News - Microsoft intros new 'PC versus Mac' comparison site

[HEXUS]

Fails to address the fact that PCs aren’t “cool”.

Read more.

[scaryjim]

Do you have any better ideas on how Microsoft should sell Windows to the world?

They could reduce the price a smidge. I didn't even blink at the idea of paying £45 for retail Windows 7 on pre-order, but I blink several times at the idea of paying more than £90 for the same software. I know it's a good OS, but...

[Gunbuster]

This site is the classic; I have 5 good points, but I have hidden them amongst 10 petty or bad ones. This is how the No to Trams campaign in Edinburgh failed. They had 3 or 4 core really good points and thought that they needed more and buried the good points in petty nonsense.

FYI this kind of advertising in generally irks me.

[Tattysnuc]

Firstly, I think that microsoft have got to start selling concepts again.

They had a great concept with Windows that worked. Now everybody else has caught up, they've got to start selling the next development, which will probably be touch screen or holographic/motion sensors (ie Kinect) for PC's or mobile smart phone devices. Microsoft make good hardware, so use that fact to launch the product. Software either needs to be radically different to everything else out there, or it needs to be the only product. Windows in the living room is starting to be a real concept, so support it - windows home server needs to be able to manage this environment. Likewise, that should support other opportunities, like a file sharing hub (NAS) etc. What about playing games on a virtualised server over the wireless lan? Apple have iTunes as their hub. Media centres never really been promoted as far as I can recall, and to be fair, is actually quite good, if not a little rigid.

The petty squabling of the adverts "I'm a PC and I'm a mac" and rising to that bait is counter productive, and the Bing adverts here are.... well.... poor for a start. the concept of the MS adverts of recent years has been good, but the quality and execution look substandard.

As a busienss user, it doesn't help that they p!ss off every microsoft Excel user by changing the interface because they tell us it's better. Choice was always somethign that MS said that they offered, so why has it come down to several PD software developers to develop an "old style" menu for excel. Peope just want to get on with work, and changing things is not a great idea, as it takes time as well as money to adapt to that change (ie training, support etc)

Admitting Vista to be a disaster was also a bad move for me. I bought and paid for Vista ultimate, and it worked a charm on my high spec machines. Never had a problem except with Creative's lack of 64 bit drivers for Prodikeys dm.

Microsoft need to get an identity - what are they selling? Apple have a clear vision of what they are doing - they are telling the world that tey are innovative, and here is a complete package that delivers what the user has bought. Microsoft need to address this, and support their partners. There's a reason that people started buying Dells with Ubunto on them - COST. If Microsoft make the price of their OS such that it is not such a significant portion of the build cost, then they could gain more market share. Likewise with home and student office packages - As it is, trying to maximise the profit goes against the ability to control market share, and with a brand as strong as Apple there, they will lose share.

Compare the face of Apple vs the face of Microsoft. Sorry, but Steve J wins that one hands down. I really do think that Steve Balmer's time at the top is marked, and I don't think he is the right face to take them forward. He's piggy backing on the commercial success of Win 7 at the moment, but then when everyones upgraded, then what? Put too many OS's out there and they will seriously alienate themselves from the users.

Windows 7 is a massive success, because it's a good product that everyone wants. Get the offices of the world up to Windows 7 and their home computers will follow. Get their home computer up to Windows 7, and everyone will talk about their old computer systems at work. That will not encourage a sale. With having the virtualisation technology, it should be possible to run everything from a Windows 7 machine. At work we're only just looking at it now, having skipped Vista, and now refreshing the range of PC's. Businesses don't like additional cost, so the case to upgrade to a new OS needs to be compelling, or included in the cost of a new PC.

Other than that, keep up the good work

[TheAnimus]

Indeed, they have gone for this horrible idea that all points are equal.

I should also point out the Apple one is crap.

Maybe I should go into advertising?

[Steve]

OK, they've convinced me to get a PC. Now where can I buy Ubuntu?

[crossy]

Do you have any better ideas on how Microsoft should sell Windows to the world?

Oh yes, plenty.

1. Get someone "cool" to be the face of Windows. Put Steve Ballmer into the background;
2. Point out that Windows is the gaming platform. Okay, Mac may be "cooler" and Linux be more secure, but both of these are poor gaming platforms compared to Windows;
3. Short adverts, no preaching, and ffs don't employ David Mitchell!!

And then there's the product itself:

1. Keep enhancing Windows Media Player. Maybe I'm getting mellow in my old age, but I quite like WMP - and if it had better sync features (for example) then I wouldn't even have iTunes on my Windows box;
2. Keep concentrating on security - Windows 7 is good, as is Hotmail, and the free security tools give the right impression. Fire anyone who trots out that "security by obscurity" nonsense;
3. Don't let the imbeciles responsible for the Office 2007 GUI anywhere near it. And learn the lesson of Office'07 - if you must put in a "better" UI, then at least offer a facsimile of the old one for a while for those users who are less that impressed with the new design;
4. Get the idea that we're in a "connected" world - home and office have mixes of Windows, Mac, Linux with the odd new platform like Android. Make it easier for Windows to be the hub of this - e.g. make it easier for WHS to service Linux clients;
5. Remember lesson 1 of OS Design - no one likes a slow, bloated OS. Small footprint and fast are very desirable (remember the righteous slagging that Vista got?).

"A good product sells itself, a great product is sold by the users"

[GheeTsar]

I prefer Dell's technique:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/s...=19&l=en&s=dhs

[Lee H]

I prefer Dell's technique:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/s...=19&l=en&s=dhs

That's actually quite good as it's simple to see the differences and the major changes between the different specifications of the hardware and also the pricing is clear so it can be understood by most people.