Introduction Redmond, Washington based software giant, Microsoft Corporation, which was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, has been a superpower in the technology world since the release of its first independently developed operating system, Windows
1.0, in 1986. With the addition of the releases of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word,
Microsoft Excel, and numerous version of Windows, the 1990’s saw Microsoft’s peak, as the most used operating system in the world, being named the “Most Innovative
Company Operating in the U.S.” by Fortune Magazine, and in 1999, Microsoft possessed a net worth of approximately $620 billion, an all time record until it was eclipsed …show more content…
Microsoft had seemingly secured its position in the tech market as a top of the line brand with a competitive advantage greater than its competition. Prior to the release of Windows
XP in 2001, Windows started production on codename “Longhorn”, which would soon be known as Windows Vista, which would not be released until January 2007, the longest gap between Windows operating systems, and cost Microsoft approximately $6 billion. Due to low customer interest and unenthusiastic reviews from critics, Windows Vista was seen as a disappointment and a massive failure for
Microsoft. Overall, Windows XP was an excellent OS and Vista was a large step backwards for Microsoft. Vista hogged system performance, was slower than XP, drained
Windows 7 Case Study Page 3 of 7 laptop battery life, and the worst aspect of Vista was the User Account Control, a security system developed for the OS. The UAC was very effective at preventing malware infection, however many users found the constant prompts on every move they made tedious enough to turn the system completely off, therefore, making the UAC …show more content…
The advertisement
Windows 7 Case Study Page 5 of 7 proved extremely effective, Apple’s market share increased from five percent at the end of 2006 to 11 percent by the end of 2008. Morgan Stanley reported that, in
2009, 15 percent of college students were using Mac, while 40 percent of prospective customers said their next computer purchase would be a Mac. Microsoft, upon the eventual launch of Windows 7, needed to counter Apple’s marketing strategy with one of their own that would help prospective customers see the benefits of
Windows and using a PC. The marketing agency, Crispin Porter and Bogusky, created a marketing campaign entitled “Laptop Hunters”. The commercials were seen through a hand held camera, and a narrator would introduce a prospective laptop customer looking for a specific set of features such as a big screen, fast processor, and battery life, and all of these features under a certain price. The narrator tells the customer
“you find it, you keep it.” The search included various PC’s and even a Mac,