“Aiming to re-create the excitement that accompanied the launch of Windows 95, Microsoft is gearing up for a massive campaign to launch Windows Vista,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “Chairman Bill Gates has tasked the Windows marketing team with repeating its achievements with the decade-ago launch, such as convincing scores of people to line up at retail stores to purchase the operating system… there is a team at the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters focused entirely on generating buzz for the OS, planning such things as having a Vista PC make Oprah Winfrey’s influential ‘favorite things’ list.”
“On the consumer side, Microsoft is focusing on digital memories, TV and movies, games, music and communications. On the small-business front, Microsoft is pitching Vista as the key to better backup and security, improved sales and marketing pitches, and improved collaboration and mobility, as well as touting it as a hub for financial management. Its big business push centers on management of PCs, security and compliance, controlling information access, and handling an increasingly dispersed work force,” Fried reports. “…Much of the energy in the computer world has shifted away from the PC and toward devices like digital cameras or the iPod. With Vista, Microsoft is hoping the PC will regain prominence as the machine that unites all of those digital devices. But unlike rival Apple Computer, which makes its own hardware and software, Microsoft must convince partners to aid it in reaching its goals.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft: Windows Vista. Everything we promised for Windows XP, 2000, NT, Me, 98, 95. Trust us, folks, this time we mean it. It’s translucent! It’s innovative! It’s super! Wow! And because you have no idea what Mac OS X is or looks like or that it came out in March 2001, you’ll lap it all up as more original ideas from Microsoft. Suckers. (laughs all the way to the bank)
Once again, why iPods (and iTunes downloads) don’t come preloaded with THIS is beyond us. Such an omission is criminal. It’d be easily deleted, unobtrusive, and Windows-only users would be able to quickly see what they’re missing.
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Related articles:
Apple in secret deal with Microsoft to hide Macintosh from world? – January 19, 2006
Why in Jobs’ name doesn’t Apple advertise the Macintosh? – October 27, 2005
More would switch from Windows to Mac if Apple advertised more effectively – September 04, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
Wait till MS releases a version of Windows Vista for the X-Box 360 and all of you M$ haters find out you now have a PeeCee with a PowerPC Chip. You gave your money to the enemy all because of Halo.
Shame, Shame…
“Yes, I am a lemming and I must follow what the IT geek at work says to do. I will upgrade to Vista.”
MegaMe,
You’re being much too hard on yourself, and your IT geek may surprise you. No doubt he will have heard the news making the rounds today that’s got the Linux community (and Microsoft watchers) buzzing, namely that IBM Germany has announced that they will not be upgrading their internal desktops to Vista, but instead run a version of Red Hat Linux starting in July. They’ve announced that as of October 2006, they will cancel their contract with Microsoft. Not only will they not be upgrading to Vista, but they’re weaning themselves away from Microsoft products completely. This is a huge blow to Microsoft, especially if, as expected, IBM follows through with all their global operations. Let me clarify that they will not use Microsoft operating systems or application in their own internal operations; they will continue to provide Microsoft solutions for their clients.
This Slashdot thread has some very interesting and insightful comments on the ramifications for Microsoft beyond losing a colossal contract. IBM is a solutions company, and of course will continue to provide clients with Windows solutions if it’s in the best interest of the client, but it will start many of said clients wondering why they’re using Microsoft products when their expert consultants are not.
One particularly interesting comment from a poster claiming to be an IT tech in a large company says that his company will not be upgrading to Vista for one simple reason: Windows 2000 is already suitable for their needs, and upgrading would necessitate replacing all of their 1.5 year old desktops, which are still in perfect working order. No sale, he said, and when the time comes to upgrade they won’t be looking at Microsoft.
Redmond has no choice with the publicity blitz; they already see the writing on the wall.
Apple is an ass. With regards to never advertising Tiger and all the amazing features.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/quicktours/viewall.html
MW–training!
LordRobin makes alot of good points, many of which applied to me. Win 3.11 was OK, but 95 blew alot people away. It was truly BIG. And the problem of viruses was minimal. Also, it seems, incorrectly maybe, that Apple’s OSs back then were nothing special. Times change.
I love my G5 PM and OS X, but should Vista turn out better than 10.5 (highly unlikely) I’d go back to Windozzzze in a heart beat. I want the bacon not the sizzle.
“Microsoft gears up for massive Windows Vista launch campaign”
I’d rather face a U.S. presidential election year.
Yeah this’ll be like Win95 alright. Nobody will know WTF Vista really is, just that it’ll be some hot new thing everyone needs to have. P.T. Barnum, the old SOB himself, was right: A sucker IS born every minute.
Apple, please do something, anything, before the MS media engine revs up.
Please don’t lose the future again.
“I want the bacon not the sizzle.”
Unfortunately, sizzle sells.
At least MS has made the sizzle as confusing as possible. An interface where EVERYthing is transparent and/or 3-D? Come on.
Then there’s Defender. First, why is it needed? (Will anyone notice that “Windows Defender” is just another way of saying “Vista already has problems”?). If Defender jumps up every time there’s a security issue, won’t it become as loved as the old Office paper clip?
Excuse me, but, since you [jay] were apparently not a Mac user “back then” you might do well to focus on the present.
I was going to hold my tongue on this one, but lets get one or two things straight here. The Mac OS has ALWAYS been great competition to anyone willing to give it a try, relative to the Windows version of the same time. The testimonials I see today from users switching from Windows to Mac are not a lot different from what we saw back in OS 9 vs. W95 days – In other words, once you tried the Mac you were generally inclinced to stick with it.
Point two, there have ALWAYS been many many more viruses for Windoze than Mac, including the days of W95 vs. Mac OS 9, make no mistake about that. By the time late releases of W95 and OS 9 were hitting desktops everywhere, there was roughly 50 W95 viruses to every 1 OS 9 virus.
Over the last 20+ years I have provided desktop support for both Mac and Windows users, and of that, much more support for Windows users than Mac users for two reasons: People quickly learn how to fix their own problems when working on a Mac, and two, there’s a lot more Windows installed than Mac.
Will Vista be able to run OSX?
My PC-using friends are excited about Vista, but admit it still probably won’t measure up to OS X (and are planning to buy Macs to run both).
Translucency for the sake of translucency … less-convenient ripoff of Expose … widgets (sorry, gadgets) limited to the Sidebar …
Most of “Joe Q. Public” don’t even know the name of the “new” Windows. I had someone ask me today what it’ll be called. The general public don’t care but like any brainwashed moron they will eventually “upgrade” to the newest Windows.
Sad but that’s the way it works when it’s the only OS you’ve known since Windows first came out and got installed on EVERY new PC sold since the 80’s.
Thank God(tm) We know there are other OSes out there that blow that POS OS away…
Oh, and I STILL like eggs!
That’s the other side of the coin: Not only do most people not know about Mac, most don’t even know there is a choice of platforms. They just buy the cheapest computer they can find, which inevitably comes with Winblows.
The adoption rate of current Windows[name your version] users to Vista will be SLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW
It’s a resource hog, NO current graphics cards support the new DirectX 10, and it comes in 800 different versions.
Click on —> Why Windows Vista Will Suck.
I’ll say this for Microsoft – at least they’re doing something.
Preload with “THIS” ? You must be joking. It sez:
“Inside Tiger Quick Tour”
“QuickTime 7, included with Tiger, must be installed to view this seminar … [big Q] … Please install Tiger and try again.”
Yes, we’d like to show you what it does. After you buy it, of course.
Okay, convert the quick tour to MPEG-4 or something the iPod can handle…or Windoze users can download the free version of QuickTime 7 (most people probably have it anyway for all the web sites that are switching to QT over Windoze Media Player)…
485334 898820I don�t normally take a look at these kinds of websites (I�m a pretty shy person) – but even though I was a bit shocked as I was reading, I was certainly a bit excited as nicely. Thanks for giving me a big smile for the day 785310