ii. Outlook in offline mode is not offline.

iii. Too many -- 5 -- search fields in outlook (contacts, help, docs, …). Microsoft is fully giving me an enema.

b. I want my inbox to have only the stuff that I need to action on. Every inbox item is an action item and it should be more easy to take action on. Read it and be done. Able to delegate. Deeper archive someone but not folders (use tags instead).

c. When was the last time Office was built from new code? You feel like Microsoft hasn’t done the rewrite to make it fresh. A lot of stuff added on so it is cluge cloogy. Start form scratch every once in a while and you will see innovation from within. Too many features on top of features so small things take too long because of dependencies. I had my team rewrite software that was 5 years old. Office may need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

d. Gmail is slowly polishing off the frustrations people had.

e. Times when Outlook is slower than web mail. General applied to local apps v. web apps.

f. Outlook still doesn’t have search down after 10-15 years

g. Can't find features because they are buried too far in menus

h. Too much alerting on desktop/

i. When you open a file in email and save it, it puts it in temp folder and you will lose

j. Too many features. We use 5% of what is available in word. 80% of features used by 5% of users.

k. Box that tells me too much stuff too noisy. Don’t tell me print happened. Notify me if it did not happen.

l. Looking contextually at everything that I do and connecting the dots. Even with using web services. Give me a virtual assistant. Example: When making an appointment, make it in the location of that contact.

m. Bug reporting system will be good.

n. Send info to Microsoft feature is scary.

o. Search for frustrations as much as search for bugs.

p. There are not just big frustrations, there are 1,000 little frustrations.

2. Working with MSFT

a. Working with MSFT has two heads (product groups v. corp dev)

b. As a startup when we pitch our ideas to VCs investors will say that we believe that Microsoft is going in there so we can’t get funding. Exposing a roadmap is important.

c. Need to be clearer about what we want to do and what start-ups should do. We respond that. "MSFT is dumb and slow" works often but not always good enough. Dan'l is viewed as "CIA agent" not a partner. He is there to gather info. not to help.

Nima’s Note: This is terribly unfair. Dan’l’s team has been involved with many startups and has helped them be successful. As a matter of fact his team was a sponsor of BarCamp. Without their support, we would not have been able to host the event. The perception may be there but it does not reflect reality. Thank you for this input. We need to do a better job showing how we are helping startups.

d. People don't see MSFT as going into social networking because MSN is not very good.

e. Microsoft is a version 3 company. MSN is a version 2 company.

f. Many technologies focused on lock-in like Windows Media Photo. Non standard. Proprietary, IP-encumbered. Microsoft only does standards when it suits them. Should lend expertise to existing groups because everyone will benefit. Don’t do it on your own.

g. Google is in business for the money but every now and then the will throw something out to the community.

h. Throw a little into the community every once a while something that is not core business like the new image format.

i. Want to get out of Word because data is locked there.

j. Why isn't there a $100m campaign on net neutrality?

k. Use your influence to save the internet. Get eBay and yahoo behind you.

l. The fact that MSFT is holding BarCamp really says something positive.

m. One thing that MSFT has done right is blogging, Scoble as an example.

3. Where should MSFT be in 10 years

a. Open source Windows. I Want to run windows on Linux kernel

b. Contextually deliver data depending on device

c. Start paring options that aren't relevant for the device (text input on phones).Getting too much info in Pocket Outlook (not going to send fax so why it there?)

d. Everything in the Microsoft research lab to be available for me to use as an extension of the OS without having to wait for it to be productized. Want to run development branch (like FreeBSD stable v. FreeBSD current). I can do this with open source. Wickedly cool things are unavailable until the next rollout of the OS. Example: Working on images that are compiled from multiple images. Give me an operating system that is stable and gives me the crazy stuff.

e. Take data (prefs, search history) to other apps

f. Solve the backup and maintenance problem. Make a standard backup system so my mom doesn’t lose her data. This should just work out of the box. Should just stay healthy like Tivo. On-line backups.

g. Make Windows work just like the Mac. The menu should be on the top.

h. When you say Windows the first thing people think of is crashes and spyware.

i. Hire some really good UI designers.

j. Microsoft should fire the marketing department. What does "Live" mean? Is it going to come to life eat me.

k. I know that Mac is sitting on top of a community tested and time tested OS, robust OS that is not owned by anyone. Very simple structure, everything is in text files.

l. Not embrace DRM (or should embrace open DRM).

m. A lot of people don’t have to go down to Unix. But the level underneath it is very solid and very community oriented. The next version or the version after that of windows is going to be who knows how different and how deep in the code I don’t see the value of that.

n. Microsoft can build the product that everyone has to use because they are stuck (market share) rather than the one they want to use because it is the best implementation of a particular standard.

o. Two ways to go:

i. They have to use it because you are the only thing out there.

ii. The company every once to use because it is the absolute best software.

p. MSFT sole interest is keeping Windows and Office cash cows.

q. They need to make it so they don’t screw the customers that buy this stuff.

r. Need to look past next version and build sustainable business environment to keep short-sighted companies from ruining it (e.g., net neutrality).

s. Look at what Bell labs gave the work (transistor, laser) what has MSFT given the world?

t. MS in the future instead of fighting standards it should embrace innovation and embrace and protect standard. Problem: Any modification that they need to make becomes the standard.

u. If windows market share is 50% it would be best for Microsoft and for everybody. Example: Firefox is the best thing that happened to IE since IE4.

v. Just make brand cool, what you stand for interesting. Why can’t Microsoft be a fun and interesting company instead of a stodgy and lame? You don’t have a cool brand. Bring some coolness to it. People don’t think of you as cool or interesting. You get a bad rap because you are not focus on looking cool. If you don’t care what people think then people don’t care about you. Nobody gives you credit for your innovations. I want Microsoft in 10 years to be more cool and more interesting.

w. Cease and desist for vista torrent was not necessary.

x. Don’t be everywhere.

y. What’s the point of Microsoft besides propagating itself?

z. Do more thinks like BarCamp.