tombrennan.org

`Microsoft is spending nearly $300 million on a new ad campaign to fight against the barbs getting thrown at Windows Vista, it’s latest operating system.  The new “Discover Windows Vista” campaign was unveiled at a developers conference last week and has web site to back the ads.

The page entitled, “Windows Vista: Look how far we’ve come” is humbling for a company that dominates the software market.  The lead statement of the page says, “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.”

Although some may buy into the “Earth is flat” idea, many are enjoying Microsoft’s lack of success.  Since the launch of Windows Vista in 2007 Apple has continued it’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign, with precise sharp humor about Microsoft’s OS.  For a short time Microsoft tried to battle that campaign and failed.

The Discover Vista website does not fail to mention that Windows XP, Vista’s predecessor, is a great operating system.  That statement is followed up with the fact that XP is over 7 years old.  The page also mentions how, in the beginning, Vista had issues with hardware and software compatibilities.  That has been solved, according to Microsoft.

Changing people’s minds seems to be the biggest challenge here for Microsoft, perhaps that’s why it’s spending a third of a billion dollars on advertising to convience people that Vista isn’t as bad as some say.

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