Microsoft's Pie in the Sky
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Microsoft's consumer online storage service, which is testing, has a new name: Windows Live SkyDrive. This is good? |
Microsoft debuted the service, formerly called Windows Live Folders, in June. While not truly inspired, Live Folders wasn't a bad name. SkyDrive is somewhat unispired, which is too bad, because Microsoft had been on a product naming roll.
After years of truly uninspired—and really unmarketable—product names, Microsoft made a turn with Windows Vista. Is the name exceptional? No. But it's not bad either. Then again, Microsoft corrupted the name's simplicity with confusing versions like Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Home Ultimate.
Over the last 12 months or so, Microsoft has cranked out some pretty good product names. Among them: Expression, Mediaroom, PlayReady, Silverlight, Surface and Zune.
Silverlight shows the power of good nomenclature. The renaming took WP/E (Windows Presentation/Everywhere) from obscurity to popularity. While WP/E was like nowhere in mainstream blogs and news media, Silverlight was everywhere. Suddenly Microsoft released a new product it seemed, even though Silverlight had been around for much longer as WP/E.
Many of the Microsoft products with trendier names also sport cool logos, with Silverlight, Surface and Zune being great examples. There is no real Windows Live logo, which I'll pontificate about in a couple of paragraphs.
Microsoft doesn't have a corporate logo, other than its name, which isn't typical of big companies with well-known brands. How do you memorably sell that? Corporate logos are important. Apple gets plenty of brand recognition out of its corporate logo placed on products like iPod. Still, Microsoft is big enough for break-out brands, like the aforementioned Expression and Silverlight.
Windows Live should be a Microsoft break-out brand because of the number of people the services touch. But the Windows Live name is truly uninspired, and additions like SkyDrive only add more trouble to a weak branding concept.
Microsoft made the mistake of creating new sub brands, Office Live and Windows Live, based on two highly recognized brands. Problem: Beneath are too many sub brands that aren't easily distinguishable. As a brand, or even sub brand, Silverlight stands on its own. Same could be said of Expression, Surface or Zune. By contrast, Windows Live is a collection of similar sub brands coming from an already weakly named sub brand of Windows.
So Microsoft offers Windows Live This and Windows Live That, but what's the difference between this or that? The product names are too long for easy recognition or marketing. Examples: Windows Live Hotmail for Mobile, Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live for Windows Mobile, among others.
About those Live logos: The Office and Windows services use the same logos as the desktop software for which they share names. I can see Microsoft's reasoning: Affiliation and recognition with the master brands. But the approach also dilutes separate recognition of the sub brands. Similarly, meaning of sub-sub brand logos are uninspiring, in stark contrast to say Expression or Zune.
Hopefully, Microsoft branding experts won't take this "Sky" thing too far. Microsoft executives repeatedly talk about services in the cloud. Where are clouds? In the sky. As bad as Live branding is, Sky could be worse: Windows Live SkyMail, Windows Live SkyIM (or Sky Messenger) or Windows Live SkySearch.
Microsoft is improving its overall nomenclature and branding. But Live is still a mess.
Related Posts:
- Live Lives, But How Well?, Microsoft Watch, June 27, 2007
- What is a Media Room, Microsoft Watch, June 19, 2007
- Microsoft Enters the Mediaroom, Microsoft Watch, June 18, 2007
- One Redmond Way | Razorfish, Microsoft Watch, May 21, 2007
- Microsoft Week, 5-11-07, Microsoft Watch, May 11, 2007
- Silverlight: What's In a Name, Microsoft Watch, April 16, 2007
- Windows Live Hotmail Is Too Hot, Microsoft Watch, February 8, 2007
- Microsoft's New Take On IT Community, Microsoft Watch, November 13, 2006
Comments (16)
Joe,
I agree with you up to a point about branding, but only up to a point. Frankly, the name is of little interest. How about concentrating on what's REALLY important i.e. the quality of the service rather than banal subjects like what its called.
I value your posts but day by day I come closer and closer to unsubscribing as your posts are becoming less and less relevant.
-Jamie
Posted by Jamie Thomson | August 9, 2007 2:24 PM
In my opinion there is a factor that MS doesn't understand. They think that everything is about money, but forget that people have feelings, I mean if somebody has the monopoly (for example) of Tea and asks you to pay absurd prices for it, you will still buy it; but you will have bad feelings towards this company, then (if not there are no revolutions first) when other company (thus breaking the existing monopoly) offers you the same product, you, thanking God, will go and never will look back. Well, people have feelings and that's because ie Silverlight (in itself a good name), sounds s***light to them. MS does not understand that names are not its problem, but people's feelings when they hear of them and of their new names.
Posted by Marco | August 9, 2007 2:40 PM
obviously, I was talking about one point only.
Posted by Marco | August 9, 2007 2:56 PM
I don't think SkyDrive is all that bad a name. Certainly sounds nicer than Folders. I was kinda hoping that you'd make a post about the actual service and what you think of it, but this post about the branding is disappointing.
I personally like SkyDrive, but I hope they add some kind of desktop presence like your SkyDrive appearing on the Computer menu.
Posted by Stephen R Gibson | August 9, 2007 3:00 PM
"Over the last 12 months or so, Microsoft has cranked out some pretty good product names. Among them: Expression, Mediaroom, PlayReady, Silverlight, Surface and Zune."
A good name helps making a product more attractive; no doubt about that. However, in the case of Zune, I must say that it doesn't sound good everywhere. In Quebec (Canada), Zune is a very ridiculous name because it sounds exactly like the French word "zoune" which is a slang term for "penis".
Posted by Ryannoyed | August 9, 2007 3:10 PM
Yeah, I can't wait to squirt some data up to the cloud. Then Uncle Fester can squirt me a bill. Everyone gets hosed in this deal - LOL.
Posted by Ed T | August 9, 2007 4:04 PM
I actually like the name.. It pretty much says exactly what the service is, yet distinguishes itself. I also like the live name as well, especially when you take email addresses and web site names into consideration. email@live.com and website.live.com is pretty unobtrusive and still sounds nice for business cards and easy to remember.
Posted by Jesse | August 9, 2007 6:35 PM
"Windows Vista Home Ultimate."
Sorry to pull you away from your Apple iField for a moment there Joe, but there's no such thing.
"WP/E"
OOPS. Another mistake. That one was actually called WPF/E, for Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere.
"Windows Live for Windows Mobile"
Sorry, but that's just plain wrong. It's called Windows Live Mobile - that's all!
"Windows Live Hotmail for Mobile"
Geez, you should give up your day job and start reporting for Fox News. Reading articles about Windows Live Hotmail that mention "for mobile" (never capitalized) and saying it's a real product name just doesn't make it so.
Posted by Waethorn | August 9, 2007 7:06 PM
c'mon joe... nobody actually says "Windows Vista Home Ultimate". Your criticism is like saying "Miller Genuine Draft Cold Filtered". For 90% of uses, its simply called "beer". For another 5% of uses, its called "MGD".
Posted by yo | August 9, 2007 7:12 PM
It isnt called windows vista home ultimate. now, you've simply crossed the line and are lying.
Posted by home ultimate | August 9, 2007 7:14 PM
"It isnt called windows vista home ultimate. now, you've simply crossed the line and are lying."
No. He's not. He simply didn't do his research.
Posted by reflections | August 9, 2007 8:01 PM
I'd say 1 out of the last 50 posts have had something good to say about Microsoft. I don't know whether it's a personal hate of MS or what, but I don't get it.
Posted by Yea... | August 9, 2007 8:12 PM
"He simply didn't do his research"
hey reflections....have you ever seen Paul list 4 wrong product names in any of his articles?
maybe the powers that be should make up a "Wilcox Watch" - the eye on Joe's truthiness in reporting on Microsoft.
Posted by Waethorn | August 10, 2007 12:25 AM
waethorn, i'll race you for the domain wilcoxwatch.com ;-)
Posted by sumum | August 10, 2007 1:45 AM
"waethorn, i'll race you for the domain wilcoxwatch.com ;-)"
>:D you're on!
to keep it in line with the current domain name, don't forget the dash (ie. "wilcox-watch.com")
Posted by Waethorn | August 10, 2007 3:04 AM
Marco
Here is some tissue, I had to get some out because you hurt my feelings stating that for you it sounds like s***light. I'm offended how dare you btw you should have spelt/typed that as $**light you will get more bang for you buck.
Posted by Computer Guy | August 13, 2007 4:04 PM