If Ed Bott really thinks this is a good start to an ad campaign, wow I couldn’t disagree more. First off, what does this ad actually say about Vista? Absolutely nothing. It seems to infer that those who criticized Vista are somehow out of touch with reality, at least to me. That couldn’t be further from the truth. While I understand the arguments of some Microsoft-friendly pundits that the press did go a little overboard with the anti-Vista message, it wasn’t like we were coming out of left field.
Microsoft screwed up Vista on its own. Lets take for example the (lack of) work the company did in preparation. Even at the OS’ release, there were dozens — if not hundreds — of applications and peripherals that worked quirky at best with it, if at all. I clearly remember my brother’s laments that a lot of his graphic design/media creation hardware would not work at all with Vista, and these weren’t your cheap run of the mill products.
Redmond gave Apple an in with this. The reason why the Apple vs. PC ads have been so effective is that the claims in them have basis in facts. Apple did not have to exaggerate Vista’s problems for Microsoft — its customers already knew the problems because they were experiencing it themselves.
Now granted, Microsoft is admitting its problems, but shouldn’t the ad campaign take this head on itself? Instead, we’re playing word games with cutesy phrases and ads. Be bold, say we screwed up. Your customers will take notice. I think quite a few of us out here would appreciate just that.
Harry McCracken at Technologizer has a good read on this, and seems to follow my thinking.
For one thing, comparing people who aren’t so sure about Windows Vista to ignoramuses from a millennium or two ago doesn’t seem like the smartest strategy for initiating a conversation with said people about why they should give Vista a second look. (It is, however, consistent with the spirit of past Microsoft ad campaigns that did things like tell folks who hadn’t upgraded to the latest version of Office that they were dinosaurs. Me, I’m more likely to respond well to ads that compliment me than ones that mock me…)
It’s disappointing like Harry says that Microsoft still hasn’t looked past this type of advertising. But I guess you can’t teach a old dog new tricks.
But back to the point in hand. What’s the point of using something that wasn’t true (the earth being flat) to talk about things that were actually true (Vista’s real-world problems)? I don’t get it, and I bet a lot of other folks don’t either.
