I am one person and there are many different views, but I thought this might be a good place.

So why is it that no matter what Microsoft attempts to do no one will care?

Now, this piece is based on my own experience and those I have spoken with. some of them have been Microsoft mvp's and other friends in the business. so here are some points I have made

  1. Microsoft is laser focused on its big customers, and that is business considered to be large enterprises. Microsoft will bend backward to make sure they get these contracts and this is inherently their problem. they don't play well with the customers google, apple and amazon are targeting. the new customers, the new startup, the new age mobile-first users. which brings me to the next issue.

  2. Millennials. Millenials are now getting into a position that is managerial or big decision drivers. these are also the customers who don't want an association with Microsoft ( you will be surprised how many of them talk about Internet explorer and Netscape days but little to none of them ever programmed in those days). which is inherently one of the biggest problems Microsoft faces. These customers are comfortable using notepad/electron/OpenOffice (if needed)/ google docs. All of these alternatives are subpar to office word and to be honest, 'word' is not needed by most people. unless a millennial had come from a large enterprise company the words office will not be muttered.

  3. Microsoft sucks at marketing. Let us be frank. Microsoft has 0 marketing skills. Microsoft is more than willing to give the sales pitch to sales and premier customers and wants them to do their dirty work ( AKA every consumer product Microsoft has ever had. kin, zun, windows phone, Casio spot smart watch, tablets). But these sales and premier providers are also selling other vendors software or platforms and those companies want to eat up all of Microsoft customers no matter what it takes. not to mention the pitch for other companies is easy. how many different google works solutions are there? 1 how many office 365 plans are there? depends there can be as little as 3 or as many as 11.

  4. .net developers do not want to invest in Microsoft. this is a hard one. but this is what I have seen with my years as a programmer and as an operation's personnel. .net future is wishy-washy, and this is because of Microsoft. they have brought in beautiful stacks (WCF, Silverlight, net core) but Microsoft over the years has been quick to make no mention of their stack and has spent more time talking about other peoples stack. this has cause developers including me on really trying to invest in Microsoft. if Microsoft is so quick to dismiss some of its creation that will mean I will have no jobs when Microsoft kills a product. a known application that is used by a lot of my friends is the optimum tv app. this app was written in Silverlight, and its still being published by optimum but you can bet your sweet *** that the next version will be re-written in another stack and not uwp

  5. the name Microsoft in front or associated with anything has got an image problem. you mention the word c# and everyone flocks to other languages. even though the language is amazing the tie-ins with .net are so great it might as well be a windows only language. I have invested deeply in windows azure, but every time I meet developers in aws or google cloud compute and tell them I in azure, first I see a level of disgust in their face, then they automatically say " oh you are a Microsoft stack". after correcting them and showing my Linux powers they reply "why are you in azure I thought azure is windows only". This in no way shape and form does this help Microsoft in any way and its because of the "Microsoft name" associated with it. sure Microsoft will win big long time customers with azure, but little to no startups will ever look at azure first because of the word Microsoft. another example, I interviewed a couple of developers from boot camps for my last company, and all of them had gmail address, and out of curiosity I asked if they have ever heard of outlook ( i was just finishing up some fixes on exchange so it was on my mind) and 2 of them replied yes. I asked if they ever used it and all of them said it was their primary account so I asked why they did not put that on their resume what they said next shocked me. " we were advised that nowadays recruiters that see Hotmail in an email address will think they are old and don't move well with technology, so in the bootcamp they made them all make Gmail accounts". This is the reality we live in Google cool, Microsoft bad.

  6. Microsoft solution to solve any of its problems is to use enterprise solutions first. the reality is companies want a simple solution. this is why windows cloud is bound for failure. I am currently working on an education project and I will tell you, no system admin I have seen even talk about windows cloud has anything positive to say. because Microsoft solution will undoubtedly be more complicated and less intuitive for any of the current districts I have seen use chrome books. Chromebooks are winning in the schools for a few reason

  • its easy to configure
  • a signout to lock screen essentials resets all cookies and cache aka a clean laptop
  • 0 maintenance. if its broken replace with another Chromebook sign on and all setting get carried over. broken laptops can be shipped back to the OEM
  • configuration and maintenance are done on the cloud for free. no need fo intune or MDM 0 things to install
  • you only get a browser
  • etc

  1. Microsoft cloud first mobile first strategy is DOA. Because people have moved on and Microsoft can not convince the new managers and boss where Microsoft stands. if outlook dies today no consumer will care most are already on Gmail.

  2. Licensing has to die. as a consumer is easy to forget about this, but us an enterprise customer you can love every product Microsoft has ever had but there is one thing every one will agree on Licensing form Microsoft is the 7th circle of hell.

  3. New Microsoft gives up way to easy. this has been hell for supporters and for people that have to work with Microsoft. how does one company try and sell Microsoft band to a health sector then in 2 years cant even say the product is dead. I have spoken with several Microsoft employees and not one can be straight with me and just says a product is dead. heck, i cant get them to tell me Silverlight is dead, all I get we will support it to its eol.

  4. Microsoft is not honest with its customers. this is painful because everything is on a roadmap, and unless you work for Microsoft you are only guaranteed that a product is functional so long as its currently under support. and support can change at any time. look at windows phone. last year Microsoft promise was that there was nothing to talk about windows phone that year because they were going to be talking big at mobile this year. well build is around the corner and customers still have no idea what Microsoft is talking about. windows phone has been on life support for 2 years and Microsoft can not be honest with us about this. I will be more than happy if Microsoft forked android and made their own version, but to just keep banking on the hope that its customers will come when they are not willing to put their money where their mouth is, is just pure evil.

These are a couple of thought I decided to throw down. but all is not lost I believe Microsoft can make drastic changes, heck they were able to take an os and evolve its development time from 2 years to a couple of weeks, ask any programmer if their company can do that I bet you it is going to be no. And yet still Microsoft has been able to make the change no one thought it was possible. but a company like Microsoft needs faithful and needs people willing to die by the sword, but it is getting too late and Microsoft is running out of time training the new generation. I believe for one Microsoft has to separate its name from lots of products as it does not serve them well at all. azure should be spawned and treated as a new company, products need to be simple, windows should be tied to nothing, hololense should be set free even if it dies like kinetic we need more customer innovations.