Glass Panels Exterior of the Microsoft Building

The Empire Strikes Back

Hello again and welcome to the Microsoft show, the greatest show on earth. Where the marketing department seems to have a bigger budget than the developers. It seems now that they aren’t pleased that so many people are waiting until the big bugs are worked out before upgrading to Vista. They are now about to launch a new marketing attack to coerce consumers that everything is ok, they don’t need to wait for the service packs. Do they really think that jedi mind tricks work on consumers?I won’t rehash the article but I would like to articulate why people are legitimately hesitant; no two people can agree on whether or not it is worth upgrading! (here’s the article)

Read a random sampling of reviews and you’ll get almost a fifty-fifty split on the value/trauma of switching to Vista. Clearly the product isn’t ready. There will always be detractors, anti-Microsoft, pro-Linux, zealous Mac users. When the mainstream Microsoft sympathetic press, and IT departments are saying, “avoid this product like the plague” in a heated and equally divided debate, that is something to pay heed to. It is a clear example that Microsoft failed to deliver a product that would meet the needs of their intended audience, and their lack of quality control has resulted in consumer doubt that no amount of marketing hype can overcome. The only way they can fix this problem is to fix the product, lower the system requirements, and the cost. After all who wants to pay $150 for a cool screen saver? (read 3D alt-tab program switcher)