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Dear Bill,

IT | John Tate | 1 Jul 2006

John Tate writes an open letter to Microsoft’s
Bill Gates.

I read with interest the announcement last month that you are handing over a core part of your work at Microsoft with immediate effect and that you will be relinquishing your day to day role at the company in two years time.

Firstly, I wanted to write to you to congratulate you on creating and growing one of the world’s largest IT companies. I am pleased that you have managed to make a few bucks for yourself along the way, noting a current estimate of your net worth of around $30 billion. I applaud your decision to set up the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation – with a current valuation I understand to be around $29 billion. I hope you put this money to good use.

Turning to the main reason for writing you this letter I thought I would share with you some suggestions on how you might like to focus the next two years of your time at Microsoft, prior to the big handover.

Firstly Bill, I’d like you to make your software more reliable. I have been a Microsoft Windows user since 1990 and sadly have encountered hundreds if not thousands of bugs over this period. While the recent performance does seem to have improved there are still far too many problems with your software. This causes me and workers in the charity sector unnecessary hassle and devotes significant resources away from what we are trying to do. I know you are constantly under pressure to release new versions of your software and no doubt a considerable proportion of your development resource is directed in this area. However, I would prefer it if there was a moratorium on new product development over the next two years so you can get your software to be really reliable.

Related to this, I’d like to ask you to put more effort into making your software more secure. As an accountant system security is a hot topic for me. I get really worried when I read about how large organisations have had unauthorised access to their systems. Surely with your development resource you could really crack this issue.

Thirdly, I’d like you to make your software less rather than more demanding for my computer. Since using an early version of windows in 1990 I have been forced to upgrade my computer to cope with the ever increasing demands of your software on an almost annual basis. This means I have probably replaced my desktop machine at least a dozen times over this period with all the cost and hassle associated with each upgrade. I note this trend seems to be continuing. For example I understand that the download of the latest Beta version of the operating system, Vista, is over 3MB in size. I fear this upgrade will force me into yet another upgrade which I do not really want. Looking back to 1990 it is hard to see that the benefits I have gained from the upgrades have justified the investment I have made. My Windows 3 machine in 1990 ran a word processor and a spreadsheet that did an excellent job. opinion IT Why have I had to upgrade so frequently since then with little benefit?

Fourthly, I’d like you to extend the significant discounts you offer charities for your core products to your range of business solutions. The accounting software applications under your Dynamics range typically cost charities thousands of pounds upwards. I understand that the discounts you offer charities for example for Microsoft Office are up to 90 per cent of the retail price. Please can you extend this discount for charities to your accounting applications.

Finally I’d like to ask you to increase your headcount so Microsoft staff can actually return peoples phone calls and emails. I know in a technology age some do not feel that this is a requirement of a 21st century professional. However, I would challenge this view. I think it is rude of someone not to reply to phone calls and emails. I am afraid personally that this is an experience I have continued to suffer with many Microsoft staff over the years. You have delivered many of the tools we use to communicate with each other. I would really appreciate it if you had adequate staff to use these in your external dealings with people.

I know that there is a danger that Microsoft may not make as much money out of what it does if it applies the above policies. However, it will increase the amount of time charities can apply to their charitable causes and reduce the cost of IT. If Microsoft shareholders are reluctant to fund this maybe your foundation could? Only joking!

John Tate is a leading IT analyst in the charity sector and chair of Citra 

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