Design Thinking Digest

What's happening @ MIX07

So, I'm sitting at MIX during the first day's keynote (I'll post links to the video when it's live on the MIX site).

My favorite thing that I've seen so far is this application created by the guys at Thirteen23. It's great WPF application that lets you track everthing that's going on MIX via blogs and pictures that people are posting and is a handy guide for getting into (or staying out of) trouble in Vegas.

In addition, you'll soon see lots of clarificaiton on the capabiltieis of Silverlight and our newly shipping Expression Studio.

If you're at MIX don't forget to give a shout about what you're up to using twitter and setting up your Facebook profile.

MIX 07 and...Barcamp?

I not certain if this is the first time a Barcamp event has sprung up next to a Microsoft sponsored event but it's certainly rare enough that I'm going to talk about it. Sign of a bold new future or tailsman of the Apocalypse? Join us and find out for yourself.

Degrees of Separation at MIX

Over at the MIX site you can see a post by Beth Goza on some of the ways to reach out to your fellow MIXers. Check it out. I became excited and then annoyed with twitter very quickly after SxSW but will be using it again actively at MIX. Add me as a friend if you're looking to chase me down at MIX or keep track of my Mojito intake.

Taking a break and taking requests

I'll be taking some time off on the blog before MIX to rest my weary fingers and my brain. Those of you going to MIX that want to meet up can post comments here or email me.

I'll also post links to any of the more interesting announcments that come out of MIX but might be too tied up to live blog the thing (seeing as how we've go pros there like Scoble and Arrington I think we have this covered).

On Craplets

Because I'm supposed to be some kind of tech geek super hero at Microsoft they set me up with some nice equipment when I started working back in September. I got a tablet pc (Toshiba M400) and my choice of one additional laptop that was my choice. I settled on Sony VAIO (SZ390P) because it was super light and super powerful for the form factor. (Although if Apple put out a MacBook Pro with similar specs in a 13' I'd look at that too as I could run OSX, Vista and Ubuntu and that is some serious tech geek Nirvana.)

Anyhoo, it meant my recently purchased Dell Dimension E510 wasn't getting much use. I finally go around to upgrading it yesterday to Vista and the process actually worked perfectly, without a hitch. Vista downloaded and updated all the drivers I needed and the only thing I needed to select was which virus software I wanted to use. I then installed office and the process was just the same. It reminded me of other experiences with other operating systems that I won't mention--but suffice to say, it proved to me that Vista and Windows is perfectly capable of 'just working.'

Even I was slightly surprised and I think I know why. Much of our software that gets put in with Windows disrupts the experience of an install or an upgrade, especially if drivers aren't supported or if driver updates are sandwiched in with a lot of other software that isn't very useful or just plain awful. This applications are aptly called craplets.

While the infinite hardware possibilities of Windows will make it impossible to better the experience that one can get on an integrated software and hardware set we should be able to be much better than we are now or even match it.

The fact that I can take a clean copy of Vista and Office and put it on machine shows this is possible, today, right now. It's disappointing to me that other computer manufacturers don't look at the experience that is possible with other operating systems that don't load up the craplets.

My Sony is a beautiful machine, I love the way it looks and the way it travels, but there is so much junk software that came with it that it disrupts what should be a much better computing experience. Sadly, this is probably true of a lot of computer manufacturers. If I were Dell, HP or others I'd be paying attention to this. I'd even be a pragmatist and say that I understand the economics of why craplets exist and I'd give consumers the option to pay a premium to not get them or at least give them an easy way to deinstall them and get a 'core' system. Doing this would show that they realize people aren't buying a box but that they are engaging in an experience with their products that will allow them to create emotional connections with their customers. This is what makes the world go around these days.

Vista is a massive improvement in the 'delight' and 'wow' I can get from using Windows compared with previous versions. Matched with beautiful hardware it can make for a superlative computer experience. But in this world craplets have got to go.

Where is technology looking?

Some random thoughts I've been playing with this week. It's very common to see in the blogosphere the lamination that Microsoft is trying to "do too much" (and I'm paraphrasing politely here). This is usually following up by question of "why are they trying to do so much, they must be greedy and evil and that motivates every thing they do" and "they simply can't stand seeing someone else win."

Now as Microsoft is a public company we have an obligation to shareholders and employees to grow our business. Of course the bigger you get the harder it gets to do this. As others have noted despite Microsoft's languishing stock price Microsoft has grown at a rate of about 4 billion dollars a year over the past few years despite these challenges. Another way to look at it is like this. The software market is currently defined as about a 131 billion dollar business. Microsoft derives about 54 billion of that and is probably getting about half the profit that is derived from the industry as a whole. Do I wish our stock was doing a little better based on that performance? Sure I do, but all in all so far, these are good problems to have.

Now let's look at a specific part of the advertising business called Web search. Google has about 55.8% of this business versus 22.7% for Yahoo and 9.6% for Microsoft and the rest is divided among everyone else. Web search is a small (albeit very important and visible part) of a much bigger business though, which is advertising. The advertising market is about a 573 billion dollar business. So, just like the rest of the technology world Microsoft needs to be looking at that business as it searches for growth.

I'll submit that Microsoft is doing exactly what it should be doing right now, which is building an ecosystem or platform with it's technology that can allow it to capture a piece of that business. What do you need for that? For starters you need a way to touch all of the mediums that play in that world. That includes the digital devices that advertising is designed for--things like the Web, mobile, the desktop, television, IPTV, gaming platforms and TNBT (The Next Big Thing). It includes the systems for media buying, distribution and management of those assets. It includes the tooling and platforms that let people use skills across a continuum to create experiences that can be supported by the advertising model. Finally, it includes concepts like sustainability, community building, co-creation and audience-generated content.

So if you're Microsoft and well on your way to the next phase of your cultural existence what would you do? Focus on an industry where you already dominate and where the market seems to think you've added all the economic value you can or look elsewhere to leverage, supplement and advance that knowledge into other industries that can benefit from it?

Everything is a part of a bigger picture at any company that gets big. Our foray into designer tools and cross-browser platforms that can integrate across the spectrum of our services platforms are the big bets that any company needs to make to play effectively in the world of advertising and tackle the new challenges that customers and business face than can address the entire customer experience and value chain. Do we want to be competitive and win in these new markets? Sure. But it's an awful big market and there's room for a lot of success and healthy competition among the technology and advertising ecosystem.

Of course advertising is only part of this picture and the big bets that Microsoft is making. In future posts we'll look at other areas that require focus.

Why Open Source isn't free

Whurley (William Hurley for those new to him) wrote a great article on the state of Open Source over at the BMC software site, he brings up an important thing to note about open source, which is that namely, it's not free. You're entering a social contract when you use open source software and part of that contract involves giving back to your community, but many don't.

In "Welcome to Opensville, Population Zero" Whurley brings up some interesting analogies.

Nestled between Proprietary and Freedom, Opensville is a utopia.  Everyone who lives in the adjacent cities spends their free time in Opensville.  The parks are beautiful, the shopping is amazing, and the nights are pure Vegas. Sounds like a great place, huh? One problem: no one actually wants to live there.  No one wants to pay the taxes or put in the effort it takes to keep the city running.  Welcome to Opensville, population zero.

We live in a world where many of us spend time figuring out how the models of open source versus closed source intersect and can play nice together but when you use Open Source software remember the special obligation that you're assuming when you use it, because if you don't you may find its viability will be vastly diminished. In fact Whurley will be on a panel talking stuff like this at MIX next week.

Thoughts on Microsoft's and Lenovo's partnership

In the US many people's introduction to Lenovo was when IBM sold their personal computing division to them. Many folks (including those in IBM) were shocked by this decision.

My introduction to Lenovo came about a year before when I attended the ID Strategy Conference in 2004. Lenovo and their design director at the time were speakers  and I was amazed at how sophisticated their design processes were and how experienced they were. I formed a thought back then that sticks with me today and it's this. Emerging competitors from emerging markets can move fast, really fast.

Part of this realization came from looking at who is pursuing design education in the world right now. Look at any design school in the US and you'll find an international population of about 50%. Look at the populations of India and China and look how many designers they are producing from local and international education programs.

The folks uprooting themselves and learning about design are have some advantages I think. One is that they are privy to a broader cultural experience than many (but certainly not all) designers. They also (in the case of markets in places like India and China) come from vastly complex and diverse market economies.

Think of it this way. A company like Lenovo is an emerging multi-national, most of their past (and still much of their current) business is in China. But doing business in China is really like dealing with 60 or so different markets. What happens when a firm like that comes onto the scene? Well, they have the ability to move fast. For example, look at a company like Haier. This Chinese founded appliance maker came to quickly dominate the market of India in a matter of years. An impressive feat for any company but all the more remarkable for a company that doesn't have the long term experience of competing internationally.

If you future involves growth outside of US smart partnerships all around the world are going to be critical and local design insight will probably be a key factor in your success.

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Program

Big companies have obligations in the markets that they serve and do business in. In fact our perceptions of companies (As is obvious with Microsoft) are often colored not by what a company makes and sells but also by what it does. For example I know when I go into a Starbucks that anyone that is working over 20 hours a week there is getting health insurance. Does that influence my buying patterns and what I think of them as a company? You bet it does.

When I worked at IBM one of my favorite projects that I served as the design lead on was for a project called The IBM On Demand Community. This project worked to encourage IBM folks (both employees and IBM retirees) to volunteer in the communities they lived and worked in (and had the unanticipated benefit of encouraging people to apply those same efforts in communities that they DIDN"T work or live in too). Programmatically the IBM On Demand Community was about giving people tools and resources so that they could volunteer more effectively and productively. A main use of the program was to bootstrap efforts that were similar to Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Program.

Don Dodge cover's this program and what it will mean to the communities in which Microsoft's employees live and work in around the world.

“All human beings deserve a chance to achieve their full potential,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “Bringing the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities; creative, new business approaches that make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable; and close collaboration between local governments, educational institutions and community organizations.”

I'm encouraged when I see Microsoft couple efforts like this with our recent agreement to partner with Lenovo in China (Article is here but it's from the WSJ so you may have to have an account if you try to link to it within 7 days of this posting). Initiatives like this are what design thinking is all about and it indicates a broader understanding that philanthropy that is aligned with business and economics interests of communities can often have effects that are exponentially greater than Philanthropy alone.

Sliverlight Explained

Of all the articles out there that try to get a handle of what Silverlight is or does I think this one over at Beta News does it best via an interview with Brian Goldfarb. Brian also tells a great story about how we're slowly learning to be better branding, worth a read just for that alone I think.