Commentary: Microsoft's 'Better Enough' Problem

Microsoft has publicly indicated that there will be new Windows XP marketing to support the release of Service Pack 2 and new versions of Media Center and Tablet PC. The company simply can't do enough to promote its flagship operating system.

Based on Jupiter Research surveys, more large businesses run Windows 2000 than Windows XP, with a staggering 39 percent with NT 4 on the desktop and 42 percent with the software on the server. Among consumers, just over half of households run Windows XP on their primary PC. But, the typical scenario is to pass on the older Windows 98 PC to another family member - without upgrading to XP.

Many reasons account for Microsoft's Windows XP upgrade problem. One is a failing of the company’s integration strategy. Deeply buried features are difficult to find, which makes discovering the software's value more difficult, even if the user is looking for the function. Integrated features are also tougher to market.

Consider Apple's iPhoto, which is part of the iLife digital media suite. Apple chose to include its digital media software as a separate suite of applications, while Microsoft integrated similar features into Windows. In iPhoto, Apple built off of familiar concepts, like images laid out like a photo album. The comparable Windows XP feature is the Scanner and Camera Wizard. It's buried deep in the operating system and doesn't have a name that easily rolls of the tongue.

The first rule of good product name marketing is to watch the syllables. The rule works in writing, too. There are good reasons why book titles tend to be five words or less - and short on the syllables.

Many Microsoft product names are cumbersome, like Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition, MSN Direct Watches or Plus! Digital Media Edition. The operating system names are the longest, while those for Office the shortest, like Word, Excel, Outlook or OneNote. The names may not have zing, but at least they're not tongue twisters.

Apple, by contrast, picks memorable or evocative product names. Short and simple, too.

You don't think that little "i" in all those Apple product names is just shorthand for Internet? There are lots of subtle connotations carried in the use of "I." Comes to mind: The book I, Claudius. The "I" as statement of self, of something important. The name may read iDVD but we hear I, DVD. I Movie. I Photo. The "I" denotes something special, something important, something you should take notice in. The best is when an Apple name makes that personal, as in I Chat for product iChat.

These are important issues because Microsoft did a pretty good job putting into Windows XP features consumers are interested in, particularly around digital media. For example, JupiterResearch surveys show that 70 percent of consumers listen to music on their PC.

Microsoft is suffering from the "better enough" problem, where people see the new product as better enough to replace what they already have. With the new marketing effort, Microsoft's challenge will be to help consumers find the features they're looking for - stuff that's already part of Windows XP. Looking ahead to Longhorn, Microsoft really needs to simplify, whether product names or accessibility to features.

When designing new high-tech products, I see four attributes as crucial elements.

Build on the familiar. Apple's iPhoto is as good example. With iPhoto, the images lay out in a familiar scrap-book-like fashion. Apple starts from a point of familiarity, rather than try inventing or reinventing new processes. By contrast, I see Microsoft's design approach as more cumbersome.

Do what it's supposed to do really well. Why is it that high-tech designers waste so much time dumping in useless features that make products too hard to use and then wonder why no one uses the features? If I buy a toaster, what I'd like to be able to do is pop in the bread and wait for the buzzer to tell me the toast is brown and crispy. What I don't want is to use a six- or seven-step Wizard just so that I can pop in the bread and pull down the handle. And I really don't want a toaster that makes coffee, surfs the Web and checks my appointments - and happens to burn the toast. I chuckle at some of the so-called smartphones that are really dumb ideas because they do things most people don’t need and in the process risk being bad phones. A toaster should be a toaster, a phone should be a phone first above anything else.

Allow people to do something they wished they could do. Using iPhoto again, the product doesn't just present the photos in familiar fashion but lets people do things they wished they could do with those pictures, like resize them, view hundreds at a time or organize them more meaningfully.

When displacing something else, offer significantly better experience. The high-tech graveyard is stacked over with the corpses of dead products that failed the "better enough" test. I remember when 8-tracks were suppose to replace vinyl records (yes, I'm old). My parents christened our 8-track player with whatever The Ventures album contained the "Hawaii Five-O" theme song. I think they bought maybe four or five 8-track tapes after that. The 8-track asked too much of people, starting with bringing in a new format, without offering something better.

By contrast, CDs and DVDs are outstanding examples of products that passed the "better enough" test. A buddy hooked me on CDs in 1982 with Men at Work's "Down Under." CDs delivered superior audio fidelity, a sturdier format and fulfilled on the portability attempted with cassette tapes. DVDs did for movies what CDs did for music. You know you have a runaway, transforming product when people run out and repurchase stuff they already own for the new high-tech wares.

Windows XP Media Center meets many of these criteria. More importantly, it offers a simple, straight-forward, task-oriented interface for getting at digital media features consumers want to use: photos, movies and music. The user clicks on any one and goes directly to an otherwise difficult-to-find function; no wizards required. I see there a model of simplicity Microsoft must extend to other products.

Joe Wilcox is a Senior Analyst with Jupiter Research. Joe can be found on the Web at joewilcox.com.