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Filed under: Internet, Video, Microsoft

Microsoft invites criticism with open comments on YouTube channel

Microsoft Vista channel

We're going to go ahead and give Microsoft some points for thinking outside of the box with their latest advertising strategy. The company has posted a series of videos to YouTube highlighting the features of Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Windows Live online services. Considering YouTube is owned by Microsoft arch-nemesis Google, that took some guts. But even more gutsy (or foolish), was the decision to leave the comments open on Microsoft's new YouTube channel.

While Windows may be installed on the vast majority of work and home PCs, it probably won't come as a surprise to you that Microsoft has a few detractors. And they tend to be somewhat vocal in their criticisms. The comment section of the company's YouTube channel kind of reads like a collection of prison letters from Sideshow Bob to Bart Simpson.

We also would have expected Microsoft to post the promotional videos on its own MSN Video site, not YouTube. So overall, the YouTube channel appears to be a way of reaching out to potential customers wherever they may be. And as we're seeing, those potential customers are more than happy to reach back -- even if it's not necessarily in the way Microsoft may have hoped.

[via istartedsomething]

Filed under: Business, OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Analysis

Acer president slams Windows Vista, says industry is "disappointed"

It's one thing when a blogger or a journalist harps on Microsoft for one thing or another - but it's something else entirely when the president of the world's 4th largest PC manufacturer claims "the whole industry is disappointed with Windows Vista." In a statement to Financial Times Deutschland this week, Acer president Gianfranco Lanci bashed Microsoft and their latest OS, citing the fact that many home and business customers of Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo (formerly IBM) and Toshiba are so upset with Vista that they're demanding Windows XP be made available for order. It's a bold statement from a company on the up and up in the paper-thin margin, highly competitive PC industry.

Not surprisingly, the other companies joining Acer in the XP bucket haven't made any kind of statement, but they have to be feeling at least some of the same burn. With mainstream users getting confused by Vista's new features and a 3rd party industry dragging their feet to offer support for the new OS, Vista is stuck between a rock and a hard place, struggling to gain market share from adopters who are reluctant to make the leap until support for all their existing software and peripherals arrives. Frustration and hesitation is further compounded by the fact that Windows 7, or 'Vienna,' is right around the corner for 2009 or 2010, as it is reported to be a complete rewrite of the Windows code base from the ground up, requiring everyone to follow suit with complete rewrites of their software and drivers.

Aside from niche markets and power users, Lanci might have been half right with his statement. Though instead of being 'disappointed' with Vista, it seems like the industry might simply be 'disinterested' in the OS, at least for now.

[via 1 Microsoft Way]

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