Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista

New York Times
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Technology
July 22, 2008, 11:57 am
Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista

By Saul Hansell
MS Vista

Microsoft is really taking the gloves off this time. ZDNet is reporting
that it will spend $500 million to make a powerful statement to its
hundreds of millions of customers. I imagine the statement would have to
go something like this:

Windows Vista isn’t really as bad as they say. Honest. Please don’t
be mad at us. We promise our next operating system will be better. Pinky
swear.

Those aren’t exactly the words they use, but it is certainly the tone of
the ad that Microsoft has started running on its site. I can’t find it,
but Ed Bott at ZDNet did and has a copy here. It shows a painting of a
tall ship with the headline “At one point everyone thought the Earth was
flat. Get the facts about Windows Vista.”

That promotion leads to a page that acknowledges that Vista had problems:

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.

It takes a minute to figure out where to find Microsoft’s response to
this criticism: You need to click some arrows on the page. (Why can’t
Microsoft use the plus Icon popularized by Google and lots of others?)

The company asserts that it is now compatible with the vast bulk of
software and hardware. It also boasts that Vista is more secure, faster,
uses less energy and is even “sexier.”

Sure, Windows Vista gets a lot of compliments on its aesthetics.
But its style serves an important purpose: to put everything within a
click’s reach and make you more productive.

Microsoft, is probably right that Vista gets a bit of a bum rap. Lots of
people find that Vista works fine and is an improvement over Windows XP.
I use Vista on a home computer with little trouble. (And no, I don’t
hate Microsoft, despite what some commenters say. I am a big fan of Word
2007, and I even pay for Microsoft’s OneCare anti-virus and backup
software.)

But this is still a dreadful place for Microsoft to be. It is fighting
Google on one side and Apple on the other. And both of those companies
have flaws, products that don’t quite work right, have gaps and
disappoint users. But both Google and Apple have products that you don’t
need to be told to notice they are sexy. That changes how people see the
more prosaic parts of their product lines and makes people far more open
to considering new products.

Even if you are a big fan of Microsoft, consider which you would rather
read about first: a something new from Google, Apple or Microsoft?

After spending $500 million, Microsoft might be able to convince people
that Windows Vista is not awful. But just because you can show the earth
is not flat, doesn’t mean you will rule the new world.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0...-polish-vista/

------------------------------------------------------------

It's still lipstick on a pig if you ask me.

In article <4886fe1c$0$20899$>, Tony Harding <> wrote:
[snip]
>
>After spending $500 million, Microsoft might be able to convince people
>that Windows Vista is not awful. But just because you can show the earth
>is not flat, doesn’t mean you will rule the new world.

Proving the Earth is not flat doesn't of itself mean that it's not
sort of blocky with lots of rough edges. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

RnR wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:47:04 -0400, Tony Harding <>
> wrote:
>
>> New York Times
>> Wednesday, July 23, 2008
>> Technology
>> July 22, 2008, 11:57 am
>> Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista
>>
>> By Saul Hansell
>> MS Vista
>>
>> Microsoft is really taking the gloves off this time. ZDNet is reporting
>> -snip-
>
>
> Of course I can't speak for others but Microsoft doesn't have enough
> money to buy my opinion with just words. I will change my opinion if
> or when I read that users experiences overall change for the better.

I'm equally comfortable sitting in front of a machine running XP, Vista
or even OSX.

Given equal hardware, I'll take Vista (in the 64 bit flavor).

Bob

Lipstick on a pig? Lipstick on a turd? Polish a pig? The metaphors mush
together in my mind, but I'm not sure which one gives a true picture of the
on-going disaster with Vista. There was also a recent article by Joe Wilcox in
eWeek that Micrsoft had opened up a Vista-readiness web site with much hoopla to
the trade press. When Wilcox clicked on the URL in the Microsoft press release,
the result was a web page saying that the site was not operative yet.

If Windows ME was Microsoft's Grenada, could Vista be Microsoft's Iraq?

.... Ben Myers

On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:15:53 +0800, rebel <> wrote:

>On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:47:04 -0400, Tony Harding <> wrote:
>
>>New York Times
>>Wednesday, July 23, 2008
>>Technology
>>July 22, 2008, 11:57 am
>>Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista
>>
>>By Saul Hansell
>>MS Vista
>>
>>Microsoft is really taking the gloves off this time. ZDNet is reporting
>>that it will spend $500 million to make a powerful statement to its
>>hundreds of millions of customers. I imagine the statement would have to
>>go something like this:
>>
>> Windows Vista isn’t really as bad as they say. Honest. Please don’t
>>be mad at us. We promise our next operating system will be better. Pinky
>>swear.
>
>(snip)
>
>They say you can't polish a turd, but I guess 500 big ones can certainly help to
>ovecome the smell.

Polish Vista?

That explains a lot!!

lol
i saw that title too and thought WTF!

what a dumb title if you asked me.


Mike Marquis wrote:
> Polish Vista?
>
> That explains a lot!!
>
>

How many Microsofties does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Four. One to hold
the light bulb and three to turn the ladder.

Maybe Vista will be updated so we have to do everything in Polish notation? I
like reverse Polish notation better myself. Helps when I unscrew a lightbulb...
Ben Myers

On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:36:42 -0500, "Mike Marquis" <>
wrote:

>Polish Vista?
>
>That explains a lot!!
>