Microsoft just can’t get the public to like Windows Vista

Sometimes having the most used operating system in the world still isn’t enough to get buyers to to adopt a system that isn’t catching good vibes from the media. Microsoft seems to be having that very problem with Windows Vista, but there are still a few tricks it can pull in hopes of increasing popularity.

According to CNET, just being Microsoft isn’t enough to fool the masses into adopting an operating system that a select few are speaking against. Microsoft firmly believes that Vista isn’t a bad operating system - it just gets a bad rap.

Mike Nash, one of the corporate VPs of Microsoft, said, “The perception of Vista is a lot better for the people that have used Windows Vista than (for) the ones who haven’t…At some level, a little seeing is believing.”

The problem, of course, is then getting people to actually try out the operating system when Windows XP SP3 is so readily available, and most importantly, making Vista compatible with the hardware and software most users already have.

Right now, Microsoft estimates that about 10% of Windows users suffer from incompatibilities, either of the hardware or software variety. Microsoft relishes the notion that all but one of the top 100 applications work with Vista…but that doesn’t mean the 10% that is suffering isn’t going to spoil it for the rest of them.

Puzzlingly, Microsoft has said that sticking with XP is the proper move for businesses. No doubt that can’t help integration with everyday consumers; if people become used to Vista at work, household adoption might follow. But Microsoft feels that businesses should stay to the tried and true.

Microsoft hopes to sway the minds of the media and consumers by starting a new compaign of the PR variety. Nash plans on contacting all the important entities and telling them that Vista is just getting a bad beat, in hopes of earning a second chance from consumers.

However, it could be too late; many consumers have caught wind of Windows 7, and figure Microsoft will repeat the whole Windows ME debacle by releasing a new and revamped “XP” to make things all better. This latest initiative might be too little, too late.

http://vista.blorge.com/2008/05/05/microsoft-just-cant-get-the-public-to-like-windows-vista/