I just tried responding to a very cordial email message sent to me this morning by Mike Van Snellenberg, dev lead, Server Feedback Systems. Seconds later, I received a bounce from Microsoft's mail server. This was not the first time I had been smacked in the face by their anti-spam technology. Instead of wasting my time by trying to figure out which keywords were rendering the message invalid (like I've had to do with other Microsoft email conversations before), I just decided to post my response here. But first, the vague retort from Microsoft's mail server:

<xyzxyz@microsoft.com>: host maila.microsoft.com[131.107.3.125] said: 550 5.7.1 <Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway (131.107.3.125).Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics, or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the filter.>

…huh? I CC'ed Scoble and Mark Cliggett, too – and those messages bounced as well. If you're going to bounce a Microsoftie-initiated email, at least tell me what I did wrong so that I can fix the damned thing!!! Anyway, on to the crux of Mike Van Snellenberg's original message, and my original response (as written mere minutes ago):

I recently got back from vacation, and just saw your blog entry where you mentioned that you had some problems filing feedback on Connect. I'm the development lead for Connect, and I'd like to understand what errors you encountered so that we can get them fixed.

Okay, for one – it's confusing as sin. ;) I should be able to log in and figure out what's going on in about 2.3 seconds. I have no idea what's going on, what I'm supposed to do, or where I'm supposed to go.
Case in point – I didn't even *REALIZE* I could file feedback on Connect! :)

Also, as Mark Cliggett mentioned on his comment to you, we're currently looking at marrying some of the nice features of Ladybug with Connect and having a single system for feedback going forward. If there are particular parts of the Ladybug experience that you think we should pay attention to, let me know, and I'll make sure we consider them for our next release.

Ladybug is a dream as far as usability is concerned. I know what's going on from the first moment I load this page:

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/

Bam! I'm smack-dab in the middle of an immersive experience. My bugs are right there, my trackings are right there, my suggestions, top suggestions, top bugs, etc. I can easily vote for the ones I believe *NEED* to be fixed, and easily connect with other community members in trying to seek a resolution.
Drop Connect, Mike – it just doesn't work. It's a kludge, at best. I realize that's being a bit brutal, but I'm telling you that you'll waste a lot less time by going with a clear winner up front than you will by trying to bring down the elegance of Ladybug to Connect's current level.
I would *LOVE* to log into Ladybug every day, get my subscribed content in RSS, etc. Connect, on the other hand, contains nothing compelling for a revisit. Everything I need to see on Connect is so deeply buried that it's useless; /me doesn't like to jump through flaming hoops.
Remember, I'm talking about usability here – not about the processes on the backend. :) If Connect works better behind the scenes, it's losing its luster with a lame face forward. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE go to Ladybug. It's so much more efficient than Connect, BetaPlace, or the rapidly aging newsgroups. That's my opinion, Mike – and I don't mean to call your baby ugly.
As your user, however, I don't want to use Connect again.