5 Misunderstood Features of Vista? Huh?
This is kind of funny. Microsoft posted a PDF (irony exhibit 1) explaining "Five Misunderstood Features in Windows Vista". The irony here is that the biggest misunderstanding most people experience is what the ***** is Microsoft trying to accomplish with their marketing efforts. In case I'm not making any sense here: Let's just say (shall we?) that you're [really-really-really] trying to convince customers to buy your shiney new product. You have a previous version out and it's very entrenched and difficult to dislodge with your new product. So what would YOU do to help this effort along?
1. Release a MAJOR update for the previous product, while at the very same time, start talking publicly about the next great version coming within a year or so.
2. Release a MAJOR update for the previous product, while talking publicly about the next version coming in a year or so.
3. Forget releasing any major updates (or ANY updates for that matter) for the old version, while at the same time, shutting up and denying anything to do with the next version.
Well, Microsoft chose options 1 and 2. Business customers read that gameplan and translated it on their own as "why bother with Vista when I can keep XP going until Windows 7 gets here". Before I got laid off, I saw quite a few business environments, universities, and local governments, and not one was rolling out Vista on a massive scale. Sure, they had pilots running all over the place, but no wholesale effort to replace XP with Vista. I'm sure there are some out there, but I never saw, nor heard of any. The most common rationale I heard from them was exactly what I joke about above. They feel XP SP3 buys them more time and reliability for cheaper than trying to swallow Vista. And the "cheaper" part is usually a combination of resolution costs for drivers, hardware upgrades, software upgrades and flat-out software incompatabilities. Most don't have Software Assurance on every desktop, so SoftGrid isn't even an option to discuss with them. So even if you spend a paycheck on a keg of beer and dine them to death with constant ranting about the virtues of Vista, they will eventually come around to something clever like "Well, by the time we even got rolling, W7 would be on the doorstep" and at that point, I would shut up and join them drinking the remaining beer.
I only have one misunderstanding: What is Microsoft trying to do by putting out SP3 for XP? What are they trying to accomplish by admitting to W7 so early in the game? Apple seems to have no trouble keeping their mouth shut and the media guessing. I'm just surprised at how difficult it is for Microsoft to maintain silence, while at the same time, a consistent gameplan. Sorry, but this FUD-fighting stuff urks me.