Microsoft 2003 Annual Report Download - page 9

We have intensified our focus on engineering excellence to help ensure that our products are not only more trustworthy but also
more compatible, scalable, and manageable. We continue to enhance the capabilities of our products to automatically detect
problems, perform diagnostics, apply known solutions, and prevent future problems. We have made progress in improving our product
support operations, and we will help customers solve problems with more consistent documentation and richer Web services.
In short, we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that our customers are highly satisfied with our products and services.
Underscoring our commitment, we recently revised the incentive system for hundreds of our senior leaders so a significant part of their
equity compensation depends on progress in the number and satisfaction of our customers.
Supporting developers
The popularity of Windows derives in large part from its support for the broadest array of applications. Microsoft has a long history of
providing programmers with state-of-the-art tools and services that make it easy and rewarding to develop for our platform.
Our new Visual Studio .NET 2003 is the most advanced and complete set of software development tools, enabling developers to
greatly improve their productivity with a single programming model for PC, mobile, and Web applications. It is the definitive tool set for
building Web services with the .NET Framework.
We also are expanding efforts to build deeper relationships with developers. For example, we are pairing our developers
with industry peers to help us better understand their needs and help them with their issues. And we are making Windows development
more accessible to a wide range of programmers, including students, novices, hobbyists, and other nonprofessionals.
We are creating new opportunities for developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) by expanding the platform for their
applications beyond Windows. We will help ISVs develop add-ons and applications for Office and other products, such as those from
Microsoft Business Solutions.
We are proactively communicating with ISVs about our own application development plans so that they can choose their best
opportunities, and we are extending our co-marketing and selling with ISVs. Helping ISVs find customers and vice versa can be a real
advantage for us, our partners, and our customers.
Simplicity, value, understanding
One of our primary objectives in innovating the integrated platform is to provide simpler, more compelling, complete, and targeted
customer experiences. We are adding more capabilities to existing products, and segmenting our product offerings to deliver the
simplest, most valuable package of our technologies, at the right price, for specific customer sets such as small businesses, students,
home users, and information workers at home.
The right mix of our technologies, offered as services in the right set of segmented offers, will dramatically enhance the value
delivered to customers.
Many customers and partners have said they would appreciate our innovations more if they knew Microsoft and its people better.
We are encouraging our developers to participate more in the communities around their products, and we are communicating more
broadly about our work in important areas such as security, privacy, and rights management.
Executives, too, are spending even more time listening to customers— not just to technology managers, but to IT users, developers,
and even schoolkids.
We also have increased our advertising budget, communicating in ways that illuminate the amazing work we and our partners do, and
explaining our mission to help people realize their potential.