Etherpunk

If I were Microsoft...
This blog is not meant to be taken literally. It's a what-if type thing, meaning I haven't thought it through and I'm sure it's riddle with logical holes I've missed.

Microsoft has been fumbling around with some bad judgment calls and statements. I don't really have citations to back this up, it's just stuff I have gathered over the past few years. I suspect they are realizing that other gorillas are getting to be 800lbs as well and it's scaring them. They are reacting poorly.

• I would have three different Office profiles -- one where it makes it very easy for those not good with computers, another where it offers more advanced things to allow the newbie to advance, and the last one would be optimal for developers or power users. I would apply this logic to as much software as possible -- to allow people of all experience to benefit the most.
• Any unsupported Windows code should be have the source code viewable. I'm not saying open source it (e.g. GPL/BSD it, and I realize some code would require and NDA -- don't release the NDA stuff), I'm saying allow those still using it to update it or do what they want. Unless there is something illegal in the code somehow, Microsoft has nothing to lose by doing this and more to gain. It's unsupported -- so no one would get help from MS, so MS wouldn't have to worry about tech-support lines getting cluttered.
• The Big Leap(TM). If Vista x64 was a bit more stable / had more shit to run on it, then I would say lock in that on your sights. I want to lose legacy stuff. Serial ports, parallel ports, vga, everything except USB, audio, and dvi. Develop an open standard for new hardware. I have no problem buying a new computer -- so long as there is a good reason and the OS isn't the reason so much as it's time to drop the old shit which causes bugs and just general overhead that isn't needed. The old stuff done by third-parties usually doesn't have drivers that are up to snuff.
• For The Big Leap(TM) above, re-write the OS to remove old cruft. I want everything re-written in the latest .NET. Even notepad. I want the code gone over and looked at for exploits -- thus why I want even things as simple as notepad redone.
• Drop DRM. The free counter-parts, OSS, can do this without it and will eventually pass you unless you realize that's not that people want. Given the choice, which would someone choose? Think pro-actively.
• Don't think you can lock-in the future by locking everyone else out. There will always be someone willing to do it for free in there own time.
• Software patch roll-up's. I would LOVE to be able to download some .msi or something that would patch my computer to the latest. Obviously the only real advantage of this is for those that just got their computer up for the first time, but it would save on so much time.
• Be more like Google in the Do No Evil type attitude. It's working because people like things that benefit them, not shaft them. They will naturally want that and pay more for it. The control had before is slipping away fairly quickly, use the control to do some benefit to the world and who knows, you might make a dime.
• Games. Put some cheesy games in -- something to burn time and give people a chance to go "ooh, I like those type of games!". Games such as FPS, RTS, RPG, etc. They don't need to be great, something simple is preferable. Hell, you could even have a bundles "Microsoft Vista: Fully Loaded" version which has all this stuff plus other things. Might even have Office.
• Put out a FunPack again, but put more in to -- such as Office Templates, some Visual Studio examples, a few games (or would this be where the games should be instead of the previous line?), tweak-ui type program, some side-bar gadgets -- all of which you can download for free from the site, this is just a bundled pack. Get some money from the lazy or those that deem it nice stuff but not worth their time to download. Or you can even split these up on to different discs and sell them on the $5 rack or something.
• Boot manager -- I wonder what it would be like if Microsoft wrote a boot manager to boot OpenBSD, Linux, etc.
• Bring back the tagging file system. I could easily see why you wouldn't run it on your OS partition (what tags would be put for files in 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework' that wouldn't clutter a tag db?), I could easily see how cool it would be being put on to a data drive. Perhaps this job is better left to an outsider app and not built-in to the OS.
• Redo the Zune. Talk to Apple and see if you can work together on something. When people get a music player, they have certain expectations. Zune sometimes doesn't fill these in a manner people expect -- so if I see someone buying a Zune for their kid, I usually tell them to get the iPod unless the kid specifically asked for the Zune. Although, to be fair -- I know very little about the Zune except from what my friends and others around have told me, this is is mostly 3rd person info that I've relaying on this one.

I'll comment more on the mobile front when CingularAT&T updates the 8525 to WM6.

* Anything with a (TM) isn't really trademarked.. it's meant to be a joke.. please laugh.