[LINK] "MS Sucks"

[Stilgherrian]

On 19/3/07 9:12 AM, "Jan Whitaker" <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> quotes Steve
Bullmer as saying:
> [snip]
> LiveSide, a website that tracks the development
> of Windows Live, is among those who are
> unimpressed. ³Windows Live isn¹t making much of a
> dent in the marketplace,² it says on its Our View
> page. ³It¹s a nontopic. Market research shows
> Live Search to be losing share if anything, and certainly not gaining.

As a very anecdotal piece of evidence to support the idea that Windows Live
doesn't have any profile "out there"...

Amongst my client base of small small businesses (10 or fewer people), when
setting up a new computer or user account I always ask what they want their
web home page to be. At least 80% say "Google", with the next most common (a
LONG way back) the Sydney Morning Herald. Occasionally someone will ask for
the Daily Telegraph instead.

I think the main problem is simply branding. For the punters, "Google" says
"searching for things" and then generally "starting to use the Internet",
while "Microsoft" means "Windows" and "Word" and "Excel", and "Windows"
means "what my computer runs".

I suspect Microsoft would have much better luck if they didn't try to put
"Windows" into the product name, but just used their marketing muscle to
push a brand that they just happened to own -- that worked with "Hotmail".

*shrugs*

Stil


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Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/
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