If you have an idea for inclusion in their next version of an application, what’s the usual route to pass that suggestion on to them?
What does it take to get an idea taken on board?
I have an idea for MS Word (which could apply to other apps)…
My method of closing apps often involves right-clicking their taskbar button and clicking ‘close’.
I propose an addition to that menu - “close without saving”. Thus eliminating the ‘do you want to save’ dialog box.
The reason for this is, I often use word to spell and grammar check a post. When I’m done with word I do the above. Since I no longer need the contents I could do without the dialog box.
Being able to suggest things to MS would be wonderful.
However, I suspect that ‘exit without saving’ would not be an option they’d take on board. It very easily becomes ‘lose your work because you didn’t click the correct option’. (Don’t forget that many of us exit a program expecting a ‘save’ prompt.)
On the face of it, not a bad idea. I’m not absolutely sure, but it sounds like something that you (or someone) might actually be able to code and add for yourself as a macro/custom toolbar button.
However, there is a potential downside; put it anywhere near anything else that you might wish to click upon and you run the risk of lots of users clicking on it accidentally.
But that isn’t really answering your question - there are some whishlists at various MS community sites, but I doubt they are seriously followed by anyone that matters in terms of future development.
Doubt no more! IAAPD.* We regularly review customer suggestions that come in and in some cases implement them in the next version. The requests can originate from support phonecalls, online newsgroups, etc. You can make a suggestion here.
While it’s true that not much will come of it if we happen to be in the middle of a product cycle, we take these suggestions very seriously and revisit them before we begin a new product cycle. We happen to be implementing a new feature in the next version of MacPPT, right now, that came directly from a suggestion on the MacFixit forum.
Depends on the list and site, I suppose, but rest assured that at least some of them do get appropriate attention paid to 'em. But if you want to make a product suggestion, you should use the main “mswish” method in the link in your following post. There are some product groups that may have their own feedback mechanisms set up too, so you might want to check around in the product pages on microsoft.com.