Ballmer- Microsoft to get more narrow-minded
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed the masses this week in an attempt to shape new directions for the folks in Redmond. The software giant is dealing with key departures and Ballmer is intent on forging a new path for Microsoft. In an email Ballmer sent to employees this week he addressed what they are confronted with given the rise of Apple market share:
“In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they aregood at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while ourcommitment to choice often comes with some compromises to theend-to-end experience. Today, we’re changing the way we work withhardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experienceswith absolutely no compromises. We’ll do the same with phones–providingchoice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences.”
When I saw this statement from Ballmer I immediately thought of my 90/10 rule. I have written about this rule in the past and it’s good to see that Ballmer is thinking of it now. The 90/10 rule applies not just to Apple (and Microsoft) but comes into play for all high-tech products. Consumers, and I use that term rather than users to make it clear who I am talking about, spend 90% of their time using the core 10% of a technology’s functions. That applies to phones, computers, audio players, you name it. That’s because in reality most folks do certain things every day and those rarely vary much. I use the term "consumers" because I am definitely not discussing power users of any type here. Sure we sometimes wish we could do some special function more easily no matter what technology we are using but 90% of the time we’re just doing what we normally do. This core 10% of functionality is what in large part shapes the consumer’s product experience, and this is why we often refer to Apple’s customers as "zealots" or "fanboys". The experience is much more positive with Apple’s products than with Microsoft’s, and is no doubt playing a big role in Apple’s rising market share in both the PC and smartphones categories. Apple is more narrow-minded in that respect, and Ballmer gets it.
This 90/10 rule is what Ballmer is talking about and he’s dead right. Apple usually gets that right and Microsoft doesn’t. Now, Microsoft almost always makes more sophisticated products, whether it’s Windows or Office or any other MS product. But as Ballmer says this sophistication "often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience". The 90/10 rule raises its ugly head, and quickly. It is great that Ballmer is openly discussing this phenomenon and I have high hopes that he can do something about it. This is not a function of fanboyism, I am not saying Apple’s products are better than Microsoft’s as they almost never are if you look at features. But the narrow out-of-box-experience (OOBE) that Apple provides, like Ballmer himself admits, is almost always better than Microsoft’s.
and what i get thinking about when reading about your 90/10 rule is the eeepc, with its out of the box set of office and net apps.
but then it kinda confirms a statement i have been making for years about users. that most of them would be happy with a typewriter/web browser device, rather then the swiss army knife of the PC of today.
i keep thinking that the computer of tomorrow will be a collection of boxes, each with a different task, all hooked up to a common set of interface devices (touchscreen, mouse, keyboard).
thing is that the cost of processing power have become so cheap that one can really do this rather then have a single cpu that have to jump between tasks.
one could still add generic computing boxes btw, kinda like how the GPU can me used to offload the cpu these days. if any of the task focused boxes needed more speed, they could query for and make use of any available generic boxes in the mix.
a home cluster if you will…
I don’t think you’ve conveyed his intent properly in your post title. Looks to me like his theme was a complete experience, not a narrow one. Right now, Microsoft offers an open-ended OS solution; they make the OS and it’s up to the vendor to finish it with drivers and utilities. It seems like Ballmer intends to close that hole and get more involved with helping vendors build complete products by tailoring the end software to fit their needs.
You know it’s a great read, but sooner or later someone has to throw out the obligatory “duh”. Take windows mobile versus the iphone for a second. Is there honestly any reason the 10% core functions such as the phone and the OS itself could not have been perfected before this? Obviously Apple did not have this issue, and I don’t think Microsoft’s problem was having a broad vision as opposed to a narrow one.
In fact the things that were wrong with Windows Mobile are things that people have been loudly complaining about for YEARS before the iphone was even hinted at.
I fully understand the point made between Microsoft’s broad vision of things versus Apple’s narrow vision of things. But IMO I reject that as the cause of the shortcomings of MS products, that is more of a function of MS just not listening to its users and being out of sync with its userbase.
With all that said I still think Vista is much superior to OSx, I still think windows mobile is much superior to the iphone. But OSx and the iphone win because of their narrow vision AND because they are in sync with what their users want.
What needs to happen at MS is a revolution.
I work 4 HP in the Presales department. I answer peoples questions about our products. When Vista came out we had zero drivers for our Printers, scanners, ect. It took 6 months after release for us to complete the rollout of new drivers. Now I don’t know who was at more at fault, HP or MS. However, it was ridiculous to have callers buy Vista on an HP PC in the store and have no HP printer that could work with it.
Amazingly, Apple whom we do not have as near an intimate partnership as Microsoft, worked with our team in advance of the release of Leopard, that support for that OS did not suffer the kind of lag time as Vista.
It Ts this kind of attention to basics Apple is killing Microsoft with.
And though driver issues have been addressed on current products, the irrational fear of Vista is largely due to the image created by horrible issues like this at its rollout.
I am very happy to see Ballmers statement today.
Interesting…MS has a very large beast to tame to reach Ballmer’s vision but its the right thing to do. WindowsCE/PocketPC/Windows Mobile is an awesome example of the daunting challenge in front of them. But Microsoft looks bad no matter who built the buggy device or software or drivers or whatever causes the problem on their platform. They have to own it, all of it, to make sure what they intended gets delivered. I just hope they deliver the right thing because they also have a history of missing the mark…repeatedly. (I’m looking at you Mr.”X” button that doesn’t really close the app but smart minimizes it ’cause Windows Mobile can manage its own memory, really it can…but I digress)
CTSLICK, I always find it amusing that people often cite the WM red X but never mention that OS X does the same thing. Click the red X, minimize the application instead of close it.
I think the computer industry is finally realizing that simply adding more features and more options is not addressing the needs of people. People are frustrated by the endless learning and upgrade process that the computer industry imposes on them.
Think about all a person has to know in order to send and receive email: browser, POP, IMAP, login, ISP, etc. Think of the cost associated with sending and receiving email: computer, internet service, modem, etc.
Now, compare that with the knowledge and cost involved in sending a letter in the mail.
Just something to think about…
Another thing. I bought a Mac Powerbook 3 years ago. The out of box experience was good if you can overlook the abysmal WiFi set up failure when attempting to use WEP security. But after that its been very smooth. Coming from a Windows 2000 environment Apple’s attention to detail was very apparent. Printer? Plug it in and it worked. Digital camera, plug it in and it worked. I ENJOY using that Powerbook because its easy and inspires faith in the “it just works” adage.
Now jump to present day with my recent Sony Vaio (Windows Vista Home)purchase. The out of box experience was very good, better than my Powerbook as far as I was concerned. Now…my upgrade from Home to Ultimate was marred with problems caused by Sony’s drivers…case in point for the problem Microsoft needs to handle. An OS upgrade should NOT take 6 hours, two sets of troubleshooting info (MS and Sony) and Google. THAT needs fixing. And yes, I like Vista, its stable for me and I like the interface changes. And yes, I still like my Apple.
James, my “X” button oversight is noted, you have a point
BUT, I don’t get out of memory warnings on my Apple AND there’s an Apple-key combo to do it without having install third party piece of software to do it. And don’t even get me started on Apple’s whole 1-button mouse thing…ugh. But by and large Apple gets it right. My point is that MS does not listen to its users. Ever since the inception of their their mobile platform every user community I have been associated with has SCREAMED for this basic bit of functionality and MS ignored it until Windows Mobile 6.1. If MS wants to control the equation from start to finish and provide a desirable product they have to get better at listening.
But the tricky question is WHICH 10% of functions are being used by a particular user. The 10% is always going different between different users. For example, I expect that I use a slightly different 10% of the available functions/features of Windows Mobile compared to anyone else (or at least the majority of other people) – of course, there will be a fair bit of overlap…most people will want to dial numbers, lookup contacts and hang-up the phone!
Additionally, if you look at the mix of applications that I use, it’s very unlikely that anyone else will have exactly the same ones installed.
On the iPhone, I would guess that those users are typically using much more than 10% of that phone’s functions, but that is perhaps because the overall number of available functions is relatively limited (at least compared to a Win Mobile phone). And that’s a big reason why I won’t use the iPhone…it’s too limited and doesn’t support many of the things I want to do.
Problem is that if MS go too far down the Apple route, they’ll have to cut functionality in order to keep such a tight control of their OS environment.
Ben, that is precisely what Apple is good at. They don’t care what 10% YOU want, they only care what 10% MOST EVERYBODY wants. That’s the key ingredient to making the 90/10 rule work.
Ballmer can start by assigning people to XP to shrink it down for people who have low-end *desktop* systems. They’ve made my PC just about unusable recently with anonymous updates. How many other people have experienced this first with Windows 98, upgraded their hardware (ie, spent money on NEW PC!) as the OS got slower and slower and slower, and now that XP is getting slower and slower just decide to drop Windows and go for Mac? I’m on the verge! I’ve had enough of this! And then he wonders why I won’t touch Vista? It’s their own reputation!!
I think that both Apple and Microsoft focus on their customers’ concerns. The difference is that for Apple their customers are their users. For Microsoft, however, their primary customers are corporation IT departments, OEM’s and Cell phone companies, not the people who actually use their products.
or maybe james, its more like apple tells you want 10% to care about, more then try to guesstimate what 10% the majority cares about…
I don’t think so. Not even Apple can tell you how to use your gear in the long haul. You do what you do and they are very good at predicting what that will be.
i thought it was the 80/20 rule when this was changed?? they build for 80% of the people the other 20 have to get in line with this
90/10 is my own rule and one I think fits better for this stuff.
I think “spinedoc’s” post hits closer to what Ballmer might be talking about. I understand the 90/10 rule and what we are all talking about when we say “Narrow” vision. I personally think that Apple aimed a little tight in both releases of the Iphone and ripped off their customer base….twice. However if MS really just made sure that the 3rd parties were on board and in sync with their product then that in itself would create a different public view of MS. Not limited to just drivers and such but also the bloatware that manufacturers put on the machine. I think MS gets blamed for poor “out of the box” experience by users that don’t understand what they bought. Truthfully MS has a nice OOTB experience if the 3rd parties don’t get in the way. As mentioned in a post about the EEEPC. It has great OOTB on Linux and Windows XP. Perfect example that it’s not MS providing poor OOTB. I actually hope that Ballmer doesn’t get carried away with trying to create such a Narrow view because Apple is beginning to broaden it’s view as you can tell from allowing 3rd party apps on the Iphone and the architecture of it’s systems now allows 3rd parties to get involved. Ballmer could basically turn the tides on himself and MS in the process of becoming more narrow in product planning. Perhaps narrow on the surface but flexible underneath is an answer. It would be great to approach this from a different view and tackle flexible usability from a customizable interface point of view rather than removing functionality. Using the current phenom of the Iphone as an example. The interface is the complete revolution of the product. It didn’t bring more function to the table it just looked pretty. Now imagine the Iphone with all the function of Windows Mobile. There isn’t a way to fit all the nice buttons on the slab interface is there. Think of being able to easily customize what you do day to day with any product while still leaving the other options for those who may use them and make them their day to day preference. That along with a solid 3rd party planning should be the focus of MS for all it’s products in the future. We are on the edge of another revolution in device planning. Users are getting “up to speed” while technology is simply waiting for their arrival. Do some digging if you haven’t had a chance on what MS has on the burners. It will blow your mind. Huge possibilities in the future of MS.