Full FeedThe sleeping giant awakens; Microsoft fights back against views on Vista
“You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping?” Microsoft’s VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing recently said. “Well, we’ve woken up, and it’s time to take our message forward.” And apparently the company is putting their money ...LOTS of money… where their mouth is. They have begun an ad campaign in the continuing market struggle with Apple that could feasibly end up running them an incredible $300 million investment. Their campaign claims we just need to learn the facts about Vista.
I’ve heard the tales from both sides of the fence. How Vista is horrible, horrible, horrible. Then again, how Vista is wonderful, oh so beautiful, secure, and simply the best OS ever made. The truth can probably be found somewhere in the middle of the two. The main battle that Microsoft obviously needs to overcome is, why do I want Vista when I’m perfectly content with XP? And that is the question they are not having much luck answering to most users’ satisfaction. No matter how beautiful they claim Vista to be.
So, Microsoft went and pulled the power card. No more XP availability. (I can almost hear them saying “so there!”). OK, well, we still have the users with XP on their machines. I know when I went out recently and bought my new laptop, I was not at all a happy camper to find out I had no choice but to buy one with Vista. My desktop at home does still run good ole XP…nope, I haven’t upgraded. I’m old school. And I can also see some of the problems users run into with Vista on my laptop. This one is by no means a top of the line speed demon. Didn’t need it to be for what I use this one for. So, it has Vista installed, and what I notice is this. If you want to run Vista, you just better have a good machine; or it runs like a dog. Heck, I remember my old Compaq could run XP and that thing was, let’s just say it wouldn’t impress an ubergeek. Vista lags. I get very tired of seeing that spinning blue circle and faded out screen when nothing is happening. I hate that there always seem to be a minimum of 972 processes running (OK, I exaggerate slightly), when I have absolutely nothing open; and yet I don’t have the administrative authority to close them even when using spybot and going into the section that should allow me to do so.
I think Microsoft may be able to win over a few users who were ready and willing regardless to upgrade operating systems, but other than that, I think they just may be wasting their $300 million. I think the most they may be doing with it is getting rid of the “Vista Sucks” ideology that Apple especially was trying to sell and maybe changing it to “Vista is OK if you are willing to upgrade”. But the fact is, not everyone is, and I don’t think there is any way at all they are going to change that fact.
Via [CNet]
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i think just like the people who complain about vista , you and exactly what you said you did in your report is that you all exaggerate alot… everyone wants some attention and something to complain about is one way to get it :)
on July 28, 2008 at 07:15 AM - LINKShinve, I’m sorry you took the article that way. I feel I presented a factual presentation of what Microsoft is trying to do; with my opinion on the matter included. The only place I exaggerated, I also clearly stated I exaggerated. Vista *is* known for consistently keeping an inordinate number of processes open even when you don’t have anything running. I noticed this even before I had any programs installed yet on my machine. I’m certainly open to hearing differing views on the program…are there specific reasons why you do like it? As with anything…people are all going to have different views.
on July 28, 2008 at 07:59 AM - LINKWhile I think Vista is a leap above XP and will become the norm, it’d be a mass exaggeration in itself to say that Vista doesn’t have some performance issues. My CPU shouldn’t be constantly be running at 85 percent during normal use. I must admit that I have a hell of a lot of programs running during normal use for me.
on July 28, 2008 at 12:06 PM - LINKThose who have XP are content. This is the main reason XP users are not flocking to Vista. XP is pretty stable (for the most part), is the staple for OSs, and is considerably easy to work with. THEE only reason I would run a Vista machine is for the Direct X 10 factor since the gaming industry is finally starting to take advantage of it.
Until Vista comes down in price and has decent packages, makes average computer specs able to actually run it smoothly, and eliminates its DRM crap, Ill pass. I mean, I dont need my computer asking EVERY single time I want to run something if ‘its ok’ to do so without making a setting change. Great article though, Jodie!
on July 31, 2008 at 03:57 PM - LINKI’m having a lot of problems with VISTA, but the most recent is that it won’t print out. When I make the command, the blue circle just keeps spinning. I’m also having delays getting in to documents. I often get sent a message that Microsoft can’t open the document. I have to try three or four times before it opens.
on January 10, 2009 at 06:51 PM - LINK