“Aiming to re-create the excitement that accompanied the launch of Windows 95, Microsoft is gearing up for a massive campaign to launch Windows Vista,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “Chairman Bill Gates has tasked the Windows marketing team with repeating its achievements with the decade-ago launch, such as convincing scores of people to line up at retail stores to purchase the operating system… there is a team at the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters focused entirely on generating buzz for the OS, planning such things as having a Vista PC make Oprah Winfrey’s influential ‘favorite things’ list.”
“On the consumer side, Microsoft is focusing on digital memories, TV and movies, games, music and communications. On the small-business front, Microsoft is pitching Vista as the key to better backup and security, improved sales and marketing pitches, and improved collaboration and mobility, as well as touting it as a hub for financial management. Its big business push centers on management of PCs, security and compliance, controlling information access, and handling an increasingly dispersed work force,” Fried reports. “…Much of the energy in the computer world has shifted away from the PC and toward devices like digital cameras or the iPod. With Vista, Microsoft is hoping the PC will regain prominence as the machine that unites all of those digital devices. But unlike rival Apple Computer, which makes its own hardware and software, Microsoft must convince partners to aid it in reaching its goals.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft: Windows Vista. Everything we promised for Windows XP, 2000, NT, Me, 98, 95. Trust us, folks, this time we mean it. It’s translucent! It’s innovative! It’s super! Wow! And because you have no idea what Mac OS X is or looks like or that it came out in March 2001, you’ll lap it all up as more original ideas from Microsoft. Suckers. (laughs all the way to the bank)
Once again, why iPods (and iTunes downloads) don’t come preloaded with THIS is beyond us. Such an omission is criminal. It’d be easily deleted, unobtrusive, and Windows-only users would be able to quickly see what they’re missing.
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Related articles:
Apple in secret deal with Microsoft to hide Macintosh from world? – January 19, 2006
Why in Jobs’ name doesn’t Apple advertise the Macintosh? – October 27, 2005
More would switch from Windows to Mac if Apple advertised more effectively – September 04, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
we all know itll be history repeating itself but people are stupid and lazy and will queue up like zombies, lets hope the noise from microsoft doesnt drown out apples own leopard release
Also, about 4% of the public are aware of some other OS, named OS X or Y or something. The producing company refuses to let the public know about thier OS though…
Vista will be full of innovation and features never seen before (by 96% of the public).
All I want is when the commecials start hitting the TV, Apple better start doing their commercials.
If not, OS 10 and Macs will just get buried in the advertizing avalanche.
Apple, start spending money on ads!
Ahh yes. The lemmings line up.
So many stupid people in the world. They all go their IT person at their office and ask him for advice. So geek who paid for his MS certififcate and now wears it like a badge of honor and builds his own boxes at home.
Yes, I am a lemming and I must follow what the IT geek at work says to do. I will upgrade to Vista.
And when I have problems I will call the stupid lady on the radio “Kim Commando” for advice. Because she and her husband are both MS lap dogs and she is cute, she must be smart.
God help us.
Apple should release Leopard exactly one week before the Vista launch. Then they should start a media/commercial frenzy on the aspects of Leopard that Vista cannot touch. They should also run other commercials on how Leopard does the things that Vista does but does them easier.
I know, I’m preaching to the choir.
Sadly there can be little doubt that countless devoted Windows users will line up to give MS money for this.
Apple should take a page from Microsoft’s book on this.
Microsoft has bland “me too!” products, but spends a lot of money to advertise them. Windows comes to mind….
Apple needs to spend and spend to advertise it wonderful products.
Advertising drives sales!
emil thats just crap. if 96% of the people you hang out with havnt heard of another operating system, hey what can i tell ya. make some new freinds.
i agree with you think apple needs a huge marketing campaign for leopard, and ive had enough of this swarmy, self indulgent crap that apple has produced in terms of ads over the rcent years.
Educate people on the operating system, tell them it can run office, tell them things work seamlessly. With every video ipod there should be a 5 minute video describing the benefits of mac OS X. too easy.
its a pretty important time right now, theres people turning to macs, lets not lose that momentum.
Yah, right. Oprah giving away Windows Vista PCs?
HAH!
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mw: “Not” – ’nuff said.
Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzz…Z…..wake me up when Vista really comes out and I’ll fall back to sleep again seeing the ugly, boring UI. Zzzzz….. Zzzzz.
Please consider that it might be POSSIBLE this is a good thing for Apple as well.
With the media attention on Microsoft’s new OS, it will get people thinking about upgrading so that they can do all th cool new things Vista shows…but people will also consider how they love their iPod and how easy it was and how cool that iMac at the Apple store looked.
So just maybe they will consider that instead of dropping $1000 on a Dell with Vista, they could drop $1299 on an iMac with OS X.
Just a thought
Why doesn’t Apple have Mac OS X educational videos on the iTunes store downloadable for free for the curious?
Ok, MacDailyNews We (all Mac users) Challenge you to contact Mr. Steve Jobs and convince him to show the World OS X before the Vista program starts. Apple must have some great stuff that they never put on TV. Or they could come up with something quick.
Vista may look nice and have many of the features of OSX, but it will still get viruses, spyware, and malware. Update your virus protection future Vista users.
Me, I will run trouble free on OSX.
Sooooo, if 90%+ computer users out there use Windhoes and have no idea that other OS’s exist then why is M$ spending millions to advertise this wonderful new worm drive OS to the already converted?
A little bit illogical me thinks.
The word should just spread normally through MDN (Microsoft Daily News) and everyone will just buy it!!!! Now that’s networking at the corporate level for you!
An apple a day keeps Microsoft at bay…
Leo
This time around the Stones will kick it off with “Sympathy for the Devil.”
And the contest for those who line up at midnight to buy Vista will begin with everyone in line bending over as far as they can and grabbing their shoes . . . and then . . .they’ll get a big surprise. (and no virus protection during the contest unless you pay up front)
apple don’t want or need the ms base of asswipes
they aim for the top
nuff said
What if Vista works and does everything they say it will? What will MDN do then? Remember Copeland? Promised for years, never delivered.
I’ve read what Vista hopes to deliver and it sounds pretty impressive. We’ll see what actually shows up but MDN’s worst fear is that it actually works and puts it equal to OSX.
No worries, I’m sure you’ll find something negative to focus on though none of it will actually make Apple or OSX better. Might even have the opposite affect.
Windows is crap full stop. My wife at work with the latest kit got the blue screen of death today and lost a load of work. I received the same press release twice today and when I asked if the second was revised they said no: the Windows media database server had crashed in the middle of sending it out the first time…
Windows stands for low low low PRODUCTIVITY. Let’s give it -free- to China and India and switch us all to Mac. Then we can compete with them!
VISTA! VISTA! VISTA!
No need for Mac OS X! No need for OSX86!
It’s the answer we all have been waiting for!!
Looks good, runs great!, less filling, tastes great!
Runs on any recent hardware, except Mac’s.
Better eyecandy than lame old Exposé.
Better security than Mac OS X! Outgoing firewalls!
Windows Defender to fix exploits so fast and automatically the bad guys don’t have a chance!
Digital signatures to make sure Spam is dealt a punishing blow!
Everyone will be using it, all developers will code for it.
Six versions to choose from, updating to better version is just a simple credit card away, no more downloading needed!
Why have one bloated boring version like Mac OS X when you have your choice of SIX!
Why use anything else? Because you won’t!
MegaMe has a good idea about the videos on ITMS. I wouldn’t want something I bought to present me with an ad before I could even use it. Live DVD’s with the trailers you can’t skip.
Well, for starters, Vistab1 already has alot of viruses. That’s the first negative.
Microsoft Vista: “It’s Different!”
I tend to think that the best thing to do is to stand back let the initial tide of crap pass…let the first reviews come out (about ten days to two weeks) and then release Leopard. The head to head reviews then begin appearing and Vista will have had time to be invaded by the first worms, viruses and malware….The BAD publicity about THAT in combination with new features, functionality, and ease of use of Leopard should be enough to blow a hole in the bow of the Vista ship so that it begins taking on water.
It won’t sink. There are too many airheads keeping it afloat. But Leopard will make significant headway in a direct feature comparison since it will STILL be two to three years ahead of Vista.
Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers…
I can’t wait for Windows Longhorn err…vista or wahtever they are calling it today. I’m so sure that it will be the best thing since sliced bread. As we all know, MS has always delivered on all their promises when it comes to their OS. Anyone remember the time Win 98 (i think) worked so well that Bill had the Blue Screen of Death up during his presentation. Obivously quality stuff. Bet Vista is so cool now it has the Green Screen of Death.
(Please denote total sarcasm in this post. I’m a Mac user through and through.)
MDN Word ==”call” as in Call if anything actually works in Vista besides the Blue Screen of Death.
MAYBE THAT FATASS COW TURD WILL DO HIS ASSMONKEY DANCE AGAIN.
pino and silke,
I can only guess that you are NOT Windows system administrators. Those people are almost constantly busy just keeping the systems running. EVERY time I show a Windows guy a group of Macs on OS X and a Mac Server running and how easy it is to keep everything up to date and running flawlesssly their jaws just drop. EVERY time. It’s like they’ve been living in a parallel universe where things always break. It’s amazing how much ignorance (and I mean WILLFUL ignorance) there is out there about the difference between these systems.
OS X COULD move into enterprise computing but there is not yet an equivalent for the Exchange Server and certain database programs, currently entrenched in major corporations that don’t yet run on OS X. Maybe they never will. Then again…Apple has a way of shocking everyone with new gear, new software, and new ways of thinking. They’ve made more than their share of mistakes too (and I go back to 1985 with the Mac, the Amiga, and Windows3.0 and before that to large mainframe systems like the IBM System 30 and PDP 11 systems…) can you say GeoPort? But overall, their approach has made more sense since it involved integrated hardware and software.
Advertise, Apple!!! God Damnit!!!
Apple doesn’t seem to be able to hire the kind of advertising geniuses that once made Volkwagen popular here: a small, ugly car designed by Hitler.
What is Apple going to do?
1- Move up the launch of 10.5 in a pre-emptive strike.
2- Move the launch back in order to not be drowned out by the PC blitz.
3- Take Microsoft head on, matching them dollar for dollar.
One thing is for sure, with ad sales for TV, Radio and Magazines being made in advance, the decision is already made or being made now. It should also be noted that CES 2007 & MWSF 2007 should take place right at about the same time.
For the first time ever, both Microsoft and Apple will be launching new OSes that run on very similar hardware. The stakes have never been higher. Hit, stand or double down?
When M$ introduced Win95, they made a series of Videos (like infomercials) starring the cast of an up-and-coming NBC TV sitcom called “FRIENDS”. A story of 6 young urban friends who lived and co-habitated in the big city.
I hear this time, they will use the cast of another NBC sitcom called “My Name is Earl”. The story of a down & out hasbeen who sets out on a quest to attempt to right the wrongs he’s done in life and to atone for his sins. Earl is described as a man with limited intelligence with hapless & dim witted co-horts who offer their support while he fumbles through his adventures, with dumbfounding effectiveness.
Yep, sounds like the perfect spokesman for Vista.
MW = been (as in Has-been)
The Rolling Stones are still available for the sound track.
PR,
Pino was being sarcastic – I can tell by the other posts he has made here. Slike I don’t know about – I think he was being serious.
I still think Apple will release Leopard in Dec. 2006 or Jan. 2007 and NOT spring 2007 as everyone is inferring because of the pushed back Developers conference.
pr knows what (s)he is talking about. I was just upgraded to XP Pro at work yesterday. (It’s the first time my company has had the latest MS O/S since DOS 4.0) Yet even waiting years to upgrade, our mail server has crashed four times in the last month. We have a state-wide operation and e-mail is vital. The blame is being placed on software. Our system administrators are being run ragged, and have been for years.
I doubt we could run on OS X, but I’d like to think one day it could happen.
pr,
Your parallel universe analogy is right on the money. It exist with the IT sect and it is even more relevant to the everyday user of computers. I meet people every day who have troubles with their PC’s (mostly Overseas) and they have never heard of Apple. They are just blown away when they see my 17′ PowerBook running and doing the biz’
Beam me up Scotty this planet has crashed!
Leo
i remember when ‘doze95 was called “chicago”, and was supposed to launch in the late eighties, or something. there wasn’t that much buzz; folks were mostly amused at how much it looked like System 7. we used it in the Navy, and, as you might guess, it was constantly crashing. we had to submit all boxes running this crap to our “security” person, so as to “insure” that there was nothing awry going on. most folks quit the “windoze” layer, and used dosshell. you can dress up a monkey….
hitler didn’t design the VW; he merely approved the design.
six versions!?!?!? SIX!!?!?!!!!
Are the Rolling Stones still alive?
Just curious.
MegaMe
Barely, my friend….. Barely. It is marvelous what a bottle of oxygen and some recreational drugs can do.
Leo
I actually took off from work on 8/24/95, the release date for Win95, so I could meet the UPS guy with my copy. Back when I didn’t know any better.
I got it.
Bill will introduce the new “Start” button.
More amazing innovation from MS.
So obvious isn’t it… MS waits to release its nex big[?] Windoze update so it can copy the facade of true next generation OS’s.
Anyway, there is an upside – No IT professional, including the completely indoctrinated, will recommend upgrading to FISTA [Insert acronym as desired] for at least the first year. So really Apple will have an additional year to keep the snowball rolling.
Can Mac OS get a real 10% of the pc marketplace in that time? I sure hope so.
P.S.
I’ll sure be glad when Windoze goes away ’cause I’ve completely forgotten how to spell windoze correctly.
After the massive nuclear exchange ending World War III, only cockroaches and Keith Richards will survive.
Glad they are hyping LongVistahorn now…gives Steve time to really poop on Vista all over the place at WWDC in August.
Leopard needs major features like Spotlight and yes, useful eye candy and innovations never thought of before. Steve knows that Leopard must kick butt over Panther and Tiger, which to me were major upgrades. His team has an extra six months this time and Leopard MUST be released just before Christmas 2006! I hope Apple has saved all their advertising money for Leopard’s release this time.
1. Have major features that Vista only dreams about.
2. Ship Leopard before Vista
3. Advertise the HOUND out of it and finally dangle the candy and features of Leopard
4. Get all your Mac lineup running on Intel
5. Make sure that Vista runs on Mac BEFORE Leopard runs on PC’s
Let’s take a deep breath and get a grip on reality here:
1) Windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 was a much bigger deal than Windows XP -> Windows Vista. Windows 95 was a whole new world, a radical leap in functionality and design from the previous version. Windows Vista, on the other hand, improves on XP by adding some neat features and improving others, but it’s essentially the same design as before. There’s a lot less to get excited about.
2) There were a lot more computer newbies 11 years ago. Consumers are lot more familiar with Windows now than they were then, and familiarity breeds contempt. It’s going to take a lot more to convince them that a new Windows is something to get excited about.
3) In 1995, most computer users were naive enough to think upgrading the OS on a PC is easy. (And prior to 95, it was!!) People lined up around the block to buy Windows 95 upgrades for their 386 Windows 3.1 machines. Then a lot of those users learned the hard way that upgrades often don’t go as planned. These days, consumers almost never upgrade the operating system on their PCs. They just buy new PCs.
4) The buzz on Win95 had a positive tilt. “Win95 will let you do exciting NEW things with your PC!” The buzz on WinVista is more negative “Vista will do the things you already do, but it will be better!” In other words, Vista’s “improvements” can be seen as fixing the flaws in XP. It’s harder to get excited about fixes than about new functionality.
5) Corporate buyers are not going to run pell-mell to get Vista. Hell, my employer only upgraded to XP a little over a year ago! If your work is still on XP, what incentive do you have to move to Vista? Remember “I gotta run work stuff” is one of the most persistent anti-Mac arguments.
So I just don’t see Vista exploding on the consumer scene like Windows 95 did. Oh, sure, Microsoft will hype it up, but the consumer will just yawn and change the channel.
As a famous Jedi once said,
“Never underestimate the power of the Dark Side…”
AND NOW I’M POSTING AS “pino” (SEE ABOVE)!
Wait till MS releases a version of Windows Vista for the X-Box 360 and all of you M$ haters find out you now have a PeeCee with a PowerPC Chip. You gave your money to the enemy all because of Halo.
Shame, Shame…
“Yes, I am a lemming and I must follow what the IT geek at work says to do. I will upgrade to Vista.”
MegaMe,
You’re being much too hard on yourself, and your IT geek may surprise you. No doubt he will have heard the news making the rounds today that’s got the Linux community (and Microsoft watchers) buzzing, namely that IBM Germany has announced that they will not be upgrading their internal desktops to Vista, but instead run a version of Red Hat Linux starting in July. They’ve announced that as of October 2006, they will cancel their contract with Microsoft. Not only will they not be upgrading to Vista, but they’re weaning themselves away from Microsoft products completely. This is a huge blow to Microsoft, especially if, as expected, IBM follows through with all their global operations. Let me clarify that they will not use Microsoft operating systems or application in their own internal operations; they will continue to provide Microsoft solutions for their clients.
This Slashdot thread has some very interesting and insightful comments on the ramifications for Microsoft beyond losing a colossal contract. IBM is a solutions company, and of course will continue to provide clients with Windows solutions if it’s in the best interest of the client, but it will start many of said clients wondering why they’re using Microsoft products when their expert consultants are not.
One particularly interesting comment from a poster claiming to be an IT tech in a large company says that his company will not be upgrading to Vista for one simple reason: Windows 2000 is already suitable for their needs, and upgrading would necessitate replacing all of their 1.5 year old desktops, which are still in perfect working order. No sale, he said, and when the time comes to upgrade they won’t be looking at Microsoft.
Redmond has no choice with the publicity blitz; they already see the writing on the wall.
Apple is an ass. With regards to never advertising Tiger and all the amazing features.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/quicktours/viewall.html
MW–training!
LordRobin makes alot of good points, many of which applied to me. Win 3.11 was OK, but 95 blew alot people away. It was truly BIG. And the problem of viruses was minimal. Also, it seems, incorrectly maybe, that Apple’s OSs back then were nothing special. Times change.
I love my G5 PM and OS X, but should Vista turn out better than 10.5 (highly unlikely) I’d go back to Windozzzze in a heart beat. I want the bacon not the sizzle.
“Microsoft gears up for massive Windows Vista launch campaign”
I’d rather face a U.S. presidential election year.
Yeah this’ll be like Win95 alright. Nobody will know WTF Vista really is, just that it’ll be some hot new thing everyone needs to have. P.T. Barnum, the old SOB himself, was right: A sucker IS born every minute.
Apple, please do something, anything, before the MS media engine revs up.
Please don’t lose the future again.
“I want the bacon not the sizzle.”
Unfortunately, sizzle sells.
At least MS has made the sizzle as confusing as possible. An interface where EVERYthing is transparent and/or 3-D? Come on.
Then there’s Defender. First, why is it needed? (Will anyone notice that “Windows Defender” is just another way of saying “Vista already has problems”?). If Defender jumps up every time there’s a security issue, won’t it become as loved as the old Office paper clip?
Excuse me, but, since you [jay] were apparently not a Mac user “back then” you might do well to focus on the present.
I was going to hold my tongue on this one, but lets get one or two things straight here. The Mac OS has ALWAYS been great competition to anyone willing to give it a try, relative to the Windows version of the same time. The testimonials I see today from users switching from Windows to Mac are not a lot different from what we saw back in OS 9 vs. W95 days – In other words, once you tried the Mac you were generally inclinced to stick with it.
Point two, there have ALWAYS been many many more viruses for Windoze than Mac, including the days of W95 vs. Mac OS 9, make no mistake about that. By the time late releases of W95 and OS 9 were hitting desktops everywhere, there was roughly 50 W95 viruses to every 1 OS 9 virus.
Over the last 20+ years I have provided desktop support for both Mac and Windows users, and of that, much more support for Windows users than Mac users for two reasons: People quickly learn how to fix their own problems when working on a Mac, and two, there’s a lot more Windows installed than Mac.
Will Vista be able to run OSX?
My PC-using friends are excited about Vista, but admit it still probably won’t measure up to OS X (and are planning to buy Macs to run both).
Translucency for the sake of translucency … less-convenient ripoff of Expose … widgets (sorry, gadgets) limited to the Sidebar …
Most of “Joe Q. Public” don’t even know the name of the “new” Windows. I had someone ask me today what it’ll be called. The general public don’t care but like any brainwashed moron they will eventually “upgrade” to the newest Windows.
Sad but that’s the way it works when it’s the only OS you’ve known since Windows first came out and got installed on EVERY new PC sold since the 80’s.
Thank God(tm) We know there are other OSes out there that blow that POS OS away…
Oh, and I STILL like eggs!
That’s the other side of the coin: Not only do most people not know about Mac, most don’t even know there is a choice of platforms. They just buy the cheapest computer they can find, which inevitably comes with Winblows.
The adoption rate of current Windows[name your version] users to Vista will be SLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW
It’s a resource hog, NO current graphics cards support the new DirectX 10, and it comes in 800 different versions.
Click on —> Why Windows Vista Will Suck.
I’ll say this for Microsoft – at least they’re doing something.
Preload with “THIS” ? You must be joking. It sez:
“Inside Tiger Quick Tour”
“QuickTime 7, included with Tiger, must be installed to view this seminar … [big Q] … Please install Tiger and try again.”
Yes, we’d like to show you what it does. After you buy it, of course.
Okay, convert the quick tour to MPEG-4 or something the iPod can handle…or Windoze users can download the free version of QuickTime 7 (most people probably have it anyway for all the web sites that are switching to QT over Windoze Media Player)…
485334 898820I don�t normally take a look at these kinds of websites (I�m a pretty shy person) – but even though I was a bit shocked as I was reading, I was certainly a bit excited as nicely. Thanks for giving me a big smile for the day 785310