Microsoft’s Vista Challenge
Life is all about expectations. Overpromise and underdeliver at home, with your friends or in the workplace and expect to get your knuckles rapped or worse yet have your reputation sullied. Or both.
The world of technology, specifically Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, is no different.
Microsoft has been heavily criticized for the amount of time it took to release Vista, (5 years) and for the many delays along the way. The criticism has continued on unabated since the operating system’s release last year.
Some of the criticism directed towards the operating system, is undeserved. Yes, I said it. Vista is at worst, an adequate operating system. After months of use of Vista, it seems clear to me, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Microsoft’s real problem is perception - users have been conditioned to dislike Vista.
The world’s largest software company proved the point with its recent Mojave experiment. where a focus group of 140 people experimented with an operating system that was nicknamed Mojave. The participants later learned that the operating system was actually Vista. According to the company, 94 of the 140 participants ranked Mojave higher than Vista after the experiment was complete but before they were told it was Vista that they had just used.
The technical issues users have encountered to date aren’t unusual. In fact, they are by and large the same ones Microsoft operating system users encountered in the 12 to 18 months after the launch of XP; businesses and consumers were slower to adopt XP than Vista. This may be due in part to the lifespan of an operating system but it speaks to the OS adoption patterns too.
That’s doesn’t mean users shouldn’t begrudge the technical hiccups they may have encountered but the negativity Vista has elicited is odd and intriguing.
So why the visceral reaction to Vista? Apple is one reason. Its Vista-bashing ads are effective at best and entertaining at worst. Its Mac computers aren’t too shabby either and the uber popular iPod have renewed interest in all things Apple.
The real issue for Microsoft may very well be expectations. Microsoft’s development hiccups en route to the Vista launch put the OS behind the 8 ball from the start. People expected the world of it. Short of transforming the world of personal computing, Microsoft was bound to fall short of expectations, which were high given the length of time it took to produce the OS.
The tide, lately, has shifted somewhat as it seems enterprises are starting to implement it though the base of users is still relatively small. This is due in large part to the release of service pack 1, which was released in April. If history is any indication, the Vista service pack will pave the way to greater enterprise adoption; the security enhancements will probably be of greatest interest. The fact XP is no longer being sold (officially) will help the company ship more copies of Vista too. Working against the company are the U.S. and Canadian economies of course which could be headed towards a recession.
Microsoft’s renewed interest in the marketing of its operating system, which includes a US$300-million ad campaign, can’t hurt. The company has let Apple shape the image of Vista for some time - the counter efforts are necessary if the company is to convince users of Vista and Windows 7, the next-generation operating system, are viable products worthy of their attention.
Don’t be surprised if Microsoft says very little about Windows 7 release dates given its history with Vista. However, it is expected the next-generation operating system could be released as early as the fourth quarter of next year. Whatever the schedule, expect exec Stephen Sinofsky to adhere it; the lessons of the Vista launch will be heeded.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Apple, Mac
Facebook’s coming of age
It’s official: Facebook is a popular communications platform.
Forget about Microsoft’s $240-million investment in the social networking site announced in October of last year. It’s true, the site would be nothing without the tens of millions of visitors wasting time playing Scrabulous or one of the other 38,000 other applications freely available to download.
Then why? Duh you say? Hear me out. The ultimate confirmation came in the form of spam; apparently it’s not just for e-mail anymore. It’s now trickling into my Facebook inbox.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve received oddly-worded messages from people I had forgot were Facebook "friends" of mine.
The first message was typical e-mail spam; it was filled with illegible gobbledygook followed by a link to what was billed as video. I (wisely) passed.
The second message was more troublesome. It too was from a gal/ex-colleague who I rarely speak to, which was the first red flag. But the message, unlike most spam, was relatively well worded and could very well have duped many a time-pressed or unsuspecting Facebook user.
The user could then have subsequently downloaded a virus to his or her computer which as we know are particularly nasty to rid ourselves of without the proper protection.
This may seem like computer security 100 to many but there are many who are still viable targets for bored or out of work developers.
This obviously means malware developers are now targeting the Facebook platform with some degree of success. Facebook earlier this month said it had cleared up the problem. The network, supposedly, had “identified and blocked the ability to link to the malicious websites from anywhere on Facebook.” Clearly, that’s not the case.
Facebook needs to clear up its security problem quickly if it is to turn itself into a money-making machine. This means Facebook must maintain a pristine image if it is to convince advertisers that it’s a viable platform, many are still skeptical of the site’s worthiness. This will prove to be an especially difficult task if the U.S. sinks deeper into what appears to be a recession.
The vendor, Facebook, should once again warns users of the virus that seems to have reappeared -the first warning page appears to have been taken down - perhaps its being updated.
On the computer security front, Facebook users should now treat their inboxes on the social networking site as they would an e-mail inbox. That means caution is the name of the game.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, spam, virus, social network
Dell discovers Twitter
Dell, the world’s largest computer maker, is going to take questions from media and analysts today via Twitter exclusively during a press conference to introduce a new line of wireless products.
The event, to be held in San Francisco, is going to be streamed via the Web. Instead of a chat service, Dell has decided that Twitter is going to be the event’s communications channel of choice for media, analysts and customers that want to ask the company a question.
According to Dell, interested parties can direct questions during the news conference to www.twitter.com/Digital_Nomads.
Dell has embraced emerging platforms and Web 2.0 applications to presumably, turn its brand into one that’s more readily embraced by the Mac lovin’ Web 2.0 community (N.B. I’m a PC user).
The company has had much success. Its blog/support forums generate great traffic and reportedly save the company bundles of dough in customer support calls annually.
Dell deserves kudos for its embrace of Twitter -it’s a fast-growing communications platform that can help companies reach customers. Too often, companies embrace ideas long after they’ve ceased to be popular or become the norm.
But in this particular instance, the company’s use of Twitter as a communications platform is somewhat misplaced.
The first problem with the micro-blogging and social networking service, of course, is the fact that it’s simply unreliable - frequent crashes are the norm. What is Dell going to do today if media or customers are met with the the now famous "Too Many Tweets" screens when it’s "stressed out?" Anyone who has frequented Twitter has encountered these messages.
Dell would be better off using the ol’ reliable PlaceWare or some other Web-based conferencing service to bring interested parties together. Better to be boring in this instance if only for the sake of efficacy.
Secondly, Twitter won’t allow users to communicate on a real-time basis - it is not interactive enough. In other words, it’ll act more like a one-way messaging service preventing a dynamic level of interaction.
A better use of the social networking service is the feed that Dell has set up for customers to inform them of deals.
Good luck today Dell!
Technorati Tags: Dell, Twitter
The relevance of Google Talk
A quick tally of my Google Talk contacts earlier today reveals that I now have almost as many contacts using the fledgling instant messaging program as I do on the Windows Live Messenger program.
My Google Talk contacts now equal a resounding 29 individuals while my Windows Live Messenger contact total equals 34.
Does this statistic portend a trend? Likely not of course. It’s far too early to say definitively. I’m one person - hardly a representative sample. More importantly, current Windows Live Messenger usage far outweighs Google Talk on a global basis.
As of December last year, Windows Live Messenger had approximately 227 million visitors, followed by Yahoo Messenger at 93 million while Google Talk laid claim to a mere 4 million users.
It may however be an indication that the overconnected - people like yours truly - are more than willing to use more than one instant messaging client.
They are free to use after all so why not be a member of multiple networks? In fact, it was almost necessary in recent years to do as much. IM interoperability is fairly recent for Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo, which allowed IM users to connect to what were once considered rival networks.
Windows Live Messenger, formerly known as MSN Messenger and one or two other names, however, is still the dominant IM program. It’s easy to see why. Everyone’s on it, making Metcalfe’s Law paramount.
But it’s easy to see how a Web-based option, namely Google Talk, will gain ground over time. Microsoft and Google, despite the intense rivalry between the two companies, will make the Messenger and Talk programs interoperable over time, making Talk more attractive.
It’s easy to see why - Google Talk for example can be used by a variety of computing devices at any one time. There’s also no client download; it’s 100% Web accessible.
I am no proponent of Google Talk - it has many deficiencies, chief among them a lack of graphics. IM is supposed to be fun after all! Messenger is a much more refined product at this stage.
But easy access to Talk and the Google’s eponymous search engine can help the company turn the program into a strength over time.
This can help Google put another chink in the Microsoft armor. IM is no bread winner but it will help further assert itself as the dominant Web player.
Where art thou Yahoo?
Technorati Tags: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, instant messaging
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