It might be too little, too late, but Chris Pirillo’s got an offer that Microsoft might want to consider: give him a million dollars, and he’ll market Vista. He writes:
You’ve got your work cut out for you with a mindnumbingly lackluster launch – and the remainder of your media blitz needs to be coherent. You need to begin illustrating Vista’s biggest strengths and benefits:
- The new Start Menu can help you find things faster
- Fast USB sticks can speed up your system instantly
- Program-independent volume control will keep your sounds in check
- The Windows Explorer exposes tons of file metadata
- Parental controls will keep Mom and Dad happy
- Checking for updates and problem solutions has never been easier
- Guided Help takes interactive learning to the next level
- Both wired and wireless network management are smarter
- There’s an infinitely more stable video driver model in place
- Hardware-accelerated eye candy on the desktop is awesome
That’s a decent list: a mix of geek- and layperson-friendly stuff. I’ll have to look at some of those features as I do my “Tainted Vista Reviews”.
I’m not so sure about the wireless network management being “smarter” — when I take the Ferrari laptop home from work and fire it up, it takes much longer than my PowerBook for it to realize that I’ve changed locations and that different wireless nets are available. Half the time, I have to tell Vista to join my home network, while the Mac silently does it.