Microsoft tries to polish a turd


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Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista By Saul Hansell

Microsoft is really taking the gloves off this time.
ZDNet is reporting that it will spend $500 million to
make a powerful statement to its hundreds of millions
of customers. I imagine the statement would have to go
something like this:

"Windows Vista isn?t really as bad as they say.
Honest. Please don?t be mad at us. We promise our next
operating system will be better. Pinky swear."

Those aren?t exactly the words they use, but it is
certainly the tone of the ad that Microsoft has started
running on its site. I can?t find it, but Ed Bott at
ZDNet did and has a copy here. It shows a painting of a
tall ship with the headline ?At one point everyone
thought the Earth was flat. Get the facts about Windows
Vista.?

That promotion leads to a page that acknowledges that
Vista had problems:

"But we know a few of you were disappointed by your
early encounter. Printers didn?t work. Games felt
sluggish. You told us?loudly at times?that the latest
Windows wasn?t always living up to your high
expectations for a Microsoft product."

It takes a minute to figure out where to find
Microsoft?s response to this criticism: You need to
click some arrows on the page. (Why can?t Microsoft use
the plus Icon popularized by Google and lots of
others?)

The company asserts that it is now compatible with the
vast bulk of software and hardware. It also boasts that
Vista is more secure, faster, uses less energy and is
even ?sexier.?

"Sure, Windows Vista gets a lot of compliments on its
aesthetics. But its style serves an important purpose:
to put everything within a click?s reach and make you
more productive."

Microsoft, is probably right that Vista gets a bit of a
bum rap. Lots of people find that Vista works fine and
is an improvement over Windows XP. I use Vista on a
home computer with little trouble. (And no, I don?t
hate Microsoft, despite what some commenters say. I am
a big fan of Word 2007, and I even pay for Microsoft?s
OneCare anti-virus and backup software.)

But this is still a dreadful place for Microsoft to be.
It is fighting Google on one side and Apple on the
other. And both of those companies have flaws, products
that don?t quite work right, have gaps and disappoint
users. But both Google and Apple have products that you
don?t need to be told to notice they are sexy. That
changes how people see the more prosaic parts of their
product lines and makes people far more open to
considering new products.

Even if you are a big fan of Microsoft, consider which
you would rather read about first: a something new from
Google, Apple or Microsoft?

After spending $500 million, Microsoft might be able to
convince people that Windows Vista is not awful. But
just because you can show the earth is not flat,
doesn?t mean you will rule the new world.


http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/microsoft-tries-to-polish-vista/?ref=technology

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Relevant Pages

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