Microsoft's Progress is Slow, But Not Out of Sight
March 5, 2008
at 12:34 pm
in microsoft, software, standards, technology, windows vista
Comments (0)
We already know that Microsoft needs to start listening to the community and hearing what they have to say. We already know that not only do they need to listen, but they need to involve the community in core decision-making processes with their software, from the very planning stages. What do we as users want out of the software? What do we want to be able to do with it? How would we, as users, actually go about doing this with said software, and what features can be added to make it easier and more enjoyable?
Twoof the teams at Microsoft which have isolated themselves from this ideal are, mainly, the Windows and Office teams, and quite possibly a bit of the Windows Live team. Windows Vista, while not a disaster for me personally, was one for multitudes of people. Office 2007, while having many excellent features, was a trainwreck for the power user (Outlook 2007, anyone? No thanks…). Where are all of these complete OS/cloud integration features from Windows Live? No where to be seen.
Onthe flips side, there are many teams at Microsoft who do an incredible job at listening to users. The Xbox and Xbox Live teams, absolutely the Zune team, and while they’re not heard from too often, the Microsoft Research teams. They all listen to what users want out of products, what features, whether software or hardware, would benefit to the end user, and begin using their brilliant development minds to follow through on those ideas. They have us, the geeks and user advocates, to literally translate what the average end-user wants to do or has frustrations with into language that Microsoft developers and technical users can understand.
Onething that made headlines today is that Microsoft Research has opened up the Singularity project to the public for SDK and RDK use, for 100% free. If you do not know, Singularity is a very small Operating System which runs its microkernel and processes as managed code. Not only that, but it’s written in the C# language. For the non-technical users, this means it’s a completely different operating system than anything else out there both in terms of its programming and the potential it has. What Microsoft Research has done with Singularity is create a virtually uncrashable operating system with insane performance. People have been begging Microsoft to release this to the public, to technical users and developers, for over a year now. They’re finally listening.
Whatdoes this mean? It means that they’re making progress. It means that technical users can use Singularity, get down into its core, and start making suggestions to the Singularity team of how they’d like to see it improved. It means that with Microsoft’s brilliance, and our end user input, we could potentially be involved in the planning stages for a next-generation Operating System from Microsoft.
Now,I’m not saying that Singularity will be the base for the next version of Windows. The Singularity developers have already states that’s not its purpose. However, with input from the community, it very well could be the case that Singularity’s ideas make it into the next version of Windows, something that would significantly help us all. Nor am I saying that this has any relationship to my previous post about Microsoft’s involvement to the community, though a few people from Microsoft have already commented to me about it.
Microsoftis making progress, no matter how slow it may be. Let’s just hope it’s not too slow. And let’s hope that not only my cry to Microsoft, but that of thousands of others, speeds up that process.
Microsoft:Please listen to the community in all areas of your software development from the very planning stages. It will benefit the end user, and ultimately, it will benefit you as a company.
Microsoft Needs Help
February 29, 2008 at 1:16 am in microsoft, operating systems, technology, windows vista Comments (4)
First of all, please Digg this. Microsoft needs to hear our voice.
Read on. I promise I’ll get your attention.
I’m a nobody. Microsoft has probably never heard of me in any capacity. I’m not popular in the online community. I’m not an executive and I have no business experience. My opinion counts for very little and my voice is rarely heard.
I’m a user. But I’m more than that. I’m a user advocate, or at least I try to be.
I’m a geek. Or, at least, that’s what my family and friends call me. I’m the person my peers turn to when they need help with technology.
I educate. Not only do I help solve their problems, but I also educate them how to better go about using their product in the future.
I AM a user. Regardless of how much I know about technology (and I know a lot), I’m frustrated with all of it.
Microsoft isn’t all about Windows. Microsoft isn’t all about competing with other companies. Microsoft should be about me. This bold statement requires one to ask why I am so important. The answer is not all that simple given Microsoft’s current ideals surrounding their software products. Businesses and people want Microsoft products. OEM vendors pay countless sums of money in order to license Windows and other Microsoft software products to provide to customers. Microsoft owns the market and this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Why am I so important in Microsoft’s world?
I’m important because I start my computer every day and use Microsoft’s products. I’m important because my entire life in the year 2008 relies on software that Microsoft has engineered and produced with millions of working man-hours, whether it be Windows, Office, Media Center, Sync, the Zune, Windows Mobile, or Live Services. My entertainment revolves around Microsoft products. My communication revolves around Microsoft products. To restate: My life revolves around Microsoft products.
Have I gotten your attention? Probably not. Microsoft, after all, has an overwhelming reputation that they make horrible products. Bill Gates has a reputation of being a money-hording and self-righteous person. When people think about Microsoft, they think about power, control, and quite possibly, hopelessness. Let me be the first to say that I utterly loathe such statements as these for their downright ignorance to the truth.
I see it every day. I deal with it every day. “Microsoft is horrible.” “Microsoft can’t produce a good product.” “I can’t stand this new ‘Vista’”. I sit here using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on 4 custom-built computers surrounding me, never had one single issue with Windows Vista since the public Beta, wouldn’t dare touch any other operating system, and yet I am somehow frustrated to my very core with Windows Vista.
It’s not about what’s wrong with Vista. It’s about what’s not right with Vista. It’s about overpromising and under delivering. It’s about why my voice and the voice of countless others has been all but silenced in the ears of Microsoft’s decision-makers. I’m not frustrated with the product. I’m frustrated with the ideology that Microsoft has adopted over the last decade.
What happened to Microsoft’s original idea of technology in the hands of the average person?
The average person has been removed from the map in Microsoft’s mind. The end user has been allowed to be trampled on by not only the products that Microsoft releases, but also the ways in which they are released to the customer. Microsoft has allowed OEMs to not only frustrate, agitate, and torment end users with technology, but also cause the horrible reputation that Microsoft has in the software community at this very point. Microsoft has lost all quality control outside of the development labs and the end user, the very people that matter the most to the success of Microsoft, are suffering because of it.
The frustrating thing from my perspective is that the end user typically is too ignorant to know what to do about it. They don’t know what hardware to buy or which software to run. They don’t know how important updates are. They don’t know the difference between Allow and Cancel in UAC. They come to us, people like me, the geeks, the user advocates, pleading for a solution. We try our absolute best to not only provide this solution but educate them in the meantime.
And we, the community of user advocates, have been begging Microsoft to listen to us for over a decade. We, the community of user advocates, are the most user-facing people Microsoft has to tell them what people want in Microsoft’s products. We, the community of user advocates, have been utterly ignored for over a decade. And yet, we, the community of user advocates, have not stopped our relentless plea for Microsoft to hear our voices as customers, as loyal customers, who want nothing other than a quality product for us to advocate to our peers; for us to evangelize to everyone around us; for us to be able to say “This product is AWESOME.”
That’s us. Who is Microsoft and what can they do?
Microsoft is a company with potential like no other software company in the world. Microsoft is a company which houses some of the most brilliant minds in technology. Microsoft is a company which contributes more to technology as a whole through things which stem out of Microsoft Research. Microsoft is a pioneer in the gaming industry. Microsoft is one of the greatest success stories this world has ever seen.
There are areas of Microsoft, including those I have just mentioned, which have done so much for the end user. Microsoft Research listens to what users want to see in products. Where are these amazing technologies in primetime Microsoft products? The Xbox Live community is virtually flawless. Why isn’t this development strategy used when developing other Microsoft software? I saw dozens of tips submitted to Microsoft about how the Zune 1.0 could be improved: all of them made it into Zune 2.0 and it’s a fantastic product, better than anything else out there. What happened to Windows?
Microsoft needs to stop thinking about how their operating system software and office productivity software will benefit corporate environments. Microsoft needs to dedicate entire teams to finding out what the community has to say about their products and how they can be improved in the way that users want, not the way that Microsoft executives want. Not only do these teams need to be created, but these teams need to have direct influence as to where, how, and when these ideas make it into core Microsoft products.
Microsoft has long had conferences where they get feedback from users. Why haven’t any of these major ideas made it into Microsoft products? What happened to the lines of communication? Which Microsoft executive decided our ideas weren’t good enough for the product?
Microsoft has to stop thinking about its business partners and start thinking about itself for once. While Microsoft benefits financially by partnering with, say, Hewlett-Packard, HP is one of the prime examples of an OEM which is utterly trashing Microsoft’s reputation by bundling software which is not only completely pointless, but ultimately hurts the user’s experience with the Windows operating system. HP has turned a Microsoft product into an HP branded product, complete with trial software from companies which no one has ever heard of or services which will never be used just so HP can make money.
Microsoft needs to threaten OEMs concerning such behavior which tarnish their reputation. Microsoft needs place strict limits as to which hardware and which software is allowed to be installed on these machines which are sold to consumers in order for Microsoft to provide OEMs with the licenses in the first place. And Microsoft needs to put their money where their mouth is and actually follow through with pulling OEMs licensing for those who do not completely and fully comply. This would and does require a virtual reconstruction of Microsoft’s business ideals.
OEMs are controlling Microsoft at this point and it’s hurting us. Advertisers and software which have little use for the consumer are controlling OEMs and they’re hurting us even more. It’s Microsoft’s duty to step in on behalf of the end user and provide them with the experience they deserve. Not only is it the end user’s experience that’s on the line, it’s clearly Microsoft’s reputation and future support from the community.
Have I gotten your attention? I most certainly hope so.
I’d like to think that all of my dedication (and not only mine but the tens of thousands of people in the community), will have paid off in the end by Microsoft undergoing major changes in order to better involve the community as a core part of the company, as advisors and consultants, to improve the quality of Microsoft’s products, Microsoft’s reputation, Microsoft’s stance within the technology and software world, and Microsoft’s future as a great company who actually listens to their users.
You can’t know how long we wait for the day that people can actually say they respect Microsoft. And believe me, we won’t be giving up anytime soon should our efforts at this point in time be ignored just like the rest. The reason we never give up is because we care about the end user; ultimately we are just end users ourselves who happen to know about the technology behind product.
We want quality. We want a voice. We want to be embraced by a company who could give us such amazing products. We want Microsoft to succeed.
Please help us.
On behalf of the entire Windows and technology user community,
Adam Reyher
Just When You Think You Have it Perfect
January 19, 2008 at 12:19 am in hardware, keyboards and mice, microsoft, operating systems, windows Comments (3)
It all started with this, my awesome keyboard. Three weeks ago, the Logitech bluetooth receiver decided to go bad on me, leaving me with no keyboard other than a 8 year old Microsoft PS/2 model which I’m surprised still has more than half of the keys working.
Just prior to this time, my motherboard’s PCIe-x16 slots went out as well. Luckily, ASUS has a relatively no-questions-asked Warrenty Exchange policy and I shipped it out for an exchange. It just so happens that I had a brand new Intel motherboard sitting around which I was planning on using for a secondary machine which would, in turn, become my server. I installed my Intel board, and with a quick reactivation of Windows, I was on my way. Then, the keyboard receiver gave out.
Unfortunately, the Intel motherboard doesn’t have any PS/2 ports, which left me without a keyboard for around 24 hours. I quickly picked up a $10 wired USB keyboard from my local Best Buy. I then proceeded to call Logitech and, once again, ship out the bad receiver for a no-questions-asked warranty exchange of the receiver.
Two days ago, the receiver arrived in the mail and I was quite ready to get rid of that horrible wired keyboard and go back to the diNovo Edge. My ASUS motherboard also arrived. Upon plugging in the receiver to my computer, Windows seemed unable to locate any drivers for the device. This was rather strange considering it shouldn’t need any drivers and the fact that Logitech doesn’t even provide any.
After a lot of diagnosing and registry tweaking, I determined that somehow, somewhere, the malfunctioning USB receiver corrupted some driver somewhere on my Windows installation and I for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to reverse that damage.
I also recently decided to upgrade from a total of 380GB of HDD storage to 2×500GB drives for a total of 1TB. Given the current events, I thought it best just to pull my old hard drives out, switch back to my ASUS motherboard, throw in two brand new drives, and reinstall Windows completely. I begin this process at around 11PM. Formatting my new 500GB HDD took around two hours first.
Three hours later (that’s 2AM), I’m back in Windows Vista x64 and everything seems to be working perfectly, including my diNovo Edge keyboard.
Oh boy was I wrong.
An hour into installing all of my commonly-used applications (now 3AM), and right in the middle of formatting the secondary 500GB hard drive, my computer suddenly shuts itself off without warning. There was no crash. It was as if someone pulled the power cord out of the wall.
I think to myself, that was odd, and reboot the computer. Once again, I come back into Windows and all seems to be running fine for about 5 minutes when it happens again.
At this point, I start thinking that my BIOS settings are messed up or I didn’t install the CPU’s heatsink on the motherboard properly so my CPU was significantly overheating and shutting the unit off. Upon going into BIOS and looking at the hardware monitor, I discover that, indeed, the CPU is running farely warm. About 50 degrees Celsius too warm for idling. I instantly think this is the cause of my issues, so I remove the heatsink, reset the processor, and reattach the heatsink. (now around 4AM)
Now, the problem I faced at this point was two-fold. 1) The thermal compond was a bit old and needed to be replaced and 2) the brackets which latch the heatsink to the motherboard were worn and the heatsink wouldn’t set tight enoguh on the motherboard. I decided that, considering it’s 4AM, it would be best I go to bed and continue this journey in the morning.
Bright and early (that means 10AM for me), I wake up and take a drive out to run a few errands, including picking up a new heatsink and fan. I decided that while I’m out, I might as well buy some external hard drive enclosures in order for me to easily transfer the data off of my old HDDs to my new ones. I also picked up a brand new computer case which would help with cooling significantly.
After driving a total of 75 miles all over the city of Tampa just to find stores that have what I need in stock, I arrive back home around 3PM and begin assembling my computer from scratch as I now need to switch cases.
Around 4PM, I finish this process, plug my computer back in, and, to my surprise, it actually boots the first time. The CPU is running extremely cool as are all the other components thanks to the new case. Windows sees that there was a problem shutting off previously (no kidding) and proceeds to run chkdsk on the primary partition. However, about 10 minutes into running chkdsk, it suddenly locks up and does absolutely nothing. I rebooted the computer, and again, experienced the same thing.
At this point I’m just about to lose all self control. I say to myself, “Screw it” and reformat and reinstall Windows once again. Two hours later (around 6:30PM), Windows is installed and I proceed to install drivers. To my despair, halfway through this process, I lose all power to the unit just like before.
I was at a full and complete loss for what to do next. I thought I’d tried everything … until I noticed one key issue.
The fan on my power supply wasn’t spinning.
As it turns out, the issue with the power loss was because the power supply (not the CPU) was overheating and shutting down automatically. This was ridiculously odd considering I have only owned that PSU for around a month.
I rebox it, and head back to the Best Buy where I purchased it and get an exchange.
To make a long story short (it’s too late I think), just over 24 hours later, my computer is back up and running perfectly smooth.
Let’s hope it stays that way for a VERY long time…
Answering Zune Questions
December 6, 2007 at 9:06 pm in microsoft, mp3 player, technology, zune Comments (0)
My last post regarding the Zune 2.2 release gained quite a bit of attention! I’ve gotten several questions through the Ask Me section about various Zune-related issues.
I’ve selected two of the priarmy questions. I’ll try to address these as best as I can.
Here goes…
The first one comes from Gordon:
So… I have music that I want to arrange into an album, but the new Zune interface seems to stubbornly not let me manually manage my files individually. Even though the “album” name is the same, as long as the artist of the files are different, it separates that collection as separate albums. Am I missing something? I really would hate to have to reorganize what I already have on my zune unit.
–Gordon
That’s, unfortunately, from what I’m aware, an issue with most music libraries. Primarily, songs in the library are organized by Artist > Album > Song, so if the album name is the same, but the artist is different, it will separate them. However, in several of my cases, this hasn’t been a problem. For most of my “Various Artists” tracks, the primary Artist is “Various Artists” while the “Contributing Artist” is different. This way, an individual song will split up when viewing songs by a particular artist, but when viewing albums, all of them are together. You might try a setup similar to this and see if it works.
From Larry:
I am having trouble trying to reinstall the firmware on my zune 30. I have the zune to the point where it says to connect to pc but that is as far as it goes because the zune software program says the firmware is up to date. So what next?
Have you tried restoring the software on the Zune? Note that this will delete all contents of the Zune, so be sure everything is in your library first. On the Zune 30, the first step is to hold the back <- button and the UP button on the pad at the same time. Then, press and hold the back <- button, the leftOK button the same time. The device should then begin restoring and will take a few minutes. After this is finished, the device will ask to be connected to your PC at which point will update the Zune firmware and sync if applicable. Hope this helps!
- Adam
It’s the Microsoft Zune 2.2
November 13, 2007 at 4:26 pm in microsoft, mp3 player Comments (3)
Today saw the release of the second generation of the Zune MP3 players as well as a new firmware patch for existing Zune customers. While the physical device of the new Zunes may be a bit different, what makes this release interesting is that the new firmware updated existing Zunes to have exactly the same functionality as the new units off of the shelf.
Today also saw the release of the new Zune marketplace software for the computer, replacing the old Windows Media Player 11 shell which integrated with MTV’s URGE (who has since switched partnerships to Rhapsody).
First thing this morning I got on my computer, uninstalled the current Zune software in preparation for the upgrade. When I went to the Zune website, to first delight (with may more to follow), the Zune software now supports the x64 Windows platform … natively. Good job, Microsoft. You’re pushing things forward. But what about the software itself?
I executed the x64 installer. Already the UI was looking clean and efficient. The installer checked for updates, installed the necessary Zune drivers, and then installed the software quite seamlessly. Once again, I was impressed. The installer then proceeded to launch the actual Zune software which asked me to enter my existing Zune Social account (Windows Live ID) or create a new one. I entered my existing information, and now it was off to configure the Zune device. I docked it up, and just that fast I was installing the Zune 2.2 firmware to the device. A few seconds later, my device was fully connected, updated, and presenting me with the wonderful new menu system.
But here’s the real thing. Once I got into my library (which was already pre-recognized), the interface was like nothing else I’d seen before. The default font? It’s called “Zegoe” and it’s a version of the Segoe and Calibri typefaces. I don’t need anything else to fall in love with it. The UI is completely seamless. Selecting artists, albums, and songs provide beautiful transitions that makes me feel like I’m inside of a Flash or Silverlight application.
The marketplace loads literally 10 times faster than it did in the old software. The organization of the new albums and genres is fantastic. The search feature is literally instant and allows you to find exactly what you want immediately. There’s no sharp edges, there’s no slow loads. There’s no fast transitions without fade effects. The whole UI experience is better than any Windows application that I’ve ever used. I wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. It’s that good.
The only issue I have with the software is this: It’s memory intensive. On first launch, the Zune software uses approximately 85MB. That’s without touching anything or any music playing. That’s a lot for an application. However, the upside to this is, as I have said, there is absolutely zero lag time. Now, granted, I have a decent machine which can handle just about anything you throw at it, but even the old software lagged significantly on this machine, both on the x86 platform and the x64 platform. Not the new software.
Podcast support is another big addition to the software. RSS feed subscription is integrated as well. The best part about this is that you don’t need any Zune-specific feed like you do with iTunes (which needs special iTunes tags, etc). If someone has a podcast feed going through, say, FeedBurner, it’ll work with the Zune. It’s really that simple and I wouldn’t be surprised if more and more bloggers and podcast creators start supporting the new Zune over the iPod.
The device, while boasting only a few major upgrades, is quite a nice firmware update as well. The biggest feature is wireless syncing. The old devices (which I have) had built in WiFi, but up until now you couldn’t use this for anything other than connecting with other Zunes. However, this new firmware update allows you to sync your music library to your device … wirelessly. Just setup your wireless router’s information in the Zune software, pass it to the device, and you’re off. Updates come automatically and there’s no need for cords ever again unless you need to charge the unit. I was conviced that this would have been very “techy” to set up, but to my surprise, it was extremely easy and straigtforward.
In conclusion, I have practically nothing but kudos to give to Microsoft’s Zune team for this update. It’s great.
Help me, Apple. Please.
October 23, 2007 at 1:23 pm in apple, microsoft, technology Comments (0)
Everyone knows that I’m an outspoken Windows user. I’m running Windows Vista on 5 machines in my house (completely stable, mind you), and a server in my house is running Server 2003. My desktop is specced out from a custom build.
That’s why it’s interesting that I’m writing this right now. Over the last few years, I’ve slowly grown an appreciation towards Apple’s OS X. As much as I’m surprised to say it, I have actually (and am currently) debating becoming one of the so-called “switchers” at least in part.
Let me say first of all that I’m still a die-hard Windows user. Windows has been great for me. Vista is a solid upgrade over XP. But whether or not Vista or Windows has been a good experience for me (and it has), Windows is slowly becoming a dying brand. There’s a massive amount of bad PR against Windows, regardless of whether it’s justified bad PR or not (which most of it isn’t). Windows has lost respect … and I’m doubting that unless Windows 7 pulls off a miracle, it will never get it back.
At this point in time, like I said, I’m seriously considering switching most of my daily work to a Mac machine. The issue of not being able to run the same applications is a moot point now. It wasn’t 5 years ago, but it certainly is now. While OS X inherently doesn’t have as many applications availble for it, there’s plenty of alternatives. The rest you can pretty much run flawlessly inside of a Virtual machine such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion.
Previously, as a power user, the main reason holding me back from getting a Mac was the hardware performance. Regardless of whether or not Apple refused to believe it, both Intel and AMD had much more powerful chips than the G3, G4, or G5 at any point in time. The benchmarks were overwhelmingly in favor of the PC.
That, again, is a moot point since the transition to Intel chips. The only difference between a Mac machine and a PC now is the type of BIOS system that Mac uses.
The other thing that was holding me back was the software. As a hobbiest .NET developer, I rely heavily on applications such as Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005. You can’t run these on a Mac … or can you? Only recently has Parallels and VMWare Fusion fully supported both of these. I can run both of them in a Virtual Windows installation without any problems at all.
At this point there’s only one single thing holding me back from getting a Mac and getting the best of both worlds (Windows and OS X) … the price. As a power user and someone who is wanting to run development and enterprise-level applications such as Visual Studio in multiple instances and SQL Server 2005, an iMac + a Virtual machine just isn’t going to cut it. I’d be required to get a Mac Pro. Even with the education discount (and the discount I get from working for Best Buy), I’d still be forking out $2300 at a minimum. And that’s only with 1GB of RAM and an 250GB HDD. That’s pathetic.
In order for my needs as a power user to be met, I’d need to spend around $3200+ for a Power Mac. Considering I have 3 machines currently sitting on my desk, I honestly can’t justify that cost. And it’s not that I can’t justify it … if I had that kind of money freely avaiable, trust me, I’d buy a Mac Pro in a heartbeat. The fact of the matter is that I can’t. Even as a college student who is 1) living at home for free and 2) receiving a 100% free education thanks to the state of Florida, and 3) making a respectable amount of money working as a Geek Squad agent in Best Buy, I just don’t have that kind of money to spend.
Apple: If you’re reading this, I beg of you. Help me. Help those of us who are in the same position. There has to be SOME way we can do this without having to spend that much money.
Help me, Apple. Please.
Corrupted Hard Drive
October 3, 2007 at 8:03 pm in hardware, microsoft Comments (1)
The culprit? From what I can see, it was most likely Disk Cleanup. That’s right, an application which is supposed to make your computer run faster just broke mine.
Though, at the same time, I’m not sure whether or not this issue is stemming from Disk Cleanup. It could possibly be a section of bad hard drive sectors.
I’m still diagnosing the failure so I’ll put another update on when I figure it out.
Registering the Zune
October 2, 2007 at 12:42 pm in microsoft, technology Comments (0)
I started laughing while attempting to register my Zune a few minutes ago. The process seemed simple enough: login with your Windows Live account, put in your name/address information, and the device’s serial number and click “Register this Device.” However, I quickly discovered that, well gosh darn, Florida isn’t listed in the drop down box as a state.
Neither is Georgia and Maryland apparently. I called Zune support and had the device registered less than 2 minutes later and had a laugh with the guy on the phone about it.
It pays to check and double check those arrays, folks! What I don’t understand is that if they used ASP for the site, why didn’t they just use the built in classes which provide this functionality? Who knows…
I love my Zune. I don’t like my Zune.
September 10, 2007 at 1:46 am in microsoft, music, standards, technology Comments (3)
I have just purchased a Microsoft Zune as a replacement for my old MP3 player (Creative Zen 20GB). My experience with the device and software has, so far, been extremely satisfactory. However, there were various things which I found about it which annoyed me. I just submitted those as feedback to the Zune Team in hope they will review them and take them into serious considering. My feedback was as follows:
Hello! First of all, I’d like to let you know that this will be fairly long. I’m a firm believer that the Zune has an immense amount of potential, so what I’m submiting here is a thorough list of various improvements that I would like to see in the Zune to help improve my experience using the product, as well as many other people who already own a Zune or are looking to purchase an MP3 Player. Also, as I have selected “Zune Software” as the category for this, what I will write isn’t necessarily limited to that, though a good portion of it is. If different departments of the Zune team handle different categories, I’d ask that you please forward the appropriate feedback to its respected department for review.
I have just recently purchased a Zune, and as far as the experience goes I have found it far superior to anything else out on the market, including the iPod (iTunes is just meh … I won’t go there). While the Apple iPod is a solid product in its own way, I personally do not like the craze that is all over it, making it out to be a superior product than it actually is. I was truly looking for the Zune to become an iPod killer … which as of this point it has failed to do so for various reasons.
That being said, the Zune from my experience, certainly has the incredible potential to do so … easily. The aesthetics of the hardware itself are great, including the size, weight, durability, and controls. The software on the player itself is far superior to anything I’ve ever used before. The menu system and organization just makes sense. In album (track listing) view, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to use the left and right navigation buttons to move through various albums, while using up and down to select the track. THAT’S innovation and such a small touch that makes the experience wonderful. The Zune software on the hardware is virtually perfect. There’s various things I’d like to see, added, however:
- I love the way the FM radio system is set up and how presets are added and such. However, why am I not able to record radio? For example, I was listening to a late night program on an FM station when someone started talking about something I found extremely interesting. I would have loved to have been able to record that for my later enjoyment. The only MP3 player that has actually done FM recording right is the Creative Zen. Can we please add this to the Zune? Please?
- The Zune automatically pausing playback when the headphones are removed is certainly a nice feature. However, can we please get an option to turn it off or on? I can vision various situations where I’d be switching headphones/speakers and I really don’t want to have to keep pressing play/pause each time I do so.
- When playing back a video, it would be awesome if the playback didn’t stop when going through the menu system again (such as with music and the radio). Can’t we implement something like in Windows Media Center where the video is still played back in the bottom corner? (with the back button, just as it does now, go back to the currently playing video)
- Having an equalizer is very nice. However, people such as myself who have various experience with “real” equalizers would probably like the option to have a custom equalization setting. For example, I like a particular song which has an awesome guitar solo. When I listen to that song, I’d like to isolate the range of frequencies in which the guitar resides and boost them. Saving these to custom presets would also be an added bonus.
- When saving radio presets, it would be awesome if each frequency was also tagged with the last know station name (whether it be the station name, or the call letters), just like the current station is top when viewing the presets. When tuning to that frequency again, this can be updated if the station has changed it.
- Along with the suggestion to keep video playback in the background (having a preview in the bottom corner or some such ), a “Currently Playing” section (whether it be music or the radio) would be a massive addition.
- Add an option to turn wireless on or off within the community section. I really don’t want to go into the community … find out that it’s not turned on … then have to go all the way back and two levels into settings to turn it on … then back to the community.
- Even though it’s fairly intutive that you’re viewing a list of Artists/Albums/Tracks, adding a tag to tell you what’s being displayed would be nice. Play around with the idea. Something as simple as a tag or even reducing the font size of the tracks, or indenting them 1 more space would do it.
- When I try to send a song through the song options menu, for the love of James Allard himself, don’t let the song stop playing! Isn’t the storage/cache inside fast enough to play AND send the song at the same time?
- There has to be some better way to show the track list than in the song options menu. Clicking twice to get to it is rather unnecessary in my opinion. I’ll admit that I can’t come up with a better way to do it, though. So have fun with it and rattle the idea around a bit.
The Zune hardware is essentially perfect, as I indicated before. The main thing I would like to see added is some sort of button which will take you back to the root menu. Hitting back 14 times isn’t a good experience for the user . I know the point of the Zune look was it’s lack of buttons and to get every feature accessible through those few buttons. However, you already did an awesome job designing the current Zune. I’m sure you can come up with something.
Another thing which would be absolutely AWESOME for the Zune (and a feature to make it stand FAR out from the competition) is a rather large improvement. It would be great if Microsoft would work with other manufactures (such as Pioneer, Sony, Alpine, JVC, etc) to integrate wireless support into the Zune for car media decks. The Zune already has the hardware capability. I can’t imagine it would be that difficult of a task to apply a simple software/firmware update to allow connectivity with supported car decks. Of course, the main work would be on the car deck manufactures.
I swear … I would use nothing but a Zune for the rest of my life if I could sit down into my car, push a single button, and play all my music from my Zune on my car stereo without ANY auxiliary 1/8″ wires or unstable and horrible quality FM transmitters. Those are just baggage which is largely unnecessary. The technology is available.
Microsoft … Zune Team … whoever. If you take one bit of advice from the mass of stuff I’ve written here, PLEASE pursue this option as a viable one. Seriously. Do you want to take a huge market share away from Apple with respect to playing in the car, or not? Do it quick before Apple does it first. And believe me … if no one else does it, they MOST CERTAINLY will.
The main things which I am giving feedback for, however, is the Zune software. At first, I was hesitant to purchase a Zune because I was unsure of the ease of use, stability, UI, and features of the Zune software. However, after discovering it’s utter similarity with Windows Media Player 11 (and the fact that WMP11 is required to be installed for the Zune software to work), I was very much pleased all considering I use WMP11 for my desktop media player anyway. Importing my library (as it was done automatically) was seemless and I was very happy.
However, there are various things which I would like to see changed. They are as follows:
- I found it rather annoying at first that when I plugged my Zune into my computer via USB, the Zune software automatically launched and synchronizing started and the album I was listening to stopped playing. All I wanted to do was start charging the Zune while using it. I quickly found the option to turn off Zune software launch. Okay, that was nice. However, what about the option to turn off connecting and syncing when I plug the unit in? Can’t the unit be connected in the background when the Zune software is active? Can’t the “real” connection (where music stops playing) ONLY happen when I actually MANUALLY sync the device?
- Why in the name of the evil Steve Jobs can’t I add music to my device from networked machines? If the Zune software is that similar to WMP11, seriously … why can’t I add my non-DRM’d music from another computer? I, for example, have a server in my house which holds ALL of my music/videos, etc, which I use for storage. I mostly stream this to other computers when I want to listen to the library or when I want to listen to the music on my stereo system/TV from my Media Center computer. I’m finding myself forced to sync while physically plugged into that machine … THAT’S annoying. Seriously. Fix this.
- It makes no sense to have playlists in the photo view. Slideshows? Maybe. But not playlists. Please remove it or change its functionality.
- This is 2007. The internet’s news comes from bloggers. Bloggers also are big into doing podcasts. If the Zune is all about “the Social” for Pete’s sake, why isn’t there Podcasting support in the Zune? Here’s a radical idea: add RSS feed support to the Zune software for me to subscribe to the podcasts rather than iTunes’ method. While a central database is important for finding new Podcasts and organizing everything into categories, being able to subscribe to a podcast (which may not necessarying be in the archive) via RSS would make the Zune the #1 blogger’s MP3 player. Period. Think about it: every enthused and non-Apple-fanboy blogger on the internet is advocating that their readers buy a Zune. That’s some MASSIVE publicity and good PR. But whatever you do, add Podcasting support to the Zune/Marketplace. Period. I don’t care how. Just do it … and soon!
- Even the name of your Zune is indicated in the category/genre view on the left-hand side of the software, can we please add some kind of indication this is your Zune? For example, tag it with (Zune) or (Device), or heck, add a tiny picture of a Zune next to it.
- Why doesn’t “sign me in automatically” actually sign me in automatically? I mean, I get it that it’ll sign you in when you actually want to download/buy something, but why can’t it sign in when I launch the application? I keep feeling like it’s lost my account association or something…
- Can we have some kind of indicator in the Zune Software/library that a particular album or song is DRM’d or has been downloaded from the Zune Marketplace? I want to know which media is going to expire at the end of the month.
Again, sorry for this being so long! However, like I said at the beginning, I’m very impressed with the Zune and I see utterly massive potential for the device. The things I’ve listed here certainly are my own opinions. However, I’d wager a good portion of what I’ve listed are ideas that are shared by many other Zune users out there … or rather, their experience would be improved should these things be changed.
I sincerely hope I haven’t written all of this in vein. One thing that I’ve been impressed with in Microsoft of late (mostly within Microsoft Research and the Xbox/Gaming division, which James Allard is part of) is how well they have listened to the community surrounding the products that have been released or are in development. Again, I sincerely hope what I have suggested in here will be read and seriously considered by the Zune Team as viable changes and improvements.
I was also impressed that such a Feedback form was provided on the Zune site. A few minutes before I discovered it, I was joking with a friend about how impossible it usually is to find feedback sections for devices such as the Zune. I love irony.
Again, thank you for all of the hard work that has been put into the Zune. It’s an awesome product. However, there are various things about it which keep it from being popular with the masses. I wish you guys good luck with the development of future revisions. I’m certain I’ll return with more feedback at a later time as I want to see the Zune improve.
Regards,
- Adam Reyher
http://www.adamreyher.com
Microsoft, Windows Media Player, URGE, and Live Services
September 3, 2007 at 10:37 pm in internet, microsoft, music, technology Comments (0)
Earlier in August, MTV announced they would be merging with RealNetworks to form Rhapsody America, thus ditching URGE and Microsoft. For those of you who aren’t aware, URGE is essentially a competitor to iTunes but also allows you to have a music subscription where you can download and listen to any songs you want provided you keep paying the monthly fee.
URGE hasn’t been extremely popular, though the users who use it have reported that it is overall a very good experience and excellent service to have. MTV ditching URGE for Rhapsody is a huge blow to Microsoft. It was also a stupid move on the part of MTV, in my opinion. For the last 10 years, Real Network’s desktop software has been, to be blunt, crap. It’s been bulky, slow, unstable, and one of the worst UI experiences I’ve ever seen in Windows software. Whether MTV and Rhapsody will succeed in this is anyone’s guess.
However, I see this as a massive opportunity for Microsoft to gain some ground in in online music store and subscription industry. Microsoft has already invented PlayForSure which was one of the most ingenious ideas in the history of MP3 players. If only Apple would accept that standard, we could all be happy. However, Microsoft’s biggest mistake in all of this was their refusal to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. To be honest, I think this is one of the main reasons MTV left Microsoft. URGE has long supported PlayForSure, but when Microsoft has said URGE can’t connect with the Zune (which were announced hand-in-hand), it just screws up everything.
Live services by Microsoft is also another example of joining everything together into one standard platform. If Microsoft wants to take advantage of this situation, they need to firstly, ditch the Zune software. It’s a horrible piece of software as it is. They need to just stick to Windows Media Player. Secondly, they need to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. Why in the world they ever decided to not add a Microsoft technology to a Microsfot MP3 player is beyond me. Thirdly, they need to create their own version of URGE entirely from scratch and integrate it into the Live services so you can manage your account from anywhere using the Live account you already have.
I don’t like Microsoft for a lot of things they do, namely screwing up Vista’s release. However, Microsoft has a ton of incredibly awesome ideas rattling around up in their heads. They know how to create a good product and what users are asking for. They know how to wow people. They just need to successfully do it. Microsoft Research is a prime example of this. Why exactly Microsoft Research isn’t at the forefront of everything that comes out of Microsoft I’ll never know…
Microsoft … if you’re reading this, don’t screw this opportunity up. You had a good thing going with URGE. You screwed it up. Learn from this experience, take the bull by the horns, and create something much better and something which the end user will want to experience on a regular basis. I beg you … don’t screw this up.
The Best Keyboard I’ve Ever Owned
September 2, 2007 at 12:25 am in hardware, microsoft, technology Comments (2)
It’s ironic that I’m not a hardcore Mac OS X user since I’m such a major advocate and stickler for good looking, well designed, and highly productive user interfaces. For me, the OS is only one of the many aspects of proper user interfaces. To a degree, I care more about the keyboard or mouse I’m using than the OS.
I recently decided it was time for a new keyboard. After much consideration and comparison with various other brands and models of keyboards, I decided to purchase Logitech’s diNovo Edge keyboard.
The diNovo Edge boasts a sleek design that just cannot be matched by any other keyboard. It is extremely lightweight and thin, but this doesn’t have any effect on its durability. It’s an extremely solid acrylic glass material. It’s orange lights which illuminate when the function key is pressed, or when the built in touch slider for volume control is touched, or when the TouchDisc ring is used.
(photo by saschaaa)
Even with all of this sleekness, Logitech certainly did not skip on functionality The typing experience on the diNovo Edge is by far the keyboard’s best feature and, in my opinion, can only be matched by Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000. The keys are not hard to push, spaced near perfectly, and the keys are extremely silent, even when typing at high speeds.
The keyboard’s touch sensor for volume control is actually quite a nice feature. At first, I thought it would be like any other keyboard’s volume control. However, after playing with it for a few minutes, I don’t think I’ll ever use a keyboard which doesn’t have similar functionality pertaining to volume control ever again.
While the built in touch pad seems a bit excessive (and actually is unless you’re minimalist and don’t want a separate mouse), the one redeeming feature about this touch pad is its scrolling ability. Simply touch the outer rip of the touch pad and move your finger clockwise or counter-clockwise to quickly scroll through a web page or document.
As always with most newer keyboards, function keys are present. However, Logitech’s diNovo Edge keyboard takes a different approach. Rather than having all the function buttons displayed on the board, the labels are actually illuminated only when the function key is pressed, thus adding to its sleek design. At the same time, Logitech didn’t fill up the keyboard with useless buttons to launch applications you’ve probably never heard of (who seriously uses their keyboard to open their Photo folder by default), let alone have or use on a regular basis. The essentials are present with 4 extra custom functions which can be customized to carry out practically any computer function in Logitech’s easy-to-use SetPoint software.
All around, the Logitech diNovo Edge is the best keyboard I’ve ever owned. When deciding which keyboard to purchase, the only real competitor to the diNovo edge is Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000. To be honest, I would have rather purchased the 8000. However, I’m just not ready to put out $300 for a keyboard at this point. I think I can get over the $150 price tag of the diNovo Edge considering it’s pure genius in terms of design, functionality, and pure sexiness.
The Email Client
August 22, 2007 at 11:12 pm in email, microsoft, windows Comments (0)
For the past two weeks, I’ve been using Windows Live Mail exclusively for my email client. I was giving it a try to see if it was a viable (and productive) option to move permanently to it, away from my regular usage of Mozilla Tunderbir
While I was using it, I found a good number of things I liked about it: how it was so simple and straightforward, yet got the job done brilliantly. On the other hand, I did find a few annoyances as well.
However, in the end, it seems the good significantly outweighs the bad. Windows Live Mail is a solid product. It has a clean and sleek design, and its features offer everything I need for desktop email and more
Congratulations Windows Live Mail, you’ve won this geek over.
An Apple OS X Experience
August 21, 2007 at 2:54 pm in apple, hardware, itunes, microsoft, operating systems, software, technology Comments (2)
At this point in time, I’m exclusively a Windows user, with Vista as my primary operating system. Over the last few months, I have actually thought about becoming a “switcher” at least temporarily. I’m considering getting a 20″ iMac so I can experience Apple OS X firsthand, something which I’ve only been able to do at work, or at the Apple store. I really do want to learn more about Apple OS X and become as productive with it as I am in a Windows environment.
That being said, I took a trip to Orlando yesterday to do some shopping. While I was at one of the malls, I decided to take a trip into the Apple store to see the new iMac (which, in my opinion, is actually the first good looking iMac design). I stood in front of a 20″ iMac for about 30 minutes or so. There were a lot of things I enjoyed about the experience, but even more annoyances. Below is the list of what I found particularly annoying just from that 30 minutes.
- Maybe I just didn’t find it, but where exactly can I find out how much memory or CPU is being used in real time? That’s annoying.
- When I click the close button on a window in OS X, I expect the application to close. Period.
- Why, exactly, can I only resize a window by using the handle on the bottom right-hand corner? What if I have the bottom of the window already positioned exactly where I want it?
- Please, please, do not allow the desktop to display when Photoshop or Final Cut Pro or any other application like it is open. It confuses me what application is active and I really don’t want to have to look at the Apple bar to tell. OS X really needs to have this changed.
- Put a real scroll wheel on a mouse like everyone else. I kept launching Dashboard when trying to left click.
- And please allow me to secondary click a Dashboard widget to change its properties.
- In iTunes, which I launch a video, why can I only resize the window proportionally? And can we please merge the library and play window into one? Reasons like this are why I stay away from Apple iTunes or Winamp for Windows. Windows Media Player is annoying as heck sometimes, but it’s certainly better than dealing with that
- Apple’s Safari is a horrible user experience. Period. I was surprised that it was worse on OS X than it was on Windows.
- OS X’s Wireless network switching is annoying. Seriously, if I have 2 wireless devices, what then?
- Secondary/right click is a godsend. OS X better start supporting it fully like everyone else.
- OS X Mail looks more like a to-do list than an email client. The iPhone’s SMS system is actually pretty nice. Can’t you make Mail look similar (leaving out the conversation dialog balloons)?
- This is not so much as an OS X issue, but more of the overall experience. Most of my primary phone calling is done through Skype. It’s utter trash on OS X. Even Chris Pirillo thinks so, and he’s leaning towards switching to a Mac way more than I am.
- Mr. Steve Jobs, stop saying iPhoto ‘08 is Web 2.0 compatible. I tried it firsthand, and it is not anywhere close to being this arbitrary “Web 2.0.”
- Slot-loading DVD/CD drives are evil. What if I have a miniDVD that I recorded on my camcorder? I don’t care if it doesn’t look “cool,” please go back to a tray.
- Apple’s .Mac is a total waste of money and you’re developers time. Either fix it to what it should/could be, or drop it entirely.
- And why in the name of the Holy Steve Jobs do I have to pay that much for an Apple brand computer? This is the 21st century!
I’m torn at this point as to whether or not I should get an iMac. Windows Vista has a ton of annoyances, and I really wouldn’t mind switching to another platform such as OS X as there are, at this point, just as many “popular” applications that will run on OS X as Windows, and for the rest I can run Apple Mac Parallels or VMWare Fusion. But OS X has just as many annoyances, if not more, that really need to be fixed before I’ll ever consider switching entirely. Who knows … maybe in the future I will. I’m definitely more tolerant of Macs that I was 3 years ago.
Top 10 Annoyances in Windows Live Mail
August 20, 2007 at 11:52 pm in email, microsoft, software Comments (2)
For those who may not have read my previous blog posts, over the past 12 days I have been using Windows Live Mail exclusively for my desktop email client needs. I normally use Mozilla Thunderbird. So far, the experience has been pleasant, but it isn’t without its annoyances. I’ve already posted my Top 10 Annoyances in Mozilla Thudnerbird. Here is my top 10 for Live Mail:
- UI inconsistency - When I go into Options or open a dialog/properties box, I’m expecting it to have the same clean look the regular interface has. But for some reason it reminds me of Windows 95. And when I add a new contact, why does the color scheme suddenly change?
- For the love of God, don’t make me have to go into the message properties just to view the full headers. And when I get there, I don’t want to have to use the horizontal scrollbar in order to read it. Can I please just Right Click -> View Sorce?
- As a part of the Windows Live services, Microsoft also offers Windows Live Writer, which allows you to post content to Wordpress, Movable Type, Live Spaces, Blogger, etc, all in one desktop client. But in their Windows Live Mail, why does the “Blog” option only allow you to use Live Spaces? That’s hypocritical–change it.
- Why isn’t there a “Print” label next to the button? Even though it’s obvious, it’s inconsistent.
- The searching options, while simple, aren’t customizable enough. I can’t search just in subjects or just in the body.
- I really don’t get the point of the “Storage folders” section being present by default. If I want to store something other than in the standard drafts, I’ll create my own folder for that purpose.
- When I right click the title bar, the standard menu bar shows up. But when I click off of the secondary click dropdown, the menu bar disappears. Is this a bug, or is it a feature that’s not working properly? I’d prefer it not to show up at all…
- I doubt there’s legal issues involved, so why can’t I import email/settings from a Thunderbird profile? Here I am thinking about switching, and I wouldn’t even have the option to import.
- There’s a big difference between email security, and junk email. Just because an advertisement comes in, it doesn’t mean it’s a fraud or trying to send you a virus. Please give Junk Email it’s own option in the Tools menu.
In a few days, I’ll make my final decision as to whether I’ll be staying with Windows Live Mail or going back to Thunderbird. I’m still kind of torn between the two.
As always, if you have any suggestions or comments, please leave a comment, or Ask Me!
Update: It seems in posting this the code got screwed up and I lost one of my points. What’s odd is I can’t remember what it was, so sorry for there only being 9 … but there were originally 10, I promise.
Windows Live Mail - The Exclusive Trial
August 8, 2007 at 5:34 pm in email, internet, microsoft, windows vista Comments (1)
For the past few years, mid 2003 or so, I have used Mozilla Thunderbird for my desktop email needs. At the time I had various @hotmail.com and @msn.com email addresses, so I used the webbased client for these. So you could say I used Thunderbird almost exclusively for my email ever since version 0.1. Previously, the only viable basic desktop email option previous to Thunderbird was Microsoft’s Outlook Express, or the full Outlook if you had Microsoft Office. However, I didn’t need the address books. I didn’t need the calendar. All I needed was a desktop application to control my mail. So ever since I Windows 98, I ran Outlook Express.
Very recently, along with the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft announced that Hotmail and MSN email would be incorporated with their Windows Live services. In May of 2007, Windows Live Hotmail went live, sporting a brand new AJAX interface and new options.
Now, Microsoft in currently in development for the replacement for Outlook Express (for XP) and Windows Mail (for Vista), which is simply called Windows Live Mail. I was introduced to it a few weeks ago and thought I’d download and try it out. So far, I’m impressed with it’s performance and simplicity, and also the UI is massively improved from either Windows Mail or Outlook Express.
I have decided to give Windows Live Mail a two week exclusive trial. I wanted something that’s simple and effective, but that had a nice UI. Unfortunately, Thunderbird covered the simple and effective part, but the UI is in desperate need of improvement. I won’t even open Thunderbird once to check my email during this period. No matter what frustrations I encounter, I’ll only use Windows Live Mail.
What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for email clients for Windows?
As always, if you have a question, be sure to Ask Me.
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