The Computer Buzz

July 2nd, 2009

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

What makes Microsoft Run?

"At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible."

This is Microsoft's Corporate "mission statement." It seems somewhat inconsistent with the way Microsoft actually treats its partners and customers.

Perhaps if we substitute a more accurate "mission statement" for Microsoft, the reasons for their corporate tactics and strategies will become much clearer. How about this one "At Microsoft we pledge our collective intellect, energy and resources to the task of making this company the most profitable corporation in the universe and to let no person, enterprise, government or ethical standard stand between us and the accomplishment of this our sacred mission"

This makes it a lot easier to understand what Microsoft actually does. For example. Microsoft announced last Friday that every one who buys a computer with Vista would get a free upgrade coupon for Windows 7. Doesn't that sound like they are helping us to realize our "full potential?" Well maybe, but the real truth is that Microsoft knows that informed users won't buy problem plagued Vista PCs when a new OS (Windows 7) is only a matter of weeks away (Oct 22). By offering buyers a free upgrade coupon for Windows 7 with the purchase of a Vista PC, Microsoft and the PC industry hope to avoid a total collapse of PC sales this summer. The "free upgrade" isn't free to the PC makers and retailers. Microsoft is charging ten to fifteen dollars extra for the "free" upgrade coupon and pressuring retailers to absorb the hit and offer the upgrade at no cost to their customers.

For the past two years Microsoft and the PC industry have suffered because the Vista OS was a turkey that most users wouldn't buy. Why would Microsoft release a bad product? To help us to reach our "full potential?" Hardly. It was all about money.

Historically, PC replacement cycles have closely matched Microsoft's OS development cycle of two to three years. Because Microsoft couldn't get Vista out of development, Windows XP was still going strong five years after release. XP users had no compelling reason to replace their PCs.

By 2006 Microsoft was under heavy pressure from the entire PC industry to release a new OS to stimulate PC sales. Though Microsoft knew Vista was a stinker, they released it anyway (to help us reach our full potential?) hoping somehow it would trigger a PC replacement cycle. It didn't.

Microsoft's years of virtual monopoly in the PC OS business had bred a smug bureaucracy. Inefficient, uncreative and uncaring. Now all that is being replaced by a sense of urgency bordering on panic. Microsoft's new OS Windows 7 appears to resolve the problems that plagued Vista. Microsoft will soon release a "free" security suite. This is a sincere effort to protect its eroding customer base from Internet malware.

The next few weeks should prove very interesting. Microsoft has several "limited time offers" that allow customers to pre-buy Windows 7 at bargain rates. We're skeptical. More on this next week.