Microsoft has been getting some (quite justifiable) stick for its Windows 7 “Release Party” video (see below), and seeing as it is a Microsoft product, it’s also bound to get a lot of criticism from both Apple and Linux fanboys (again, sometimes this is justifiable).
So to restore some balance, some credit should go to Microsoft for selling their new operating system to students for just £30 until 30th September January.
I can already hear said fanboys’ fingers twitching over their ice-white Mac keyboards ready to say this is a cynical move by Microsoft to secure a lucrative audience, but to be fair to them, they know that at that price, students are more likely to fork out for Windows rather than downloading a dodgy copy from a torrent site, or borrowing a disc off a mate.
But this is Windows, I hear you say, surely you don’t want it thrust on another unsuspecting generation of computer users?
Sure, it’s had it problems in the past (think Windows ME!), but it is still the most used OS and has the most compatible applications, and it can be run on cheap, entry-level PCs, not over-priced (but yes, they’re do look nice) Macs.
And by quite a few accounts, Windows 7 isn’t that bad:
Windows 7 combines the security and architectural improvements of Windows Vista with better performance than XP can deliver on today’s hardware. No version of Windows is ever perfect, but Windows 7 really is the best release of Windows yet.
So lets give Microsoft a little bit of credit for this move. Oh, and before you all start growing your hair long and drinking cheap vodka to pretend you’re a student, you’ll need a university email address in order to get it at the student price.
Now lets take the mick out of them again with a look at that unintentionally hilarious video I promised you earlier:
Microsoft – either hire a new marketing team, or let your product do the talking (something which I’d admit Apple are very good at).
If you’ve managed not to be sick or boycotting anything to do with Microsoft in the future, take a look at this other version of the video.
photo credit: impresa.mccabe
Lets face it, there are 2 simple reasons Microsoft are doing this:
1) within days these students will have a knock off copy anyway
2) it will endeer these students to the product. Other companies (such as Sun and IBM) have been giving away enterprise class software to students for a long time