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July 17, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Microsoft looks to improve its name game
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Interestingly, though, it was not the first time Microsoft had talked about the technology. But when the company had done so a year earlier, it was under the name "Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere," which just didn't excite people the way Silverlight did.
The improved moniker was no accident. For the past two years, Microsoft has put in place a concerted effort to improve its product naming, an effort that is just now becoming publicly visible with the introduction of products like Silverlight, Popfly and the new Surface tabletop computer.
"I'm very pleased with the progress we've made in a relatively short amount of time," said David Webster, the general manager of brand strategy for Microsoft. The software maker hired him away two years ago from naming expert Siegel+Gale, where he was a managing director.
In recent months, Webster and team have held in-person seminars and offered Web-based training on how to come up with better product names. The group also put several dozen posters around campus with a box of Band-Aids and the caption: "You wouldn't call it Wound Healer 2.0."
The company has a rich history of products with names that are excessively wordy. Arguably one of the most convoluted monikers announced by Redmond (though thankfully later shortened) was its appellation for the mainstream 64-bit version of Windows XP: Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems.
Its woes in product naming and packaging are legendary both within and outside the company. A popular video has made the rounds on YouTube outlining what Microsoft might have done if it had been tasked with designing the iPod's box. Instead of the minimalist carton that Apple came up with, the video ends up with a text laden container for the "iPod Pro 2005 XP Human Ear Professional Edition with Subscription."
It later emerged that the video was done by people inside Microsoft.
"It was the packaging team trying to make a point about design," Webster said.
In fairness, when Microsoft did come up with its iPod rival, it gave it a distinctive name--the Zune--and included a well-designed box that shared many of the attributes of Apple's popular packaging.
The company is still trying to use its Windows and Office brands where those make sense, Webster said, though the company is also trying to brand new technologies with new names, with the brand group now working directly with Microsoft Research to brand technologies even when they are in their earliest incarnations.
Still, when it comes to names, there are still some mouthfuls coming out of Redmond. At its Worldwide Partner Conference recently, Microsoft was touting the benefits of its Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), a collection of tools for businesses to manage their PCs.
"I think there's an opportunity for us to get better in naming some of the products," Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said during an interview at last week's conference in Denver. "I mean, we just have a lot of products, and we're building a lot of products. So that puts a lot of pressure on making sure you can be consistent."
Turner also noted that the company has to go through an extensive process to make sure that its desired names are available in all the places Microsoft sells its products. "And so there's a whole legal process that goes into naming conventions," he said. "But, you know, I think it's fair to say that we could do a little bit better job in that area."
It's also a matter of getting the message out to hundreds, if not thousands of people, scattered throughout the company.
"There are a lot of marketers at the company," Webster said. "They are at various levels of sophistication when it comes to how they think about naming."
The Windows Live group in particular has come under fire for labeling multiple products with the same name and constantly shifting things around. The memorable Hotmail became Windows Live Mail, only to finally settle on Windows Live Hotmail. Another product, then known as Windows Live Mail Desktop, moved in to quickly scoop up the name Windows Live Mail.
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functionality, and positive customer experience are not among
them.
When one thinks of those big cats, it evokes certain feelings of aggresssivenes. Fearsome. Best of all, it rolls of the toungue. Which one can not readily say for: Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems.
1. Have you noticed some of the graphics are hard to see?
2. Have you noticed how zipping and unzipping is extremely slow? XP is much faster. So does that constitute a downgrade instead of an upgrade?
3. Did you notice Defrag has no detail screen like XP had? I consider that a downgrade and not an upgrade.
4. Nero does not work need to buy new version.
5. VirtualDrive 10 and under does not work need to buy new version.
6. 128 Meg Nvidia add on card did not work needed to buy another one.
7. Several JAVA related programs did not work. I cannot replace.
8. Sign Language program did not work. I cannot replace. (This was important)
9. My EXPENSIVE Dreamweaver did not work. I hope my workplace will replace it.
10. My disk labeling software (The favorite one) did not work. There was no replacement as of yet.
11. MS Internet Explorer was highly disfunctional. I ended loading up Opera.
12. I was upset that I could no longer put "Control panel in MyComputer (Now called Computer).
13. Unable to temporarly turn off System Restore (There are good reason for this function)
14. I really hate all those open folders. (Really who cares whats in a folder to see page ends sticking out)
15. I cannot run OCR Software from previous version of windows. I had to update me Brother Laser printer drivers only to find that it will not do OCR. This was very important to me and was the reason I bought this printer late last year. I went to the OCR website "Nuence Scansoft" to see if they have an update only to find that purchese a new version for 150.00.
This is all I can think of to this date. But I did spend hours trying to get things to work. You should have seen all the error codes (Over 400) listed in task manager. (Its still still there after a hard find and you can no longer get to it with the three finger salute.)That was having this computer for just two weeks. The gadget bar and Areo effects have already gotten old to me after all the problems I have been confronted with.
If you are a vista user please add you gripes and see what kind of list we can compile here!
Microcrap does not get it and never will.
It is about usability and security.
Here's an "oldie, but a goodie" that is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k
gave it a distinctive name--the Zune--and included a well-
designed box that shared many of the attributes of Apple's
popular packaging"[/i]
...and yet it failed. Why?
1) it was locked down to ONE operating system, and ONE format.
2) It was weighed down with DRM to the point of near-
uselessness.
3) Nobody wants a 'wannabe' selling at (nearly) the same price -
for the same amount of cash, they want the real deal.
4) Word got out that MSFT makes each user pay a 'sin tax' to the
RIAA per unit sold, on the assumption that users are naturally
'criminals' (to use the RIAA's point-of-view on illegal sharing).
5) The one hit on the hardware was the lo-rez screen.
The Zune's hardware was fairly solid (albeit the screen was
inferior to iPod's - physically larger but at a far lower resolution).
The WiFi transfer was actually a nice idea.
The failures lie in its software and pricing scheme.
MSFT can't simply assume that inertia will sell their stuff. It's
time they actually did innovate, and not just say they do. The
Zune (and Vista) proves that they cannot.
/P
- It's because of Apple
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by technewsjunkie
July 20, 2007 2:43 AM PDT
- It is.
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