Microstiff – Microsoft Scurrying for Vista Features…None In Sight!

What do you do when you have a new product that has a NEGATIVE BUYING PROPOSTION?

I’m talkin’ about Vista, rhymes with Mister and makes us pissed-er with a capital “P”! Step right up folks…only a thin dime to see the greatest boondoggle of this century and the last. The earmark of all earmarks, conceived from the collective minds of every special interest bureaucrat at that late, great American corporation – Microsoft!

Such is the case of the five year plus saga of the late-and-not-so-great Vista; an OS whose time has…well…passed. Whose features are non-existent unless you upgrade three things: your computer, your Vista version AND your tolerance level of the definition of what is considered a useful feature: Aero.

Let’s look at the buying proposition, here. Let’s use an analogy we all understand: The American Dream – a shiny, new car!

We’ll use Toyota, BMW or Lexus. Make your choice and then listen to your Vista-trained salesman:

Folks, here's our very latest and greatest! It does exactly the same thing as last year's model, no more, no less. We’ve made minor cosmetic changes to the outside and inside and, oh yes given it a new model name: Vista.”

“We’ve also made some important security changes to our onboard engine computer which you won’t notice but, nevertheless, makes it harder for the engine to fail. Took us three years for that one. I know you’ll be thinking about that feature while you drive down the road.”

“Now, because of our intense 5-year-innovation plan, we’re charging you MORE for this new car. Incidentally, we’re working out (quite) a few bugs that the old car doesn’t have but the new Vista model…does. All we ask is your patience and an occasional return to the dealership for repairs.”

“So, whadaya think? Do we have a deal?” Huh? Shall I repeat the benefits?”

Seriously, how is this analogy any different than the current Vista buying proposition? What’s frightening here is the attitude of militant ignorance that Microsoft takes when presenting this giant step backwards to the American public. The Inquirer staff writes:

Steve Ballmer, interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News, said Windows XP had a lot of "happy users" and it will be a challenge to get them to buy a new PC or upgrade the OS.

But the interview also reveals that Ballmer hopes it will inject new life into the PC industry. He said Vista will be a "boon" for PC manufacturers. Graphics card makers like NVIDIA and ATI certainly hope so, that's for sure.

Ballmer didn't talk about the large existing user base of corporate users, many of which still haven't shifted to Windows XP, never mind the as yet unproven Microsoft Vista.”

Has the world gone mad? Ballmer’s telling us, if we do our homework, we’ll soon see that Vista has no buying proposition! Have we been so numbed by the carnival-huckster-three-walnut-shells-and- the-pea wokka-wokka that comes out of Ballmer’s mouth that this particular one fell on deaf ears…too?

And, if this is the Vista outlook, what about Office 12? Tie a yellow ribbon ‘round the corporate neck…and hang me! Please! Ray…Ray Ozzie…I’m beggin’ yah. Lift your head up, get up from your desk, start walkin’ the halls and for God’s sake…do something! Now!

Mini-Microsoft: Microsoft Academy