Fixing Microsoft: A How-To Guide

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Well, in the real world we upgrade every other year, outrun disk capacity storing photos and movies, and try out the latest software package weekly. Microsoft should rebuild Windows from the ground up—ripping out DOS, eliminating the software La Brea tar pit known as "The Registry", and better compartmentalizing applications and data. Just drag your app from your 2009 computer to the 2010 model, and all the data are swept along, automatically upgrading the software and refreshing file formats. No fuss, no muss. Like a routine oil change.

•Secure your data: The current Windows firewall is a joke, basically nagging you into allowing all programs to run, while still requiring weekly security "patching" to fix an old and teetering OS security model. The problem is too much integration with the OS. A better system would loosely couple software, data, and OS so there is no single point of failure or easy entry for hackers.

•Fix the user interface: Do you have any idea what the difference is between a "preference," an "option," a "customization," or a "settings" menu? Well, neither do I (though I expect they just ran out of space on the option menu and created the others to make room). Microsoft should take the bold position of simplifying its products. Yes, people are always requesting new features, and yes, those features are sometimes valuable. But no one person uses all the capabilities. Apps should be simple, light, and modular, so users can install a few small add-ins— as needed, and only when needed.

3. The cloud is the computer: There is little doubt that most software innovation is happening in the "cloud," that loosely connected network of Internet services, software, machines, and people. Yet most people still access the cloud through their PC, and probably rely on their computer for word processing and games. Microsoft could (and to some extent is) offering Web-based versions of its applications. But it's a restricted set that lacks the innovation engine powering the cloud.

While it still has time, Microsoft should transform its physical PC platform into a cloned mirror, living inside the cloud. That is, you could own a virtual PC hosted within the Internet—where you install any desired program, store your pictures in the "My Photos" folder, play games, and so on. Over time, the lines would blur between the cloud and the virtual PC, but by then Microsoft would have taken the lead from the deficient first-generation Web 2.0 programs now running amok inside the cloud.

Consider the advantages. Microsoft wouldn't have to develop a separate version of each app for Windows and MS Live, and developers could offer an iTunes-like store of cool apps that run on the virtual processor. Such a setup would also more energy efficient.

For the user, the PC-in-the-cloud approach provides unlimited disk space, and your most precious files automatically are backed up. If a virus invades your virtual computer, just "roll back" to the previous day's clean version. You could access your virtual computer through any browser, even on your smart phone; easily share data with family and friends; and run Internet services like any other desktop app. And you could clone the virtual computer back into your physical laptop, so you have the same environment and data available even when traveling.

Radical suggestions? Perhaps. But few large companies survive the transition from their original founders. Gates is out at Microsoft. The time is ripe for bold thinking while Microsoft's incumbency is a strategic asset, rather than a liability that renders the world's biggest software maker a prisoner of its own history.

Greg Blonder is a venture capitalist who relies on a mixture of Macs, PCs, and Web apps to make it through the day.