Ballmer: More marketing of Windows needed

With Apple gaining significant market share, Microsoft is finally acknowledging that it needs to do a better job of selling Windows.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy, CNET News.com)

"We're going to have to invest more than we ever have in consumer excitement," CEO Steve Ballmer told financial analysts Monday. "We are going to be doing more to highlight Windows, and that is going to require more investment."

Ballmer also mentioned the need to work on the next Windows, but offered no new details on Windows 7, Vista's successor.

"We're very hard at work on the next version, which we won't talk about," Ballmer said.

Ballmer also addressed Windows Mobile, saying the company will be investing not just in the operating system, but also in new mobile applications. News on that front is expected shortly--I'd guess at the big cell phone trade show next week.

[Norseman]

Here's the deal, Ballmy

"Consumer excitement" doesn't come from more advertising. It comes from having good, usable, exciting products!

[ToddWBeaver]

Wow, alert the media!

Seriously, I agree 100%. You want more excitement? Make a better mousetrap!<br /><br />I think MS got upset about all those Mac ads and tried to "outcool" Mac by making a shiny new Windows version with lots of "cool" stuff like the Aero interface. <br /><br />What they forgot to do was to provide a reason to use Vista. The Aero interface is quickly forgotten when you discover it runs much more slowly than XP.

[ivorycruncher]

Most definitely

I couldn't agree more. Marketing departments are relied on more and more these days to try and pass off shoddy workmanship as the best thing since sliced bread. Granted, I know that there are a lot of hard-working people at Microsoft, but I believe the management has some serious issues, and that's what's leaving a bad taste in people's mouths right now.<br /><br />If you make an exceptional product, it will sell itself. Yes, you will always need good marketing, but the problem with Vista is certainly not lack of good marketing, but rather lack of value for consumers.<br /><br />Vista was supposed to be the biggest and best version of Windows ever. Biggest, they achieved (15GB of spaced needed for install? gimme a break!), but best is highly debatable. Now, if you pick up the pieces of your shattered hopes and use them to make Vista's successor what Vista should have been, you might just be able to save some face. But honestly, give the marketing a rest and focus on making a product that people will actually want to buy without being brainwashed.

[Gayle Edwards]

You forgot about...

...Cost ("Vista" really seems to fall-short there, no matter how you look at it).<br /><br />Otherwise, I think your comment was right on the mark.

[Lee in San Diego]

He is correct

I have never heard of Windows from MicroSoft until I read this <br />story. I had to "Google" it to find out that it is an operating system <br />used on the majority of PCs. :)

[ToddWBeaver]

Excitement over poorer performance?

I don't know what I'm supposed to be excited about. The wireless networking disconnected regularly and Vista is a hardware resource hog. <br /><br />I'm unhappy with my Vista notebook. It has 4G RAM, T7300 processor and 256MB video RAM and it's too darn slow running Vista!<br /><br />And fuggetabout Office 2007. Somebody should be shot over the UI. Shot, buried, dug up, burned and their ashes scattered over Puget Sound.

[hlywd217]

Office 07 not all bad

That's awfully harsh about Office 2007. It does have a slight learning curve, but once I got used to it I like it a lot better than the previous versions of Office.

[iBuzz]

Ballmer to make more commercials like this

Here's what Ballmer is talking about:<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-8IufkbuD0" target="_newWindow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-8IufkbuD0</a>

[Renegade Knight]

Invest in the Product

If Vista had worked like it should out of the box, I would have given it the same thumbs up I gave XP. Instead it doesn't. XP remains with the thumbs up. Vista instead gets an avoid.<br /><br />If MS has the money to spend on "consumer excitement" they could invest in a solid product and let viral marketing do the job.

[USDecliningDollar]

Everyone knows about MS

MS needs to focus on a quality product and not on "marketing".<br /><br />Marketing the Yugo might have produced some number of extra sales, but once word got out that it was a POS - no amount of marketing could overcome the negative word of mouth.<br /><br />As an aside, I simply do not see a dramatic shift away from Windows - whether it be XP or Vista by force. IF Apple or the flav du jour of Linux were to make ANY dent in the armor of Microsoft, MS has given them COUNTLESS opportunities to take a significant market share. This whether fortunately or unfortunately, has not occurred.

[eldernorm]

I disagree. :-)

Actually, I think that Vista has pushed a lot of people closer to Apple. And with Tiger and Leopard, and Boot Camp which lets you run windows if you wish, I think that is fueling a lot of switchers. <br /><br />Now, now people. Yes Apple only has like an 8% share of computers in the US and 4% world wide, but consider that given the conversion rate and that once people switch to Mac they usually do not go back, every switcher is one less windows user. <br /><br />And 25% of laptop sales this last 2 quarters went to Apple. Many colleges have surging Apple sales amoung their students, which will continue to buy after college. <br /><br />The choice for Apple is not like a choice between Hp or Dell or Lenavo. There you swap back and forth year after year. A choice for Apple means leaving windows behind. <br /><br />Also consider that Apple is not looking for the low price option. Apple stays at the mid level where the profit is. You can be the low price leader big time and go broke (loosing money on each machine :-)). <br /><br />Just a thought.

[maccam--2008]

Same old same old

I guess we will have more encores of this statement:<br /><br />"Windows &lt;insert version&gt; is the most secure and dependable <br />operating system we have ever produced."

[robbtuck]

Try keeping each version around longer

Why upgrade when I know I'll have to do it again in 2 years or less??? Try improving performance as well - I'm not paying money to make my computer run slower.

[sanenazok]

longer?

XP came out in '01, Vista wasn't shipped until '07 and was finally ready with updates through Summer of '07.<br /><br />So even longer product time periods would be what one new version a decade? As far as updates at a quick pace with no performance effects (because they are all just new hats for Linux) look for OS's out of Cupertino. Now there's a product with PLENTY of marketing...

[Penguinisto]

err, 6 years...

But then, Microsoft is the only OS maker that requires an upgrade treadmill. Here, I'll elaborate:<br />--<br /><br />I still happily run OSX 10.3 on my Mac at home, no sweat... and I can still happily get new apps and tools for it. I have a Leopard-based Hackintosh that still runs old 2000-era early OSX apps.<br /><br />I have servers that still happily run Linux RedHat 9 , and there I can get, build, and run (as example) MySQL 5.1 on it, no sweat. OTOH, I can run pretty much any early Linux app on my Fedora Core 8 install... again, no sweat. <br /><br />OTOH, There are HUGE groups of commonly used Windows apps out there that simply will not run in Vista. There are also a lot of latest-release Windows-based apps that will not run on Windows 2000 or earlier.<br /><br />-- <br /><br />...see the diff? I think that was sort of what you were angling at, but I'm not sure so it remains a guess. :)<br /><br />/P

[mikeboulet]

Marketers! Marketers! Marketers! YEAH!!!

How about revolutionary approach?<br /><br />Make stuff that works.. Listen to the needs of the community.. Be responsible for your actions..<br /><br />just a thought..

[igl00lgi]

Umm... Mr. Jobs pull the trigger.

Is it possible Microsoft is in a rush to position itself prior to the "possible" release of a threat it knows will be a very decisive blow to the consumer market for its OS? Hmmm, I would bet that the Vista force fed consumer market is not as promising as they had hoped. Just a thought that I am sure has crossed many peoples minds including Balmer's.

[ethana2]

FALSE

Try making an OS worth jack.<br />So far when I compare Vista to Ubuntu all I see is ownage on every front from bling to resiource consumption to --and I'm serious-- hardware compatibility.<br /><br />Our grassroots marketing can kick the butt of whatever money you waste on TV. Within two years someone will make the observation 'hey, all the smart people i know use linux; what is it?'

[R. U. Sirius]

Marketing? Give me a break

Vista is a pig. Many of us that tried it went back to XP. Even Dell decided to go back to XP. Dross it up all you want Ballmy, it won't do any good.<br /><br />As for Apple, I'm glad there's competition, and more Apple market share would be a good thing, but really, I think the threat Ballmy fears is Google and the iPhone.

[ethana2]

Apple market share

should /not/ increase. It is a Bad Thing. We Ubuntu users can run windows apps; if running OSX apps became a concern, we'd have to go through a ton more work. Also, Microsoft may be evil and incompetent, but Apple is evil and evil. I will not be convinced otherwise until they stop pulling things that require horrible hackage to use their products as the consumer wants. OSX doesn't run on /my/ hardware, the iPhone won't run /my/ apps on /my network, etc. iTunes songs won't be played on /my/ software stack.. The more power apple gains, the worse. I think people are starting to realize that.

[The_happy_switcher]

remember 'how hard at work'

they were with Vista? Look how well that turned out. lol

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Consumer Excitement? How? Chairs Hurled in Anger? Face Bites?

There is no real product to sell. MSFT knows that. It just milks the black-box boot loader deals it has with the manufacturers and makes noises like a software company occasionally. Look, a rectangle! It used to be square on the old version! Wow !!! Let's put on our Zunes and jump around and stuff like we care. Eventually we might, right? Godzilla might eat Seattle, too. Know knows?<br /><br />What's to get excited about? Ballmer running through the aisles at Best Buy head butting customers and biting people, threatening them if they don't buy a Vista box? Ballmer could show up on everyone's lawn in America throwing chairs through the windows and eating people's pets and still no one could care, any more than they could care about the brand of transmission fluid they dump into their cars.<br /><br />I hope the analysts didn't spray him busting out into laughter when he started babbling about 'marketing' as if there was anything to sell.

[ferricoxide]

How Bout a New Filesystem

Maybe if Microsoft were to release that spiffy new filesystem they've been promising and recanting since *forever*, they might actually have something new to market. As it stands, what will additional marketing do with nothing real to market? I mean, is there anyone on the planet (who doesn't live in a cave) that hasn't already heard of Microsoft?

[ethana2]

ext4

looks nifty.. maybe if there is some new feature we want, ext5 could handle it.. i'm not sure exactly how the metadata thing fits in with the base file system..<br /><br />Unfortunately, Microsoft is infamous worldwide. We're doing all we can to see that those poor people don't actually have to use microsoft products themselves, by putting a better kernel in such devices as the OLPC. Hopefully in ten years people won't have to know about microsoft unless they regularly hang out with the old timers to reminisce.

[Penguinisto]

Yeah, I wonder about that...

...I mean, I've been happily using journalled filesystems for years now - err, in Linux. <br /><br />Reiser, ext3, and now with xfs on the horizon... I'm afraid that WinFS simply won't be able to catch up in performance or stability, let alone keep up.<br /><br />[i]"As it stands, what will additional marketing do with nothing real to market?"[/i]<br /><br />That's how Vista got into this mess in the first place. ;)<br /><br />/P

[The_Decider]

I guess Vista isn't the massive success the shills say it is

What a shock!<br /><br />Yet again, Ballmer proves that MS just doesn't get it.<br /><br />Produce something worth buying and using, then market it.<br /><br />You will drastically different results then the current model of releasing poorly though out, half-assed product and trying to force it down peoples throats.

[Penguinisto]

We know :)

...but Marketing is MSFT's only strength, and when all that one has is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. :)<br /><br />So, while you and I slowly stroll down from the peak of MSFT's dominance (along with the rest of the tech industry)... I wonder just how ugly it'll get in Redmond, once we reach the point where even the most tech-ignorant user knows that MSFT is on the decline? <br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />/P

[scannall--2008]

Uh what?

Maybe a product that actually offered something new would be <br />better. Vista really doesn't do a great deal more than XP, except <br />require a lot of people to buy new hardware.<br /><br />It is also a lot more restrictive when it comes to DRM stuff.<br /><br />There is probably nobody on the whole planet that hasn't heard <br />of Windows and Microsoft. More advertising won't change that. <br />Maybe making something that is actually worth the money <br />would be a better idea.

[The_Decider]

Where are all the shills and MS fanboys?

Hasn't Microsoft sent out the memo telling you what to say yet?

[Penguinisto]

Give 'em time...

...it takes awhile to coordinate talking points when it comes to spinning an admission of failure by the High Priest of Redmond. :)<br /><br />/P

[SeizeCTRL]

Marketing?

How about fixing Vista first? It's pretty damn when Microsoft's own hardware lacks drivers for Vista. I have a MS Fingerprint Reader and after a year of Vista being on the market, there is still no Vista 64 driver for the fingerprint reader... you can't even trick it into installing by OS Compatibility.<br /><br />XP 64 is in far worse shape!<br /><br />If Microsoft is going to release 64bit versions of their OS, at least make sure that it can detect and use hardware. You wouldn't believe the crap I had to go through to get an XP 64 driver for my WiFi card, and it only works for awhile before it has a memory error.<br /><br />Granted it's not Microsoft's job to write drivers for hardware, but I would at least expect them to write drivers for their own crap.<br /><br />I hope there is a completely different team working on Windows7... and I hope SP1 solves a lot of the issues we are having with Vista.