Can Microsoft Make Vista More Compelling?

Although Windows Vista has been on sale for nearly nine months, Microsoft has yet to seriously market the operating system, letting a certain rival control public mind share on a number of fronts. That's all about to change, as the Redmond company attempts to make Vista more compelling to consumers.

At an event in New York City this week timed to coincide with Apple's launch of Leopard, Microsoft executives invited members of the consumer press from all over the world to see why they should pay attention to -- and write about -- Vista this holiday season.

With a faux living room setup and a number of laptop and device demos, Microsoft ran attendees through the operating system, highlighting new Windows Live offerings such as Windows Live Photo Gallery, the currently-in-beta upgrade to Photo Gallery that ships with Windows Vista, and Windows Live Mail.

Although Microsoft had little new to show off, the intended message of the event was clear: Vista is finally ready for prime time, and the company will begin telling consumers about all of the great things the OS can do. But with the vast majority of Vista-related news negative, this won't be an easy feat.

Speaking to BetaNews, Windows Vista product manager Nick White conceded that Microsoft had done a poor job with marketing since Vista's launch at the end of January. In fact, the company largely remained silent while Apple proclaimed its superiority and poked fun at Vista, all while the tech media enjoyed lambasting Microsoft's lackluster efforts to play catch up in digital media and on the Web.

But while the negative press may have damaged the egos of Microsoft developers and executives like White (who was noticeably more humble than in January), the company has continued to perform spectacularly. Recent revenues far exceeded expectations, and Microsoft now says it has sold 88 million copies of Vista - more than 20 percent growth in sales for three quarters in a row. Overall, however, Vista adoption among Windows users is still under 10 percent.

In the interim, Microsoft hasn't just been biding its time and hoping for the best. The company has worked hard to improve driver compatibility, with Vista now supporting over 2.2 million devices. Gaming has also been a major focus, along with performance improvements across the board. Unfortunately, Vista SP1, which speeds up file transfers and lessens UAC pop-ups, won't be ready until next year.

Still, Microsoft has a lot at stake this holiday season, which will be Vista's first real chance to shine since it missed last year by two months. Company executives tell BetaNews that 97 percent of computers on sale this Christmas -- including Apple MacBooks -- are fully supported by Vista. Microsoft also plans to work closely with Circuit City and Best Buy to highlight Vista, along with buying end-cap promotional space at a number of retailers.

Microsoft marketing director Aaron Coldiron also promises that Microsoft is trying hard to clean up its marketing messages, especially as they relate to Vista and Windows Live. The company has struggled to decide how to build and sell Web services without cannibalizing its desktop business - similar to the indecision that has plagued AOL's transition from dial-up ISP to advertising. It also retains the MSN brand in a number of places, such as webmail. In turn, this creates a muddled message for consumers.

But Coldiron says Microsoft wants people to see a Windows "umbrella" under which falls Vista, Live online services, and games. Each component will integrate together, such as Windows Live Photo Gallery publishing to Windows Live Spaces and storing photos on SkyDrive. "We don't want people to worry about how everything works, it will just be seamless with one Live ID login," added Coldiron.

To further simplify things for consumers, Microsoft is finally making Windows Live applications available as a single downloadable "suite," although finding the download is easier said than done. The integration is impressive, as are Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail Desktop and even Windows Live OneCare, but Microsoft has thus far been unsuccessful in relaying this story in a compelling way.

The first step at remedying this is a new marketing campaign called "Open up your digital life." Microsoft on Thursday put a special site live at Windows.com for this purpose (although it inexplicably redirects to another long URL with a title of CPC Home), which offers demos and information on what customers can do with Windows Vista and Windows Live.

From product names to installation routines, Microsoft has always struggled with simplicity. But it's finally recognizing that if it wants consumers to care about Windows the answer isn't six different versions of Vista and a heap of scattered Web services. And if the event in New York City was a sign of things to come, Microsoft may very well be on the right track to bringing back the excitement it last saw with XP six years ago to Vista.