Microsoft: Marketing Over Innovation
Bill Gates has announced that Windows Vista (in a bewildering array of editions) and Office 12 will be released in the second half of 2006, amidst “the largest marketing activity that we’ve ever had”.
Against the backdrop of what CNN Money calls “the longest gap ever between major releases of Windows operating systems” — XP is now four years old — all Microsoft seems to be offering is warmed-over Mac OS X: semi-transparent windows, real-time search, and a brushed-metal interface for Office 12.
Then there’s Internet Explorer 7, which will reportedly include tabbed browsing and better CSS rendering. Like every other browser. Oh, and a brushed-metal interface,
It’s interesting that Apple chose to innovate its way out of the economic downturn, while Microsoft is choosing to market its way out the increasingly common perception that it’s playing catch-up with Google, Apple and open-source.
Plus ça change…
