Hi Jessica:
Yes, wouldn't we all like Word 2007 ported to the Mac :-)
Let me set an expectation here: That's NOT going to happen :-(
OK, what we CAN do is compile a list of what we want. I suspect that in an
organisation of 50,000 you have a very good idea how this happens, but allow
me please to make some remarks for the benefit of others here, who may not
have done this before...
The Macintosh Business Unit and the PC Office Division are separate
businesses, and each is expected to make a profit in its own right. The
"other" lot have an installed base of almost a Billion (something like
980,000,000 copies) and they sell about half that each version. That funds
a LOT of development time.
Basically, whatever we ask for, we will GET only what they can do in about
30 person-years of development and testing. Sounds like a lot, but it isn't
with a huge product like Office. The PC Lot (I use the term disparagingly
:-)) can throw something like 4,000 person years at their new versions...
So: Microsoft is going to compile a list of the requested features, and
multiply each one by the number of users they think will use the feature
every day, and by the benefit (time saved...) each of those users will get
from the feature.
They will sort the list, and rule a line at the limit of the available
development resources. Anything below that line won't get on the table, no
matter how much we beg and plead. And of course, as they go into full
specification and analysis, coding and testing of each feature, some of the
features above the line will drop off too, as they prove to be 'too hard'.
Obviously, this is not a precise science. But Microsoft has put massive
effort into making the process as accurate as it can. A request to "bring
back white text, blue background because ALL our users use it" is going to
go directly to the round file, because the CEIP data proves conclusively
that in the past billion Word sessions, only ONE user used the feature.
One of the best things we can do is turn on CEIP. The Customer Experience
Improvement Program asks at installation if you want to turn it on. If you
agree, Microsoft gets an anonymous summary report every month or so of what
you use, what you don't, and what you have difficulty with. That
information is flowing in like a fire-hose, and is one of the most prolific
sources of new ideas. "We can see the users are struggling with mail merge,
let's produce a Mail Merge Manager to make it point-and-click!" That one's
been done...
I suggest that WE should right now compile a LIST of the features that we
would like to see in the next version of Office.
For each feature:
A) Check that it's not already in the product!! Microsoft is thoroughly
sick of being asked for features that are already in the product :-)
B) Give a concise description of what the feature is. Be clear. And be
complete: remember: the person reading this may read ONLY this request, not
your whole document.
C) Give an example of how you would use the feature. Trust me, without a
good example, it's gonna die... If you are asking for a change to an
existing feature, give an example of what it does now, why it's not what you
want, and what you would like instead.
D) Take a guess at what percentage of users would use this feature. Say
why you believe the percentage is that high, and what kind of users they are
(New, Student, Home, Office, Work-at-Home, Print Professional, etc). And
don't lie ‹ well, don't lie 'much' ‹ remember the CEIP data metrics will
catch you out, every time :-)
You can email your completed list to me if you wish, but it would be much
(MUCH!) more effective if you simply post it in here, so everyone else can
add to it. If you get the list in here in the next month or so, the people
who will actually do the design, coding, and testing of the end result will
read it directly. They are currently lurking in here every day.
If you DO decide to email to me, send the email in plain text without any
formatting or any attachments, or my Spam filter will delete it before I
even see it. I am sure roughly a thousand 'people' a day try to send me a
virus or other bit of malware. All I ever see of their efforts is a server
log that tells me it dumped 30,000 items last month: don't let yours be one
of them.
Just before we jump on the plane for Redmond (Early April), we'll come back
and harvest whatever is in here, and take it with us.
Here are some Do's and Don'ts:
Make sure your real name and a working email address appear somewhere. If
Microsoft can't get back to someone, there's not much point in including
their ideas.
Don't send in just a single line of text. It will be dismissed out of hand.
Anything less than a paragraph will not survive the test "If they don't want
it enough to describe it, they don't want it badly enough to justify
spending money to make it." Avoid Blogspeak and TXT-speak ‹ either is a
fairly sure sign that the ideas contained have not received a lot of
thought, and are almost certain to get the suggestion dropped straight in
the trash.
Don't send more than half a page on each feature. Nobody in Microsoft has
time to read more than half a page. If you haven't made your point in the
first three paragraphs, they'll drop it in the "Maybe later" tray, and you
won't live long enough to see it surface again.
Concentrate on WHAT you want to ACCOMPLISH. Don't bother telling them how
to design or code the feature: they have some pretty bright people there who
are better at that sort of thing than most of us ‹ they do it for a living.
Say what you want it to DO, and leave it up to them to work out how.
Nearly everyone has strong opinions about Microsoft. Particularly the
people who work there... If your opinion is "less than positive", keep it
to yourself, if you want them to read your request :-) The vast majority of
Microsoft employees come to work each day hoping to make you happy. If they
have succeeded, why not let them know? Trust me, almost everything else
they read that day is going to bring grief from someone: if you have
something nice to say, you really will make someone's day!
Remember, Microsoft is a large Public Corporation. Its directors and
managers have a responsibility to their investors (basically, YOUR pension
fund...) to Make A Profit. If they don't do that, they risk going to jail.
So don't bother asking for something that won't make the product more
profitable or nicer or easier to use. They're not allowed to do it.
Microsoft is NOT anti-Apple. Microsoft is a "software" company. It doesn't
make computers, and it doesn't care which computer people use. Microsoft's
core business is "making a profit". Show them a better way to make a profit
by making Mac software and they'll be there in a flash!
Be PATIENT. Microsoft Office is very large-scale software. A feature
typically takes eight years from idea to on-sale. But the eight years does
not start until someone asks for it, so if you want it, ask for it or you
will never get it.
Please don't expect the MVPs to sort your suggestions out. If you put in a
suggestion, we'll take it directly to Microsoft unchanged. They have staff
employed to make choices as to what is good and what isn't, it's not our
place to make these decisions. We're just users, the same as everyone else
in here. We will be concentrating on making a few suggestions of our own!
Please: Have confidence that there are NO "stupid ideas", if you think it's
good, lots of other people will also.
Hope this helps
On 7/02/08 2:02 PM, in article ee8bffe.14.RemoveThis@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"Jessica@officeformac.com" wrote:
> Hello Mr. McGhie:
>
> My organization includes over 50,000 + members.
>
> How can we support those of you who are going to Redmond?
>
> Besides product feedback, how can we ensure Microsoft understands what we want
> in the next version of Office for Mac?
>
> We would love to have ALL of the features that are currently available in Word
> 2007 for Windows included in a future version of Word for Mac.
>
> Thank you, Mr. McGhie.
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:
http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name
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