There I was last night, happily seated before the television, watching a brand new Lost for the first time in months. I was content, happy. Then, during one of the manifold commercial breaks, something caught my attention.
The word “wow.”
Immediately upon hearing that word (in the first couple seconds of the spot), I was pretty sure I knew what I was watching. Still, I let the commercial play out: it featured a succession of short clips in which someone sees something impressive and mutters “wow,” finishing, of course, with someone opening up their laptop and seeing Vista.
It’s not a bad spot; it’s about par for the course, as far as Microsoft advertising goes. But I don’t think I’m going to be equating my experience with Windows to seeing the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the launch of a rocket anytime soon. The LeBron James cameo was kind of wasted on me, given my extreme lack of sports knowledge. But the most conspicuous absence, especially in comparison to the Get a Mac campaign, is any sense of humor. Microsoft just takes itself too damn seriously.
Here’s the thing: despite the fact that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Mac user, I really kind of want Vista to impress me. Why? Because I want the competition. I want Apple to produce an even better OS in Leopard. Instead, my first experience of using Vista was basically instant frustration. In my years of tech support, I used Windows as my primary OS everyday, and while I didn’t love it, I got by. Vista seems to value style over substance, only, in traditional Microsoft fashion, the style is only skin-deep.
Well, I least you knew it was LeBron James.
It seems that Microsoft's corporate personality just can't come out of that wanna-be-cool attitude.
Apple ads doesn't say anything about Cool/Wow, they show flashy video of dancing people for iPod, and say it's easy to use for Mac. Now Microsoft just scream "we're cool" with Zune, and Wow with Vista.
They don't seem to understand that the moment you brand yourself as cool/wow, you are not cool/wow-worthy anymore.
I was actually really impressed by that ad. I'd even go so far as to say I had a fairly strong emotional reaction to it. It's a good ad.
Too bad all of Vista's "wow" features are old news to Mac users. Anyone who has already seen Exposé, Dashboard, or even the regular old Aqua, is more likely to say "feh" than "wow" the first time they see Vista.
The only desktop that's going to cause anybody to say "wow" at this point is the Compiz/Xgl stuff that's making its way onto Linux desktops. That's a desktop that's got some "wow" factor.
There's a commercial for Metamucil that also features a person exclaiming Wow! I wonder if they can sue for copyright infringement.
I have to also point out that the person in the Metamucil commercial says Wow! with a lot more conviction than any of the people in the Vista commercial.
Personally, I DONT want to be impressed with Vista. I think OSX is at a point where its really catching the attention of a large number of Windows users... and Microsoft is dropping the ball. I think all of this recent OS talk is going to hurt MS in the long run... because they're causing their users to take a look at their computer, and decide if they need to upgrade: which would be fine if they have an innovative product to offer. But since they dont... and since the mainstream media seems to be more and more pro Apple day after day... I think its going to continue to cause those people to wonder if they really should be on Windows at all.
Once Apple gets to about 25-30% market share in the OS world, then I'd want MS to make something better to continue to push the envelope...