Mixed Signals
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Wednesday 9 July 2008, 8:46 AM
Vista 'really good, really' says MS. 'Like we care?' says world
Microsoft is rallying the troops with its Worldwide Partner Conference getting told “Today we are drawing a line and are going to start telling the real story” about Vista. It's compatible, no matter what people think. It's secure, no matter what people think. It's so reliable and easy to use that people who buy Business and Ultimate pre-installed on new PCs will get free coaching and support. Pick the ironies out of that one at your leisure.
There's a big new advertising campaign coming, you lucky people. The details are yet to be revealed, but the prime target is the increasingly annoying Apple - which has clearly goaded Microsoft beyond endurance by having an OS that people actually love, having a cross-platform one-message approach that actually works, having content and portable appliance strategies that actually work, and having much, much better adverts. That actually work.
The trouble is, Vista is sunk. The dog is dead. It doesn't actually matter now whether everything Microsoft says about today's Vista is true or not, because Windows 7 is coming tomorrow. And it doesn't matter what Microsoft says about Windows 7 - if it really is basically Vista but better, then why buy Vista now when a better version is on its way? And if it's not really very Vista at all, then why buy Vista now and risk running an orphan OS? You can finesse those arguments any way you like, but since the days of Adam Osborne one of the rules of the game is that announcing a new version of anything sends out the funeral notice for the old.
There will be plenty of sales, of course, because for most people buying new PCs online or on the high street there is no perception of choice. Where people do realise there's a choice, then Apple's winning - and in organisations, over the remaining lifetime of Vista, the choice of not spending any more money for a while on stuff they don't actually need is going to be irresistable. Show me anyone or anything on the planet who actually needs Vista.
Hence MS' new focus on Apple as the enemy: it's the only place it has a hope of holding back the tide. But if the expensive advertising campaign just pitches MS as an Apple-wannabe ("Look! Zune! Windows Mobile! Vista! Live! And they work together for a really cool lifestyle choice!") then I fear we all know how well that'll play against iPod, iPhone and OS X.
The other side of the question is: if you woke up one day as CEO of Microsoft, what would you do to turn that ship around - assuming you couldn't recruit Steve Jobs?
PreviousComments on this post
Two basically unrelated thoughts about your post, Rupert...
First, if Windows 7 is supposed to be 18 months away, but Microsoft makes the same kind of mess of its release that they did with Vista, and it slips another 12-18 months, that actually puts it the best part of 3 years from now.
Second, I think you hit the nail squarely on the head with the observation that Vista fulfills no real "need". It doesn't do anything of significance that XP can't do; it doesn't support any device or technology that XP doesn't support; there isn't any "killer" Vista-only app that everyone thinks they must have. So essentially, what Microsoft is trying to do is force everyone to pay for XP bug fixes by changing the name.
With all that said, on a purely emotional basis, I still like Vista. I've said it in my blog several times, and even after all the grief it has given me, I still like using it, for reasons that I can't put my finger on. I recently reloaded it on a spare disk, so I will be ready to test again when the next significant Vista patches come out, and I found myself sitting there thinking "gosh, this is nice. Too bad it doesn't work very well".
jw
Some of the visual furniture on Vista is very pretty, certainly, and I'm quite aware that my personal attitudes towards the OS are coloured by my frustrations with its performance on the platforms I've had and (especially) its peculiarities with wireless networking.
Perhaps I'll nab the next big-welly review box that comes through that's got Vista on, and give it a good thrashing for a while in daily use: I've spent most of my time this year on Ubuntu, which certainly has its own annoyances but has been rewarding in a way Vista never was.
But I'm a long way from being able to recommend Vista as an upgrade to anyone used to XP, if they don't have to change (the best OS for anyone is the one you know and that's doing the job). My few experiences with OS X make me minded to go that way for those with cash to spare, but as we never get Apple gear for review those experiences are bitty. Ubuntu? In some cases, a shoo-in. In others, a not-on-your-nelly.
And, I learn from Ina Fried over on CNet US, Microsoft has added to the "Vista's better than you thought, honest guv" push by unveiling a Vista Compatibility online tool. This shows what runs with the OS, cataloguing the thousands of Vista-friendly hardware and software products. Just what you need when you're launching a new OS - or re-launching a middle-aged one.
Unfortunately, the Vista Compatibility online tool is incompatible with, well, anything. As of today, it's just reporting that "The Windows Vista Compatibility Center will be launching soon, please check back!", despite MS telling Ina that it would be fixed yesterday.
Come on, chaps. At least put up a fight!
"Vista is sunk". You misspelled junk, because that is what VISTA really is. Apparently they aren't listening to the public as they claim. I've tried VISTA, and found it to be extremely sluggish, slow to the point of irritation, difficult to find items, and a general pain in the arse. Unfortunately when you buy a laptop, off the shelf, you are going to have VISTA pre-installed, whether you like it or not. But, there is nothing that says you can't format the drive and install a real OS like Linux.
I spend as much time supporting one vista laptop with their maddening concept of wifi access as the 8 XP and 24 OSX computers in the house, some as old as 7yrs old, still happy churning away.
Once again the Redmond behemoth belatedly awakes from it's slumber to realise there is a world outside their campus! The rest of us have either moved on to OSX, or RHEL or Ubuntu (I have ALL of them!) or remain contented with XP, which is predictable and passably stable and doesn't require bleeding edge hardware to fully utilise.
if it ain't broke.....
If I were CEO of Microsoft, i'd say: Fine, People, you win. XP you want? XP you can have.
I'd allow PC makers to ship XP machines if they wish to do so, but not extend support. I'd lower the price on Vista so it is approximately £10 - £20 higher than XP.
that way:
- If a customer sees that for an extra £10 they can get the newer OS with support for the next 5 years, it might entice them!
- If they come into problems with XP, force them to upgrade, its not like they have much choice; not many of them are adventurous enough to try Linux.
Another tactic is to woo developers, give them incentives, run Vista exclusive contests.
Evil plan, I know, but it wouldn't be out of place at Redmond!
You know if I was CEO at Microsoft .... yeoooow! What a nightmare!
That would be a freaking waking nightmare every day. No wonder Balmer screams and runs around like a circus gorilla.
Software that doesn't work right all the time, that gets attacked and compromised by 12 year olds running script kits, that doesn't comply with International standards, that has to be constantly updated because of all of the above, that has to be protected like the family jewels since letting everybody look at the source code reveals the "Emperor's new clothes", that constantly gets more and more bloated with no liposuction in sight, that really isn't worth the paper the EULA is printed on and its only a matter of time before somebody files suit and manages to get a judge to force MS to choke on consumer product liability laws.
Yeah it would be a nightmare.
"To be CEO of Microsoft" reminds me of a movie with Whoppi Goldberg called "Eddie" where she plays a New York cabby that back-seat coaches the Knicks and then through a totally unrealistic and contrived event ends up coaching them for real.
Maybe there ought to be a contest where contestants second-guess Balmer and get their management ideas voted on by other readers or maybe other CEO's. Call it "Fantasy IT-CEO" it could be like fantasy Football or Baseball here in the states. You could hire and fire whoever you want. Make buyouts and hostile take-overs. You could buy Fantasy-Yahoo. Of course we'd have to have other players for the contesting CEO positions. We could drop-in some stockholder revolts, government regulation, lawsuits, all the wonderful things that have happened for real.
But you know it could become too real and then it would be as boring as it really is. Naw it would never work. Who would want to be one of the richest men in the world with a US government protected monopoly?
