Microsoft Windows is by far the most widely used operating system in the world. While obviously being a great system, recent versions (Windows Vista comes to mind here) have not been without criticisms both from the wide customer base and from IT professionals.

It is Our opinion that most of today's problems with the Windows OS stem from a lack of communication between Microsoft and its user base. Microsoft is notable for lacking a convenient, open way for users to suggest new Windows (and Office) features. Microsoft's current forum system is cumbersome, hard to find and does not provide any feedback to its members stating whether their ideas have been noted or just went to the trash can immediately.
In fact, the situation is so dire that a third-party forum without these limitations has popped up: Long Zheng's Windows Taskforce (see for example http://www.windows7taskforce.com). The immense popularity these unaffiliated forums have garnered only highlights how strong the need for such an outlet really is. However, so far Microsoft has been lukewarm in its response to these third-party efforts, with high-profile MS employees leaving out no opportunity to criticise them.

We therefore suggest the immediate creation of a similar, official system by Microsoft (We dub it the "Windows Future Forum") where anyone can sign up, ideas and bugs can be posted (and ideally, voted upon), and those ideas recieve attention and feedback from people directly involved in the creation of future Microsoft products. For an example of such a system being a huge success (especially image-wise) for a company, see Dell's IdeaStorm (http://www.ideastorm.com). The top ideas there have more than one hundred thousand votes, suggesting that the site is regularly visited by millions of users.

We strong urge Microsoft to open its doors for useful feedback by creating a system like those described above.

The Signers