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Vista Branding Confuses Vista Marketing Exec

Vista Branding Confuses Vista Marketing Exec

by , 2:15 PM EST, November 28th, 2007

In the lawsuit against Microsoft and its use of the term "Windows Vista Capable" on PCs even Microsoft's director of marketing was confused by the term, a term that Microsoft Corp. claimed wasn't confusing at all, according to C|Net on Wednesday.

According to the plaintiffs, Dianne Kelley and Kenenth Hansen, Microsoft wasn't being upfront when it authorized the label "Vista Capable" on PCs. In their complaint, they claim that the label suggests that the computer could run all versions of Vista when, in fact, it could only run Home Basic.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs pointed out that even Microsoft's director of marketing, Mark Croft, had become confused during testimony. Mr. Croft explained at first that "capable" meant that the PC could run any version, as opposed to the term "ready" which would have the connotation that the PC would run in some improved way.

After a consult with his attorneys, Mr. Croft said that he'd made "an error" and retracted his previous statement, and said that "capable" means that the PC would be "able to run a version of Vista."

The plaintiff's attorneys keyed in on this confusion quickly: "Mr. Croft understood Microsoft's logo to be telling customers that PCs would run not only the stripped-down Vista Home Basic, but also what plaintiffs contend are the 'real' versions of Vista: the ones that include Microsoft's heavily marketed 'Vista features.' Ironically, Mr. Croft's understanding of what 'Windows Vista capable' means is the same understanding that Microsoft asserts no consumer would be justified in having."

Microsoft claims that it had informed OEMs, retailers and press about what "Vista Capable" means.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:noworryz Posts: 7 Joined: 15 Nov 2007
Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:38 pm Subject: Select a Vista

The wheel just stopped on "Lose a Turn."


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Close Name:xmattingly Posts: 266 Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:46 pm Subject: I only have one comment:

Bwah-haha-hahaha! Vista is such a convoluted, mangled mess that they don't even know how to market it! Oh, that is just too rich.


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Close Name:gopher Posts: 291 Joined: 28 Mar 2002
Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:14 pm Subject: Vista's View = Clear as mud.

No wonder they are confused. With 12 different versions of Vista, what is capable and what is not?


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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1922 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:36 pm Subject:

With Leopard; >867Mhz & 512Mb of RAM and it will run. You get all the features, all the bells and whistles. No muss, no fuss, no confusion.


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Close Name:Guest
Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:57 pm Subject:

Quote
geoduck wrote:
With Leopard; >867Mhz & 512Mb of RAM and it will run. You get all the features, all the bells and whistles. No muss, no fuss, no confusion.


Not quite; I have a 1ghz 12" powerbook 768 megs and some of the eye candy is off in 10.5.


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Close Name:Guest
Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:04 pm Subject: Not entirely correct...

In order to get all the "bells and whistles" with Leopard you MUST have a video card that is fully supported by CoreImage.

While the core functionality of Leopard will be there, the eye candy may be missing if your machine lacks the required hardware.


This is in many ways similar to Vista, except Leopard comes in a feature-complete package and dynamically/transparently disables features your hardware can not support, as opposed to expecting users to pick and chose the features they desire.


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Close Name:Steve Ballmer Guest
Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:05 pm Subject: What capable means is obvious!

[deleted - will this idiot never learn? Thou shalt not troll, neither shalt thou spam!]


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Close Name:Guest
Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:10 am Subject: To many Vista's not enough System

Microsoft blew it with 6 versions and only 1 that actually has the full features of Vista in it. It's called being greedy and taking your money with the other 5 knowing someday you'll want to buy that ultimate version because it doesn't have the features in the other 5 versions. Tests just released also show that Vista is twice as slow as XP.

So get a Mac with leopard pre-installed and you'll have the ultimate version because Apple wants you to take advantage of all of Leopards features all the time. And leopard runs faster and is 32/64 bit native. No special 64 bit apps to worry about too.


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Close Name:Guest
Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:15 am Subject: Awsome

Thanks for saving us from the pain of another post from this idioso...


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Close Name:daemon Posts: 344 Joined: 17 May 2007
Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:50 am Subject:

Microsoft made a mistake in creating so many different versions of Vista. I personally wish they would go to a single version.

As far as this lawsuit goes, you might as well sue Apple for selling laptops labled "capable of displaying millions of colors," oh wait, that already happened.


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Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 3149 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:59 am Subject:

Quote
daemon wrote:
As far as this lawsuit goes, you might as well sue Apple for selling laptops labled "capable of displaying millions of colors," oh wait, that already happened.


Just like every other laptop manufacturer in the world. Not just Apple.


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Close Name:Guest
Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:44 pm Subject: Vista out of touch

I understand the logic behind 2 OS levels. But Microsoft has lost touch with reality when it comes to where they draw the line between them. I see a settlement offer in the plaintiffs future.


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