Microsoft blaming PC manufactures & their added software for Vista misconception
At Microsoft’s recent Financial Analyst Meeting Steve Ballmer, among other things, blamed Vista’s misconception woes on PC manufacturers who are shipping mediocre, "crapware-infested" installations, as he calls it. Since the manufacturers have every right to do so, it’s up to Microsoft to form a game plan to combat it.
According to the Guardian, Bill Veghte, from Microsoft’s Windows group, had plenty to say to the room filled with financial representatives from the likes of Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse. He stated; "The final piece of it is what we do with our PC partners, whether that be HP or Dell or Sony or the many others that are a key part of the Windows ecosystem. We worked subsequent to general availability, while working with each one of these vendors to do what we called the Windows Vista Velocity Program. We think of this as running a set of those systems and the entire software load that they have on them through a very extensive set of tests to measure everything from reliability to security to compatibility, boot time, and more. We ran over 280 systems through that process and you’re starting to see the results of that in the market today."
In the minds of Microsoft execs, the problem lies with the fact that Vista is deployed on such a wide variety of PC builds, from a variety of manufacturers. A configuration from one brand might yield completely different results then that of another. For example, you can take the same laptop and pre-configure it one way and you get almost instantaneous boot-times, and fantastic battery life. If you pre-configure it with software in another way you get long boots, and much less battery life. Microsoft, as part of their restructuring plan, plans to educated its OEM providers on these subjects to try an curb any negative compatibility issues at the source.
Bad memories aside, you have to hand it to Microsoft for taking a proactive approach to changing the image of its bread-and-butter OS, but I guess only time will tell if the plan actually pays off.
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July 27th, 2008
Typical response . Blame everything except the software itself.
July 27th, 2008
SO maybe microsoft could just list what configuration changes it made on these systems to give such an improvement!
July 27th, 2008
Microsoft has a tough battle ahead of it. People are beginning to realize that a vertical solution is better at providing a less frustrating computing experience.
July 27th, 2008
Too many hardware configurations has always been Microsoft’s perennial problem. When you try to make an operating system run on any jumble of bits and pieces, far too often the result is not good. Microsoft is now reaping what they sowed.
July 27th, 2008
Ballmer and the marketing people for Microsoft should be replaced ASAP. Clueless is putting it nicely. They take blow after blow with no response, and the answer to Vista woes is a project Mojave that shows people looking at a video of people using a product.
How many of the Mac/PC commercials showed OSX?
The issue is a perception one, as Vista is far from horrible. The issue is a tone deaf culture run by programmers and bean counters who actually thought putting confusing multi-versions of Vista would be seen as not forcing users to pay for features they couldn’t use and not a ploy to squeeze every last nickel from customers. Big disconnect from reality.
Microsoft has allowed the huge lead in market share as a buffer to shield them from screwups for so long it has become a given in their planning. Hate to tell them they spent that goodwill a long time ago. Your customers now proceed from an attitude of trying to figure out how they are being screwed.
That automatically forces the product to have compelling improvements over the previous version just to keep from getting ripped. And Vista had little to make the average user eager.
look at the iPhone. People were actually saying the lack of 3G was a positive since the the battery wasn’t swappable. Jobs had a lack of 2 common features being praised. The second version was little more than adding features most smartphones had for years. Again, praise for the genius. And he is one. He markets to the consumer who pressure businesses to accommodate the gadgets. Microsoft tries to persuade IT to champion the project. There is far too much 1980’s in that culture.
July 28th, 2008
Microsoft’s cure to make Vista run faster and less buggy… remove all software from your computer. You may not have any applications to run on your computer, but with just Vista OS running, it will be less sucky
July 29th, 2008
It’s interesting to see that Microsoft have a “Windows Vista Velocity Program”.
Many Microsoft customers are saying “WVVP” – “We’re Very, Very P***ed” (of course, that may be no more than a mere perception thing, so I don’t think Mr Ballmer and his mates should worry about it too much).
July 29th, 2008
I think it’s good to see Microsoft continuing to explain itself rather than making all requested changes and admitting complete fault for Vista’s issues. It’s true that Microsoft worked very hard and rather quickly to fix a lot of the bugs in Vista. But it’s also true that you just can’t ever please everyone. And, I think it’s natural that perhaps Vista is not going to be the best solution for every single user, nor will Microsoft products in general. If they were, we’d have no other computer companies, and then we’d really be in trouble.
July 30th, 2008
Quoting Computer Consulting Blog: “I think it’s good to see Microsoft continuing to explain itself … “.
Surely you jest! Microsoft has not even begun to explain itself – if they did, it would go something like the following:
“We have no passion for software, no interest in quality, and, above all, no concern for our customers. We are a gang of ruthless money-grubbing monopolists whose sole aim has been to get as many victims as possible trapped on the hardware / software upgrade treadmill in order to shamelessly milk them for all it’s worth. We have included such pernicious things as DRM in Vista – and not for the benefit of our users, but to cosy up to Hollywood for the sake of pecuniary gain. We have driven many competitors out of business using illegal tactics, we have indulged in all manner of ploys to poison standards and thereby cement our position in the market place, we have been the subject of litigation on numerous occasions (and have been convicted on some), and we have been hit with massive fines. We remain unrepentant, and in fact we are overcome with mirth that despite our brazen conduct and the utter contempt that we have shown for all and sundry, we continue to make money flogging half-baked, bug-riddled software. We are firmly convinced that the U.S.A. is indeed a land of opportunity.”
September 8th, 2008
Wow. As an actual developer working for Microsoft on the Velocity Team mentioned here I think there is a miscommunication about what the Velocity team has done as it relates to changes to the OEM image.
Our team does not remove OEM software. Rather we assist the OEMs in organizing their images to perform better. Our goal is to improve the quality of the OEM image through education.
OEMs add features and software to the basic Vista load to differentiate themselves in the market place. Our team assists the OEM with the testing of the images produced by the OEM. We don’t “performance tune” images. We provide guidance to OEMs to help them understand how Vista works.
We mostly do coaching to help OEMs with Microsoft products and services. The goal is to assist OEMs in creating a better end user and consumer experience.