Dell, Enderle Have Cameos As Cassandras In 'Vista Capable' E-mails

Microsoft is being sued for allegedly misleading consumers with its "Vista Capable" logo campaign in the year prior to the Jan. 30, 2007 release of the Windows Vista operating system. Beginning on April 1, 2006, Vista Capable stickers were placed on PCs by Microsoft's OEM and retail partners -- including some PCs that lacked support for the Windows Device Driver Model (WDDM) required to run certain user interface (UI) features of Vista such as the Aero Glass graphic interface.

Microsoft on Thursday petitioned Judge Marsha Pechman to dismiss the class-action suit.

Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, exchanged a series of e-mails on Aug. 29, 2005 with Microsoft executive Barry Goffe, in which the analyst warned Goffe of Round Rock, Tex.-based Dell's lack of confidence in Microsoft's SKU plan for Vista and a potential media firestorm around Vista shortcomings. Enderle also sent his impressions of an "advisory meeting" Dell conducted with analysts and journalists directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

One of Enderle's main warnings to Goffe concerned Microsoft overplaying its hand with the Aero Glass hype, potentially disappointing customers who would wind up buying editions of Windows Vista that wouldn't support the interface:

My general advice is, for messaging pre-launch, only focus on "basic" but don't call it that. Focus on the new wonderful things you will get in basic and how it is designed to run on even the lowest cost hardware, keep attention away from "Glass" (Beta will be a huge problem). Goal is to get the market to accept "Basic" as the new XP Home and then allow the channel to up-sell. By the way, the more you talk about Vista before launch the more a short term drag on PC sales it will become."

Next: Enderle Predicts Media Backlash