PC World has a great article about what Steve Ballmer can do to get Windows Phone 7 to succeed. The press is all about ranking on Microsoft these days, and there’s a lot of things they need to do to step up. Here’s a summary of PC World’s article. Do you have any other suggestions for Microsoft? Do you agree with PC World’s suggestions?

1. Kill the Crap (And do the Rest Right, or Not at All)

Apple succeeds because Steve Jobs and the company’s other key leaders have a strong vision, and they deliver it time and time again. Despite their outward arrogance, they do listen to customers, but make their own decisions. That results in cohesive products that more often than not move the ball forward.

2. Get the Basics Right

The UI paradigm can’t change because the app does its own thing; the gesture language needs to be universal, and human interface guidelines need to be rigorously enforced. You get the idea.

3. Decide Who You Are

If you want the new mobile platform to be multigenerational and appealing to both personal and business uses — which your Windows Mobile 7 team has suggested — you’d better stop the social networking fixation as your operating system’s organizing principle. It won’t work for most of us.

4. Drop the Windows Name

You should not call the operating system “Windows” anything. It’s not Windows. That advice doesn’t mean that Windows is bad; it means that the mobile OS is not a version of Windows but is instead its own thing.

5. Kill the Kin

If you really think you need a separate social networking phone for 20-somethings, fine. Make that a product line in your new mobile platform — but be sure to have a product line for grownups that isn’t about social networking.