Microsoft: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
From Wired News: Vista Not Meeting Sales Expectations
I’m not surprised and not because I’m a snarky Apple user. The product itself - despite the marketing hoo-hah - simply isn’t compelling enough. The typical MS user is just now getting comfy with their previous systems, including XP. They even stay with Explorer (gag) because - despite all their fears of viruses and such - “[shrug] If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” (A real quote from an MS user when I recommended Firefox in response to her complaints about browsers and the Web “crap.”)
One of the commenters, Dozer, on the Wired post sums it up nicely:
Ya know, I like Windows XP. And I think that’s the problem with Vista. XP finally works well. It was a little choppy at first, but they have actually got most of the bugs out for the normal user. A lot of your casual, computer for email/spreadsheets and the like users don’t concern themselves with ever little patch that gets issued. They either don’t use the internet or they believe their automatic updates will protect them.
So they look at Vista like, why would I bother with “upgrading” from something that does everything I want it to? It’s not a car or a house so why spend the money if you don’t need to?
So yeah, I think XP is costing Microsoft many of it’s expected Vista users. Maybe in a year or two, once people see whether or not Vista really is markedly safer or better, but right out of the gate, those numbers and expectations were way to high…
The comments are (mostly) all worth reading for grassroots perspective on what works and doesn’t in products and the launch thereof.
(I couldn’t resist posting the above photo of Microsoft’s Ballmer. At least he’s showing some feeling, unlike this at the big WOW wow launch.)
Tags: product launch, Microsoft, Vista, marketing troubleshooting, marketing
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February 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Well, this is the discussion that was floating around marketing blogland when it was released, wasn’t it? I think it’s actually a very important product - just not in ways that mean anything to users today.
The commenter you quote summarizes the whole issue nicely. XP is the Windows OS that made me stop using a Mac as primary computer - I actually find it (in UI terms) superior to OS X (a very personal preference, I know), and it gives me fewer problems than my last Mac did.
But I think MS was trapped on this one - after all the talk of “Longhorn” over the years, they probably felt like they had to make noise about it, no matter how little most real users were going to care.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:27 am
One of the biggest mistakes they’ve made is not having the “ahh” feature or explanation available. I’m not a techie (my computer is four years old and I’ve still only used 25% of the harddrive space) and I can’t figure out why I need Vista.
When I ask my tech-loving, computer geek friends to explain the advantages of Vista, they can’t. They mention the improved file browsing (now with MORE GRAPHICS!) and the fact that it looks more like the Mac OS. One blog mentions an improved Media Center. But improved how? No one will say.
New car models generate big sales (and buzz) when they do something different that can be explained in a few words. The Hummer H3 had good initial sales because it was “a smaller Hummer with better gas mileage.”
New George Foreman grills have “dishwasher-safe removable plates.”
Macs are “less susceptible to viruses” than their counterparts.
But what is Vista? Why is it better than XP?
Until Microsoft tells us, we won’t be buying it.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Excellent post. It really sums up well the situation that Microsoft has positioned themselves in. Timothy Totten’s comments are spot on.
Steve B., help us out here. Give us a reason to buy.