Comments on: Microsoft tries to reclaim Windows' image

After years of letting Apple's attack ads go unanswered, software maker sets out on difficult, costly journey of trying to take back control of what Windows stands for.

[topgunb2]

just curious how many people are actually using mac to write comments here, i'm sure on windows because that's what I have at work and home

[apisano]

I was contacted by a contracting company for Microsoft about this job. The recruiter pleaded with me to take the time to go to the interview because I was so qualified for the position. I figured, what the heck, go see what they have to say. If you are chosen for the position you get flown out to Redmond, WA for your indoctrination and brain washing for one week. Oh, and you can?t take any time off between Thanksgiving and New Years.
I was interviewed by a young guy who worked for the outsource company representing MS, he was from Washington state. After the typical ?how great this position would be, yada, yada, yada? talk I started asking some questions and my suspicions were verified. These MS Guru positions are nothing more than glorifies sales people; say one level above the Geek Squad. You have to push MS products and you are not supposed to help anyone fix a computer problem. You?re just there for demonstration purposes and to help the badly trained sales staff at these box stores convince people they are buying something that is worthwhile.
When I inquired about the salary, he told me that the range will be from $15 ? $21 per hour depending on the geographic location in the US. I guess I had a look on my face because he quickly followed up with ?I think the NYC/Northern NJ area will get more because things are so expensive around here?. Don?t get me wrong, that?s not a bad salary for a person who is working retail. However, MS is looking for TRAINED and KNOWLEDGEABLE people, not the zit faced kid who was flipping burgers last week or selling cell phones yesterday. I then asked if these positions were only for the holiday season or were the jobs expected to last past the holidays. He could not give me a straight answer on this question. I also asked if a MS Guru was an MS employee, he flatly said, ?no? and added that you would be an employee of the outsource company. At this point I was totally disgusted with myself for taking the ride down to Jersey City and wasting my time at this the interview.
The interview was over in my head so I figured that I would have a little fun with the interviewer. I asked if Microsoft had factored in the possibility that retail might be looking at one of the worst holiday seasons in recent memory and how that would affect the program. After some stuttering and stammering he said that ?projections have been made and if the holiday season goes badly the project would be retooled as necessary?. Translation: they pull the plug on it even before Christmas. I also made it a point to have junior understand what it costs to live in northern NJ and that trained people with skills will be expecting a salary that they can live on. Finally, I couldn?t help but make the connection between the Apple Store and what MS is trying to do. With Apple kiosks and Apple pros now in Best Buy and Circuit City you have to wonder if MS is in panic mode.

[SpiritWater]

That Bill and Jerry ad was really bad. I had no idea what they were trying to sell. It was a true to life odd couple. Bill has no acting skills that I can see. I don't know how this is good for Microsoft if no one gets what the commercial is supposed to represent.

Bill is retired from MS and Jerry retired for sitcoms. Does that mean Windows is retired too?

Aside from their commercial I'm loving Dell's mini PC and the minibook offering. Microsoft should just focus on SP2 of Vista.


Break the Wedge!
www.breakthewedge.com

[t8]

Wow, a Microsoft store inside another store.
Again, Apple shows the way.

[Stormspace]

While I'm not an advocate for piracy, Microsoft really shot themselves in the foot with product activation. Average people that wanted the latest software would just take a disk home from work and use it there. With product activation people have to decide what's most economical for them and many times it's not Microsoft. So while people are looking for alternatives, Microsoft gets less and less exposure with the installed base of public PC's. People start looking at Linux, and from there perhaps Mac, though the latter isn't a cost saving solution. But people are looking at alternatives and with each generation of more expensive OS and software Microsoft will loose more people.

Sure an equalibrium will be be reached eventually, but I suspect it will be far below the current numbers of subscribed users of Windows.

[fadetosepia]

I thought the commercial was too long and the only part i found funny was when the Spanish speaking folk were asking if it was the conquistador. But that wasn't even that funny. They needed to get the writers of Sienfeld, and not just the actor. Also it just seemed too forced. I didn't get a good feeling about the commercial.

[GrandpaN1947]

No commercial will fix the DRM infestation called Vista.

[stuxstu]

I love this "Vista sucks" and I want XP. Gee, I think Apple is now at version 10.something. Do you think they are still selling version 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 , 4, ect..? No. You got the choice for 2 years on which OS from Vista you wanted.

Also, how about all those Mac OS 8 apps you bought? Do any work on OS X? Didn't think so. How about the PowerMac you bought in 2005? See ya, support for the Power PC is going, going, gone. Think the Intel Processor will have long term support if they choose AMD one day?

So Vista had some compatibility issues, but did they drop support for a chunk on their users from just a few years ago?

As for choice... How is that in "white only" Apple Mac? I can build my computer, can you? I can chose from hundreds of vendors, styles, and have my choice of processors. Microsoft makes the software, not the PC.

Also, I just love the tenor of CNets coverage of anything Microsoft does. It has become a complete joke. Was the title of the PC vs Mac commercials "After years of becoming a joke and niche product, Apple tries to get more users than Linux with PC vs Mac commercials". Microsoft has a 90% market share and they had $46 billion to spend on Yahoo. So $300 million over a few years is nothing for a company of that size.

Apple is dead in the long run. They know it. That is why all the innovation is driven at the iPhone, iPod and other consumer devices. The Mac is being gravy trained until Apple makes a transition to other products, away from that expensive ?in white only? Mac sitting in front of you.

As you sit there looking at that $1000+ Mac, just think about the fact Apple has already once dropped support for its legacy products and is facing the behemoths the Tech Industry; Google and Microsoft. Google is on the verge of the "browser as a platform" and Microsoft is driving hard into ?the cloud?. So if I don't need that expensive computer and if MS or somebody else creates a better MP3 player... Apple is dead.

How many proprietary iTune music files do you have? Enjoy the thought...

I don't know why I even read CNet anymore. It has become nothing but Yellow Journalism.

[b_baggins]

Since Apple's OS is a way to sell the hardware the business models aren't the same, so you analogy fails right at the gate.

Try again.

[chltmdwp2]

This is ridiculous. Most people doesn't know how to operate OS. And who said Vista is slow? you know what's slow? their computers are crap and doesn't know anything about electronics and just blame the Vista. Seriously why vista sucks? Ram is cheap in 21st century. Just upgrade to 3gig or 4 gig and see how vista performs.

[b_baggins]

Since Apple's OS is a way to sell the hardware the business models aren't the same, so you analogy fails right at the gate.

Try again.

[Stasco]

I thought the commercial was awesome. First thought, this commercial reminded a lot of people, me in particular, that Bill Gates is MUCH more likable than Steve Jobs. Also, I have taken to muting the Apple vs. PC commercials now, for fear that I'll vomit if I here another one. The whole Apple mentality is an oxymoron. They've sold quirkiness to the point that it has become mainstream and conformist. Want to go against the grain? Defend Windows Vista in public. There's a decent chance you'll be run over by a Prius driver with an Obama for America sticker. (The chance of this happening increases as you get closer to a Starbucks.)

I for one don't pay $4 for my coffee, $2,000 for my laptop, or $1 per song for music I can't share with anyone.

Hint to Apple marketing team: it's tough to win over non-fanboys when you bash Microsoft in one commercial, then highlight the fact that Leopard runs Microsoft Office in the next.

[jachamp]

Why doesn't Microsoft spend the money they are wasting on PR on fixing their operating system. The reason why XP is so popular is that it is able to run on more systems and run more software than the Vista.

Vista is a resource hog. Vista is a waste of money and if MS had not put slipknots around the necks of pc manufacturers, you would see most pc's still shipping with XP instead of Vista.

But MS does not get it nor do they want to get it. They made a bad decision creating this absurd operating system in Vista and they can't understand why everyone is jumping on this rehash of Windows ME.

[CallMeMike]

When I watched that ad, I'm pretty sure I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[partner1234]

Bill does know how to get attention. First he notifies the media about all of OUR money that he's giving away. What we paid about $100 for in Windows98se, we now pay several hundred bucks for. That's right folks, each OS since has been a game of shuffling things around that MS calls a "new" os. Everything in Vista was in Win98. I thought that MS had perhaps come up with something really new after XP, which was a disaster. But Vista was actually worse.

Now he wants us to believe that Apple is really a threat to MS and he must come marching in to rescue MS.

Horse pucky. Let's all stand up and refuse to pay for any more "new" OS from MS. When I bought this laptop, it came with Vista Home Premium. I've put Windows2k on it on a separate HDD and it runs better then with Vista.

[Thomas, David]

Hmmm, as much as I prefer NOT to use Windows, and love my Apple devices (I have Dells, Macs, Gateway, iPods, etc), you FORCE me to defend Microsoft from your comments.

It WAS your money but you USED it to purchase Windows. You now have a legitimate, licensed copy of WIndows, in exchange that money is THEIRS.
Give Microsoft a break, if you understand their maniacal desire to completely dominate computing, of course they feel threatened. And as much as anyone wants to pretend Vista was a success, it wasn't, and Microsoft knows it at it's core. Otherwise we wouldn't have heard about Windows 7 so soon.
XP, isn't a rehash of 98. No one, and I mean no one completely throws out ALL of their code, and re-creates a completely new, undefined, unresearched, untested operating system. The code is modular, at the source level.

If you, or anyone else wants to make meaningless statements, they should keep them to two sentences. You hate Vista, so say so (I do to), but don't post based upon perceptions, stick to the facts.

[Dragon_Myr]

Microsoft is furthering the notion that it's out of touch, and that the Windows division is a dinosaur. I expected this, although I was hoping they'd come up with something better than Shoe Circus. A couple of high school or college students could come up with the same thing for a simple project. I think Microsoft missed a golden opportunity here. That commercial had absolutely nothing to do with Windows and I struggle to see how any of the metaphors or lessons play out in Microsoft products. I could make a much better commercial with ease by playing up the strengths of the platform. It's saddening just how far off target this ad appears to be. Yes, Seinfeld is very entertaining, but a pair of rich guys in a discount shoe store and a butt waggle at the end just before a Windows logo is just out there absent of any importance.

I also don't expect that those Windows Guru help desks are going to help Microsoft. Vista has an image problem, and having help desks further solidifies that Vista is a complicated monstrosity that's so bad now people need extra help. Microsoft would do better to play up the strengths of their platform and make Windows look hip like they've done with the XBox 360 and Apple has done with its hardware.

[fooldog01]

I liked the ad. I dont understand what the problem is with it. I found it amusing.

[jgvillan]

I saw the commercial last night and it left me wondering... Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!??!?!? And I would like my Windows with the little sugar sprinkles on top please. LOL!!

[Llib Setag]

INFORMATIONWEEK ARTICLE :
MICROSOFT VISTA COMMERCIAL A "BOMB"...(DUD)

Windows Vista: The OS About Nothing

Posted by Paul McDougall, Sep 5, 2008 12:42 PM


Microsoft's new Windows ad, featuring Jerry Seinfeld, is outdated and not very funny -- but it's highly revealing of all that's wrong out there in Redmond.

The background: Windows is losing market share to Apple's Mac OS and even Linux. And Vista, the latest version, has been a big fat dud. Businesses have shunned it outright, and many consumers find it unintuitive and difficult to use.

So, Microsoft hired "award winning" agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky -- at a reported cost of $300 million -- to give Vista, and the Windows franchise in general, an image makeover. The Seinfeld ad debuted Thursday and it's the first piece of an integrated marketing campaign covering TV, the Web, and point-of-sale outlets.

It's not going to work.

The ad shows Seinfeld helping Microsoft chairman Bill Gates buy shoes at a discount store. Gates opts for a pair called The Conquistador. "They run very tight," Seinfeld warns. It does not get any funnier than that.

But it's a remarkable, 90-second second encapsulation of why Microsoft is going to have a tough time thriving in the Web 2.0 world, where consumers -- not agencies and marketers -- decide what's in.

For starters, what does the decision to use a 54-year-old, white, multimillionaire comedian, whose show went off the air 10 years ago, as the centerpiece of a campaign that's supposed to give Windows a hip new image and help Microsoft reconnect with younger buyers, tell us about the company?

Mostly that it's dominated by middle-aged white guys who made their own millions more than a decade ago and who are woefully out of touch with America's changing demographics and any generation that doesn't go by the initials BB.

These guys probably still think the Fonz is cool.

The ad also is a good metaphor for Windows Vista itself. Despite the hype surrounding its launch (Dan Lyons, aka "Fake Steve", thinks Microsoft deliberately leaked Seinfeld's involvement to generate some buzz), the first spot is being greeted with a resounding, "Huh?"

It doesn't even mention Windows. Sure, it's not always necessary to drill a product's name directly into consumers' skulls by mentioning it 60 times in 60 seconds, but even Microsoft appears to be conceding that the connection is too obscure. It's already put out a press release explaining it:

"Some may wonder what Jerry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates pick out a new pair of shoes has to do with software," Microsoft concedes. No, probably everyone who watched the ad is wondering what shoes and Seinfeld have to do with software.

The answer, Microsoft says, is nothing. Oh, right -- that's so very Seinfeld.

The deliberate obscurity shows just how sclerotic Microsoft has become. It's a form of brand-first advertising that says, "Never mind our products, hooking up with Microsoft is a gas." It's just like hanging out with Jerry, Elaine, and the rest of the gang at the coffee shop.

(Apologies to readers under 30 who don't get these references, but you can catch reruns on Fox after the nightly news. Sorry, "nightly news" was a form of broadcast journalism where highly paid anchors once ... never mind.)

Here's the problem. The effectiveness of brand-driven advertising died about the same time Seinfeld hit syndication. Gen Y buyers, especially when it comes to tech, want to find stuff on their own or through friends. When they find something that works, they'll use it. If not, it's off to the next thing. They're big into mashups and exhibit zero brand loyalty.

Yet, here comes Microsoft, in spandex, leg warmers, and headband, spending $300 million on a big honking brand campaign at the very time that no longer works.

Think I'm off the mark? What's the most successful software company in the world right now? (Hint: its stock trades at about $450 per share.) Right. Now, how much does Google spend on TV advertising. If you said "fifty bucks", you'd be wrong by fifty bucks. In fact, have you ever seen a Google ad, anywhere?

Ever seen an ad for Craigslist? For Facebook?

No, because Google and those other guys get that Web 2.0 has just three rules for success. Your product must be easy to find online and easy to use, and it must do what it's supposed to do. Get those things right and you can build a global, multibillion-dollar empire without spending a dime on marketing. You don't need has-beens from network TV, itself a has-been.

Microsoft? It hasn't learned these rules. It's too busy, in the words of Windows senior VP Bill Veghte, trying to "deliver a world-class shopping experience that aligns with the brand promise of our online presence." What???

Leaving aside for a moment the delicate question of, "WHO THE HELL TALKS LIKE THAT?", Veghte's comment, embedded in a canned PR release, shows that Microsoft is still obsessed with marketing buzzwords, focus groups (like the Mojave Experiment -- less said about that the better) and overpaid brand consultants.

None of that has anything to do with fixing its real problem.
At at time when users want software that's elegant, slick, and simple, Microsoft insists on bloated operating systems and applications, and ladling on all sorts of extra detritus through subsequent service packs.

In a sign that Redmond is drifting even farther from planet reality, Microsoft, as part of the Seinfeld launch, said Thursday that it's discovered that Vista was never the problem. Nope, all along it's been those stupid hardware makers, whose crude computing devices, barely evolved from the abacus, were never capable of showing Vista's true brilliance.

So, going forward, Microsoft will dispatch its best engineers to babysit the dullards at vendors like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Gateway. "Veghte and the team are driving changes in the engineering behind Windows PCs, and working closely with manufacturers to improve and enhance hardware performance," Microsoft says.

Why do I have this feeling that, by "enhance," Microsoft means ordering PC makers not to roll out anything less than octo-core machines with at least 32 GB of system memory if they want their "Windows 7 Capable" stickers.

Finally, what's Bill Gates doing in the Windows commercials? Isn't the campaign supposed to be about the new Microsoft? About how the company is embracing the Web and mobility and, in the words of Veghte, showing customers "the promise of Windows in their lives tomorrow?"

Isn't Gates that client-server guy from yesterday? And didn't Gates recently retire from day-to-day duties at Microsoft.

Microsoft's decision to launch its highest-profile advertising campaign in years with a spot starring 50-something Jerry Seinfeld alongside its lame-duck chairman reveals a company that is dedicated to marching forthrightly into the future, facing backwards.

Instead of Seinfeld, it should have hired Adam Sandler, who did that "Backwards Man" routine on SNL. (Sorry, "Saturday Night Live" was this comedy show that debuted on NBC in ... forget it, look it up on Wikipedia.)


Llib Setag : " ASTALAVISTA...R.I.P."

[Fernyyy]

Folks sure do seem to be getting worked up over an ad here. It is just an ad, people.

Microsoft is just trying to get people to think about Microsoft without hitting you in the face with a shrink wrapped box. It not for techies, it's not promoting a single product, It's a commercial for non-tech types (the other 99.997% of the world's population) to think a little about Microsoft in a way that isn't directly and completely about one product only.

Are you a techie? Don't like Microsoft? Good for you! This ad isn't for you. Now go move along and find something useful to do.

Disclaimer: I've been a techie since before they had a name for it (back when 1 MHz was fast and 200 Kb was more storage than you'd ever need ) and I use both Windows and Mac.

[Thomas, David]

I can't stop rolling on the floor laughing my behind off! I went to youtube, to watch the advertisement. I ended up sitting in even more silence than I thought possible, due to the unexpected vacuum generated from watching it.

What got me laughing in hysteria, was reading all the comment (of people basically saying "***"), then coming across one where someone posted, in three languages .. "what?"

[wildmike7]

if microsoft paid me millions of bucks to say vista was good,,,,hell, i'd do it... no problem...of course i still hate it and would never buy another microsoft product again because of it..........