I’ve been sitting on this post for a while. In fact, I’ve rewritten it more than 3 times now because I couldn’t get my thoughts right about it.

Then Scoble comes along and nails it for me: Thrill customers or else they’ll go elsewhere. And quickly.

I’ve been really struggling with my opinions of Microsoft in the last few months. Less than a year ago, Microsoft was my dream job. Being an evangelist on the windows / IE / XBox / Office / MSN / etc teams would have floored me. Being a PM would have rocked as well. It would have rocked hard.

I started noticing the change early this year. I was offered several interviews, and turned them all down. At the time it was because I was already doing my “dream job” (this blogging thing) and didn’t want to give that up. Which was, and still is, true. But at the same time there was something deeper: a sense that maybe Microsoft wasn’t where I wanted to work anymore.

At the same time, though, I would jump at the right opportunity. Like this one at IE, or this one with Jeff Sandquist.

Both seriously tempted me to think about maybe applying (heh).

My problem is that there isn’t the thrill there that once existed for me. I love to solve problems, help people and create great solutions to hard problems. Oh, and have loads of fun doing it. I know that on the right team at Microsoft that could happen.

My challenge is that I don’t just want “any job” (if I ever do take a job again). I want a job, working on a product or service, within a team as part of a company which will thrill me. A year ago, that would have been Microsoft.

What is it today? If I had to take a new job, I have some ideas.

What’s the point?

Scoble nailed it: Microsoft simply isn’t thrilling me anymore. They used to. I’ll still happily defend Microsoft when the time is right, will evangelize dozens of products to the right people and so forth. But it’s less joyful, and slightly more forced, than it used to be.

So, c’mon Microsoft, thrill me again. I’ll be one of your best evangelists forever if you just give me a reason to be! Being at this week’s Search Champs would have been a great way to start that process, but it’s by no means the last. I love the relationships I have with folk at Microsoft, but it needs to go beyond the people. Thrill me with your software, thrill me with your attitude and thrill me with real promises for a real future! I still haven’t seen anything in Longhorn to actually excite me. And I’m easily excited about those kinds of things. I haven’t yet seen anything in IE7 to excite me, and I’m just the kind of person to lay the smack down if IE7 was half of what it could be. Give me a reason to be excited, and I promise you I’ll be the last one clapping and hooting and jumping around.

If Microsoft can’t get someone like me excited, how are they supposed to get cynics, analysts, journalists and regular folk excited?