Jul 23, 2008

Windows not as bad as reported

By Larry Magid / Daily News Columnist

You've seen the Apple ads that make fun of Vista. And if you believe what those ads say, you're no doubt convinced that Microsoft's Windows Vista is a major disaster.

Well, Vista hasn't exactly been a great PR move for Microsoft. When it was first released back in January 2007, consumer reaction was ho-hum. Some stores stayed open until midnight the night before the release for those who wanted to be the first to get their hands on it, but unlike the reaction to new Apple operating systems, there were no lines outside those stores.

What there was were lots of reports of bugs and incompatibilities with software, printers and other devices. There were also reports - not all of them true - that Vista was slowing down computers because it takes up so many system resources. And that's for an operating system that took an estimated $6 billion and six years to develop.

But Microsoft is fighting back by investing an estimated half billion dollars to fix the problem. Investing that kind of money into research and development to make the product better is a terrific idea but I'm not talking about R&D - Microsoft is putting that money into marketing to convince the world that it's not as bad as we might have thought it is.

ZDNet blogger Ed Bott (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/) has posted an item about Microsoft's "fight back" ads that will try to convince the world that the operating system is really kind of OK. The company has also launched a Web page to show "how far we've come."

The page admits that "we know a few of you were disappointed by your early encounter. Printers didn't work. Games felt sluggish," but the only thing inaccurate about statements is the phrase "few of you." If the company were listening, it should have heard that from more than a few, Still, they acknowledge "You told us - loudly at times - that the latest Windows wasn't always living up to your high expectations for a Microsoft product."

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but the new campaign follows on the heels of Microsoft's June 30 implementation of its decision to stop selling Windows XP, meaning that users who buy new PCs with Windows will get Vista whether they want it or not. But Microsoft wants us all to know that that's OK because, according to the company:

- "Windows Vista now supports 77,000 printers, cameras, speakers and other devices."

- "Over 2,700 software programs are now certified to work on Windows Vista, including 98 of the top 100 consumer applications."

- "More than 140 million copies of Windows Vista have already sold, making it the fastest selling operating system in Microsoft history."

In the meantime, Apple continues to hammer away at Vista with some success. In terms of Macintosh sales, Apple has just been elevated to the No. 3 computer company behind Hewlett Packard and Dell.
In its earnings report released on Monday, Apple said that it shipped 2.5 million Macs in its most recent quarter, up 41 percent from a year ago. Apple's share of the U.S. PC market has climbed more than 2 percent to 8.5 percent, according to Gartner.com which also reported that Apple's growth was nearly four times that of Dell, seven times that of HP and nine times that of the PC industry as a whole. Still, it's important to note that Dell enjoys a 32 percent market share while HP has 25 percent.

And what almost all of the Dell and HP machines have in common is that they are now shipping with Microsoft Windows Vista.

Still, from the standpoint of growth, HP and Dell - along with Microsoft - have a good reason to worry about Apple impressive growth rate.

I can't come up with numbers like Gartner, but I do speak with people every day about their choice of computers and I'm increasingly hearing people tell me that their next computer will be a Mac. A guy who does "handyman" work around my house complained to me about how his Windows PC keeps slowing down. He thinks its spyware or viruses but he's not sure. I offered to go to his house with my toolkit and do a little handyman work on his machine but he said not to bother - he's just going to buy a Mac instead. My son years ago got a MacBook to take to college and now that he's graduated he'll stick with Mac unless he winds up with a job that forces him to use Windows. Even many of my fellow technology journalists - people who know their way around Windows - are abandoning the platform in favor of the Mac.
I, by the way, use both Macs and Windows, but I mainly use Windows partially so I can better understand what most of my readers and listeners go through daily and so I can experiment with the many programs and Web sites that work only with Windows. Frankly. I don't have that many complaints about Windows, including Vista. I've been using Vista since before it came out, and for the most part, I'm pretty happy about it. I also know that the Macintosh isn't as perfect as some Mac-fanatics like to claim. It too can crash and slow down and security experts I speak to say that Mac users are also vulnerable to hack attacks and malicious software though because there are fewer Macs, there are also fewer attacks.

Maybe I should be part of those commercials, even though I'm not as cool as the Mac guy or as affable as PC. After the two other guys introduce themselves as "Mac" and "PC," I'd say "I'm a human being" and my pitch would be to not stress over what type of computer you use. There are much more important things to think about.



Larry Magid's technology column appears Tuesdays in the Daily News. E-mail can be sent to larry@larrymagid.com.