Earth to Microsoft: to sell Windows Vista, how about updating Outlook?
By Triston McIntyre
Selling Windows Vista isn’t just about glassy interfaces, optimizing performance, and let’s not forgot those “gadgets.” Productivity software is just as important to consumers as a “modern” interface, and doing things like overhauling and reinventing applications like Outlook could have just be the key to getting consumers on board with Windows Vista, and might be the cause of some consumers’ dissatisfaction.
I’m the first to admit, when it comes to a lot of Microsoft’s productivity software and applications, I’m more prone to adopt a nicely made third party application like Thunderbird to handle my email processes. After thinking on it, I realized I really am not picky about who develops it; I just want it done right.
Charles Cooper over at CNET is very much of the opinion that Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot by not completely overhauling and reinventing productivity software like Outlook. He points out that Microsoft has a terrible habit of trying to patch up or bandage its software instead of simply rebuilding it from the ground up, and for a lot of Windows and Microsoft software, that is exactly what is needed.
Cooper writes, “I’ve got a suggestion: how about doing something to deal with e-mail and its discontents? Something grand–like bringing Microsoft Outlook into the 21st century. I don’t mean a tweak here and there; I’m talking about a top-to-bottom overhaul.”
Frankly, I doubt Microsoft will abandon its Band-Aid method anytime soon; with that in mind, the only real way to optimize a flawed or otherwise issue-laden program is to utilize a third party optimization application, and there is one group doing just that.
Third party application Xobni was just released from beta the other day, is designed to optimize and improve some of the shortcomings of Outlook. Bill Gates had a friendly word to say about the application, but apparently still isn’t taking the hint that Microsoft should act proactively to improve its software.
I think this is one of Microsoft’s main problems. It would rather let third party developers come in to bandage up problems than remedy the problems proactively. That isn’t to say that third party developers don’t bring awesome software to the table; OS X application Quicksilver, for instance, greatly improves productivity and is a great addition to a fantastic platform.
Cooper is exactly right to demand that Microsoft start reevaluating its software and not simply patching it up, but actually reinventing it so consumers and businesses get the performance that 21st century applications should deliver
Related:
Entry was posted
on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
under 
Print This Post
Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
May 7th, 2008
A replacement from Microsoft for Outlook Express does exist and it is called Windows Live Mail. Microsoft wisely decided not to tie this upgrade for just Vista and made it available to XP users too.
May 8th, 2008
So a complete overhauls of Outlook is what’s needed to encourage Vista sales? What??? And completely overhauling Outlook (and thus complicating adoption by corporate users) will increase Vista sales exactly how? Office 2007 (with the latest PC version of Outlook) runs just fine on XP. In my experience, the transition as a day to day corporate user from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 has been FAR less complicated than the transition from other Office 2003 apps to their 2007 counterparts. If I could have Outlook 2007 but retain Word/Excel/Powerpoint 2003, I definately would. I fail to see how ANY improvement to Outlook will increase Vista adoption, short of MS releasing an Outlook (and a correspondingly compelling upgrade of Exchange Server) that abandons XP compatibility thus forcing corporate users to upgrade.
May 10th, 2008
It’s definitely important for Microsoft to update all its products, and I think it’s been doing that as regularly as can be expected for any computer business. Not every business is going on a daily hunt for new products (in fact, most are not. I think especially small businesses (that make up a pretty huge fraction of the overall market when it comes to those that are buying technology products) are pretty behind the technology curve. You’ll find many of them still happily running XP (which still works very well for their purposes and the purposes of most people). I think unless you are actually in the technology industry, in fact, you will probably find that most of your competitors haven’t caught up to the latest and greatest and that older operating systems and even Vista in its current state will work just fine for your purposes. I think it’s interesting to see how Microsoft has been shaping up its customer service and response to user needs along with support systems such as enhanced and more affordable partner programs, etc., especially since all these Vista problems cropped up starting with its release. I think these changes shouldn’t be discounted and are actually probably more important since relationships are key to tech support and solution providers, computer consultants, etc. Developing more personal relationships and being more responsive to customer needs is going to be really critical as people start to demand more from their solution providers and computer companies, so I think Microsoft is probably on the right track if it is indeed improving itself in this area.