The Rise of Macrohard: Can AI Outshine Tradition?

Summary: Have you ever felt frustrated when using Microsoft Outlook, either because you couldn’t find the feature you needed or were confused by its instructions? These common user experience (UX) hiccups inspired this article, which highlights a few UX design issues in traditional software and explains why these problems could be eliminated during the AI-based office software—Macrohard—training phase.

With Elon Musk teasing the idea of launching Macrohard, an AI-powered office suite, the tech world is buzzing. Microsoft has dominated the office software landscape for decades — but could a newcomer, armed with AI and bold ambition, outperform the giant? Let’s explore this from a UX design perspective.

1. Is There Room for Improvement? Always.

When it comes to software design, the answer to “Can this be improved?” is always yes. Even the most widely used tools have blind spots. If Macrohard wants to win users, it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel—it just needs to fix what Microsoft hasn’t. Below are examples.

2. File -  Misleading Hierarchy

To set up an auto-reply in Outlook, users must first locate the File tab. This tab sits to the left of the Home tab, which visually suggests that Home is a subcategory of File. However, this contradicts users’ mental models: most expect the far-left tab to represent the root level—typically “Home”—as the starting point of a system.

Placing File beside Home creates confusion. A more intuitive design would position the File tab above the Mail icon in the left navigation column, clearly marking it as a global control center. And as you’ll see in the next section, this adjustment makes sense.

3. File - Redundant Structure

Outlook’s left navigation column includes icons for Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and other modules. Clicking each one updates the interface accordingly. Each module has its own Home tab, but the File tab and its contents remain unchanged—making its repetition across modules unnecessary.

From a design perspective, this duplication is inefficient. If the File tab leads to the same destination regardless of which module is active, it should be anchored globally—ideally placed once in the navigation column, rather than repeated per module.

4. Schedule - Language That is Unclear

Borrowing the RDF triple concept from computer science—a computer-readable structure composed of a subject (what the statement is about), a predicate (the relationship or action), and an object (the target or value)—this trio ensures precision. Omit even one element, and the meaning unravels, much like a sentence stripped of its grammar.

Consider a typical Outlook message for rescheduling a meeting:

• Current: Sep 28, 2025, 9–10 AM

• Proposed: Sep 28, 2025, 8–9 AM

At first glance, this seems straightforward. But who proposed the change— you, or the email sender? And is the "Current" slot the original schedule or the newly updated one? The more you think, the more you get lost in this riddle. This confusion arises because two lines lack a complete RDF triple structure within its body. The re-schedule indeed could be crystal clear as the following (written by Grok):

• Subject: The team meeting

• Predicate: is proposed to move from

• Object: 9–10 AM to 8–9 AM on September 28, 2025 (pending your approval)

5. AI’s Advantage: More Than an Improved Interface

Now imagine this same scenario in an AI-powered office suite like Macrohard. You wouldn’t need to search for the File tab, remember where auto-reply lives, or struggle to figure out who proposed the schedule change. You could simply type in a prompt: “Set auto-reply for Sep 11–15”

This efficiency isn’t just about a streamlined interface—it comes from the AI’s foundational logic. AI is trained on structured, precise computer language. During training, ambiguous expressions—common in human-designed software like Microsoft Office—trip the model up, prompting developers to refine and clarify them. As a result, the system delivers only well-structured, unambiguous language to users.

6. Who Wins—Microsoft or Macrohard?

Do you prefer a traditional suite, or an AI-powered assistant working based on prompts?

Your choice may decide the next chapter in office software. Yet it also depends on the hard work of this new AI venture team to make Macrohard redefine what efficiency and clarity truly mean.