Vista: Microsoft’s Marketing Failure?
March 5th, 2008
For over a year now, I have watched Microsoft’s Vista get banged around by being called a tech disappointment (and much worse!). Even though Microsoft has sold a great deal of Vista licenses, the OS is continually getting a raw review. Some are due to OS partiality, some to pure ignorance, and others come from an inability to recognize that Windows is going through a metamorphosis. The paradigm for the OS is, and should be, always changing, always striving to be better.
I feel that Windows Vista is a marketing disappointment, not a failure as an operating system. Microsoft has done little to market the evolution of the operating system, to really educate consumers on what the new features are and where they are headed. You hear a great deal of noise about the security functions in Vista. While security is quite important, it makes for poor marketing to only rave about this one feature. Would you go buy a new car just because the locks on it are better than the one in your garage? The answer to that is “No!” (and it should be). Chances are, you’d just do something to improve the security of the car you already own. It’s the additional features that will get you to go buy a new one.
Much is also said about the steep hardware requirements needed to truly run Vista. However, the OS itself is not the only reason that better hardware is necessary. Quite a few new applications and definitely most new games require that you have something decent under the hood. As more and more people get into viewing and editing video, the hardware requirements will increase for them as well. Microsoft has done little to educate the masses about this reality.
Microsoft should have done more to press upon the consumer why they should consider moving to Windows Vista. Features such as the Aero interface and the Flip 3D task switcher are vast improvements to the visual experience. Let’s face it, people want something that is pleasing to the eye. Another feature that should have had more said about it is the Instant Search functionality. Most users have a hard time locating files on their PC and this feature is a great assistance to them. The Parental Controls in Vista are stellar, allowing parents to keep better track of what their kids are doing on the PC and keeping young children from experiencing things they shouldn’t (like playing mature games or going to inappropriate sites). The Side Bar and it’s growing collection of Gadgets is another piece of eye candy that can be quite useful. Being able to view news, sports, and weather right on the desktop without opening the browser is not a bad thing at all. Other features like the Photo Gallery, built in Tablet functionality and Media Center are also worth noting.
While it is doubtful that Vista is able to convert any Leopard users, it definitely has what it takes to get XP users to upgrade to next step. But if Microsoft never lets them know what they’re missing, why would they ever change?
March 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
some very good points!
right now, i hate to say, vista is starting to really feel like one of microsofts past failure Operating Systems, Windows Millenium Edition.
at the time, windows 98SE was very rock solid and stable; while ME was anything but stable. atleast w/ME, microsoft realized its failures and moved on and didn’t force consumers to have to go ME from 98SE.
i’m hoping they either fix Vista, continue XP support or scrap vista and perhaps take head to suggestions that us users offer for the next OS. i still have not seen ANY reason at all to go Vista besides the ‘prettiness’ of it. Tablet functionality and voice recognition are the only two selling points for me; but the loss in video/audio/multimedia performance really makes me hate vista and the fact that the hardware companies are still so far behind in driver support, come on they had 2 years while vista was in beta/alpha to get drivers.
just my .02..
March 13th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
It isn’t merely marketing. If a “new, improved” car required premium gas and got half the miles per gallon of your existing, you would not consider it an “upgrade”. So if I need not merely new hardware, but something costing more today than what I have used to run XP for the last three years (Vista invalidates Moore’s law?), as well as new drivers for whatever I already have, and probably new software, and then it might or might NOT have the premium features like Aero, it isn’t a failure of marketing. The product is a resource pig. Which is fine if you like pork, but not if you prefer kosher. Leopard AFAIK will work on my 5 year old Mac, but Tiger will still purr. And all the features will work. Reasonably well. Vista might work in a highly crippled mode (by all means, market Vista, CE - Crippled Edition) on everything but my MacBook Pro.
For Video or ultraGaming or whatever, I might need bleeding edge hardware. But not browse or to use YouTube or GMail. My 400 MHz ARM based Nokia n810 can do all that now.
Features? If it thinks you’re not properly licensed you will be locked out (and if you can’t get to the internet while locked you might not be able to unlock). You can’t play HD DVDs (which are much cheaper now for some strange reason) in high resolution without certified tamperproof hardware (or get CD output on SPDIF). The DRM is really, really solid. Any better and you wouldn’t be able to use it at all.
This isn’t mere joking. I’m sure many have tried downloading some cracked version to see what it would look like. Either it didn’t work at all because of DRM or really inadequate hardware, or they saw it was a horror show on their current hardware.
Marketing can sell the sizzle, but how much is eye-candy and how much of the “advanced” visuals are really useful? On the Mac, it is rarely fancy, but when it is, there is a reason, e.g. the shrink-to-dock shows you where it is on the dock. Fade-outs and gradients just waste CPU (i.e. kill the laptop battery so it dies before you arrive).
Marketing cannot change the fact that it isn’t a $100-$200 box of software but a $1000-$2000 new computer. If the TCO of Vista avarages $1500, I can see why no one wants it. Do market the actual cost of running real, fully functional Vista Professional…
Marketing cannot turn a mediocre product into a great one. Nor can it turn one that doesn’t have an ecosystem or support into one that does. XP is NT6, but it has drivers, support, and the rest of the infrastructure.
And Marketing cannot fix what is morally if not legally Fraud. If you mean Vista as expressed in its fully crippled mode on minimal hardware or even the Intel 915 graphics (which runs XP fine) - is just as “Vista Ready” as the Pro/Aero/Full version, then there is no hope for you. So they could have Marketed: “This computer is Vista ready but will bearly run, be annoyingly slow, and will be such without all the advanced features”. They probably would have lost a significant number of sales if they did educate users.
Vista’s problem is that it isn’t compelling, and there is more than enough (quite intentional) lock-in to XP to discourage an upgrade to Vista. And if you have to completely change EVERYTHING to switch to Vista, why shouldn’t people look at Mac/Leopard or Linux?
The arguments for NOT moving to a Mac or Linux (too different, not enough advantage, hardware problems or required upgrades) apply to Vista. And any argument FOR Vista applies to a Mac or Linux as well. So maybe Microsoft shouldn’t trash XP too soon or too hard. Or educate people too much. Ignorance is bliss to them too.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:23 am
It’s a pain to support. People call all day about how this gadget isn’t working right or that gadget on their sidebar disappeared. How they can’t access their computer anymore because UAC is blocking them.. how indexing (that great new search feature you talk about) has slowed their single core machine to a crawl.. how they can’t find their data anymore.. how do they network it doesn’t make sense anymore.. how they need features that weren’t included in one of the many feature stripped releases of Vista.. etc.. etc.. etc..
If you’re going to buy Vista, make sure you have a nice new dual core or above with plenty of RAM and buy Vista Ultimate preinstalled. Then disable UAC. If you’re computer is slowed to a crawl, disable indexing on your hard drives if not leave indexing alone. I would just close the sidebar personally and leave it closed. It’s a pain and takes away from the amount of space you have to work with on the desktop. These Gadgets are overrated imo. Then get some backwards compatibility features going. Get a windows explorer icon on the desktop for example. If you have to network it.. haha.. I can do it but you many not like it and finally don’t never ever take a job like I did where you have to actually support Vista over the phone. Find a happy place.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Vista just feels like all fluff and no substance. The eye candy is indeed nice, but certainly not worth the steep entrance price in hardware to fully support that.
I think the time for entirely new OS rollouts is about over. Microsoft needs to implement incremental upgrades on a subscription basis to simply continue to build upon Windows XP. XP may not have the glossy visual snap of Vista, but having worked with nearly every version of Windows since 1.0, it’s an excellent OS.
And then again, for those who insist that XP is outdated, I’d ask this: What is it that XP is not capable of doing for you? What more do you need from your OS to get tasks done? Sure, flashy eye candy is nice, but it isn’t providing get-your-job-done functionality.