THE mighty Microsoft marketing machine switched itself to humble mode for the Windows 7 launch today, crediting millions of beta testers with helping its development and even poking fun at the previous Windows Vista product.
Microsoft Australia managing director Tracey Fellows kicked off the low key launch at Sydney’s Maritime Museum today where, unlike previous Windows launches, nary a rock band or celebrity entertainer was on hand to liven up the proceedings.
"Windows 7 is the PC simplified thanks to feedback and input from millions of Windows users during product testing," said Ms Fellows.
James DeBragga, the Redmond, Seattle-based general manager of Windows consumer product marketing shipped in for the Sydney event added to the humility, saying, “ We are very very humbled for all the feedback so far.”
It wasn’t always so sackcloth and ashes. The high point in extravagant Windows launches was for the Windows 95 product where Microsoft hosted a crowd of several thousand in Sydney and served up everything from Barry Humphries in Dame Edna Everage mode to a choir of gladiola-waving children dressed in white and singing 'We Are the World'.
This time around it was a crowd of just a few hundred Microsoft employees, journalists, bloggers and IT retailers jammed into a small auditorium at the Maritime Museum. Social media types got a big look in with Twitterers piped in through a number of hash tags and a live video stream piped out to whoever wanted to watch.
While the launch was somewhat down market, Microsoft said it was pumping a larger advertising budget into the Windows 7 debut than previous versions and will pepper TV audiences in coming weeks with a series of ads pushing how much punter power went into its development and how easy it is to wrangle the improved user interface.
"It's good to see people laughing at all the right places in a Windows ad," said Microsoft’s fast talking consumer spruiker Jeff Putt when the ads were shown at the launch.
Mr Putt showed off some of the new features and kicked off his demo session with a potshot at the old Vista product. “I’m proud to say that from today the current version of Windows is Windows 7,' he said.
The most graphic of the software’s interface improvements is the 'shake it and see' feature where grabbing a window with the mouse and shaking it from side to side instantly hides any underlying windows complicating the display.
While Windows 7 has been available to business users for some months and 40,000 NSW schoolchildren already have it courtesy of the Rudd government’s notebooks for high schools program, today marked the consumer kick-off for the product which Microsoft hopes will repair its credibility in the software world.
The Vista product launched to business in November 2006 and has been much maligned as a resource hungry dog.
The software giant also hopes that both consumer and enterprise customers will switch to Windows 7 in large numbers.
One bugbear for consumers changing up from previous versions could be the price.
The cheapest upgrade is to Windows 7 Home Premium which is $199 ($299 from scratch) while the fully featured Ultimate is $429 to upgrade and the business-centric Professional is $399 upgrade or $449 full price.
Microsoft has chosen not to allow Australians to take advantage of the Family Pack offered in other markets where home users can upgrade three PCs to Windows 7 for just $US150 ($162), although Microsoft is offering tertiary students a cheap deal where they can upgrade from Vista or XP to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for $49.95.
Officials said the Family Pack was being test marketed elsewhere and could be made available locally in the future.
In consumer land, the cheap and cheerful netbooks that have taken the market by storm in the last two years have mostly come equipped with the ageing Windows XP, launched way back in 2001, because Vista hogged too much of a netbook’s scarce memory and processor resources.
Windows 7 works much better on netbooks than Vista and Microsoft hopes many netbook users will switch to the new operating system.
At the launch a procession of hardware marketeers from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Asus showed off new machines running Windows 7 including the first public showing ever of the upmarket and wafer thin Dell Adamo XP notebook due to launch in coming months.
It remains to be seen how swiftly the crucial business market switches over to Windows 7 although Microsoft says it has many enterprise-level commitments including one as yet unnamed state government that will switch about 20,000 seats to Windows 7.
Much of the enterprise market has stayed locked onto the tried and true Windows XP and the economic downturn has only strengthened business attachment to XP.
Asked when the first service pack for the new Windows was due, traditionally the signal for business users to begin buying the product with confidence, Mr Putt fired back that “service pack one is launched with Windows 7 today.”
Sorces : Australianit.news.com.au
Microsoft Australia managing director Tracey Fellows kicked off the low key launch at Sydney’s Maritime Museum today where, unlike previous Windows launches, nary a rock band or celebrity entertainer was on hand to liven up the proceedings.
"Windows 7 is the PC simplified thanks to feedback and input from millions of Windows users during product testing," said Ms Fellows.
James DeBragga, the Redmond, Seattle-based general manager of Windows consumer product marketing shipped in for the Sydney event added to the humility, saying, “ We are very very humbled for all the feedback so far.”
It wasn’t always so sackcloth and ashes. The high point in extravagant Windows launches was for the Windows 95 product where Microsoft hosted a crowd of several thousand in Sydney and served up everything from Barry Humphries in Dame Edna Everage mode to a choir of gladiola-waving children dressed in white and singing 'We Are the World'.
This time around it was a crowd of just a few hundred Microsoft employees, journalists, bloggers and IT retailers jammed into a small auditorium at the Maritime Museum. Social media types got a big look in with Twitterers piped in through a number of hash tags and a live video stream piped out to whoever wanted to watch.
While the launch was somewhat down market, Microsoft said it was pumping a larger advertising budget into the Windows 7 debut than previous versions and will pepper TV audiences in coming weeks with a series of ads pushing how much punter power went into its development and how easy it is to wrangle the improved user interface.
"It's good to see people laughing at all the right places in a Windows ad," said Microsoft’s fast talking consumer spruiker Jeff Putt when the ads were shown at the launch.
Mr Putt showed off some of the new features and kicked off his demo session with a potshot at the old Vista product. “I’m proud to say that from today the current version of Windows is Windows 7,' he said.
The most graphic of the software’s interface improvements is the 'shake it and see' feature where grabbing a window with the mouse and shaking it from side to side instantly hides any underlying windows complicating the display.
While Windows 7 has been available to business users for some months and 40,000 NSW schoolchildren already have it courtesy of the Rudd government’s notebooks for high schools program, today marked the consumer kick-off for the product which Microsoft hopes will repair its credibility in the software world.
The Vista product launched to business in November 2006 and has been much maligned as a resource hungry dog.
The software giant also hopes that both consumer and enterprise customers will switch to Windows 7 in large numbers.
One bugbear for consumers changing up from previous versions could be the price.
The cheapest upgrade is to Windows 7 Home Premium which is $199 ($299 from scratch) while the fully featured Ultimate is $429 to upgrade and the business-centric Professional is $399 upgrade or $449 full price.
Microsoft has chosen not to allow Australians to take advantage of the Family Pack offered in other markets where home users can upgrade three PCs to Windows 7 for just $US150 ($162), although Microsoft is offering tertiary students a cheap deal where they can upgrade from Vista or XP to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for $49.95.
Officials said the Family Pack was being test marketed elsewhere and could be made available locally in the future.
In consumer land, the cheap and cheerful netbooks that have taken the market by storm in the last two years have mostly come equipped with the ageing Windows XP, launched way back in 2001, because Vista hogged too much of a netbook’s scarce memory and processor resources.
Windows 7 works much better on netbooks than Vista and Microsoft hopes many netbook users will switch to the new operating system.
At the launch a procession of hardware marketeers from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Asus showed off new machines running Windows 7 including the first public showing ever of the upmarket and wafer thin Dell Adamo XP notebook due to launch in coming months.
It remains to be seen how swiftly the crucial business market switches over to Windows 7 although Microsoft says it has many enterprise-level commitments including one as yet unnamed state government that will switch about 20,000 seats to Windows 7.
Much of the enterprise market has stayed locked onto the tried and true Windows XP and the economic downturn has only strengthened business attachment to XP.
Asked when the first service pack for the new Windows was due, traditionally the signal for business users to begin buying the product with confidence, Mr Putt fired back that “service pack one is launched with Windows 7 today.”
Sorces : Australianit.news.com.au
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