Consumers Don't Want Longhorn
Microsoft has been quiet in recent months about its next-generation operating system. However, given that the Longhorn ship date is ostensibly only a year away, the Microsoft publicity machine is cranking up. They'll be releaseing a spate of press releases any day now.
There are two looming problems. The first is that other players now seem to understand better than Microsoft how the game is played. The second is that consumers just don't seem to give a damn, as evidenced by post-article discussion on this Longhorn story.
Microsoft to some extent is a victim of its own success. As C|Net notes, "Windows XP has aged well, particularly with the Service Pack 2 upgrade that debuted last year and the Tablet and Media Center editions that have seen several updates in recent years." All of this leads to a kind of ho-hum consumer take on Longhorn.
In fact, some guy named Michael Demuth noted on C|Net that he wasn't just lackluster, but almost negative about Longhorn. He wrote that "XP is stable, it crunches the needed numbers at work and edits the home pics/video, and MS is already porting many of the features of Longhorn backwards." The kicker is this comment: "Why would I upgrade?"
There is, as of yet, no compelling reason to upgrade. This is a lethal flaw.
Microsoft could still fix Longhorn. After all, the Groove acquisition could be their salvation.
For now, they're in the twilight zone: Microsoft has a party planned, and there's no reason for anyone come!
There are two looming problems. The first is that other players now seem to understand better than Microsoft how the game is played. The second is that consumers just don't seem to give a damn, as evidenced by post-article discussion on this Longhorn story.
Microsoft to some extent is a victim of its own success. As C|Net notes, "Windows XP has aged well, particularly with the Service Pack 2 upgrade that debuted last year and the Tablet and Media Center editions that have seen several updates in recent years." All of this leads to a kind of ho-hum consumer take on Longhorn.
In fact, some guy named Michael Demuth noted on C|Net that he wasn't just lackluster, but almost negative about Longhorn. He wrote that "XP is stable, it crunches the needed numbers at work and edits the home pics/video, and MS is already porting many of the features of Longhorn backwards." The kicker is this comment: "Why would I upgrade?"
There is, as of yet, no compelling reason to upgrade. This is a lethal flaw.
Microsoft could still fix Longhorn. After all, the Groove acquisition could be their salvation.
For now, they're in the twilight zone: Microsoft has a party planned, and there's no reason for anyone come!
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