14 DAY TRIAL // Can users handle the truth about Windows Vista? Now with Service Pack 1 in its arsenal, Microsoft is ready to prove that they can. Or, at least, its own version of the Vista SP1 truth. Microsoft is on a mission. A mission to salvage what little is left of the latest Windows client, although admission of such a scenario will never come from the company. There are, of course, inherent questions as to why the software giant is reacting so late to spreading the Vista gospel. What is clear in this context is that Microsoft's truth about Vista failed to correspond to the reality of the operating system before SP1. While its was poorly marketed as a Wow in performance, security, reliability, compatibility and stability, Vista revealed its true face to consumers, moving slower than XP in common scenarios and being plagued by software and hardware incompatibility problems.
Loyal to the saying "better late than never," Microsoft did react, first with the evolution delivered by SP1 and more recent with the Vista-centric performance at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2008. "[A] major theme is around Windows Vista deployment. You'll hear from Brad Brooks about where we are. It's time for us to bust through the mist. We've got to bust through the mist with you first, because you're out there with our customers. You must be running our software first, so that you can be credible and honest in front of our customers. You also have to be supported on the back end. So I think our goal today with you is to bust through the mist on Windows Vista," stated Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft.
It fell on Brad Brooks, Corporate Vice President, Windows Consumer Product Marketing, to bring the truth about Windows Vista to the public. In this regard, the mission was to dispel the myths about Windows Vista. Myths circulating at the level of common consumer perception in the marketplace. Still, Microsoft is ready to bet big that the real story of the operating system is different from the image of a handicapped product built by Apple's constant mockery with the Get a Mac ads.
Microsoft, Do Blame Microsoft!
Microsoft simply cannot throw the blame on anyone else but itself. The reason is rather simple and Brooks said it out loud and clear: "We've been quiet about it." It appears that the new translucency policies set in place by Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group for Windows 7, are contagious and they spread to Vista too. Microsoft simply sat back and took everything that was thrown at the latest Windows client. The company failed to react in any manner to Apple's Get a Mac ads that trashed Vista and made it an item synonymous with a perfect victim for ridicule, irony, sarcasm and so on and so forth. However, at the same time, a much needed wake up call seems to have taken Microsoft out of its lethargy. I just hope that it will not be a repeat of the Wow...
Vista Some Things Broken - a Lot of Things Broken
"And let's start that story, the real story, at the beginning, with the creation of Windows Vista. We had an ambitious plan. We made some significant investments around security in this product. And you know what, those investments, they broke some things. They broke a lot of things. We know that. And we know it caused you a lot of pain in front of your customers, in front of our customers. And it got a lot of customers thinking, and even yourselves and our partners thinking, 'Hey, is Windows Vista a generation that I want to make an investment in?'" Brooks asked.
In Brooks' own words, Vista is now dramatically changed compared with what the company was offering just a few months ago. What's different? A little something called Service Pack 1. SP1 has taken Windows Vista to the next level of reliability, compatibility, support and, most importantly, performance. There is a simple experiment that all Vista users can try out - uninstalling SP1 after at least a month of use, and trying to run plain vanilla Vista RTM. The conclusion is that, had the gold edition of Vista debuted at SP1, Microsoft would not have any myths to debunk.
Pain Is Good, Pain Is Progress
"The changes did cause a lot of pain, but you know what, customers are starting to see the benefits," Brooks argued. It's precisely the fact that customers are just now starting to see the benefits of Windows Vista after over a year and a half since the product hit the shelves, that is the problem with Vista. And still, going forward, Microsoft has to commit itself to a continuous strain when it comes down to marketing the operating system against its very noisy competitor, but also against the generalized perception of the operating system.
But, at the same time, Brooks underlined the fact that Microsoft had been in this situation before. The most recent example with the exception of Vista is, of course, Windows XP. Vista's predecessor had an equally mixed reception, but ended up shaking off the negative aura to become what it is today. "Now, the point I'm trying to make is that the frustrations, they're not okay, that we've faced with Windows Vista, they're not, absolutely. My point is this is not the first time that Microsoft, that we, the ecosystem, have launched an operating system into the marketplace. It was just the first time in a long time. And you know what? We've faced these challenges before, and we're going to overcome them again," Brooks stated.
Microsoft is on the verge of releasing its response to Apple and the Get a Mac ads. A new marketing campaign combined with the panacea that is Service Pack 1, and wrapped up in a very favorable context, as Vista is the only Windows OS available via the retail and OEM channels as of June 30, could just be the recipe that will bring Microsoft back in the game.
"The product continues to get better every day. It didn't stop with SP1. John talked to you about the telemetry data that we're getting in every day, every moment about Windows Vista. We're using it to improve the product, to make it better, and to turn around and ship updates for the products every week to our customers through Windows Update, on a scale and a scope that is unmatched by any of our competitors, continuing to make this product better every day," Brooks promised.
Free the People!
Brooks confirmed that Microsoft has poured a lot of money into a new ad campaign for Windows. However, he failed to disclose any details on the subject. Still, what the Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 is designed to be is a turning point for Vista. The event is synonymous with the moment when Microsoft starts fighting back. Brooks promised that the Redmond giant will get more and more vocal in the next couple of months, and that a Vista crescendo is building up. "You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping? Well, we've woken up, and it's time to take our message forward," Brooks said.
Truth be told, nothing has hurt Microsoft and Windows Vista more than Apple's Get a Mac ads. Still, the Redmond company needs to be careful when hitting back. Apple is currently in a stage of its evolution where it can do no wrong. The Cupertino-based hardware company has transformed Mac machines into nothing more than genuine Windows PCs, with support for Vista and XP, but convinced consumers that they're still buying Macs and not PCs. Microsoft, on the other hand, has every move placed under a microscope and scrutinized for the faintest fault. The Redmond company needs to understand that what works for Apple will not help it at all, and might even backfire. What is necessary is an entirely new perspective, one synonymous with Microsoft 2.0 after Bill Gates.
"Now, we've got a highly vocal minority out there in Apple. They kind of look at this and say, hey, you know what, you're kind of boring with the mundane message; it's not cool. They tell you it's the 'i-way' or the highway. Well, you know what - we think that's kind of a sad message. Everyone in this room knows better. We know that software that is made for this world is made to be compatible with your whole life, whether at work or at play, on home or on the go. Free the people: That is what we do, that is what we do every day - that is the value that we create for the world today," Brooks concluded by saying.