I read several Apple blogs, and if there’s one consistent theme, it’s badmouthing the user experience of Microsoft products. Generally, I agree with them; there are a lot of problems, depending on the product.

But this post on Edible Apple really pissed me off. The author, by implication, asserts that problems one company had getting a Surface table working is endemic of a universal problem at Microsoft: “It’s a mystery to me why Microsoft still hasn’t learned this lesson.”

Hey, jackass, it’s not a consumer product, nor is it particularly mature. Here’s the comment I wrote, posted here as I fully expect it to get ignored:

Update: it never got posted. Surprise.

“Would it be that hard for Microsoft to create a more straightforward and consistent consumer experience for its entire product line?”

Yes. It’s herding cats taken to an extreme. We’re talking about thousands of people working all around the world. I’m sick of hearing about everything Microsoft makes as if it comes from some single, magic fountain, and if one application or service or whatever is sort of sucky, it reflects on everyone’s work. Apple maintains, what, twenty pieces of software? Microsoft makes hundreds. Complete consistency across a huge and varied product line is absolutely impossible (nor, in fact, entirely desirable), but getting to a point that makes sense for users of related products *is* a priority (In fact, it’s 80% of my job), and nobody ever points out improvements.

Also, since when is Surface a consumer product? You can’t just get a table from Best Buy; My advice to Gordon: Call your fucking sales rep before you whine about it. In fact, he revised the post (http://kinesismomentum.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/wither-our-post/) after being contacted by Microsoft, who agreed his experience wasn’t intentional: “Turns out, in fact, that our experience will most likely be unique, in that all customers should either receive an installation service or two days of training. He directed me to the online Surface “Eco-System Partners” site for additional help, info and community. I thanked him for the call, and we hung up.”

I respectfully request you update your post to reflect that, in fact, the issue isn’t just another instance of Microsoft giving users the short shaft on UX. Full disclosure: I work for them, but neither speak for nor apologize for them.