"In the face of strong competition, Evangelism's focus may shift immediately to the next version of the same technology, however. Indeed, Phase 1 (Evangelism Starts) for version x+1 may start as soon as this Final Release of version X."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

THIS MORNING we repeat last week's experiment, wherein we accumulate news headlines from an entire week and then filter them -- bar duplicates -- by headline. This week, looking at headlines matching "Windows 7", we have 34 results returned. Doing the same for "Vista", we have just 4 (mostly SP2 headlines, 3 out of 4 to be precise). This is a classic!

Microsoft is already pretending that Windows Vista does not exist because it wants people to only talk about the "Next Best Thing", which is still unknown vapourware [1, 2] that Microsoft hyped up with bribes. The quote at the top shows an explanation coming from Microsoft's own mouth (its "theoretician").

“There's a lot of money going into it because the Windows franchise is the most vital one for Microsoft's dominant position.”Readers may wonder who it is that spreads the buzz about Vista 7 in the first place. Well, for the most part it's the usual suspects, whose job in the press seems to be to consistently promote Microsoft and vilify its competitors in sophisticated, subtle ways. To give an example, here is Microsoft Jack (context in [1, 2]) promoting Vista 7 some days ago.

Unlike the press which relies on advertising, communities just say what they really think about Vista 7:

Of course, the "upgraded" Windows 7 still can't compete with a Linux installation on features (can you say "OpenOffice"? Sure, I knew you could...), so MS is apparently hoping that consumers will give them even MORE money for MS Office.

Tired of Microsoft cleaning out your wallet for you? Then just say NO to Windows and MS Office!

Don't be deceived by Microsoft's slog for Vista 7, which Waggener Edstrom has been (still is) a part of. Waggener Edstrom gave free laptops to seed positive reviews of Vista 7. There's a lot of money going into it because the Windows franchise is the most vital one for Microsoft's dominant position. It acts as a prerequisite ramp for most of the other profitable applications. ⬆