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5 ways Microsoft can kill the Windows 7 buzz
Yes, the internet is all atwitter about Windows 7 and that should be great news for Microsoft. Unless, of course, they manage to suck the wind out of the sails.
How would that even be possible?
1. Keep confusing everyone with the versions
Yesterday it was announced that there would be six versions of Windows 7 for sale. Half of those, however, you'll never really see as a consumer, because the emphasis will be on Premium, Pro, and Ultimate.
The Upgrade won't actually upgrade your existing OS, just your license. Wait, what? So the Upgrade requires a doing a fresh install? Oh, that's not misleading average consumers.
There isn't going to be a netbook version, but Starter will be available everywhere. It's only an option as a preinstalled OS from system builders. But you won't want Starter anyway, because Ultimate runs fine on under-powered systems. And you can only run three apps simultaneously with Starter, which severely hampers usability.
But they're still going to release it. So there.
2. Offer non-compelling Ultimate extras
Vista Ultimate owners, I feel for you. Where are your awesome extras? What is it that cost you almost $400?
What will Windows 7 Ultimate get you? Bitlocker? Really? Most potential Ultimate users probably already have a good encryption solution like TrueCrypt, which is free. Booting from a virtual HDD? Interesting, but why not stick with your favorite desktop virtualization app, like VirtualBox or VMWare?
Wait, wait! You get all the language packs, and that's exciting, right? I guess that's good news if you're a polyglot.
3. Fix things in a way that unfixes them
So long, annoying UAC! Man, that sure was a drag in Vista. The downside is, malware written by a 6-year-old can now disable your UAC completely without you ever knowing about it. As Long Zheng pointed out, all you need to protect against that is a simple prompt when something tries to shut off or modify UAC. Is that too much to ask?
The biggest unfix: startup repair. In the name of all that is holy, why does it need to take 40 minutes? I can pull my hard drive, install it in another desktop, run chkdsk on it in Windows, and throw it back in the offending system in about a quarter of that time. I can reinstall Windows 7 from scratch in that amount of time.
Thanks, but that kind of fix I can do without.
4. Don't provide killer examples of your new functionality at work
Federated search connectors are an awesome idea with tons of potential. Who has come up with the most interesting ones so far?
Microsoft? Nope. Enthusiasts.
Why is that? If this is really an exciting development, then why aren't there some really great connectors for download from the Personalization site?
And what about IE8? It's going to be right there on most Windows 7 desktops, so why aren't there any really cool web slices? Even the MSN offerings stink, and they don't render properly half the time.
5. Release Windows 7 before it's ready
Vista took a beating because it wasn't fully cooked when Microsoft pulled it out of the oven, and people weren't too happy about it. Don't get me wrong - even in its present state, Windows 7 can out-OS Vista. It's just that there are bound to be issues that pop up if it gets rushed out to consumers before 7 is totally ready.
The temptation is strong for Microsoft to get the RTM done in time for the 2009 holiday season, but this release really needs to be a complete about face from what we saw with Vista.
Comments
22
Subscribe to commentsGrant RobertsonFeb 4th 2009 2:10PM
The logic behind "Starter" completely escapes me. I just don't get the point.
Why can't they just have "Pro" and "Enterprise". It fits nicely in with "Server".
Pro is for everyone.. Enterprise for VLKs, and Server for Infrastructure. If you wanted to throw in "Server" and "Enterprise Server" for connection count differentiation, that would be ok too.. but keep the confusing choices out of the end consumer's mind. After all, you don't see "OS X Light" or "OS X Premium!" do you?
Please Microsoft, don't give the Best Buy sales person yet another option to confuse my mother or father with when they go shopping for a new PC.
RocketboyFeb 4th 2009 3:07PM
Multiple versions of EVERYTHING is here to stay. Why buy the farm when you only need milk?
MiguelsanchezFeb 4th 2009 6:16PM
why don't they just have two versions Windows 7 and Windows 7 Server edition
garethFeb 4th 2009 2:29PM
The "starter" is Microsofts attempt to
A. Apply windows 7 to markets that cannot afford a full version of windows. Rather than pirating the OS, why not buy the 'starter' version?
and
B. give lesser computers the ability to run a less intensive version of the same OS. (only 3 programs able to be run at once or something along those lines?)
As much as I hate the idea, multiple versions of W7 are here to stay. I cannot say I've ever seen the need for the 'ultimate' versions for reasons stated in the article above.
That being said, aside from the network stack in W7, I've been happily surprised by the beta.
ChedstoneFeb 4th 2009 2:55PM
damn versions!
FredFeb 4th 2009 3:05PM
I don't mind the versions, as long as they are marketed correctly. If, to the public, MS shows ONLY Home Premium and Ultimate, then I think all will be fine. I, for one, understand why there are all kinds of versions, but don't confuse the average joe by talking about them all.
I'd say the one thing they could do to kill the buzz is to make it expensive. IN fact, I think they should lower the price a bit for retail and OEM versions. Home Prem. should be $100. Pro $200 and Ultimate $300. It's easy, affordable and reflects the current economy.
KeegdnaBFeb 4th 2009 4:27PM
and by "only Premium and Ultimate" you mean "only Premium and Pro" then yes they are doing that, and if you paid any attention to any article about this matter from the last 2 days then you would know that already.
Ultimate is different this time around....it's not Home + Business. Pro now serves the same purpose Vista Ultimate did. 7 Ultimate is just consumer Enterprise and won't be widely available. The only thing it has over Pro is BitLocker and giving you a bigger E-Peen for having the "Ultimate" Version. they even got rid of Ultimate Extras because they were pointless
FredFeb 4th 2009 5:02PM
Actually, you have it a bit off as well. Pro replaced Vista Business (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/02/03/the-many-faces-of-windows-7/) and Ultimate is still a home version plus some enterprise options. Which is what Ultimate is now, Vista Home Premium plus Business.
Maybe I was unclear as to what I meant by 'public'. I was referring to Joe average who buys their PC's at a brick and mortar store or online.
Jash SayaniFeb 4th 2009 3:11PM
MS is not that bad. All these points are are based on Vista. THEY ALSO MADE ME SWITCH TO MAC !!
BTW, I hope Win 7 is worth BootCamp !
alex1jamFeb 4th 2009 4:05PM
Here is an easy fix get a Mac or get Ubuntu XPS from Dell. I am very satisfy with both OS and computers.
LeeFeb 6th 2009 1:35PM
I read an article that the Ubuntu Dells are not really Ubuntu...they are still using Hardy, but it is 8.04+. What does the plus stand for? Dell. It is Hardy Heron, plus all of Dell's horrible bloatware. Also, if you want to install something from the regular repositories, too bad. You have to use only the Dell repos. If you try to install *real* Ubuntu, it won't let you, because Dell is *still* in the business of making their own drivers so other things won't work.
Just so everyone knows.
NateMar 7th 2009 2:39PM
damn straight ubuntu.
Ubuntu on Dell is just ubuntu on dell computers. the parts that dell adds are things like drivers - pretty useful stuff. Also, if you want, you CAN just install ubuntu from a cd - dell couldn't stop that even if they wanted to, which they don't care about. Dell isn't doing the support (cononical is) - dell doesn't write the firmware - dell doesn't make money off of the OS in any way. They sell the hardware with pre-installed software.
Lee, you have diarrhea of the mouth. Think, research, something before you speak. I've found several web sources that disprove the gist of what you said.
Anyways, Windows 7 i'm GUESSING will be better than vista, Windows 12 (I'm sure the way microsoft counts, that'll be next, ha) will be slightly better still.
btw, does anyone know where they pulled the 7 from? to compete with OSX10.7? (ways off, but they did something simular with xbox 360 vs ps3 - 360 is just silly marking). maybe because they started in 07? (guessing, don't know). it's not the version of windows in any way you count.
DavidFeb 4th 2009 4:18PM
http://i.gizmodo.com/5145366/all-the-flavors-of-windows-7-explained
According to Gizmodo's article:
* First-world country end users will only be choosing from Home Premium (equivalent to XP Home) and Professional (equivalent to XP Professional) at retail stores.
* Ultimate "won't be very visible to the average guy says Microsoft". You will specifically need to hunt it down if you want to purchase it therefore it will not be an edition offered at retail stores. After Microsoft's lackluster (to be nice) Vista Ultimate extras, Microsoft have promised no such extras for Windows 7 - it's essentially Enterprise for non-volume license customers.
* Starter is emerging markets and netbooks only, it will not be everywhere.
In summary, first-world country end users will only be purchase one of two versions at retail stores: Home Premium and Professional. Two versions, full stop. Get it?
burnblueFeb 4th 2009 4:41PM
1 and 2: What David said. You don't need Ultimate and shouldn't care about it unless for some wierd reason you want *Enterprise* features on an individual machine. All most hardcore geeks will need is Professional -- it contains everything Home Premium does. Therefore, MS doesn't need to offer 'ultimate extras' to sweeten the deal. The things you mentioned are not extras, they're from Enterprise.
As for Starter, you won't see it on the shelf either so there'll be no opportunity to confuse anyone. It should do quite fine for low-end systems that will be serving as cash registers and photo kiosks -- those will never run more than 3 apps at once.
Why do ppl have a problem with _options_? "Don't release it" is a strange argument to me.
3. No comment here, people whined about UAC prompts so MS took them away.. maybe they'll put in your suggestion, who knows. I don'tthink I have this startup repair problem.
4. Enthusiasts have always done more creative stuff than microsoft engineers, who focus their time and energy on giving us *tools*, and letting us do the rest. That actually makes some sense to me.. I want them to spend time getting the platform perfect. We know what the stuff can do.. we've seen the DeviantArt example (which was made by a *Microsoft engineer*!).
5. Well of course, buzz ends after the product is released. I don't see how 7 will take another year though. The buzz will definitely die down by then if new features aren't being introduced.
mobyFeb 4th 2009 5:41PM
I also don't mind different flavors of Windows. However, MS did a piss-poor job of differentiating Vista versions. MS needs to learn to make each version differently enough that they actually appeal to different user groups.
The beta of Win 7 is bar far the most stable beta I've ever used, even more so than XP. I agree and hope they don't rush it to release.
AnthonyFeb 4th 2009 6:52PM
"It's just that there are bound to be issues that pop up if it gets rushed out to consumers before 7 is totally ready."
That's probably why Microsoft released the beta so much more publicly than the beta of Vista. I think they released one of Vista... But I never heard anything of it anyway. Windows 7 though, apparently everybody knows about it, and most people have the beta.
That's probably exactly what Microsoft wants so they can have all the feedback about bugs and crap, (that's why there are the "send feedback" buttons everywhere) to not run into another Vista incident again.
It's a very good idea, and hopefully it helps create a better OS. People just have to do their part.
bigsoftyFeb 5th 2009 7:51AM
Anyone else not giving a shit about Windows 7?
I got burned on Vista with a slow laggy expensive O.S. that was very incompatible driver wise. Anyway its all kinda boring since nothing really new, excepts bells and whistles has been introduced since XP 64. I really dont understand how people just cave in when MS says we want more money, here buy the same thing with more hog/crap added... MS says jump, you ask... "how high?"... may'be if people were a bit more "I not paying for anymore of the same crap" then the O.S. market would be a bit less of a dead fish, choice wise...
Doug HFeb 5th 2009 3:11PM
How to kill the buzz? Release it to the public....the real users. The over-hyped software will underwhelm, just as in the past (the trend is your friend). Nothing has changed.
CobraFeb 5th 2009 4:32PM
"Booting from a virtual HDD? Interesting, but why not stick with your favorite desktop virtualization app, like VirtualBox or VMWare?"
How about because those two apps use virtual H/W and booting from VHD allows full access to the H/W in the system?
JoeFeb 5th 2009 11:16PM
Microsoft ... is so last century. They are the IBM of the 1980's. MS is unable to deploy anything simple. They are, as Prince George suggested he was not to Dr. Johnson, as thick as a whale omelet.
There is no justifiable reason for so many versions of Windows 7.