In case you missed the completely baffling
Gates / Seinfeld ad, here's the skinny: Microsoft is
getting serious about polishing the
tarnished Vista brand (its words, not ours). According to new reports, that aforementioned spot is just the beginning of Redmond's costly push to "change consumers' perception of Windows," and soon you'll be seeing Microsoft Gurus in your favorite B&M locations. These so-called experts will be there to "explain the benefits of Windows," but we're not sure if they'll only be around to answer inquiries or if they'll be actively approaching you in an uncomfortable attempt to talk about
Aero and
ReadyBoost. We're hearing that some 155 representatives will be deployed before the year's end at stores like Best Buy and Circuit City, so at least you now know where
not to shop if you're terrified of confrontation.
[Via
Electronista, image courtesy of
StarBulletin]
posted Sep 6th 2008 11:57AM
That photo is in serious need of a caption competition.
Lets go.....
"Buy Vista and you will get another free bottle of water!"
You can't break these cuffs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZIvgQ9ik48&NR=1
"We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!"
Bitch has you heard of Vista!?!
"YOU'RE SOFT."
"Look, Ponies"
So ... HOW ABOUT SPENDING SOME MILLIONS SO WE NO LONGER HAVE F##&*$#*
BSODs ??? !!!!!!
Wow all of those are terrible.
[url="http://img29.picoodle.com/data/img29/3/9/6/f_lolm_466b341.png"]Hmm.[/url]
I ONLY NEED TWO REASONS TO BUY VISTA OVER osx.
#1 CRYSIS
#2 CRYSIS: WARHEAD
Pius wins.
ok, first im an apple fanboy, however, i cant afford an imac yet, i run vista. Now vista is a good OS, thats not where microsoft messed up, they messed up by making Vista so big and bloated that it takes a powerful computer to run it. The average computer cannot run vista easily, nor without crashes. Apple OS on the other hand, runs fine on all of their machines, that is why people are leaving MS for Apple. They really messed up, and better re-think their strategy. And this Mojave experiment? Yes they ran vista on really good computers, no wonder they liked it.
Yo yo yo holla holla ho-dup. You ain' hurd ma hole storay. Then, afta ah got mah diabeetus, they tol' me ah caint eat no mo' Mikkidees, but ah was lak oh no yoo di in't! Ah be wurkin' fo mah Benjis, an' ah get paid. You betta bulleedat ah use me dat Vista, it BE SHININ', it be SHINAAAY...
"WOULD YOU LIKE A SERVICE PLAN WITH THIS WATER BOTTLE?"
"SERVICE PLANNNNN!!!?!?!??!"
@iEye
Holy shit, seriously? Your comment was so insightful, I'm surprised Engadget hasn't let you write a full on editorial on the subject. I've never heard anything quite like it before.
"C'mere.. I gotsa serprise in mah vajinnah fer yoo"
"Alright, you see that weird looking dude standing by the pole? I think he's with the feds. He's eyeballing you and we've got to get out of here before they find out about us upgrading all of the XP machines to vista without charge... If they find out, Vista will have no future!!"
"Oh and don't forget to act casual.... smile nice and big now!"
@iEye
It's not just that it's bloated, it's that what it's been bloated with isn't good. The 3d program switcher looks neat, but it's not that useful. Not to mention it's unreliable on even the fastest of computers.
As for their new ads, the Mohave one was probably the best. Although they took a bunch of people who never used vista or saw vista to do the tests, and used MS's own computers. Sounds to me like they would have been even more impressed by this new OS, called Windows XP. =\
Focus groups are notorious for people giving the info the company wants in this sort of test. Good focus groups hide their intentions, this one did not.
MS just isn't used to having real competition, and people just gobbling up their stuff.
@iEye:
I've installed Leopard on old iMacs...the ones with the round base and the LCD on the metal arm. 1GHz PPC, 1GB RAM. There is noticeable lag and I definitely wish I had slapped in Tiger or Panther instead. There's no way in hell Leopard is a wise choice for old hardware. Even the more recent releases of popular Linux distros have become more demanding. Thank teh LAWD for xUbuntu and Arch Linux. Any Linux distro used to do get the job done when I was trying to breathe life into legacy hardware that was just sitting around. Now I have to go searching for specialized distros that have trimmed the (unnecessary) fat.
@Greg
MS not had real competition, eh?
Quick question: Which was incorporated first - Apple or MS?
===GOD IS MACINTOSH AND STEVE JOBS IS HIS PROPHET===
FINALL MESSAGE TO ALL VISTA INFIDELS
We are Microsoft. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile
@ iEye: Well, the thing is, there is no Mac that costs less than a grand. Any PC worth that much will run Vista much better than fine, hell even the $600-700 PCs today should run Vista fine. A lot of the problem is bad OEM installs, which I think Microsoft is working on for Windows 7 to make sure that stupid OEMs don't make it take forever to boot. I built my desktop and it has a clean install of Vista and it boots to desktop in around 45 seconds, but my OEM laptop (building a laptop is not worth it) takes 2-3 minutes to boot sometimes despite having similar specs and more RAM.
Have to have that Cow Bell in there baby!
I'll bet you could use some water to wash down that computer, I mean cake!
@iofthestorm
i paid 1,200 for a nice pc, couldnt fin vista worth crap
Then you got ripped off. I built my PC for 800 dollars. A Intel quad core at 3.6Ghz, 4GB of 1066Mhz DDR2 ram, ATI 4850, etc. It raped Vista.
I'm not your buddy, guy.
"I built my PC for 800 dollars. A Intel quad core at 3.6Ghz" - Abuzar
Meaning you bought an Intel quad core at 2.4 ghz and overclocked the crap out of it. Not something the typical consumer targeted by Vista is going to be doing. At all. Nor will they even be building their own machines. At all. So your Vista dollars-to-performance experience, while accurate (maybe), is not relevant to the broad Vista-using market. At all.
Timothy's post is so much full of win.
Caption: "Omm Nom Nom Nom"
Join the dark side and get a , eh... i have this water bottle, but I see you have already got one of those. No. i still wont let you go.
"Extended warranty, now we got ya"
OMG!! I'm touching J-Low!
...flashpoint...
anyone else finding the crysis comments a lil tiresome? its on par with the doom and blend thing now.
before you cry flashpoint i do run windows as well as osx and my machine is more then capable of running crysis.. but lets face it the games not actually that good, its kind of like the monalisa, looks good but theres just no point to it.
OM NOM NOM NOM!
You guys are such pricks, I mean at least make some effort to hide your obvious bias.. WOW, this site has really tumbled.
I agree, if these guys were working for Apple you probably treat them like the Messiah.
I agree, this is rediculous. All this is is overt microsoft bashing. I'm not even going to read this blog anymore.
I agree, lately especially articles have stopped being "articles" and started being press releases copypasta'd. Maybe this'll stop when there aren't as many things being released, but seriously? Do we need to know about every single blu-ray player being released this week? I would've preferred a well thought out comparison of Chrome to other browsers out there, with things like loading times, Acid3 scores (which happens to be 73-79), boot time for the browser, etcetera. But instead, we didn't even hear about its release. Engadget seems to be slipping in my opinion.
Yes, how dare we be so bias, by the way patricio where did you get that display pictuere?
All I can tell you is, these guys/gals do a better job. .
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/
At least, they're not an apple zealot glee club like engadget are.
At least they balance their opinions with the actual news. This s**t rag never seems to do that.
And at least CNN can from time to time write a story that isn't entirely positive about apple
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/08/29/apple.loyal.ap/index.html
I totally agree with you carl. For example, why do we need two articles about an obviously fake ipod?? I liked the days when I could load up engadget and see innovation and cool new stuff. Now all we see is every single shitty little netbook and how much vista sucks and a post about every square millimeter of the new iphone.
lol Apple already does that, theyre already in BestBuy!
They did a good job though, he sold me the Mac told me everything about it and even helped me put Vista on it!
@patricio
Really? biased? i see no bias... its a regular news story. Which part is biased, i would like you to tell me, because it looks to me as if your defending microsoft after all this crap they are pulling
Joshua Topolsky concerning Google's Chrome browser:
"We're not in the business of covering software...unless there's a gadget angle."
Where is the gadget angle here Engadget?
@Apple Rep
Possibly because they're not having a go at the shambling fucking Neanderthals that populate the Apple Genius (oh the irony!) Bar to balance things out?
I just learned more about new gadgets from that Wired Blog in 5 minutes than I have from reading engadgets blog in the last week.
everyone go over to wired! there is all kinds of iphone stories there. thanks for the tip dude
"because it looks to me as if your defending microsoft after all this crap they are pulling"
@ Apple Rep
WTF are you on about? "this crap they are pulling"? If I walk in to my local PC store I'm instantly approached by several Apple reps telling me how great their overpriced crap is. Yet when MS do it, it's "crap they're pulling"?
biased? How would you possibly know? You expect any of us to believe that you have a neutral perspective with that overtly anti-apple icon?
hey buddy... i think your the one who is obvious with the apple crossed out
Hey, did you ever consider that maybe both Patricio and Engadget may have some bias. And that Patricio pointing this out is not only perfectly valid, but to be expected? He would be the one to notice.
It'd be cool if Billy G decided to hang around the Seattle Best Buy or something.
Completely baffling? It was completely obvious.
"Microsoft is getting serious about polishing the tarnished Vista brand (it's words, not ours)"
"it's"? I despair.
Morbo is displeased with your wretched double posting!
Microsoft: Stop trying to change our perceptions of windows and start trying to make windows the best OS I can possibly buy. Then we'll talk. Until then, I'll be with my friends OS X and Linux
You're friends with Linux? That kid is so creepy and eats mayonnaise sandwiches at lunch by himself every day.
And he cuts his own hair.
OSX and Linux? I just sold my macbook pro because I was sick of having to reboot into windows anyways just to try a game, and linux is worse. I'll stick with XP until 7 comes out, though it sounds like 7 is just a revamp of vista anyways, so maybe I'll be sticking with XP until 8 comes out
But he's a level 12 Paladin with the +5 Helm of Destruction and +7 Sword of Mana! He's the only kid on the block with fifty different dice! :O
"Paladins can't use the helmet of [disintegration]!"
"Oh! Ok, well then I'm a black guy."
please mention that they will not be giving "support" like there genius counterparts
You're right. They're not being paid to give support.
But, being windows users, they're probably much more forgiving than their 'Genius counterparts' when it comes to people no knowing the first thing about computers.
And later, They're going to put ZunesGuru to improve Zune's image too.
I hope they send one of these so called 'gurus' to the Best Buy near my house. That particular Best Buy is staffed by such a remarkably inept group of people (even for a Best Buy) that I frequently take computer issues to them for a good laugh. Personally, I'd love it to be given something a little more challenging.
What a life you must have.
I hope the Zune guy isn't one of these people.
Anyway, if this is how Microsoft is going to spend their money, I'm not going to look forward to Windows 7.
Yeah, how dare a business with more money than some small countries spend some of it on a marketing campaign to try and improve their brand image. That's insane. It will surely cause the programmers working on Win7 who aren't in the marketing depatment at Microsoft to be unable to complete the job.
I suddenly have the urge to go to a retail store and point out all the reasons tech people don't like it.
Sadly that's the kind of person I am.
This photo again? There was a big debate about the cuteness of the hoodied girl last time...
Pasty McThunderThighs? That's not even a debate.
How did a marketing campaign to combat the negative press they've received for well over a year by some of the press, all of sudden become Microsoft trying to battle apple. How friggin delusional can a company be? Apple with their less than 5% market share of PC users aren't even close to a worthy opponent for any battle, let alone this one.
Consider, however, that 5% of such a truly massive market means big losses for Microsoft.
I'm sure your display picture had nothing to do with creating any sense of OS-centric confrontation.
Big losses?
77% margin is hardly a big loss.. translated-- nearly 17 BILLION net in profit.. they're not hurting. I'm glad they're taking the high road on the ad campaign, honestly, apple aren't significant enough to warrant a full on frontal attack.. One thing for sure, when it comes to twits, apple are definitely the market leaders, their customers make up 95% of the s**thheads you love to hate. Keep spending more (double) your hard earned money on products that aren't any better.. All I can tell you is, if I spent 2K on an OS, better be a hell of lot better than OS-SUCKS!
"of the s**thheads you love to hate."
I totally agree with that. Oh, we were talking about Apple fanboys?
I don't understand the hate... why the hate inno8sky? I have both mac's and pc's.. i love them both
Wow, inno8sky you must be a major stockholder of Microsoft given how proud you are about their profits! Because if you're merely a customer, man those profits are coming from your pockets and if I were you, I wouldn't be boasting about how much money I gave Bill Gates.
So... if they are making such a huge profit and things are rosy with Vista... then why do they need evangalists and people hanging out at BB to sell it? If it truly was a quality product, it should sell itself.
I don't understand why people are making a big deal about a company trying to improve the perception of their product. Apple's ads address the perceived flaws of their products (difficulty of switching, compatibility with popular software). Why shouldn't Windows marketing campaigns address the perceived flaws in Windows?
That's easy enough to answer. On Engadget Apple can do no wrong. Meanwhile, everything Microsoft does is a fail. Even when the companies try to do similar things the Microsoft way will always be condemned.
I'd tap that.
The water, I mean. Bottled water is so overpriced.
As the root of our name implies, desktop browsers aren't really our thing in Engadget-land. Still, we're pretty sure that you've managed to learn about Google's new Chrome browser even without our assistance.
Google Chrome's out? I must go update my bl-oh wait.
Sorry ... was supposed to post that as a reply to patricio.
bring on the low ranks.
It's not anything specific, it's the general attitude of this and past articles, like the "Windows Mojave doesn't fail to annoy" one.
"These so-called experts..."
"at least you now know where not to shop if you're terrified of confrontation."
who the hell is she? Id really like to meet her. shes cute in the hoodie. damnnnn.
and o yea one of them microsoft people try to get on me I'll be like had it, went back to XP, how do you explain that nothin you add to vista is compatible like drivers and wireless cards, fuck vista, xp till 7 comes out, if 7 is beyond greatness.
I think at this point, even if 7 is fuckin' awesome, people won't be that enthusiastic about it. People will definitely buy it, but to really fix some of the problems that bug _everyone_, they'd pretty much need to completely start from scratch. Which would mean having another "O no my program doesn't work with Vista, oh well, I don't want to write it again" from programmers. Which would mean no good drivers, which would mean no compatable hardware and lots of crashes, which would again kill its reputation.
But, if they started over (focusing on usability and stability of the core), they could fix the little nags from XP and Vista like "Add/Remove programs" and the Control Panel (which works ok, but the formats Linux and OSX have are way better). So by the second generation of this new kernel, people would've gotten used to programming for it, and they wouldn't have those problems.
If this is hard to read it's cuz I revised like half of it midway through, and since it's for an internet argument I don't care enough to proofread that thoroughly.
If they start from scratch (you know, like Apple did with OS X), I think they should base it on Plan 9.
What, have aliens from outer space turn all the earth's corpses into zombies to stop humans from creating a universe-destroying doomsday device?
There is little flaw in this campaign: Microsoft is trying to clean up Vista's image and that's the problem Vista is the most inefficient OS of all of them.
What works great for Apple in advertising will never will work for Microsoft 'cause you must sell a proper software, a solid one.
MS is appealing to the "look" when people wants performance and stability.
BTW, people Google Chrome is AWESOME!! next gen browser.
chrome is useless to me. it doesnt have java support......
NO, it ISN'T.
I'm getting sick and tired of people saying this. It's NOT THAT INEFFICIENT. If you install it yourself, NOT just buy it from some company, it's not that bad. I still wouldn't use it, but not because it's inefficient. The "security" features are way too annoying for my tastes.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, Mac's are designed so that absolutely no bloatware is installed because they're only sold by the people who make the OS, who want to make it look as fast and efficient as possible. OEMs, on the other hand, just want to make money, and if they install all these trials for you they make money from those publishers. If OEMs were slightly less profit-driven, they'd irritate fewer people and Microsoft would have a better reputation.
It is already bad enough having best buy employees asking me every 2 minutes if I need help. Now I can look forward to someone trying to tell me why windows is so rad. I wonder if they are going to work on commission.
Does anyone know why best buy employees want to help you so badly? ( my guess stop shoplifting )
if i lived in the US, i'd go to them, and in front of all the customers the guru is talking to, i'd downplay everything he says :D who's with me :D
(i assume noone :( )