Vista getting bad press in mainstream business world
Regular BLORGE readers are likely familiar with Vista’s reputation among many tech-specialist websites and publications, along with the arguments for and against its performance. But many of the people whose decisions affect Vista’s success inhabit the general business world, making coverage there particularly influential.
A good example is Newsweek, which has just run an article on the system. It makes for interesting reading, coming from the perspective of a publication which doesn’t follow the industry from day to day. Writer Daniel Lyons highlights the way Microsoft seems in denial that, regardless of the technical realities, Vista has been a public relations flop.
He also raises the issue that it’s somewhat strange Microsoft needs to advertise Vista at all given that most home users will simply get it as a matter of course when buying a new PC. The irony is that as Lyons points out the problem is that many businesses have been wary to upgrade to Vista because of its reputation, many company managers who read pieces like this in mainstream publications will follow suit. It’s a vicious circle which Microsoft will have to counter in Windows 7.
And it’s not as if the Newsweek piece is a rarity. BusinessWeek is hardly at the cutting edge of technology or the internet world – it’s only just run an introduction to Twitter – but its recent report on HP flirting with Linux will have been influential to many casual readers.
Of course, some major titles do illustrate the split between the mainstream and tech-specialist audiences. Businessmen who glance through the print edition of the New York Times won’t read much about Vista beyond the financial figures released in Microsoft stock filings.
But the online edition of the newspaper makes the most of its interactivity in a recent feature asking Vista-lovers to suggest how they’d advertise the system. In among the predictable comedy responses are some genuinely constructive ideas such as giving solid statistics about the improved security (which have been mentioned many times in press interviews), promoting Media Center’s visual appeal on an HDTV screen, or talking up the range of video games that are available on PCs rather than Macs.
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