Windows 7 pricing

I was watching Leo Laporte’s live stream this past weekend, and he mentioned something that is very important when it comes to the release of Microsoft’s new Windows 7.  Pricing and bundling.  There was a lot of hubbub made about Windows Vista’s many different skews, whether Home Basic, Premium, Business, or Ultimate (am I missing any?).  It caused mass confusion for consumers.  Compared to Apple’s approach of one single version of the OS it was just way too onvoluted.  Another obvious comparison to Apple would be OS pricing.  How much was OS X Leopard at launch?  $129.  Vista?  It’s currently $199.95 for the Basic, near-worthless edition and all the way up to $319.95 for Ultimate.

This is my plea to Microsoft – please take a page out of Apple’s book and make Windows 7 relatively inexpensive, and do your best to release as few editions as you can.  I think that an $80 upgrade fee from Vista to Windows 7 would be perfect.  A cheaper cost, especially considering Vista’s tarnished name and the general eagerness of users to move on to the next version of Windows, would do quite well (and that’s not even mentioning the economic incentives for not charging an arm and a leg).  But that’s not all.

It has been said that Windows 7 is basically just what Windows Vista should have been originally.  Having used 7 I agree.  That doesn’t mean that Windows 7 isn’t better than Vista, but it’s immediately evident to anyone who has used both that they’re cut from the same cloth.  Microsoft would do well to acquiesce to their customers by admitting that Windows 7 is more or less a fix, upgrade, or patch, and to do so would only require modest pricing.  Now if you’ve read my blog for any amount of time you’ll know that I have nothing against Vista, but 7 is Vista done right.  Let me say that again: Windows 7 is Vista done right.  Don’t spurn your customers (especially those who have already adopted Vista) by giving Windows 7 the typically expensive Microsoft operating system price tag.

It’s time for Microsoft to rebuild their tarnished reputation, whether that reputation is legitimate or not.  I can think of no better way to start such a project than by giving us a good deal.  A cheap entry price will get Windows 7 into the hands of the users that want it most as quickly as possible, and Microsoft can begin to cultivate brand loyalty in the operating system market again.  That’s what they need more than anything right now.  Market share is one thing, brand loyalty is completely different – just look at Apple.  So then, what do I think is a good pricing model for Windows 7?  I already mentioned around $80 for an upgrade.  So with an $80 upgrade I’d have to say about $150 for a full retail copy of the operating system would make sense.

Please Micorsoft, it’s not time to be greedy.  Make your customers happy and you’ll be grateful that you did so in the end.

Microsoft’s 300 million dollar ad campaign

It’s no secret that Apple’s Mac/PC ads have been eating Microsoft up inside.  Not only do they spread negative information about Windows Vista, but they’re completely effective at doing so.  As any average Joe on the street what he thinks about Vista and chances are he’ll say something along the lines of “I haven’t used it, but from what I’ve heard it’s a nightmare!”  That’s due in no small part to Apple’s commercials (Windows Mojave, anyone?).

So then, when Microsoft announced that they were teaming up with Jerry Seinfeld with their new $300 million dollar ad campaign there was a lot of curiosity about how they’d hit back.  Unfortunately for Microsoft, the initial analysis wasn’t good on their new ads featuring Bill Gates and Seinfeld in normal, everyday and somewhat comical situations.  Truth be told despite there being some comedy to the ads there wasn’t much advertising.  The two that I saw had simple scenarios (one in a shoe store, the other in a typical household) that had absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft let alone Windows Vista.  You’d see this funny little skit and at the end you’d get a Windows logo.  That was about it.  Needless to say, the reception to these ads was about as luke-warm as it gets.

Then this past week Microsoft rolled out phase two of Operation Make-People-Like-Windows-Vista, and this time their strategy is much more clear.  The new ad starts with a John Hodgeman (aka the guy who plays PC in Apple’s commercials) lookalike, and he points out that fact that Apple has basically turned PC users into stereotypes.  From here all sorts of different PC users doing various interesting and mundane activities proclaim that “they are a PC!”  Personally, I think this strategy is brilliant.  It would have been very easy for Microsoft to come back at Apple with an attack that’s similar to the one Apple has used, and that would spell disaster.  After all, aren’t the Apple ads kind of childish?  Are we really to believe that every PC user on Earth wears a brown suit with glasses, and is a total dork?  Instead Microsoft took the high road more or less by basically pointing out how childish the Mac and PC ads are.  As I mentioned, the first line in the new Microsoft ad is something along the lines of “Hello, I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype.”  Bravo, Microsoft.

The reason the new ads are so much better (aside from the fact that they actually have a meaning) is that they’re tailored to a more general audience.  The Gates/Seinfeld ads were filled with jokes that only a true geek would understand, like Bill Gates’ discount shoe membership card having his mugshot on it from his brush with the law many years ago.  Ryan Block (formerly of Engadget and now gdgt) even went so far as to find some hidden meaning in the older commercials.  Little nuggets like the crotchety old Grandma in the second Gates/Seinfeld commercial representing Steve Jobs based on references to her living with the family for 12 years (the same amount of time Jobs has been with Apple since he returned to resurrect the company), but when a commercial has to be analyzed so thoroughly to construe any sort of value…there’s a problem.  The new ads are straight and to the point: PC users aren’t dorks.  PC users do a ton of different things with their computers and they come from all sorts of backgrounds.  Basically, don’t believe Apple’s hype.

So will these new commercials work?  Who knows.  I’m just happy to see that Microsoft is stepping up and fighting back because based on all recent figures Apple keeps eating up market share, especially in the laptop market.  To make things worse the negativity in which Vista is enveloped is spreading like wildfire, so that’s all the more reason for them to put on the boxing gloves to get people thinking about Microsoft positively again.

Now Playing:
Canibus – Genabis
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Clear Sky

Windows Mojave

By now chances are good that you’ve heard about Microsoft’s plan to fight back against Apple’s Mac Vs. PC ads. There is one big difference between The Mojave Experiment and what Apple is doing though.  In Apple’s case the ads are very aggressive.  They point out flaws in Windows Vista (some legitimate, some not) and then show that the Mac platform doesn’t have the same issues.  Their commercials have been extremely successful at reaching consumers so, at this point, pretty much everyone has seen one at least once.

The Mojave Experiment on the other hand seems to be an online-only advertisement with which Microsoft plans to diffuse some of the harsh criticism Vista has received over the past year or so.  So really that’s the main difference between the two campaigns.  Where as Apple’s is an aggressive attack, Microsoft’s is defensive.  In the commercials, presumably average consumers are asked to rate their opinion of Windows Vista.  After that they’re shown a demo of a new version of Windows code-named Mojave, including all of its features (slick interface, security, so on and so forth).  The peoples’ minds are collectively blown and then comes the big reveal – they were just watching a demo of Windows Vista.  They then rate Vista again on a 1-10 scale and, of course, all of their scores go up.

I have mixed opinions about this whole thing.  First off I think it’s good that Microsoft is finally firing back rather than feeling inclined to rest on their laurels while Apple slowly chips away at their definitive lead in the PC market.  There’s a lot of opinions that have been based on word-of-mouth impressions from Vista at launch, and since then everything has spiraled out of control.  A lot of the negative things people hear about Vista aren’t true.  They might have been at one time, but now Vista is very stable, most of the driver issues are gone aside from some extremely niche hardware, and like it or not Vista’s default configuration is much more secure than XP (almost to the point of annoyance for some users, read “UAC”).

I also appreciate the fact that they didn’t fire back with why the Apple platform is bad.  If that had happened this whole rivalry could easily devolve into a childish argument between two elementary school students.  The only problem with the campaign is that some people aren’t too keen on the idea of trickery.  I mean really, that’s what Mojave is right?  It’s a lie.  Not only that but a lot of people are turned off by the fact that the people are really only shown a demo of Vista, and only the features Microsoft wants to advertise.  I read someone’s comment on a related blog post that said “Yeah, but if they had access to Vista freely their experience would have been much less positive.”  I wouldn’t go that far but you do have to keep in mind that this is a marketing campaign, so Microsoft’s going to do their best to show off the strongest features Vista has.  The same thing goes for Apple’s Mac Vs. PC ads…you never hear about infinite beach balls or buggy patches from them.

In the end I’m not sure if Microsoft can make a large enough push to completely change everyone’s opinion of Vista.  The launch of this particular OS has been a bit of a PR nightmare that will take more than one campaign to quell.  That being said I think it’s important to note that Vista isn’t as bad as everyone says.  Don’t believe the hype!  Is it a worthy upgrade?  Perhaps not.  Still, you should have no concern about purchasing a new PC that comes with Vista installed.  You might just find that you like the new interface and some of the new features.  Even on my iMac I use Vista daily so that must say something.

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Canibus – Poet Laureate Infinity V.003

Using Boot Camp for gaming on an iMac

Okay, so the video didn’t end up being about Boot Camp so much as the games I’ve been playing on the iMac and some Games for Windows Live news.  Ah well, can’t blame me for trying!  A video should be up tomorrow with my first review of an iPhone/iPod Touch game, so check back. =)