Poor design decisions. AGAIN.... What are you thinking. Are you even thinking?

What's going on with Microsoft? They seem to be dead set on wrecking the entire user experience, in the manner of an idiot with fingers in his ears and a blindfold on.

Here's a tip for you: Listen to your user base. It actually helps sell products and improve your business.

Lets summarise the issues at the moment.

Windows UI firstly. There's an instance that change for the sake of change is important. When you take a facet of your software that's very much loved by the user community, and change that however, the odds are it's going to go down like a lead balloon. You had feedback from the users when you moved away from XP to Vista. The message couldn't be any louder. You then delivered windows 7, which was met with widespread praise, as a move back towards the XP interface. Windows 7 was great and still is. You then moved to Windows 8. It doesn't take an accountant to tell you it was a massive flop. Perhaps the design team didn't witness the Vista disaster. However, they apparently didn't learn from the Windows 8 flop either, so perhaps have learning impairments. Windows 10 didn't move back to the Windows 7 feel, and yet again it's a massive flop.

Mobiles. Perhaps you didn't register the bit where people told you repeatedly they didn't like the windows 8 and 10 experience. Trying to push that same feel out on a mobile OS.. well anyone with even half a brain could tell you what the outcome would be. What on earth were you thinking. The number one mobile OS by a very very very long margin in terms of users is Android. Have you noticed anything about Android at all? Big clear windows. Small icons for launching apps. Yeah it's a bit like Windows 7 isn't it...

Performance. Nobody wants bloatware by default. Many of your users are gamers. You install a load of junk and you hit their performance. They won't be happy. Those that aren't gamers as a rule don't like their PCs running slowly either. Your install needs to be streamlined. On installing or starting up the first time, there should be a question: "Are you a gamer / performance user or a casual user?" When you click the option, it should set the defaults for the following screens. You should pop up a few core option screens that allow you to add chunks to windows 10 in modular chunks depending on your requirements. On each screen, by all means state "this will have a small performance hit". One another screen, preview the UI and allow a selection. Seriously, how hard would this be to do? You want to get your market back - cater for your market and give them choice. We don't all like the feel of Fisher Price toys on our PCs.

Outlook: Quite simply it's been given a Windows 8 interface. As if you didn't learn from the UI experience yet either... It's how less intuitive, less efficient and less attractive.

Office / SQL etc:? The same again. Every release you move everything around unecessarily, as if you feel you have to shout "Look something's changed! Honest!". As far as your users are concerned, it just pissed us off. Honestly. If you took the time to actually look at your market you might realise this.

Profit and Reputation: Over the past few years you've established a reputation for poor design, not listening to users, making your software slower and less intuitive, and generally establishing your company as backwards. Your sales have taken massive nose dives. You used to sell your software for huge profits. Now you try to push it on people that don't want it, for FREE.

If you sincerely believe the above doesn't equate to complete and utter failure, get another job. Seriously. Find something you can do, like making cardboard boxes. Assuming you can do so and resist the urge to make them spherical.