Hello again, I’m Vista

Microsoft hires a hot ad agency in an effort to improve its image

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Readers' comments



Lipstick on a pig! Its like Lincoln rebadging the Zephyr to the MKZ. It is still ugly, still not gas efficient and no one wants the car. Apple has product to go with the Advertising. Not only does MSFT not have the products, MSFT is always following not leading. e.g. iPOD and Blackberry. Q the blackberry killer? huh?Oh, I got it, they are going to spin all the tracking cookies and pooh they dump on your machine when you log into hotmail or is it live? Nope its DOA!


It's a challenge to be sure. CP B is at the top of the game... but Apple won't be sitting still. CP B may target the notion of the Mac as a computer for "smug" people and Microsoft's Windows as being OK for "the rest of us"... an interesting proposition...Meanwhile let's remember that CP B kept its Windows users on Win2k and held back on transitioning to XP, for the usual reasons of conservative IT policy.The creatives, some but not all of the execs, and especially the graphic, web and broadcast production departments responsible for producing the award-winning ads that made or remade names like Mini and Burger King... those all run Macs and high-end arrays of storage servers sourced from Apple.Microsoft deserves credit for aiming high, both with the intent of Vista... the look and feel of Vista coming more into approximation of the polished Mac OS X look and feel... and also their choice of ad agency. CP B may well be the best among the best.This competition need not be a winner-take-all situation, or a source of a rush of pride when one-or-the-other scores a point. The IT situation at that agency itself shows that there is such a thing as the right tool for a job.


To say the name Microsoft today is equal to speak of the Devil.The company whose name we may not mention should just break up under a totally different name. That would be a breath of fresh air. It could be something such as the "Dharma initiative" or maybe "Nova Prospekt" or even "the Gitmo Software Foundation".


I think everyone is agreed that the MobileMe rollout was a disaster as has been pointed out, but I think Mr. Miner overreacts when he suggests this is a trend at Apple. I am a small business owner and could buy any product I want, not being tied into a corporate IT department. Despite its mistakes now and again, Apple clearly produces better products, from iPod to iPhone to Mac. And the recent iPhone 2.0 software update just made my one-year-old iPhone the second-best phone on the planet (after the 3G version). When's the last time a phone provider actually increased the value of your year-old phone . . . for free?My ultimate point is that we don't use Apple products to be smug, trendy, or insufferable. We use them because they work better.


I'd suggest the job of Microsoft's new ad agency gets easier by the day as Apple advances their downward slide with respect to quality control. The latest version of the os is out since late Oct last year and already in its 4th revision. The MobileMe service rollout is widely understood to have been a catastrophe of planning or quality control (take your pick). Playing it aloof, arrogant, exclusive, secretive, and cool only works so long when you ship shoddy products and don't communicate openly and honestly with your customers.


I wholeheartedly agree with the article's last line -- the Mac vs PC ads have decidedly pushed me further away from the Mac. However, personally I feel Microsoft should simply stick to its guns. There is a reason why the Hertzs and Cokes of this world dont go negative against the Avises and Pepsis. PC users arent insufferably vocal about their choice like their Mac counterparts, but that doesnt mean they're looking to switch to the Mac because Apple ads are cool.


Here is an idea for Apple to counter-attack: make a mock impromptu visit to Microsoft's ad agency, and discover everyone hurriedly trying to hide their Macs before they are captured in film by the visiting interview crew.

Mexican Entrepreneur

Interesting...I'd bet my subscription to the Economist that neither Alex Bogusky nor anyone at Crispin has ever used a computer other than a Mac. I doubt they would have ever known what Vista is or how bad it performs if they didn't get this deal. Good luck to them --and a lot of credit if they can sell something the would have never bought.


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