To that end, Stoltzfus had some advice for Microsoft.

"A lot of the criticism took place online, in forums and in comments [on Microsoft's blogs]," said Stoltzfus. "Microsoft should be using the same online channels to get this message out."

Stoltzfus may have a point: The by Eric Hautala, general manager of Windows Phone 7's customer experience engineering team, currently sports 122 comments, nearly all negative. Neither Hautala or any other Microsoft employee has waded into the conversation to answer customer questions or respond to their complaints.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Mobile OSes Topic Center.