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Troubled Longhorn

With all that has been pulled out of the Longhorn release, finding a way to sell it is going to be a problem. The worst difficulty, to me, is the fact that Longhorn SE is going to be a much more capable operating system just because it will include features that were removed from the intial release.

So I was interested in what the marketing strategy might be.

First, the initial sale is going to be to less sophisticated users. And it'll be based on some "gee whiz" features:

The end users are excited by the new shell, the new visualization capabilities, the new organization and searching capabilities--those should excite end users. The new user interface--kind of sexy, kind of cool. The media enhancements should excite end users.

Splashier ways to do things that can be done now.


Second, when the endusers are interested because of their experience at home, the purchase is going to have to get past (and not be driven by) the IT staff. That's what "gatekeeper" means.
To neutralize the gatekeepers:

Just look at what we have done for security and manageability. Those things are potentially exciting. Business decision makers want application compatibility.

Only "potentially" exciting? And IT people will be offered the chance to get approval from "business decision makers" for "application compatibility."

That's not asking for an endorsement; it's pleading for tolerance.


I'm sure that both the sales points and the pitch will be improved substantially before Longhorn comes to us. But this is going to be a very difficult launch.
Longhorn will gain a large market share as fast as people are buying pc's; buy a pc, buy Windows. But discretionary buyers? They can be persuaded to wait for Longhorn SE.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 06/07/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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