives are now reading RSS newsfeeds of blogs. I'll point at the best of the "I hate Longhorn" blogs and I'm sending the feedback I see directly to the product teams (plus, you won't believe who's reading the blogs lately).

It's the equivilent of if General Motors invited all of its customers into its design shop as it was developing its next Corvette and saying “hate it“ and then, when someone says “I hate the way that fender looks“ the design team changed the fender design.

Imagine what that is going to do for Longhorn.

So, hate our fenders. Er, our APIs. Hate Indigo. Hate Aero. Hate Avalon. Hate XAML. Hate WinFS. Hate our security model. Our app delivery model. Hate our compositing engine. Hate it all.

Just tell us how to make it so that you can't hate it anymore.

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Oh, a couple of other tips, here's a few ways to really get our goat:

1) Say “I have all that stuff on my Mac today.”
2) Say “a four-year-old Linux developer could make a better API than that.”
3) Say “wake me up when it ships.”
4) Say “you should have open sourced it.”
5) Say “it's too boring to hate.”
6) Say “I'll stick with XP cause I like the UI better there.”
7) Say “I hope there's still a bunch of security holes cause I'm on Linux and I can't make fun of you guys if you close them all.”
Say “XAML shmamel. Just give me HTML and be done with it.”
9) Say “why can't we go back to Windows 95?”

PS: if you see me at the PDC, say hi.


http://longhornblogs.com/scobleizer/posts/345.aspx

It's one thing to ask for comments and say you'll listen to them. It's another entirely to actively do something to rectify the situation. We'll have to wait and see if the 'new, open' Microsoft is actually listening to what the testers are telling them. I hope so, but I've become more than a little skeptical of software companies in general and Microsoft in particular over the last 10 years.

There are a lot of good comments on the page linked above, not your average immature web crap but well thought out posts.

There are a LOT of replies but good reading when your bored.

*shrug* I've used Windows and Linux before, and not to turn this into a debate over which is better, but I like Windows better. There are a lot more applications designed to run in windows, than in linux. Yes, freshmeat is a good source of new good applications, but Linux still has a way to go before it catches on as far as software avilabilty is concerned.

Moving along to the opening up the longhorn builds to the developers and some of the public. Bravo. I see it the way ID software did when it was working with Quake 3. Release a series of tests, see how it works, stomp out as many bugs as you can before hand, and then ship it so no one hates it.

When I've played with it I'll make the relevant squeaks and grunts. Before that, I'll keep my pie hole shut.