It's also much easier to forgive faults and lapses when a company has engaged you in the past. I certainly don't expect every interaction with a business to be perfect, but when they have good service recovery and make me feel appreciated, I'm not going to get bent out of shape if something is amiss. For example, Starwood has done a great job of making sure I enjoy the many nights I spend in hotels. It's not always perfect, but their expert handling of the times it has been imperfect are actually what make me loyal to them when I have options on where to stay.
If you are making a product for everyone, you'll eventually dissolve. This is what I see Apple's problem as being right now. They're shifting their entire OS towards the lowest common denominator which are casual users. Meanwhile their OS is becoming more and more like the new Windows.
Has this not been Apple's schtick since the beginning? Computers for everyone, easy, accessible, friendly, fully 'appliance-ized'? They did aim a bit more towards making their users feel 'sophisticated' during the early OSX years but they were selling social sophistication, not technical (ie. 'you're a high end artist, an innovator, a visionary', not 'you're a computer expert'.) And even then, their bottom line was 'it just works.'
But also, do you really think causal users care about Thunderbolt 3.1? Or previously, Firewire 800? And want a $3000 laptop that can drive two 5K screens?
I realise you talked about the OS, but it's the same deal. Apple OS'es were always dumbed-down compared to Windows - just compare the control panels and application "installation" features. Have you seen Group Policies?
Maybe the MVP program partly explains Microsoft's decades-old policy of ignoring standards and promulgating proprietary technology to commoditize the public domain. How to add some tweak to .Net is in the domain of acceptable discourse. When to support C11 or Posix, not so much.
It's been a few years since I had to deal with Microsoft's development environment. If you're taking suggestions, I think it would be nice if F1 once more showed the function's documentation instead of searching the Web. Intelligent development of the development environment never would have subordinated a useful albeit rickety documentation technology to a mindless webby one, no matter the marketing imperatives.
Never ever attack your most enthusiastic customers.
It seems to me the main focus of OA is on enthusiast end-users or members of the public who become fans.
The 'lead users' for scientific instruments are the scientists in laboratories doing research. Almost by definition, they will be using instruments in new ways/pushing the limits and so feedback from them is critical to the manufacturers of scientific instruments. More like a craftsman/patron relationship.
Struck me as a different kettle of fish.
