By Robert Johnson

While I would not consider myself a Microsoft fanboy, I definitely do find myself interested in the company's products to the point that I'd love to see Microsoft recover from its past mistakes and establish its brand firmly in the minds of consumers again. No matter how you view Microsoft, it is a great company with some pretty cool products. They are nowhere near the popularity of Apple or Google, especially when it comes to the tech press, but I cannot help but think that Microsoft stands in a unique position to wow us in 2011.

Will Microsoft do it? I don't know for sure. But I hope so. Microsoft employs some of the smartest and most talented programmers and scientists working anywhere. Then there's Steve Ballmer, the charismatic CEO whom many people think is fighting to save his job. As a Microsoft user and developer, I want to see the company succeed in 2011. Surely Ballmer wants to receive feedback from people like me, so I have compiled a list of 10 things I'd like to see him do this year. I believe that if Ballmer is successful at bringing these things (and others) to market this year or next, he will not only save his job but will make Microsoft a stronger consumer brand, something the company desperately needs in order to be competitive in the future.

1. Take away carriers' control over Windows Phone updates. One of the greatest benefits of having an iPhone is that the carriers cannot screw with the user experience. Unlike Android, where updates are up to the discretion of the carriers or OEMs, iPhone is a locked system that does not allow carriers to withhold updates from customers. Windows Phone 7 has been a huge disappointment in this area. "NoDo" updates are trickling out to consumers and phones are not being updated in a consistent manner. Removing carrier disruption to the update process will make Windows Phone a much more consumer friendly platform.

2. Improve UI/UX experience between Xbox and PC. The ability to view media from my Windows 7 PC on my Xbox 360 is pretty convenient, say, when I want to share a photo slideshow with friends. The user experience between the Xbox 360 and PC is one that should definitely be looked at in a 2011 update; the whole experience feels really old, unintuitive and not very good looking.

3. Update Windows Live services and apps faster. Microsoft's move that separated Windows Live from the core OS experience was supposed to result in faster and more frequent updates. But this has not been a reality for the most part. Windows Live updates tend to be about a couple of years apart. More frequently updated apps and services would go a long way towards increasing the perception of value in Windows Live. To me, it makes no sense that we had to wait until the 2011 version to see YouTube and Facebook built into the photo application.

4. Speed up Zune.net. If rumors are true, the Zune brand is going away. My hope is that the web version of whatever it is replaced with is much faster than what is there right now. Maybe it's just me but for some reason Zune.net seems really really slow.

5. Make available online Zune playlists. Lala was one of my favorite places to listen to music and build playlists online. Once I discovered Lala, I pretty much didn't use iTunes or my iPod anymore. My music listening was mostly online. Microsoft needs to do something like this,