Summer is over—but my interview series “Windows Live and You” is not. Today I talked with Marcus Schmidt, who is working for Microsoft and keeping in touch with people like you, to find out what users truly think about Windows and Windows Live. Marcus is a great and helpful person, so let’s see what he tells us.
mynetx: Who are you, in short? …in long? ;-)
Marcus: In short, I’m a senior marketing manager and community manager for Microsoft Windows.
In long, I’ve been at Microsoft for about 12.5 years in various product management and marketing roles. I’m originally from the middle part of the USA (a state called South Dakota), but moved to Redmond to work at Microsoft all those many years ago. I’m happily married to my wife of 17 years. We don’t have any kids, but have lots of nieces and nephews. I enjoy traveling, reading, cooking, gardening, as well as cheering on our local Seattle sports teams (sometimes a challenge!).
mynetx: Please tell me a bit about yourself. Sure you are Windows community manager, but—how is your personal life involved with Windows Live?
Marcus: I used Windows Live quite a bit personally as well as professionally. I’ve set up several Windows Live IDs so I can have one that’s mostly focused on work, one that’s mostly focused on family, one that’s meant for community administration, etc. Personally, I’ve used Windows Live to share photos with my friends and family, blog about my travels, and even set up groups for extended family to share calendars and photos.
mynetx: Since when are you in the Live business? Tell me a bit about your history.
Marcus: I started in Windows Live back in October 2006 to help launch Windows Live Wave 2. Leading the v-team for that first launch was fun, but after that I knew I wanted to do something different. About that time the Windows Live marketing team joined up with the Windows client marketing team and we created a specific team inside the broader group that was focused on social media. That’s how I ended up doing what I’m doing, and it’s been a blast!
mynetx: Do you think the Windows Live team cares for their users’ demands? Why?
Marcus: I definitely do. I’ve seen the feedback we get from our customers and I know that the team really values that feedback and factors it into our product plans. Unfortunately we can’t always address everything as rapidly as many people would like, but we’re always focused on making the whole Windows Live product family better over time. I think Wave 3 was a big step forward, and I’m confident we’ll see more customer-driven improvements in the next releases too.
mynetx: What is it like, being the connection part between the developers, program managers, internals, and the widespread community from all over the world?
Marcus: Being able to listen to and talk with customers all over the world is the best part of my job. It’s great to hear and see how people use our products every day. When I bring that information to internal discussions, it really helps our engineering teams get a feel for what customers are doing and what they are requesting.
mynetx: What was your personal connection towards the Windows Live Butterflies program?
Marcus: I got involved in the program rather late as Eric Chen was departing. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep the program going but we have been and continue to encourage the Butterflies to get involved in other community activities such as the Clubhouse, Microsoft Answers, as well as future beta testing opportunities.
mynetx: Within the next five years, where could you picture Windows Live?
Marcus: It’s hard to predict that far in advance, but I’ll venture my own personal opinion. Note this shouldn’t be construed as the “official Microsoft position” by any means. I think you’ll see the product continue to be a mix of software plus services. I also think you’ll see the product continue to look for ways to add value and functionality to the Windows operating system itself. Ultimately, however, I think you’ll see Windows Live focused on helping consumers connect with each other and share with each other. Sharing in this case could be anything across the spectrum of instant messages, blogs, photos, movies, documents, etc.
mynetx: Please provide two positive and negative comments about any outstanding Windows Live product.
Marcus: 
One of my favorite Windows Live products is Photo Gallery. I really love the built it editing tools, especially the panoramic stitching, and I love how easy it is to publish photos on the web in just a couple mouse clicks.
On the negative side, I wish we would make some progress with Spaces to make it a better blogging platform. I’d like to see better comment moderation tools, better statistics, and better support for RSS enclosures for things like podcasting.
mynetx: Do you run Windows Live Messenger 24/7? Do you have some kind of a routine with Messenger and the other parts of Windows Live?
Marcus: I usually have it on and running whenever I’m at a PC, either at work or at home. For the rest of Windows Live, I try to spend some time every day checking e-mail accounts, Windows Live personal messages, as well as comments on various Windows Live Spaces blogs.
mynetx: Use your fantasy: how do you think Messenger will look like within the next five years? What new features could it present?
Marcus: That’s an interesting exercise. Again, this is just my personal opinion and not an official Microsoft statement, but I wonder if ultimately Messenger might become more of a micro-blogging client that talks to multiple micro-blogging services. I still think it should be focused on direct one-to-one instant messaging and sharing, but I think it would be interesting to see a more public side to Messenger that addresses the micro-blogging world.
mynetx: Comparing these ideas with Messenger’s current features, which of these might be added in the next release, Wave 4? I know you can’t talk about what’s being worked on, so please just reply based on what you suppose personally.
Marcus: I really can’t speculate on any specifics around any particular upcoming release. My ideas above are my own long-term thoughts on what Messenger could evolve into, but when you get into more near term releases I better not even venture a guess.
mynetx: Are you satisfied with the Windows Live services that are provided to you? Why?
Marcus: I’m mostly satisfied. There are a few things I’d like to see made better in Spaces that I mentioned above. It’s a minor thing, but I also think we can do a better job with some of our URLs. I’m not sure why I can be http://marcusatmicrosoft.spaces.live.com/ while my profile is http://cid-503d1d86ebb2b53c.profile.live.com/ and my SkyDrive share is http://cid-503d1d86ebb2b53c.skydrive.live.com/home.aspx. I’d like to see us get rid of the “cid-<insert long string of hex here>” stuff.
mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?
Marcus: 
Maybe this is kind of a lame answer, but I’d have to say it’s the emoticons. Ever since I figured out you could type 
and get a wink, I was hooked. Now with the new dynamic display pictures linked to emoticons it’s even cooler.
mynetx: Ever heard of Live Mesh? What was your first impression of it? What has it got to do with SkyDrive?
Marcus: Yes, I’ve heard of it for sure. I think it’s a great idea and one that needs to be further refined and rationalized with things like SkyDrive and Windows Live Sync (formerly FolderShare). That’s one of the areas we have to focus on in the future. We need the right combined offering that brings together the best of Mesh, SkyDrive, and Sync.
mynetx: Do you see any possibilites for making SkyDrive, Mesh, better?
Marcus: See my answer above. 
We just need to clear up how they all work together and how we could possibly bring them together into a better overall offering.
mynetx: Do you wish Messenger would have a feature that a third-party IM software already has?
Marcus: Nothing really jumps to mind for me here. I’m pretty satisfied with what Messenger offers today.
mynetx: As Messenger user, I’m sure you’ve got a good tip that not everybody might know about yet.
Marcus: My favorite Messenger tip is to try the photo sharing feature. It’s very cool to be able to share a set of photos with someone else on Messenger and kind of flip back and forth between them just as though you were sitting right there with that person.
mynetx: Are you working on any project related to Windows Live currently?
Marcus: My biggest project is working with folks like yourself to build a great community of people that are passionate about Windows Live and Windows. I want to make sure we find people like you and help showcase the great tips, stories, and ideas you have so that other people interested in our products can learn from people like you and get inspired by people like you.
mynetx: Marcus, it was great talking with you about how you are connected to Windows Live. Thank you very much for your time!
Connect with Marcus Schmidt
Related posts:
- Windows Live and You: “Windows Live services help me keep in touch” (Lance Manasse)
- Windows Live and You: “Send myself through Messenger” (Frank Mänz, Microsoft Germany)
- Windows Live and You: “Making my views known on behalf of the ‘little everyday user’” (Technogran)
