Windows 7 Half-Price Sale: Will you take the offer?

WINDOWS 7 PRE-RELEASE CAMPAIGN

I am not looking for ANYTHING from Microsoft, least of all a FREE copy of Windows. My post is a detailed comment on the Microsoft signature crowd-baiting behavior– the same behavior by which Microsoft designs its next release as “vaporware” for the computer press.

In this case, the subject is a fraudulent Microsoft marketing exercise called the “Windows 7 Half-Price Promotion” (or words to that effect). What I point out is the oxymorons at Microsoft marketing slammed the doors shut on their offer after a brief pretense of offering Windows at reduced price.

The exercise was, in fact, never intended to promote Windows 7. Instead, it was an effort to assess public interest in Windows 7 shortly before release of the product.

Bluntly stated, it was a desperate effort by Microsoft marketing to avoid the public relations disaster of Vista. Vista was released– after great fanfare– to the sound of a few million yawns, and quite lackluster sales.

VISTA– A SORDID HISTORY

In fact, the only reason post-release Vista showed any pulse at all was Microsoft demanded its OEMs issue new machines with Vista, not a choice of XP or Vista, or XP and Vista.

Thousands of angry IT professionals petitioned Microsoft to continue support for XP, and for a very sound reason. By the time this field of paying beta-testers (Microsoft customers) had worked out all the bugs over, say, eight years, the same population wanted to be left alone to use the version of Windows it had paid out of its own budget to help Microsoft debug.

THE FRAUDULENT EXERCISE

So, why was the Windows 7 pre-release exercise fraudulent? Because the sale period began without normal notice to the computer press, which meant, in turn, the offer was very unlikely to be general public knowledge before the offer ended. Information Week, a shameless shilll for most things Microsoft, announced the offer in an issue received only one day before the Microsoft promotion started.

The offer term as originally announced by Microsoft was so tentative, the door began closing before most users ever heard about it through the computer press. By the time their monthly or bi-monthly computer magazine arrived, they had only days to respond. That original 14-day offer was extended at the last minute by Microsoft until August 1, 2009.

THE REAL OBJECTIVE

What was the point? Certainly not actual “pre-release sales”, as Microsoft announced. Had Microsoft any honest intention of drawing customer sales, it would have done at least a 90-day sale through the October 22 release date.

Instead, the objective was limiting those reduced-price sales to a response sample, minimizing its pre-release sale commitments. It was a “loss leader” promotion– without the loss.

By this pre-release metric, Microsoft hoped to gain an early indication of disaster in the making. If the public were tired of Vista promotion and skeptical of Windows 7 as “Vista Done Right”– what would ensue would be yet another high-profile market disaster for the oxymorons of Microsoft marketing.

From this limited response sample to its Windows 7 pre-release promotion, marketing oxymorons hope to go to Ballmer and say, “Boss, ya got a winner, here.” Or not, as the case may be.

What might have petrified Microsoft marketing, however, was the thought the sampling period was faulty– it did not take into account the significant lag between publicity release date and significant consumer response. Only this could account for the two additional weeks to the pre-release campaign.

THE REAL MICROSOFT

But it should tell us a great deal about Windows 7 that Microsoft is so frightened about its loss of traction in the personal computer market that it would stage such an exercise.

It also should tell us a great deal about Microsoft, as well– nothing about Microsoft management, itself, has changed, despite the measure of integrity added by Ray Ozzie to general software development.

AS FOR ME

I do most of my productive work on an Apple or in Linux, because both of these operating systems are well-designed, reasonably secure and stable. I spend very little time maintaining my machines and have had few, if any problems over the years. What else could a user ask of an operating system?

Although it may seem strange to Windows users, it is possible to work for weeks on an Apple or Linux machine without having to make allowances for trouble and downtime. A great number of IT shops have Linux in heavy use, following the lead of the scientific community and NASA (most already married to Unix).

An additional wrinkle is Apple– the company which never marketed specifically to the IT industry– has gotten favorable attention for an enhanced presence with major corporate IT shops. This is a direct tribute to the Apple OS, a near-cousin to UNIX.

Stability and functionality is what IT needs, wants, and, yes– continues to demand. That is why Apple and Linux continue to gain ground with the professional community. Consumers should demand likewise, with their next purchase.