RSSWhat is the Microsoft Lifestyle?
By Joe Wilcox | Published August 19, 2009, 4:40 PM
Since January, when I switched to Windows 7 (Beta and later Release Candidate), I have sought an answer to that question. To my surprise, I have yet to find a Microsoft lifestyle -- not one that fits me. So I ask Betanews readers: What is the Microsoft lifestyle? What is your Microsoft lifestyle? Please answer in comments.
Perhaps Microsoft's lifestyle is enterprise computing, something I don't participate in. I've never worked for a company that required SharePoint and often, because of older deployed software, neither has there been mandate to use Exchange Server. When I was an analyst, writing in Word was a must, but not before or since.
There's a gaming lifestyle around Xbox and Xbox Live, but it doesn't really touch enough other Microsoft products for there to be extensive lifestyle. There's a value lifestyle, for businesses and consumers, looking to save money. But who really wants to participate in that? "Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers." The value of value is saving money on one thing to spend it elsewhere on luxuries -- another lifestyle.
All successful companies sell lifestyles. For decades, PepsiCo used motto "Pepsi Generation" for a reason. There is a Pepsi lifestyle. Harley Davidson sells a motorcycle lifestyle that some people stereotype as Hell's Angels' types but is really something else: Graying (or balding) middle-aged men riding their hogs, usually on weekends; they feel virile, and who wouldn't riding a Harley. That's the lifestyle.
Many technology companies excel at lifestyle marketing, too. Research in Motion sells a connected business-personal lifestyle around BlackBerry and email. BlackBerry lifestyle marketing also benefits from America's hipster president being an admitted Crackberry addict.
There is increasingly a Facebook lifestyle, and it's successful without any real marketing. It's a water cooler or dress party lifestyle, where people gossip and share what's important to them with friends and even strangers.
Among technology companies, Apple is the 21st Century's lifestyle marketing leader. There's nothing new about Apple selling a Mac lifestyle, but the approach got a major makeover in the new century. I contend that next to 1984, when Apple launched Macintosh, 2001 was the most important year in the company's history. In January 2001, Apple unveiled iTunes music software. In March, Apple launched troubled Mac OS X 10.0 and essentially relaunched as 10.1 in September. In May, the company opened Apple Store, in two locations -- California and Virginia. In October, the first iPod debuted. Apple Store, iPod, iTunes and Mac OS X seemed innocuous launches at the time, but they would later be the four pillars raising the Apple brand from obscurity to mass popularity.
All four products -- later supported by marketing, starting in June 2002 with the "Switch" campaign -- laid the foundation for the Apple lifestyle of the new century. There had been a Mac lifestyle, but Apple Store, iPod, iTunes and Mac OS X extended it to the larger company brand. All the other successful Apple products that followed came from these four 2001 launches:
- If not iTunes and Mac OS X, no iLife
- If not iTunes and iPod, no iTunes Music Store
- If not iPod, iTunes and Mac OS X, no iPhone
- If not Apple Store, none of the above
Apple Store provides a focal point for the Apple lifestyle, around digital activities like listening to music and watching, making or sharing videos. The iPhone adds a mobile lifestyle component, extending from the others but more connected through the applications and the Web. Apple's lifestyle is dimensional, with different facets.
In the 1990s, there was a clearly identifiable Windows lifestyle, but it lost definition coming into the new century. Today, Windows is more a utility, like the kitchen stove or refrigerator. There are no defining applications, outside businesses. What? Is there a SharePoint or Windows Server lifestyle that people aspire to? Or Outlook?
As I look back to Apple and 2001, I wonder about Microsoft and 2007. Can Azure, advertising campaigns like "Laptop Hunters," Bing, Microsoft retail stores, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows 7 and Zune HD be the foundational launches for a new Microsoft lifestyle? Microsoft has lifestyle vision, even without great execution, around three screens -- PC, TV and mobile device. But can all that lead to a tangible Microsoft lifestyle? You tell me.
My questions for readers to answer and debate in comments: Is there a Microsoft lifestyle? Do you live a Microsoft lifestyle, and, if so, what is it? What do you want Microsoft's future lifestyle to be?
The Microsoft Lifestyle can be defined in three expressions:
Recommended Security Update
Upgrade!
WOW!
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|My "Microsoft Lifestyle" is warm and happy now, I chose abstinence. Yes, after XP, I decided to read the EULA, and could not abide by it. Nor could I abide by MS's data theft and insistence on uploading random code to my boxes while overriding my preferences. MS having an off-switch to my critical infrastructure was the icing on the cake.
I am now MS free, and I am better for it. Microsoft and their 'lifestyle choices' deserve all the credit for that. Thank you Redmond.
-Charlie
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|@fatty: Still beats the +200% markup that Apple charges for their computer configurations.
Fact is: If you are on a budget and have some technical knowledge/experience, you can legitimately build a Windows Vista quad-core system for under $600 that will easily compete (in 'day-to-day' use applications) with a $2000 Apple computer - and in most cases, win. Assuming the user is intelligent enough, they can even make it every bit as secure as an OS X computer, without slowing down the performance.
As for reference, I own an iPhone 3G and am completely happy with it (after I jailbroke it - since Apple fails completely at deciding which Apps should be allowed to posted/sold on the App Store), but I use Win XP on a D830 laptop for work, and a custom built rig running Vista Ultimate x64 for my home/entertainment purposes. All 3, stable as a rock.
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|My hope is that Microsoft will simply strive to provide tools which further my own wants and needs, which I feel it does very well. Leave the "lifestyle" BS out of it. I'm not interested in having yet -another- company who wants to control every aspect of how I do things.
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|agreed
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|"I'm not interested in having yet -another- company who wants to control every aspect of how I do things."
But this is exactly what Microsoft does. They have a highly proprietary platform which locks users in at every step via proprietary protocols and file formats. And on top of that, charges you an arm and a leg for the privilege with their super expensive OSes
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|i think you have Microsoft mixed up with Apple, granted the OS is on the expensive side, but it does last one up to 13years, free updates included, apple doesn't know how to do 'support'
XP EOL is 2014 i believe
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|Exactly Artful...I payed $50 or so for XP and $50 for Windows 7...so using MS operating systems cost me $100, if I didn't take advantage of the promotional price I probably would have paid closer to $200 over 9 years...hey that's fine with me.
How many times did Apple guys have to pay $30 for their upgrades during the past 3 years? 8 or so times? That would be about $240 over the last 3 years...Apple doesn't even support the stuff they released 9 years ago, you're out of luck if you have a non-intel based Mac.
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|@ Niro
"if I didn't take advantage of the promotional price I *probably* would have paid closer to *$200* over *9* years"
"How many times did Apple guys have to pay *$30* for their upgrades during the past *3* years? *8* or so times? That would be about *$240* over the last *3* years"
Can you provide any evidence (source links would be helpful) to support your contentions or are we just here to make wild, unsubstantiated claims which have minimal relevance to the topic at hand? You skipped Vista???
Here's an irrelevant question: why are so many of Apple's customers satisfied with their "lifestyle" purchases?
http://news.google.com/n...r+customer+satisfaction
Here's another one: what do the preponderance of *dissatisfied* non-Apple "lifestyle" customers have in common?
http://www.google.com/se...0&q=pc+hardware+fix
As with all computer hardware/software vendors, Apple does indeed have issues:
http://news.google.com/n...?um=1&q=apple+fixes
Lifestyle is not defined by purchases of any kind. Lifestyle is defined by how one lives. One's purchases accommodate and facilitate how one lives. "Ease of use" and "coolness factor" are components contributing to lifestyle for some, as are quality, reliability, affordability and utility. Combining as many of these lifestyle-facilitating elements as possible is what sets one vender apart from others and one consumer apart from others - for "better" or for "worse."
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|MS don't have a lifestyle and that's a part of their problem. They've almost become the new IBM. Windows, Xbox, Bing, Zune - it all needs to be more tightly integrated. MS needs to develop closer integration between Zune and Flickr now that they're in bed with Yahoo. Zune needs to become a phone and quick! Then the next step is to get apps out there that integrate with Facebook and Twitter. And also make sites like that accessible from Xbox if they're not already. MS could learn a lot not only from the iPhone, but also from the Palm pre - look at both of those devices. MS need some massive input from an outsider with enough authority to make changes. They really need fresh ideas just to catch up to a level playing field.
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|I have a Me lifestyle, its called not being a douche and using what works for me, some people should learn by example. what PC or OS or hardware i use does not weirdly define who i am or a 'Lifestyle' what the efff... if i see a good deal i take it, if something works for me i use it
suggest everyone do the same and stop trying to force your own lifestyle on others
Microsofts future lifestyle? if Microsofts 'lifestyle' is anything its an everyman/womans lifestyle, something everyone and every company can take advantage of whichever way they like
side note, could someone put a stop to these rather bullsh*t meaningless articles?
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|"side note, could someone put a stop to these rather bullsh*t meaningless articles?"
Wouldn't that be wonderful?
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|thanks for the upvotes, just another something i wanted to point out, this Joe character? complete Apple shill, as if we all couldn't see the bias from his first post miles away, check out his twitter feed and you'll see where i'm coming from
http://twitter.com/joewilcox
someone asks him 'what do you get from the Apple store for 429$' when inquiring about a netbook? his reply, 'Satisfaction' ... ok and another of him agreeing that 'Microsoft' is a loser company
*facepalm
BetaNews, i have no idea why you hired this guy or who hired him but it shows extremely poor judgment.
i'm about to take up anchor and mozy along to some other site that has a little more integrity
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|Hear hear!
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|Two commenters posting nothing but how crap Joe's articles are - article after article, week after week - being the most frequent commenters on all these articles... interesting.
While you might not think lifestyle is a factor in marketing consumer technology, and hey you might be absolutely perfectly spot on correct, it is still a relevant question as that is obviously one of the drivers behind opening Microsoft stores.
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|i don't see it has anything to do with lifestyle, maybe to MS but not to myself, its a store, it will sell product... it can besome part of your lifestyle and may be a lifestyle to you, if you're defined by pop culture and material things, which would be sad
i'm glad i don't have an Apple Store or Microsoft Store near where i live, saves me some irritation at the kinds of folks that hang out there, hopefully a MS store won't be the same as an Apple Store and its atmosphere that kind of makes me want to be sick
i remember being near an Apple Store on a launch day, those people are insane and not in a good way
and what are you talking about Viking, you come all the way from Joes blog to comment on Joe articles, guess hes just a popular guy? i've been using betanews for years (don't mind the join date on this handle, i've been around under many handles) and i just love calling BS where i see it, which is exactly what almost all his articles are
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|The Microsoft Lifestyle: Copying all things Apple, then calling it innovation. For all of Microsoft's wealth and ubiquity this is the type of community and enthusiasm Microsoft will Never have: http://bit.ly/hY8T9
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|That you, Joe?
Steve?
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|The Microsoft lifestyle?
Must be something very bloated and slow.
Also incompatible with a lot of stuff.
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|Marketing and lifestyle is the topic of this post. Microsoft does sell a corporate lifestyle - extremely successfully I might add - the people ready enterprise, the "is this a standard Microsoft environment?" mindset, etc...
It goes all the way from the bottom with the most widely used private education/certification program in the industry, over the microsoft partner program, the MVP enthusiast/expert reward program, to the top with the corporate account management, enterprise app advertising and sponsored research - all of that is the equivalent of a corporate Microsoft lifestyle.
As a corporation or business or IT professional you can practically wrap yourself in Microsoft from top to bottom. That to me is a corporate lifestyle or Microsoft culture.
So the question of if there's a consumer lifestyle from Microsoft is a valid one.
Sidenote: Ironic how most of the aforementioned IT professionals that are deep in the Microsoft corp lifestyle joke about Apple's lifestyle as a religion...
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|I honestly don't believe there really is such a thing as the Microsoft lifestyle. Apple and Linux fans almost have to have a "lifestyle" of some sort to differentiate themselves from the rest of the world that uses Microsoft products. I personally just see the Microsoft line of mostly software as a means to an end-- not a religion like I usually see from Apple fanboys. My computers from HP, Dell, and Asus all run Windows of some kind, and my application servers run either Centos or Ubuntu Linux in their various data centers. My music player of choice is not an iPod but an Iriver H120 running the Rockbox firmware, because I'm a control freak who prefers audio formats that a fair chunk of the world neither knows about nor uses because Apple and Microsoft don't natively support them. I use Microsoft products to get my work done, but aside from that, I live. I don't need Apple to tell me what to buy, and I don't subscribe to the socialist-like philosophies that many Linux die-hards feel is necessary just to run a free operating system. My lifestyle is based strictly on my own wants and needs.
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|Probably most people's lifestyle isn't around some company.
Time to wake the OperatingSystem manufacturers up.
Glad to see someone make a decent and good point here.
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|I don't think there's a Microsoft Lifestyle. I believe that to have a lifestyle deal in check you have to have both a hardware and software product to get the imagined or perceived experience. That said, I believe that Xbox and Zune are products that are trying to push that facet, but I wouldn't broaden it to MS as a whole, as I think MS is more focused towards their software product, be them enterprise or for the home market, and that these divisions are separate and really subsets of the company as a whole rather than a huge part of their business persona.
I don't think I would live a MS lifestyle if ever MS did get into doing their own series of hardware (ie: MS branded computer systems/monitors etc.) anyway.
For one, I am very selective with my peripherals, which are all Logitech and that wouldn't change; secondly my choice of console is Wii, if I ever decide to buy a console. So I wouldn't really be able to subscribe to the lifestyle, as I prefer separate components which wouldn't be a part of it. I'm also fairly certain that I wouldn't buy a pre-assembled PC, though lately it's gotten a bit more difficult to justify building them from scratch other than anal preference [no double entendre intended] (before it was easily justifiable. It used to be easy to assemble a PC for about 1/2 the price of a pre-assembled machine with the same broad specs). So yeah, I'm a bit too outside of the box to fit into, well, enjoying these 'lifestyles'.
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|The "lifestyle" is a marketing gimmick, nothing more. Anyone who claims it is anything more than that is trying to sell something or has had a bit too much kool-aid.
Microsoft doesn't sell "The Experience", they sell one or two of the software components. If you're looking for that, look to Dell, Sony, Lernovo, et al... They compete more directly with Apple than Microsoft does, as they are hardware companies like Apple, not software companies like Microsoft.
Finally, computing isn't about what lifestyle fits *you* best,, but rather what hardware/software fits *your* lifestyle best...regardless of brand or hype.
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|Exactly...Why am I not surprised Joe Wilcox came up with this ridiculous article?
My friend who uses nothing but apple products leads the same lifestyle I do, except he's got a lot less left over money....which I guess makes my lifestyle "better"...?:)
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|So you lead a "value" lifestyle then, Niro, and that's what Microsoft pushes with the "Laptop Hunters" ads.
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|I agree 100% with everything you said PC_Tool. Betanews should hire you :)
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|No Joe, I don't. My computer cost $500 less then his, but my TV cost $1000 more then his...does that mean he leads a "value" lifestyle? Sorry Joe, the price of my computer doesn't determine the lifestyle I lead, and the OS running on it doesn't either.
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|my guess is he/she already works for betanews. Most of these sites have their editors trolling the forum to drum up views
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|I "work" for a network/infrastructure consulting firm in Lakeville, Mn, fathead.
You guessed wrong.
...no shock there, though. I don't think you've ever been right.
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|Microsoft goes for various target markets, from one end of the spectrum to the other, the Laptop hunters ads are one target demographic for them, obv. just one
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|@Niro
"My friend who uses nothing but apple products leads the same lifestyle I do, except he's got a lot less left over money..."
"My computer cost $500 less then his, but my TV cost $1000 more then his..."
Great!! Anecdotal evidence is *exactly* what's needed here. Can't be much of a "friend" if he's not here to defend himself.
"the price of my computer doesn't determine the lifestyle I lead, and the OS running on it doesn't either."
Article makes no claims to that effect. Your point?
Not all lifestyles are about marketing. But all marketing is about lifestyles. Some (like iTunes, iPods, iPhones, PlayStaion/XBox/Wii games) succeed, while others (like Newton, Cube, Apple TV, Zune, Vista, Tablet PC) don't.
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|I think the only "lifestyle" Microsoft has right now is the Xbox and gamers. It's separate from its core businesses, and has enabled the company to brand itself well among that community. But Microsoft doesn't really have a lifestyle in other areas. It really has become a utility. People use Windows, they use Office, they use Windows Mobile phones, but the aspiration, the excitement has long been gone. Part of this is due to a company without a primary direction -- Microsoft has been all over the place for years, delivering a lot of mediocre products instead of a couple great ones. It's also missed the boat in a lot of areas (Windows Media Player is junk compared to iTunes and the Apple Store; Messenger is HUGE, yet the company has never leveraged that audience, and Microsoft's presence on the Web has been a huge joke).
That said, Microsoft makes the bulk of its revenues selling Windows and Office by the millions of copies to OEMs and enterprise, so maybe it doesn't even need to sell a lifestyle. Microsoft's motto can be: "Buy our products... because you have to anyway!" That worked for IBM.... right?
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|Well, apart from the aforementioned "business lifestyle" (and I'm not so sure about calling that some kind of a lifestyle - more business necessity), I don't think their's something that could be called "Microsoft Lifestyle". I also agree with those saying that the other lifestyles mentioned a only part of a certain kind of lifestyle.
One thing that - at least to me - is key to a certain lifestyle is visuals. Consistent visuals (I hope that's the correct word, I'm no native speaker), that is every element has to have a certain look to it. In software terms this would mean a consistent user interface. And that's where Microsoft is severely lacking. They introduced the ribbon interface with Office 2007. Why then didn't they use this interface throughout Vista? Notepad, Wordpad, Mail, Windows Explorer - you name it (one would think they had time enough during Vista's delay ;)). And every other software released after Office 2007 should have had the ribbons.
Or their website. Highly inconsistent.
I think that (implementing a consisten user interface) would be one first and very important step into the direction of something of a Microsoft lifestyle. Besides it would improve usability a lot (no, I won't discuss the ribbon interface's pros and cons. Microsoft decided on it and that's that).
Finally I agree with PC_Tool that Apple as a software AND hardware developer has a far easier starting point for developing a certain kind of lifestyle or, better, positioning itself firmly as part of a certain alround lifestyle.
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