Microsoft has been working hard lately to counter Apple success. First came the US$300M TV ad campaign. Then Mr. Ballmeris suggestion that Mac users donit get the full MS Office. Then the infamous "Apple Tax" campaign amongst Mac editors. On Monday, David Morgenstern was approached, apparently by a Microsoft client, to write a technical marketing case for Vista over Mac OSX [sic] in the enterprise. The fee to be paid is $15,000.
Mr. Morgenstern posted the text of the letter.
One of our customers has asked us write up a technical marketing case for Windows Vista over Mac OSX in the enterprise. Iim contacting you to see if you know anyone who would be interested and capable of writing this based on background materials we have.
The candidate should have a good understanding of client systems in the enterprise and the technologies behind issues that are important in the enterprise (deployment, manageability, work group and policy management, security, suitability of developer platforms for line of business applications, tech support, licensing, TCO).
We have some background materials that include a 75 page technical document called "Apple in the Enterprise" and other summaries of technical points, but it all needs to be put together to make the case.
The well known Apple blogger cited a potential $15,000 fee for this work, but surmised it cold be more depending on the stature of the author.
"Can it be that the Mac and the iPhone are gaining enough traction in the enterprise to start ringing alarm bells in Redmond? It appears so," Mr. Morgenstern wrote.
Other observers have agreed with Mr. Morgenstern that the percolation of the iPhone into the enterprise and its reverse halo effect, that is the clamor for Macs, along with Windows virtualization, are making headway with IT departments.
The recent Apple "Get a Mac" ad, called Bean Counter, highlights Microsoftis approach to selling Vista: throw money at the problem in lots of different ways rather than fixing the OSis problems. The proposal to Mr. Morgenstern and likely other authors punctuates that long standing Microsoft approach.