Did it ever occur for Microsoft to ask their customers and potential customers what they want and would like to see.?

I asked Apple for lower priced devices and they told me to stuff it!

It seems like a tedious task but ain't time on our side ? I've been using Windows since the mid nineties and can count how many times I've open up "Notepad".  I go to the start menu and there's at least 50 programs there and over the course of a decade I still don't know what most of them do. I think Microsoft knows what the customer wants more now than ever.

I don't really think there is an answer to this that will be what you want to hear. For what it's worth I agree with your point about asking customers what they want. But if you look at most other large IT corporations they don't seem to do that either. Certainly not a company like Apple, who very much offer a product and customers either take it or leave it.

Around the time that Windows 8 was released I remember speaking to a former Microsoft employee about how it is that MS have a history of missing the mark with some of their products. He explained to me that there is generally an attitude company-wide at MS that their products and services are the best out there. And new staff are quickly indoctrinated into that way of thinking. So there is little thought given to whether or not a particular product is headed in the right direction. It is assumed that it is, because it's Microsoft.

If that is indeed true, then it may go some way to explaining why some MS products can be conceived, designed, developed and released, and then be met with a negative consumer reaction. If a company has a view that their products are the best there is, and doesn't spend a lot of time asking the opinions of an impartial third party before release, then it's not surprising that some things won't be a hit with non-company people.

Of course, I don't know if this is indeed the case with Microsoft, but it is a possibility, especially if the description of the company was accurate.

Microsoft do seem to be reactive with their products. So they will wait until release and then make changes if there is a strong opinion about something. Recent examples would be the Xbox One pre-owned furore, and the Windows 8 start button.

Having said all that, I really don't think that MS are all that different to other similar companies in the same position. At some point, given that world of technology waits for no-one, you have to realise that you can't spend years gauging public opinion, and you have to get your product out there. So long as MS do react to their customers concerns after release, then I personally don't have a problem with that way of doing things.

I would say that reacting to customer concerns is something that could be improved.

Microsoft asked me.. And I wanted the surface... So they built it...