Pre-publicity for Vista Begins with odd planted stories and no analysis.

Published on April 1st, 2006

M-Dollar: Purchasing a new PC? Make sure it’s Windows Vista Capable — I’ve said his already. Microsoft will be giving away Vista upgrades to buyers of computers in December. That’s the reason for the mergence of these odd stories.

So? It’s expected.

Microsoft hasn’t been too specific, or specific at all for that matter, on what type of specifications that PCs will require in order to run the different versions of Windows Vista. The company plans on using the next few months to go into detail about what will be required of a very Vista-capable PC, but for now it has released a document that covers what constitutes a Windows Vista Capable computer. But don’t get too excited because “Windows Vista Capable” only means two things: the PC can definitely run Home Basic Edition, and it gets to sport a pretty logo.

8 users responded in " Pre-publicity for Vista Begins with odd planted stories and no analysis. "

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# 1 gquaglia said, on April 1st, 2006 at 10:15 pm

Steve Ballmer is such a hand job!

# 2 RTaylor said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 4:25 am

Outside the tech industry I wonder if anyone even cares. My wife uses a computer about three hours a day. I would bet hard cash if I called her right now and ask her what OS she was running she would only say Windows. She doesn’t care, she just wants it to turn on and complete the tasks she throws at it. She typifies the average computer user. Sometimes the power users, gamers, and hobbyist forget we are a small majority of computer consumers. The big companies don’t even market products to us because we’re too difficult of customers. We expect things to work as advertised.

# 3 Paul_in_North Carolina said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 5:22 am

“…1. Steve Ballmer is such a hand job!…”
And that is such an inciteful comment! Thanks gquaglia!

# 4 Bruce IV said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 10:10 am

Hmm … RTaylor actually made me think – Why do I want Vista again?
MS hasn’t really made it a stunningly huge upgrade, and changing the interface will just alienate average users like his wife. The only thing it really has going for it is hype … xp sp2 works fine for now. (or Linux or OS X for you power users out there, who will certainly preach your chosen OS in later posts)
And, if his wife knows what an OS is, she’s already an above average user.

# 5 Jeremy said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 10:12 am

They would show you they can stroke it, but the process will not complete with out an upgrade.

and then you still won’t be able to finish, because of licensing conflict halfway through.

# 6 Eideard said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 11:24 am

Fortunately, I only worked retail in the computer trade for a short time. Still, as someone with a few decades of sales and marketing experience I have to say it’s madness to put these stickers on PC’s and ask the sales crew at any big box to use that as part of their sales pitch:

“Yes, that sticker means this computer qualifies for the new and improved operating system that’s coming out some time next year.”

“No, I don’t know why you have to wait until next year.”

“Will the upgrade be free? No, it will probably be another $125-200.”

“Where are you going?”

# 7 Mike Voice said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 2:38 pm

“Yes, that sticker means this computer qualifies for the new and improved operating system that’s coming out some time next year.”

Exactly, along with ones like:

“What’s an operating system?

“Why will I need a new and improved operating system? What’s wrong with the one on there now?”

# 8 Mr. Fusion said, on April 2nd, 2006 at 6:48 pm

R. Taylor, Ed & Mike V.

Ok, after that I am at a total lose of anything to add.

R., You perfectly described my wife and the vast majority of people I know.

Ed, The last time I was in Circuit City was to buy a Mem Card for my camera. Just browsing later, I got into a discussion with a salesman. As I figured that I had had enough and was ready to head home, I asked what brand of Memory was in the specific computer he was pitching and what was the advantage of XP Pro over XP Home? Shut him up long enough to bid adieu.

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