Microsoft Help & Support Gets A Facelift

Is it just me or did Microsoft’s Help and Support website get a little bit of a facelift? It’s not a huge change, but I think it looks great. Very clean and organized.

I wish I could say the same thing for Help & Support that’s embedded within most Microsoft software apps. The one benefit it’s got is that it’s at least somewhat familiar and expected. As a bad example the help system found within Visual Web Developer Express 2008 is horrible. I can’t ever find the answer I’m looking for quickly. I’ve stopped trying now. My quickest path to an answer is to ask my question or put my error message into Google and find it online.

One thing I believe should be incorporated in Windows help should be somewhat of a wiki format. The ability for people to add their own experiences and challenges to the various Knowledge Base articles would seem like a huge wealth of knowledge for Microsoft themselves.

The community would have to be well maintained and moderated to continue to be helpful, but I think the existing Microsoft employee base and specialists in their own areas could help contribute to this effort significantly.