Why Microsoft’s “Fix it” Will be Broken

It’s a great idea: instead of offering troubleshooting users steps to take, why not automatically apply the fix?

That’s the point of Microsoft’s new “Fix it” button, which has started showing up on some of the help pages available through the company website:

“If we know what those 15 steps are why shouldn’t we just script it,” said Lori Brownell, Microsoft’s general manager of product quality and online support

The “Fix it” option is still fairly rare, showing up in around 100 different help documents. The effort is growing rapidly, though, up from just four such fixes when the program quietly began in December.

Microsoft continues to offer users the option of doing things on their own if they either don’t trust Microsoft or just like being in control.

“We’re not trying to hide anything,” she said.

Unfortunately, the Fix it button will probably do more harm than good for Microsoft’s reputation.

From my experience, Microsoft has long lacked the ability to properly communicate with its customers, particularly regarding the software maker’s products and how to maximize them. Surprisingly refreshing steps towards a new marketing approach include the Mojave Experiment. But in general, Microsoft’s customers are mainly left in the dark. About just how efficient and productive Microsoft’s products can be. About how even Bill Gates worries about the customer experience.

The point is that the Fix it button is yet another of Microsoft’s projects that are good in intention and conceivably great in implementation. But it will suffer from Microsoft’s communication problems and general reputation.

You see, once the Fix it fails to work—and it will fail to work, more likely because Microsoft has to deal with an endless variety of systems and the corresponding quirks, rather than buggy execution—I can imagine people declaring the feature as yet another Microsoft failure. I also imagine some open source advocates pointing this future failure as yet more proof of the superiority of the open source model. And Mac users will smugly declare “We never needed a Fix it button” or “I bet if the Mac had a Fix it button, it would work all the time.

Yes, I know Microsoft has its own share of real flaws and failures. It’s not nice to try and twist other companies’ arms to make sure only your software gets used. But Microsoft today faces a very hostile online environment, where people are quick to dismiss and attack the company at the same time. Before Microsoft tries implementing projects like Fix it, where the chance for error is significant (again not entirely the fault of Microsoft), perhaps the company should reconsider how it connects with the market—and take drastic steps to fix it.

(Image is screenshot of source article)