Microsoft fights back, but does it have enough ammo?

Microsoft fights back.

(Credit: Microsoft)

For quite a while now, we've heard Microsoft claim that when it unleashes its barrage of advertising, Apple and the rest of the software industry will be put on notice.

"You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping?" Microsoft's VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing said recently. "Well, we've woken up, and it's time to take our message forward."

And it looks like the company has done just that. In what will surely prove to be just the first salvo in an ongoing marketing struggle with Apple that could bulge to an astounding $300 million investment, Microsoft has unleashed an ad campaign saying we all need to learn the facts about Vista.

"When Windows Vista debuted in January 2007, we declared it the best operating system we had ever made. 'Windows Vista is beautiful,' The New York Times raved. It's humbling that millions of you agree," Microsoft's site says after clicking the ad.

"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...Our goal is always to make each new version of Windows better than the last. With Windows Vista, we're convinced we succeeded."

With 180 million licenses in the wild already, it's hard to argue with Microsoft's logic. But the main question that Microsoft needs to answer remains: Why should I buy Vista if XP works so well?

There's no doubt in my mind that Microsoft truly wants to see its operating system succeed. But as much as the company wants us to, I simply don't think we can forget about XP.

As bad as it was before SP2, XP is now a fine operating system that satisfies the needs of both individuals and companies alike. And with the ability to run SP3, which adds the valuable security features already included in Vista, the latter becomes a hard sell at the register.

The way I see it, Vista simply doesn't provide enough benefits to justify its ownership. It also doesn't provide enough benefits to force companies like Intel to switch its 80,000 employees from XP to Vista. And although it may be a better operating system in Microsoft's opinion, advertising won't solve its major dilemma: too many people like XP.

How does Microsoft solve the XP problem? Ostensibly, the first part of its plan was to eliminate its availability altogether, but I don't think Microsoft knows where to go from there. What can it possibly do with XP's installed base? No matter what Microsoft says about Vista, it doesn't address one problem: what makes Vista so unique, so wonderful, so new, so special, that we all want to run out, do away with a perfectly fine computer and operating system, and buy a new one running Vista?

So Vista has better driver support, games work better, it's extremely secure, and it's oh-so beautiful. Who cares? XP has full driver support, games work great, it's just as secure now that SP3 is installed, and although it's not as pretty as Vista, some people think XP is actually better looking in the first place.

I'm afraid Microsoft may be spending its money in the wrong way. I understand its desire to improve Vista's perception, and it makes total sense. But if it can't coax XP users to come to Vista, I don't see the point. As Vista's success shows, Microsoft is fully capable of selling Vista to users who are ready and willing to upgrade, but it still hasn't been able to provide compelling reasons for users and companies who rely on XP to switch to Vista.

And unfortunately, I don't think it can.

I applaud Microsoft for finally fighting back and confronting Apple's marketing ploy that has put Vista in the wrong light. But if it can't find reasons to make people and (most importantly) companies switch to Vista from XP, it's facing the same problem it was before. Only this time, the company is spending more to get the same response.

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[chustar]

I don't think its all about getting people to switch. It's also intended to make people stop hating vista. Instead of the general meme among XP users being, "Vista sucks!", the meme would now be, "I'm satisfied with XP, so no need to switch to Vista."

[TheAlpacaHerder]

Perhaps the shift to Vista could be handled like the digital television transition?

[workshopmusic]

The producer of the new Microsoft ads, CP+B, is indeed a Mac shop, particularly on the creative side and the overall mix moved from about 60 percent PC/40 Mac to about 60 percent Mac. Users in non-creative roles were offered a choice, and some selected Mac laptops.

Nice workplace by the way.

[The_Decider]

180 million OS licenses "sold" not 180 million vista licenses and certainly not 180 million copies of vista running. Nice try though.

Vista is a dog and MS knows it. No amount of spin can change the fact that it was released underfeatured and ironically overfeatured, buggy, ugly, slow. No amount of updates are going to fix it either.

MS has already admitted it is a failure and is moving on. It is just trying to stop Apple's remarkable growth rate and get more money out of Microsoft's idiotic customer base. Within 12 months Microsoft is going to be slamming Vista hard in order to push Windows 7 which is even less compelling than Vista which is unbelievable.

[pjhenry1216]

The above comment from The_Decider is exactly what MS wants to stop. I used to be one of them until I actually started using Vista Ultimate (i got it for free from a launch event). I'm gonna tell you off the bat, I kinda like it. I dunno if I'd buy it from my other XP computers, but I'll admit its never had any problems (my xp box has had more issues than my vista box has since i've gotten it) and there are some features of how its set up that I kind of like more than its equivalent in xp. Vista isn't bad, it just has a bad reputation. Thats what MS wants to fix. People who think it is terrible are the same people who thought the world was flat =P

[mstrtu]

There statement about the everyone thinking the world being flat is actually an argument against Microsoft. They are the ones with the majority and everyone thinks that Microsoft is in fact the best not the other way around. There were only a few that believed that the world was round and that would be the less than 20% that have other OS.

[Stormspace]

The real problem here is that this is all just MS lying through their teeth. The first thing I saw on thier marketing page, was "Get More Done" with the prerequisite statement that Vista was faster beneath it. What measurement are they using to make this outragious statement? My own experience with Vista which I will admit is anecdotal shows that Vista is much slower than XP on slower hardware. My Desktop is an older Sempron 2400 and it performs and runs games much faster than my Laptop which is significantly better specced. In addition, benchmarks I've read about support this as well. Vista is slower than XP. So, how can we as customers believe anything MS says in the face of this lie. How much additional hardware is needed before Vista starts performing as advertised?

In my job I've made it my duty to find every solution possible that will prevent us from going to Vista as long as it runs like crap.

[ToddWBeaver]

No real problems with Vista. Some things changed for no apparant rhyme or reason and it takes a little getting used to. I use XP Pro at work 40 hours a week and Vista Business 10 hours a week at home. Vista takes more horsepower to run well. My notebook would be a screamer with XP.

[Seaspray0]

Decider, either back up your statements with some facts or shut up.

"180 million OS licenses "sold" not 180 million vista licenses and certainly not 180 million copies of vista running. Nice try though."

Then exactly how many? You didn't say. What percentage? You don't even know. If only one of those computers ran another OS, you'd still make the same trash statement. You had the chance to WOW us with real facts but gave us obscurity.

"Vista is a dog and MS knows it. No amount of spin can change the fact that it was released underfeatured and ironically overfeatured, buggy, ugly, slow. No amount of updates are going to fix it either."

People said the same about 2000 and XP. I didn't like them at first either, but they DID get better... especially XP after SP2. Now prove to me that no amount of updates are going to fix it. You can't because you don't know the future. Stop making stupid statements that amount to guessing.

"MS has already admitted it is a failure and is moving on. It is just trying to stop Apple's remarkable growth rate and get more money out of Microsoft's idiotic customer base. Within 12 months Microsoft is going to be slamming Vista hard in order to push Windows 7 which is even less compelling than Vista which is unbelievable. "

Really? AGAIN, You don't know the future. Stop making stupid statements that amount to nothing more than guessing. I am not the only person who is fed up with your stupidity.

[MadLyb]

I have no animosity towards Vista, but it was a complete miss as far as I am concerned.

The UI is awkward and the resources requirements are high. I've finally bought in with my latest laptop (Dell Studio 17) and the heavy hardware does a good job of masking the Vista overhead, but the UI still drives me nuts. Ironically, it is many of the things that are copied from OSX that irritate me. 8^)

[Stormspace]

@Vegaman_Dan

Well, I see you misunderstood me. Likely my own fault. Vista runs slower on faster hardware than XP runs on slower hardware. If Windows 98 had run faster on a P90 than a P2 I'd be just as miffed. In my case XP runs faster on my Sempron 2400 than Vista does on my 2.4GHz laptop. Functionally the OS'es have the same features since the LT is running Vista Basic. I've also found that Vista will for some unknown reason lock a file so that it can't be renamed, moved, deleted, or copied. Don't know how that happens...

[calpundit]

One thing to consider about any advertising blitz is that MS is now no longer in a position to simply out spend its rivals in marketing. In its latest quarterly report, Apple reported cash reserves of over $20 billion. If the marketing battle comes down to a spending war, Apple is more than capable of matching MS's $300 million dollar-for-dollar. In that case, it will all come down to the quality of the campaign and the message.

I have to believe that MS marketing has something more up their sleeve than just "Vista doesn't suck as much as you think."

[yarlq]

Vista is more of the same defect-ridden, crash-prone crapware we all know comes from MS. Spending gobs of money is simply cheaper than fixing the disaster that is Vista.

Why would anyone buy a new OS (Vista) from a company that never got the last OS (XP) right?

You can fool some of the people some of the time but MS makes a career of it.

The real pity is that Gates could have been a latter-day Prometheus -- but ends up as a cheap hustler who took the money and ran.

[Kev Orng]

Well I prefer Mac, and I quite like XP. I haven't really tried Vista but I don't care for the license agreement. Ubuntu linux has its high points too. Windows 2000 is still quite usable on the machine I have it on.

The "my OS is better than your OS argument" is wearing a bit thin. Use the one that suits your needs. It would be better for us, the online OS enthusiast community, to promote OS diversity to help slow the propagation of viruses and malware. Don't tell me my choice sucks, I use most of them regularly (except Vista), there's not much you can teach me. And MAC is not an acronym!

What really does suck is those Mac ads. I have high hopes that the microsoft campaign will encourage some innovation in the Mac ads, I've had enough.

[Perry_Clease]

"If it's MAC, tell me, what does M A C stand for?"

Media Access Control for one

[indieinvader]

The problem with windows vista is that it doesn't live up to the hype that was created around it by Windows lovers and their ilk. People expect that software (and most everything) should live up to the hype around it. Vista is slow annoying and all that but it wouldn't be a problem if Microsoft hadn't claimed that Vista would be faster and better than XP. It's not like XP is all that good anyway. It's better that Windows 98 by a long shot but it still isn't great. The real problem is that Microsoft made it's first good piece of software when it created XP. People came to expect that again, they thought that perhaps Microsoft had turned over a new leaf and started making good software.
I personally believe that the best OS out there is Linux. And no I'm not some sort of computer geek or nerd I just think that Linux is great. I currently use Ubuntu and I am enjoying it. I switched to Linux after my Windows PC suffered and inexplicable meltdown. When that happened I decided that I was tired of fighting my computer just to make it work. So I switched over to Ubuntu and I have been happy ever since.
For all of you who don't know Linux is no longer a command line OS. It has just as many features as the leading commercial OS's. Take for example Windows Aero, one of Vista's big ticket items. Linux has something called Compiz Fusion that does the same thing that Aero does but with much more flexibility and for free. Another great thing about Linux is that it runs much much faster than any version of Windows I have ever tried.

[jeromatron]

The funny thing about the flat-earth theory is that in Columbus' time, most people knew the earth wasn't flat, especially sailors, who actually mapped things out based on the curvature of the earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth#Myth_of_the_Flat_Earth

I don't know how successful MS will be attacking Apple's campaign, but it gives Apple added stature to know that they have gotten MS's attention enough to respond in kind :-p.

Then there's the idiotic claims of Bill Gates who seems delirious when he "authoritatively" states that there's a new vulnerability found for mac os x every single day, a vulnerability that compromises the entire system. Care to back that up, Mr. Gates? Why am I never infected with viruses and malware with my Mac, ever - even though I don't run AV software or anti-malware software...?

It's true that macs are hacked at hacking conventions/contests - but when you really want to hack someone and are bent on hacking them, I don't think any OS will very easily stand in the way. You just have to look at the common user's experience - windows == hacked, macs != hacked in the real world. Sorry MS.

[workshopmusic]

Reading this blog post I was hoping to read something a little enlightening about the challenge MS faces in remedying the perception of Vista... the ad messages they're relying on to do that... etc. No such luck.

Some of the replies are a reminder to their authors that what happens to your computer platform for good or ill does not happen to you personally. Some posts are surprisingly emotional and defensive, which used to be the province of Mac users back when Apple was "beleaguered".

People, Microsoft does not need your "love". They are a business in a competitive business. Most people would agree that Vista adoption is a setback, including Microsoft themselves in this ad. A setback like this is a sign to go back and do your work better.

[Kwasiowusu]

A few points worth pointing out. Vista is already the fastest selling OS in the history of this planet. No other OS comes even close. Not Windows 95. Not Windows XP. Not anything else. With 180 million copies of Vista already sold, and in the nads of consumers in their homes and offices, nothing is going to stop Vista. This year alone, over 250 million Windows C's are going to be sold, out of which at least 100 million will be Vista. Next year even more Vista copies wil be sold., and they year after, and the year after. Nearly everyone who buys a consumer PC from the shop, is buying it with Vista installed. Vista has already outsold all Mac and Linux PC's sold in the past 20 years combined. With SP2 and excellent driver support, nothing is going to stop Vista. Get over it.

[dirty55409]

Windows Vista meet Windows 2000