Whilst the Vista reset happened, and Ballmer threw chairs, the world moved on. And it wanted easy to use, reliable, secure software.

None of which microsoft provide.

Their chance to win it back with Vista has failed.

Now the MS fan club will no doubt say "But we own 90% of the market".

But the influencers have moved. The home users are starting to move. If its not the Mac, its linux. Certainly in the datacenter, and its starting to bleed through to the desktop.

Hell - even IBM - with a 400k workforce - are now allowing their workforce Macs - and have bundled OpenOffice with their Lotus Notes.

See a pattern here?

MS have lost market sentiment, and instead of fixing the problem - perhaps by growing up past a "mom and pop" operation (albeit a 90k person bloated "mom and pop" shop), they've stuck to threats ("Ohh. 300+ patent issues with linux"), head-in-sand mentality ("Java? Whats that?"), delays (Vista, Longhorn), rushed through releases (Visual Studio..), no-feature releases (SQL 2007), useless products ("Zune.." ?), diversion (Xbox 360 - what has that got to do with business?) and have stuck with a blindingly unpopular pricing structure, as well as an architecture that just never quite gets delivered.

Why are you surprised?

---* Bill

I agree that brand loyalty is important, but the key is delivering on loyal customers expectations. The thing that drives me to new technologies and other vendors the fastest is failure to deliver the experience I desire. I've had that issue with many technology companies and VARs. Nice article.

jason

While Bill makes some interesting comments, most of his comments have nothing to do with fact. There is no mass exodus from the Windows platform to other platforms. Apple's own numbers show that "switching" has not occurred and their current upswing in sales is pretty much from PowerPC switchers to Intel. Also, the move to Linux on the desktop is over and dead. It isn't happening. What is happening is that the so-ever-isolated Silicon Valley is using Linux, but nobody else. When it comes to the data center, Apache (and LAMP) is losing market share and Windows 2003 Server and IIS is the most dominant. Even EJB, J2EE is loosing massively at this point. C# has become the most important language for the Internet. There are more people programming using ASP.NET than Java, PHP, Perl, CGI combined.

Yes, Vista is a big POS and most laptops are messed up because of the drivers not understanding the new sleep and hibernate models. But, people are using it and customer satisfaction on Vista is very high. And, with SP1 around the corner, the performance is night-and-day.

The other thing is that software operating systems are mostly done. The NT kernel is more secure than the Linux and Mac OS kernel. It is the layer on-top where questions start to happen and Windows is still better. But, with the OS being done, it is now a game about which applications ship with the OS. Vista is losing here because OS-X and Linux can bundle and Microsoft can't because of the monopoly lawsuits. The Apple guys have designed some really nice in-the-box applications and Linux still feels like they are copying Windows 95. The Vista guys will get there and they will continue to be the work horse of all laptops and the enterprise.

Yes, in fact they do. Everything Microsoft has been satisfactory or beyond. Apple has only delivered meager helpings of good things (quicktime for example).

I have been a Windows user forever - from when the first versions were simply an environment to run Word. In the office we run XP and my home boxes are all Win2k. On balance (including interoperability) Microsoft provide the best usable OS experience. But I absolutely hate doing business with Microsoft and hope never to go with Vista.

Why? Because I can't get past the feeling that Microsoft is blatantly manipulating us users simply because market share allows them to. For example, is there really any technical reason why IE7 can't run on W2k? Probably not; it's a short term marketing decision designed to assist sales of Vista. Ditto MS Anti-Spyware. Microsoft want to herd me in the direction that suits them. They will only meet my needs as a user in so far as it helps them to achieve their own short-term goals.

Yes, this may be true of many commercial companies, but it is a matter of degree. Some companies (e.g. Apple) take the long view and build the kind of brand loyalty evidenced in this article. If MS want that sort of loyalty then it will have to take a very different approach to its customer base than is currently evident.

Meanwhile, the Ubuntu experience is oh, so close ...

While the new AT&T may not be the same as the old AT&T as a life long resident of the SBC service area I can assure you that they are just as bad as the old AT&T.

SBC hated the break up and has always made it it goal to rebuild the entire old AT&T under its control.

Bad to the bone.

Wow! Jeff is truly lost! Windows more secure than Linux and/or OS X?? Vista customer satisfaction high? SP1 is gonna solve everything?

I've been a Windows user and developer since Windows 286 and I've never been as negative about Windows in particular and Microsoft in general as I am today. Their OS and apps are bloated beyond repair and .NET is a mess. While Microsoft caters to the VB crowd - each new release of Visual Studio becomes slower and less useful to professional developers. My next home computer will definitely be a Mac so I can start kicking the tires of it's development systems.

lol. Bill, you lost me at "If its not the Mac, its linux". With all your credibility zapped, I had no use for the rest of your post.

lmao. linux is always juuuuuuuussssstttttt around the corner. 7 years and running...

The windows kernel is more secure, that is a true statement that has been proven over and over. It is the rest of the system where vulnerabilities have been introduced.

"For example, is there really any technical reason why IE7 can't run on W2k? Probably not; it's a short term marketing decision designed to assist sales of Vista. Ditto MS Anti-Spyware."

Then why does it run on XP?

"Some companies (e.g. Apple) take the long view and build the kind of brand loyalty evidenced in this article."

Ummm. Is that why iLife '08 runs only on OS X 10.4.9 and above and iWork '08 requires 10.4.10?

[b]How microsoft made my life better.[/b]

Microsoft allowed me to understand that commercialization of software can only bring trouble and decisions that affect users negatively. Therefore I have deciding to stop using their products, there is a long way towards the final objective but I am on the road.

How many of your are using Apple to to MIcrosoft Watch ? I bet not many .

Joe dislike Vista but he had been using it since February 2006 . I hope that he will bravely annouce to us that he had abandoned Vista and tyoing fulltime on Apple

i have no use for apple. i have a $12 radio that i prefer to an ipod. and as for mac desktops and laptops... lets get real. i have a job, and have no use for a 'casual' computer.

Off the subject a little bit ...but ... has anyone noticed that the weekly FUD watch has not eventuated so far ... the 1st was on August 3rd, the second on August 10th and so far no FUD watch, and I hope I know the reason why too !

I think some of the things Microsoft has done is hurting their brand name now. The DRM is some of the WMA and WMV files has hurt them in their users eyes, when they can't play these files later on. Just as the DRM in Vista will later on. Also, the Plays for Sure, that will not work with the Zune, is another problem. Then there is the Xbox games that won't work on the Xbox360. So people are not so trusting with Microsoft as they once were. Also with Vista the only real way to get it is when it you have on a new computer, otherwise keep XP or 2000.

Hey Sam, some good points. Been using Vista now on this new laptop, and I hate it. The sale was too good to pass up, but Vista is..........

Let me also point out that the native cd burner in Vista saves by default some kind of format that only can be read in Vista, although its supposed to be able to be read in XP, they lie!

Then there is Microsoft Office 2007 that has the new format in it, just like every version of office has, to make you buy it. Really there is nothing else worth while enough to make you want to buy this overpriced piece of bloatware. Then there is the price, WOW!

"The DRM is some of the WMA and WMV files has hurt them in their users eyes, when they can't play these files later on. Just as the DRM in Vista will later on."

Huh??!!! Where do you guys come up with all this?

"Then there is Microsoft Office 2007 that has the new format in it, just like every version of office has, to make you buy it."

You can read the new Open XML format files in Office 2003 and Open Office too, I think.

"Really there is nothing else worth while enough to make you want to buy this overpriced piece of bloatware."

I don't think Microsoft or anyone for that matter is forcing you to buy it. It looks like you haven't even tried it. So quit your complaining.

Linux around the corner:

Yes - people have been saying that for years. However, when I put linux on my son's computer, he loved it and converted without any trouble. That is new. The latest version of Ubuntu and the like are very easy to use.

I don't really want Linux to take over the world. I would love to see Microsoft start to provide software and especially licensing that is user friendly, and I can only see that happening from competition. This 'OS license if for a machine, once that machine breaks you loose the right to use the software' stuff is so rude no company under significant competitive pressure could get away with it. What is more, it really damages MS's brand.

I think health a OSX and Linux world are good for MS because it forces the company to live in the real world and stop treating its customers as stooges!

AJ

@Eder

At least one person reads Microsoft Watch, not only from their Mac, but from their iPhone as well. That's me.

Yes, Office 2007 has made my life better.

It is truly the best advance Microsoft has made with their Office suite in at least seven years. I have had to crank out 100's of PPT slides plus a 600 pages of technical writing... and Office 2k7 has allowed me to make my finished work have a "sparkle" that normally only comes from going to design professionals... and it has been easy, too!

Most of us don't need open document formats/architectures, and don't truly care if my DOCX or PPTX has XML in it. We just want to EASILY create professional, polished documents.

On Sunday, I went to the Apple Store and played with an iMac and the new iWork package. Numbers and Pages are cool, and since a busy retail environment is not the best place to create a new document for testing, I tried some of their templates. WOW!

Maybe people would feel differently about Office 2007 if Microsoft included templates and sample documents that are on the level of what Apple includes with iWork?

Random tangent here: is it just me, or does anybody else out there who has tried an iMac or MacBook Pro think the LCD's are too grainy compared to an XP or Vista machine? I look at the 15.4" MacBook Pro and the display is 1440x900, which is what is on my Dell 14" widescreen. Maybe my eyesight will be better in the long run if I use a MacBook... but I truly prefer Microsoft's ClearType/OpenType font smoothing to what Apple has... especially with the lower resolution on the size panel!

People associate emotions and memories with brands, often at a subliminal level. Microsoft tends to focus its product marketing on people who live in a world of text and numbers. When they try to appeal to the other side of the brain (Zune, MediaCenter, Mobile), they fall flat on their face because the tools and strategies that work for one totally miss the other.

The notion that a list of "100 reasons" is a good marketing strategy for a product like Vista shows they don't have a clue! Half of the target audience tunes out the message right away. Throw in the constant, nagging, daily annoyances built in to Microsoft operating systems since W98 and you end up with the effect we're seeing today where even long time customers see Vista in a negative light.

Yes this from reflections :

"The DRM is some of the WMA and WMV files has hurt them in their users eyes, when they can't play these files later on. Just as the DRM in Vista will later on."

Huh??!!! Where do you guys come up with all this?

OH HOW ABOUT FROM HERE;
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/drm/faq.aspx
or
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_DRM

What are you the resident Microsoft clown on this site? Go back to school and learn something before you write nonsense.

Interesting links:

Jim Louderback wrote, "If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux."

www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2171472,00.asp

Steven J. Vaughan Nichols:Louderback, it's not unthinkable. To make it as easy as possible, I recommend you check out Lenovo's new line of SLED-powered ThinkPads.

www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3000193202.html

Linux in the datacenter has been there for years now.

Linux on the desktop ? Well, it *was* unthinkable till MS fumbled the ball with Vista.

Anyone fancy waiting another five years ?

No. Not me either.

---* Bill

(oh. 20 year in IT, IT manager, big MS fan till three years ago. )

"What are you the resident Microsoft clown on this site? Go back to school and learn something before you write nonsense."

Resident Microsoft Clown? AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Like the rest of your comment, that makes no sense either.

How not to write nonsense.
-By Sam

1. Start your comment with something like, "I used to be a die hard Microsoft fanboy until they released XXXXX*." (XXXXX here is the latest software product released by MS.) This lends more credibility to your subsequent statements.
2.Criticize something about Vista. If it's about
Microsoft, it's not nonsense even if it doesn't make sense. For example, "Vista's DRM scheme does not let you play music not purchased from the Zune marketplace."
3. End your comment with something like, "I wish Microsoft had done things differently."

There you go - three easy steps to commenting. Remember never to praise a feature in Vista. The sense gurus hate it.

Still waiting for the 235 patents Linux infringes upon to be listed at microsoft.com. Whats taking so long..............................?

Bonez wrote: Still waiting for the 235 patents Linux infringes upon to be listed at microsoft.com. Whats taking so long..............................?

They are probably still trying to manufacture them.

How can Microsoft improve? How about trying some real innovation instead of just dirty marketing tactics? The Microsoft brand is knownn for questionable business practices, and deservedly so.

Mikey's comments on development tools are ridiculous, as a user of Visual Studio since Visual Studio 6 and as a developer of Java applications with Eclipse and is myriad of buggy plug-ins I can honestly say that developing in .NET (which has support for many languages besides VB) is streaks ahead of anything the Java world has to offer. .NET 3.0 and 3.5 combined with Vistas hardware based graphics acceleration; products like Silverlight, project Mono, Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Studio will deliver stunning applications in a short timeframe that no Java technology can match...

@Jeff:
"Even EJB, J2EE is loosing massively at this point. C# has become the most important language for the Internet. There are more people programming using ASP.NET than Java, PHP, Perl, CGI combined."

??? What evidence do you have to support this? Java is still the most popular enterprise choice for development by far. My brother is a Java developer for a major software company (Quest Software) and he assures me that Java is still going very strong (you don't have to use EJB, which *does* suck). C#/.NET doesn't even register for many enterprises.

I've been a software engineer for over 20 years. Recently I started a major web application project. I could've chosen C# or Java, but I wanted a competitive edge. I investigated Seaside/Smalltalk and found my "secret weapon." In the past couple of months, I made progress you couldn't even imagine! Java, PHP, Perl, CGI, C#? Fuggetaboutit!

I've dabbled with C#/.NET. I am not impressed...

The "100 Reasons" marketing is pathetic. I tuned out after reading the first 20 reasons. This is NOT the way to build a brand.

Apple's marketing and branding appeal to me. They apparently appeal to a lot of people, as Apple's market continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Apple appeal to the heart. Microsoft don't know how to do this, and never will.

Obviously, "reflections" is a Microsoft/Windows fanatic--nothing he says can be trusted. Me, I'm OS-agnostic. I go with whatever works.

At home, I used Vista, XP, OS X, and Ubuntu Linux. Vista is my main development machine for my web application project. I use XP and OS X for multimedia work. Ubuntu is for testing and server development. I like all the OSes for different reasons. I also have my gripes about them.

"sk" says he has no use for Apple, for a "casual" computer. The Mac is hardly a casual computer. I think it compares very well with Vista. OS X is an industrial-grade environment, solid as a rock.

IMO, Ubuntu would make an excellent desktop platform for people who don't need to play video games or run MS Office. It's very easy to use.

Now, before someone tells me that MS Office is the de facto world standard, I've been an Office user for many years. I recently switched to OpenOffice.org and found that it meets *all* of my needs very nicely. OpenOffice is not for everyone--enterprises may need some of MS Office's unique features. But for most people, it is certainly more than good enough.

I have used Windows for almost two decades.

My next computer will be a Mac.

I have several reasons:

I have several Win machines. None of them works reliably. All are well tuned: anti-spyware, anti-virus, SP1 and 2, etc.

I am fed up with having to buy still further bloated apps (Office) that offer nothing of substance new and yet cost $300-400. I looked at Office 2007 and decided I could not justify further expense for the bloated software and the several days it would take to learn a new (but unimproved) interface.

The reports of thousands of annoyances on Vista (take you pick of which flavor) certainly give one pause.

Overall, the MS experience seems to be going still farther in the wrong direction. Software is supposed to HELP me get my job done, not slow me down and hinder me. MS resembles nothing so much as a large Bloatfarm, incapable of delivering products that really assist me in getting my work done reliably and enjoyably.

I have examined the Mac, spending many hours with it and consulted with friends whose opinions I value and can trust. Uniformly, they genuinely enjoy their Macs. Most are former Win machine owners; most are bitter about the vast amounts of time they wasted using Win machines and all the needless complexity (Let's see, we put that app in the Control Panel last time so this time we should create a new area and hide it six levels down so... You get the idea if you've used Windows long enough.)

Recently I had dinner with a couple whom I had recently met. He had an HP Win machine; she had a Mac. She gushed over hers; he was embarrassed to say that his never really works right and is a pain to use because it is so cumbersome. In my experience, this is typical.

Vista only magnifies the feeling that MS has run off of the rails. The company has so tightly focused on maximizing its short term revenues to the complete exclusion of its user experiences that I am ready to make the switch.

My current Win machines do not work right any longer (which is a pity because XP worked quickly in the beginning; probably now that so much of it has been ripped out and repatched so many times, it runs slowly and unreliably). I will not go to that sack of sh*t Vista and I am not ready for Ubuntu or any of the other flavors of Linux.

My friends simply enjoy their Macs.

Is there a better choice at this point? I doubt it. I suspect that many others think similarly. True, the Mac is not perfect (Nothing is.)

I have become, over time, more and more intolerant of the relentless MS annoyances and vastly increasing complexity with no payback.

For me, MS simply is no longer a viable choice.

Jeremy, my first 4 machines were macs. My last 3 have been PCs. Thank God Almighty, for waking me up to the rest of the world. I was such a moron in my youth.

Windows suck ! and Apple rocks :)
and no, i'm not just jumping on a bandwagon but really everything on a PC just seems to take at least a few steps longer and encounters more hiccups (who can argue with : Restarted the machine and then only it worked)
that kind of just dosen't happen on an Apple.
oh yeah, and there are no viruses ever. no need for anti viruses, you can visit websites and download fishy looking things with seemingly reckless abandon.