round two - then and now

This second round video ad Microsoft has released has me thinking. Again, they don't talk about Vista or any other services. Instead, it appears the Microsoft is using Seinfeld and Gates as two characters to overhaul Microsoft's image as a whole. Vista defiantly has shaken people's foundation in Windows as an operating system. I talk to people every day who ask "Is there any way I can get a computer without that vista?" In most cases people don't know what Vista is - they just know "people" say that they should steer clear of it. In the past week I have focused on asking customers a few questions around Vista perception. I lead with statements like "just in my own curiosity - what has given you a bad experience with Vista?" Yesterday I had a gentleman who told me his brother has a Vista machine and he hates it. I asked when he purchased the machine and he revealed that his brother was an early adopter who purchased one of the initial release Vista computers. I talked with the customer a bit about some of the problems (mostly hardware based) around computer running a new operating system. I explained that the early Vista computers were essentially Windows XP systems with Vista installed instead. They were massively underpowered and not setup with Vista in mind. Today, a year and a half after Vista's release, we have systems that are fine tuned to run Vista correctly. Take a snapshot of then vs now:

PROCESSOR:
(THEN) Mostly 1.4 - 1.6ghz processors
(NOW) Mostly 2.0+ ghz processors
RAM:
(THEN) Average 512mb ddr2 ram
(NOW) Average 30=-4gb ddr2 ram
VIDEO:
(THEN) Integrated Intel graphics chip
(NOW) Integrated ATI or GeForce chip
HARD DRIVE:
(THEN) 80GB-120GB storage
(NOW) 160-250GB storage

The list goes on and on. I am not trying to champion Vista here - most of you should know that I prefer to use a Macintosh computer. What I have experienced with vista systems is that most of the discomfort today is due to unfamiliararity with the operating system. People just don't know and because they don't know they listen to rumors and take them at face value. I am all for people switching to the Macintosh side of things - but let's talk about supeority of the UNIX based operating system - not prey on the fears of an uneducated public. Microsofts ads are designed to get people tinking about them in a different light - not sure if it will work but I think it is a step in the right direction.