Microsoft wants more details on how its products are used so it can make its applications "almost entirely crash-free" and build features users want, the company said Monday.

With the launch of Office 2003 later this quarter, Microsoft will also introduce a Customer Experience Improvement Program for Office. Users will be asked to volunteer to share information on feature usage, software and hardware performance, and the type and frequency of errors, said Eric LeVine, group program manager for Office.

The program builds on Microsoft's error reporting tool in Windows XP and Office XP, which asks users to send a report to Microsoft when an application crashes. The Customer Experience Improvement Program goes a step further. Much broader usage data is sent to Microsoft on an ongoing basis without alerting the user, LeVine said. "With error reporting there are explicit events. The Customer Experience Improvement Program gives us an anonymous ongoing feed," LeVine said. Users will be asked to join the program a few days after installing Office 2003. After a user opts in, the data gathering happens in the background and does not bog down the system, LeVine said.