Robert Scoble, Microsoft’s high profile blogger, went on a blog holiday for the past week and it obviously gave him time to do some serious thinking.
He has posted a marathon post which posits five ways to improve Microsoft’s image both internally and externally.
What are his five suggestions?
- A guaranteed Terabyte of Internet-based storage space for EVERYTHING and for EVERYONE running Windows in the world.
- buy every [Microsoft] employee a top-of-the-line Dell machine with dual monitors running Windows Vista. And do it now.
- Change employee behavior through public compensation change logs.
- Get rid of corporate speed bumps.
- Force marketers to explain their decisions — in public on their blogs.
It is a fascinating post and certainly one which will generate a lot of discussion within Microsoft – any one of those changes would certainly change perceptions of Microsoft for the better.
Here’s hoping he doesn’t fall foul of the ‘corporate speed bumps’ he referred to when trying to move this agenda forward.
UPDATE:
In an IM chat with me Damien Mulley pointed out that MS shouldn’t be putting a Dell system on everyone’s desk – I thought it was because of the widely reported Dell support issues but Damien reckoned they should buy Macs for all their staff so they could “know their enemy”!
I wish I had thought of that idea!
Hey Robert, is your kid dual-booting his Mac yet?
In Fortune magazine’s “How I Work” series, Bill Gates reflects on the value of powerful local storage while snapped in a picture at his desktop which contains the three-monitor vista that ensures he has no paper in the office. But he does have a Channel 9 squeeze toy on his desk.
Gates will be using Scoble’s megapost as one of the reflection documents for his May time-out period. Gates calls it his Think Week. He puts docs like the Scoble page into a Sharepoint system where the staff can chew away at the points made. I think it’s a wonderful way to focus the minds. However, there are many many more enterprise items to be hashed out during the Gates Think Week. The Scoble points are probably the most transparent ones and well appreciated by thousands.
Putting a Mac on everyones desk at MS would demoralize the staff, and increase staff churn, to Apple 😉
Brandey: They already work for Apple. Every time they create a crappy product or don’t reach a deadline they do themselves harm and in the process make the competition better if the comp is any good. Crappy products, constant delays and unsexy design and naming conventions have encouraged switching to Mac OS.