Faves: craighal

Study sees Microsoft brand in sharp decline

craighal — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:27:45 GMT

This is probably true to some extent. Amazing what happends when you don't stay focused and entice the consumer.

Qutoed: Microsoft's brand power has been in sharp decline over the past four years, an indication the company is losing credibility and mindshare with U.S. business users, according to a recent study by market research firm CoreBrand.

Quoted: According to the CoreBrand Power 100 2007 study , which polled about 12,000 U.S. business decision-makers, Microsoft dropped from number 12 in the ranking of the most powerful U.S. company brands in 2004 to number 59 last year. In 1996, the company ranked number 1 in brand power among 1,200 top companies in about 50 industries, said James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand.

Quoted: Gregory could only speculate as to why Microsoft's reputation has been declining because his firm does not ask people that specific question. He said the "underwhelming" response to Windows Vista might be one reason, and Apple's clever "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertising campaign -- which paints Windows in an unfavorable light -- may be another.

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Gates pledges more ribbon UI capabilities for Windows - Yahoo! News

craighal — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:23:31 GMT

Quoted: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday that the Windows application platform is to be fitted with "Fluent UI" ribbon capabilities now offered in Office 2007.

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Microsoft exceeds expectations, again

craighal — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:03:24 GMT

This is always welcome news...

Quoted: Company officials touted rising sales in each of Microsoft's business divisions, a slate of important upcoming business-software launches and the growing contribution from sales in non-U.S. markets.

Quoted: The software maker's quarterly earnings jumped 79 percent to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share in the second quarter a year earlier. Quarterly revenue climbed 31 percent to $16.37 billion from $12.5 billion.

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One year later: Did Vista's focus on security pay off?

craighal — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:29:14 GMT

Vista and UAC: Apple prompts the user to enter credentials when installing new apps just like Vista does. Why is Vista the bad guy in this? You don't hear any one mention Apple's security prompts.

Any way you look at it, for users, security is a lose-lose proposition. The more you ratchet things down, the more hoops users need to jump through.

Quoted: Hansen also said that Microsoft traded general OS usability to add some of Vista's security features, such as UAC (User Account Control), and is "feeling pressure from Apple" to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly OS.

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Why Doesn't Microsoft Have A Cult Religion?

craighal — Sun, 13 May 2007 08:27:40 GMT

Quoted: "Now Windows is just part of the PC," Enderle said. "There are still those that admire the company and Gates, but the passion that exists around FreeBSD, Linux, and Apple simply has no analog in Windows. Great products come from passion -- when Windows lost that, it lost its heart."

I agree with this post...

Quoted: "Oh yes, MS has a cult following but not what you might think. This cult hates everything Microsoft and despises their success. If Microsoft were in the red finacially, the cult would die. Its really more jealousy and hating the guy on the top."

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