Microsoft and Its 'New Coke' Quandary
Having had an up-close look at what was thought to be the release-to-manufacturing version of XP SP3 (colleague Samara Lynn reviewed it last week and I installed it this week on a Toshiba Satellite with no problems), I can say that SP3 will only reaffirm the love for XP. It appears easy and painless to install and works fine.
Microsoft is in a tough position and would be even without the possibility it could spend billions to buy Yahoo. Vista hasn't taken off with the critical praise that the company might have once believed was possible. Instead, people and businesses are committed to sticking with XP. The CEO of a technology manufacturer told me recently he won't let his own company switch from XP to Vista for the foreseeable future because the business already runs too well on XP.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is stuck in an ether of formally ending XP's sale on June 30, while some PC manufacturer partners will still offer it pre-loaded on PCs on a "downgrade" rights basis.
If Microsoft wants to turn the situation around, it needs look no further than Coca-Cola. The soft drink maker had the ill fortune, in 1992, of changing the formula of its flagship product, Coke, to make it sweeter. The market hated it. People wanted their beloved Coke. With rival Pepsi charging hard, Coca-Cola blinked. The company brought back the old formula, called it "Coke Classic," dubbed the new stuff "New Coke" (it eventually disappeared) and the company lived to talk about it.
This isn't the first time someone has compared Vista to New Coke. (Check out this Google search.) While a lot of people will remember Coca-Cola's initial mistake, many tend to forget that, in the long run, its chief brand has endured and strengthened.
Could Microsoft learn a lesson from that? Could it announce that XP will live on, renamed as "Windows Classic?" Could it announce that it now has a roadmap for XP with SP 4, SP 5 and SP 6? And Vista will also have a place in the market?
Microsoft, publicly, still shows enormous confidence in Vista. But there are worse things for a company than to have two products in which you show enormous confidence - - even if one is classic and the other eventually just goes away.