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Windows upgrade? Yada yada yada
August 22, 2008
I’m always struck, when writing about Windows Vista, by how many PC users there are out there who immediately feel compelled to write in with their own strong feelings on the subject.
These generally fall into two categories: the XP die-hards who view Vista as an enhancement of dubious value they would happily do without, and the Windows detractors who have experienced all the circles of PC hell (it usually starts with a virus and ends in a decision to wipe the harddrive and start again, or a trip to the Apple store.)
It’s always a good reminder of the strong passions technology arouses - or to be more precise, the passions imperfectly functioning technology arouses.
Needless to say, these people turned out in force today when I wrote about Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows advertising campaign and compared the current brand image to a bowl of cold porridge (by coincidence, the Wall Street Journal also reported today that Microsoft had signed up comedian Jerry Seinfeld for the campaign.)
To be fair, my own experience with Vista has been passably good: no driver glitches or speed problems. I’ve also had a good experience with Windows Live OneCare.
But the general tenor of the correspondence I got today was summed up by one writer: spending more to market Vista is like putting lipstick on a pig.
Up to a point. While I understand the sentiment and sympathise with the experiences (yes, I’ve been to PC hell and back), I actually think Microsoft has plenty to gain from overhauling its Windows brand marketing (and to be clear, the forthcoming blitz will be all about the Windows name, not an attempt to boost Vista per se.)
This feels like a case where the perception of the brand is worse than the actual experience. The marketing geniuses at Apple have done a great job of exploiting Microsoft’s recent failure to reinforce the brand, stepping into the vacuum to shape perceptions in their own favour. It makes sense to combat this.
There’s a second sound reason to spend more money on a brand-building campaign. Windows could increasingly come to feel like a burdensome tax on new PC purchases: as hardware costs continue to fall and the perceived value of computing shifts more towards internet-based services, the cost of the PC operating system will loom larger.
Microsoft has to counter that - which is why the forthcoming campaign will play on Windows as a Web and mobile computing brand as well. It’s a valid defence, as long as users can be persuaded that all these Windows environments fit together in some way that is worth more than the sum of the parts.
If Microsoft wasn’t a monopoly they would probably simply discount their software. What is Seinfeld’s line going to be. “That Microsoft. Quite a company. They justify high cost software by hyping how much they spend to develop it. Now in a bold new move they can justify even higher costs because of how much they spend to advertise it…..” “If only the oil companies were so clever. They make about %9 profit and Microsoft %30 plus. But you know, Microsoft is a tremendous help getting you to work in the morning…”
Posted by: carlleigh | August 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 am | Report this comment(it usually starts with
Posted by: Bob | August 22nd, 2008 at 4:35 am | Report this comment-> a virus and ends in a decision to wipe
-> the harddrive and start again,
or a trip to the Apple store)
As if you were with me the past few days.
Jerry’s role will be telling each and every customer that just coughed-up Vista’s price:
“YOU ARE SO GOOD LOOKING”.
The only reason I run Vista Enterprise is because my father needed a test subject to see how well the OS handles and if his work should upgrade. He wouldn’t install it on his own PC (running Ubuntu) because “it would take too long” in hindsight that should have scared me off. The only reason I still have the system is for new game releases (and they don’t work well on it either) Its overdesigned, overgagdeted and overpowered, Gates should just call it a day with Vista.
Posted by: Edward | August 22nd, 2008 at 5:08 am | Report this commentSeinfeld and vista are made for each other. They both suck at what they do.
Posted by: Rick | August 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 am | Report this commentSeinfeld and Vista are made for each other…they both suck!!
Posted by: Rick | August 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 am | Report this commentI agree that most people that are happy with Vista, etc, etc. are most likely more from the general user (non-technical). Admittedly, I am assuming. But I’m not too sure the same can be said about the technical side of the spectrum.
I have to hand it to MS. They’ve made it fairly easy for the guy on the street with all the (mostly) easy to use goodies inside windows as well as windows itself. And as far as the Linux community is concerned, they have stability and power on their side. What needs to be done here is to combine the two for the sake of technological progress.
Posted by: Jules | August 22nd, 2008 at 6:01 am | Report this comment@Rick
I love it when people talk about the golden road in between.
We need to stop thinking the world should be black or white. It’s colorful and most beautiful when colors are combined into a great picture (read combining the strength of each kind of OS). It would grand us all a huge advantage in routing out generel compatibility-problems.
Oh.. what a great dream I just had.. but now it’s time for me to wake up..
Posted by: A Phill from the past | August 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 am | Report this commentHe! Names is written below.. so my comment were ment for Jules
Posted by: A Phill from the past | August 22nd, 2008 at 7:10 am | Report this commentMicrosoft is a joke so it makes sense to have a comedian support it.
Posted by: Paradimn | August 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 am | Report this commentI believe a more appropriate expression would be “spending more to market Vista is like polishing a turd”.
Posted by: OhReally | August 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 am | Report this commentI’ve just bought a cheap machine with Vista pre-installed, and as a confirmed Linux user I’m disappointed that the Vista machine isn’t the pile of polished doo-doo I was expecting. True, you need a hunting dog and a ouija board to find all the settings you knew where to find in XP; true, it’s pretty in a Paris Hilton sort of way, but so far it’s not left a bad smell in the living room.
I did however check before purchase that the mchine was Linux-compatible…you can be sure that the moment Vista starts to smell it will be power-flushed away and replaced with an operating system that doesn’t deprive me of *my* freedom to choose where *I* want to go today.
It’s not the perception of Vista being pants that’s the problem: it’s the fact that Vista is bigger and bloatier than XP, and deprives the user of their freedom to use the system as they choose that’s the deal breaker. Bring on any comedian you like, Microsoft, but remember Will Roger’s words: “If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn’t have to advertise them.”.
Posted by: ske1fr | August 22nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm | Report this commentMS is at its heart enterprise oriented. Business has its IT depts to focus on the half dozen or less apps each pc needs to get the job done without getting sidetracked by the eye candy. MS makes its money re-arranging the furniture, and then selling training to the the corporate trainers. Yet, every personal (and home) use computer has come laden with stuff I neither need or want, all without support.
Posted by: charles porcaro | August 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm | Report this commentWhy doesn’t Vista have native PDF read/write, or decent search/help capabilities? What are the 3k plus processes running on any 2 yr old pc that reduce it to a wheezing behemoth compared to new? Why, in the age of terabyte drives do they still have disk compression?
That said a 2001 pc is still usable, whereas a 2001 Mac is obsolete twice over. Apple has had its flubs as well, the recent 3G iphones for example.
There was a Seinfeld ad for a credit card company where he was doing American stand-up in Britain and needed to “learn the lingo” to connect to a british audience. Wouldn’t MS money be better spent on R&D on the way non corporate folks use Windows instead of a big ad campaign? Well at least MS didn’t turn to the “Strolling Bones” as they did with Win 95
Isn’t it ironic that Microsoft hired Jerry Seinfeld for an ad campaign? Remember that Jerry in his sitcom always had a Mac!
Does the contract include re-shooting all the episodes?
Posted by: Michael | August 22nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm | Report this commentMy wife got Vista on a computer she bought last summer. Why, in the name of God, did no one warn us?
All the horror stories are absolutely true.
I think Microsoft would be well served by using the ad money to cure the disease they have created instead of telling us what a great disease it is.
Posted by: Chuck | August 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm | Report this commentIt is now obvious to me that Microsoft is infected with a management team that is trying to destroy it. How far are we into the launch of Vista, and Microsoft is trying manipulation with the rootkitted Mohave project, and now a comedian. Vista is the joke, when will they EVEN PROPOSE to START fixing it?
Posted by: Daniel J Swanson | August 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm | Report this commentI’m afraid by the time they get to the AA meetings and raise their hand and say “We shipped a bloated, disgusting, broken pig with poor windows compatibility” it will be so late that the world will have passed them by.
I got a new PC recently and I LOVE vista. LOVE IT. Yea, there were a couple hiccups that we had to overcome but overall, its way better than XP and the $$ I saved from buying a Mac will help fund my travels through Europe this year!
Posted by: Jim | August 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm | Report this commentI notice in the latest sales blurbs from Dell Australia that they are now offering their systems (Desk and Notebook) with XP loaded instead of the previously obligatory Vista. The only answer can be that their techos are spend a hell of a lot of Dell paid time “fixing” the MS Vista problems.
Posted by: doug | August 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 am | Report this commentThat’s enough for me.
I forget why I’m supposed to upgrade from XP? Maybe Seinfeld will remind know.
Posted by: Patrick | August 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 am | Report this commentThere’s an obvious comedian Microsoft should have used … http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/21/30/
Posted by: David Gerard | August 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm | Report this commentYou might like to check out some objective comparisons before deciding OneCare is a good thing. http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/Results-2008q1.htm
On the issue of Microsoft’s online services in general, I believe all of these would be dead in the water and long gone if they weren’t pre-infected onto PCs - you virtually have to have a microsoft OS if you buy a PC in the UK and if you do it’s preloaded with MSN, Windows Live search etc etc. Their whole business model depends on stealth insertion of services into the OS and its time the stock exchange and the EU did something about it.
Posted by: PhilT | August 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm | Report this commentYes it is a HOG!!!!
When regular people have to purchase pc’s out of their own pockets for family- price is a factor.
the asinine thing is budget computers are slower with vista than xp.
not everyone gets free hi-powered laptops from their IT depts.
Posted by: Wayne | August 25th, 2008 at 5:38 am | Report this commentA Phill from the past ……………. Touche’. Point taken. *lol*
Posted by: Jules | August 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm | Report this commentSeinfeld is all about nothing. Windows Vista is all about nothing. This is a great fit.
Get Linux. It is free. It is secure.
What a concept!
http://www.opensuse.org
Posted by: SamR | August 28th, 2008 at 1:50 pm | Report this commentWindows and Seinfeld have one thing in common - both reached their peak in the mid 90’s.
Posted by: Haim | August 28th, 2008 at 7:20 pm | Report this comment