Windows7: The ecosystem of Microsoft's tastes

Liang Nianjian, a low-key Macao, tried to avoid exposure in front of reporters after he switched from Microsoft to the chairman of Greater China a year ago. But for the Windows 7 product, he had to stand under the spotlight, accept media torture, and even take his team to Hunan Satellite TV's entertainment show.

For the release of Windows 7, Liang Nianjian is very hard, but he understands that Windows 7 is very likely to succeed in the market. Of course, a large part of this credit is due to the failure of Vista.

Vista taught Microsoft

"Simple", Liang Nianjian said that Windows7 will repeatedly emphasize these two words. These two words stem from the painful lessons of Vista. Three years ago, Vista, which was highly anticipated by Microsoft and the entire hardware industry, ignored this and made a big mistake.

In Vista, Microsoft has exhausted its advanced technology, hoping to make Vista more cool and more dazzling, and to reflect its technological leadership. Microsoft's idea of ​​doing Vista is to introduce users' usage habits with advanced technology. In order to make these advanced technologies perfect, the hardware configuration needs to be greatly improved accordingly. In addition, because of Microsoft's market monopoly for many years, Microsoft assumes that as long as its products come out, the corresponding software will cooperate.

But the development of everything is not as Microsoft wants. Users don't buy apps that are cool, cool, and flashy. There are hardly any users who are going to learn complex applications with the instruction manual. Most users want to use their products simply, even fools, and use them. What's worse is compatibility. Vista is not compatible with many software and hardware. Even QQ, which has a very high penetration rate in China, can't be used. This is almost no choice for users. It is definitely abandoning Vista to leave QQ. Also, the performance of Vista must depend on the high-profile computer. On a slightly lower-profile computer, Vista often makes the computer paralyzed. A number of drawbacks have caused Vista to crash users. Although Microsoft has made a lot of improvements to Vista to solve compatibility and ease of use, users have lost patience and trust.

The idea of ​​pursuing advancedness After the complete failure of Vista, Microsoft finally wants to understand this truth, giving users a good product is easier to accept than giving users an advanced product. Liang Nianjian, who just took over Microsoft China for a year, did not personally feel the frustration at the time, but he knew that Windows7 must not be like the Vista of the same year, and the city would appeal to users. In the past few months, Liang Nianjian and his team have been warming up the release of Windows 7, and every time they must say "simple", they must also say "compatible." They are not even afraid to reveal the "short" of Vista in the past, only to allow users to re-establish confidence in Windows7.

The low-key Liang Nianjian has recently appeared for Windows7, which shows that this is an important product. As of the previous quarter, Windows remained a source of half of Microsoft's profits. Microsoft lost its time and market on Vista and couldn't afford to miss it anymore. Vista taught Microsoft.

The feast of the industry to the user's meal

Uncharacteristically.

Whenever a new version of Windows is released, it will definitely increase the hardware configuration requirements of the previous version. Software upgrades often consume hardware performance, which "forces" hardware vendors to follow the upgrade. Therefore, every version of Windows release will be a feast of the industry.

But Windows 7 occupies less system resources and requires less hardware than Vista. This may not be good news for hardware vendors. "Microsoft doesn't want to buy a new operating system every time, users have to buy a new computer." Liang Nianjian said. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also said that Windows7 can only drive a small increase in PC sales, and will not drive PC shipments to a large extent. Microsoft's ecosystem is quietly changing.

There are still many uncharacteristics. For example, Microsoft's Windows first broke the iron law of global unified pricing when it was released, and adopted a low-price strategy in China. Windows7 home regular version is priced at 399 yuan, home premium version is priced at 699 yuan, professional version is priced at 1399 yuan, and the flagship version is priced at 2,460 yuan. In contrast, the premium version of the home sold in the US market is 199.99 US dollars (about 1365 yuan), the professional version is 299.99 US dollars (about 2048 yuan), the flagship version is 319.99 US dollars (about 2185 yuan). This time, Liang Nianjian no longer has to be accused by Chinese consumers like his predecessor, and there is no need to make a pale and powerless explanation.

Also, Microsoft took the initiative to find Hunan Satellite TV's "Daily Up" program group, paving the way for Windows7 in an entertaining way. It can be seen that Microsoft is trying to impress consumers through entertainment programs, and it is more important to see the vast consumer market than the corporate market.

It’s not only the failure of Vista that makes these changes happen to Microsoft, but also the changes in the Windows environment over the past few years. The rise of cloud computing has made Internet applications more widely. The operating system's ability to control users and industries is declining. Microsoft can't "lead" users according to the past ideas. Instead, it must turn around and follow the user's footsteps. . The reason why Windows 7 is willing to let go of its body is so friendly, and does not even put the interests of hardware manufacturers that have been interdependent in the first place. Because of the competition in the Internet, users have more decision-making power than the alliance.

Windows 7 is also a step in Microsoft's cloud computing. Microsoft's cloud computing strategy is different from Google's. On the one hand, it emphasizes the importance of the cloud, on the other hand, it must also strengthen the possession of the terminal. Occupy three screens (computers, TVs, mobile phones) is a key step in Microsoft's cloud computing strategy. This is why Windows 7 is so friendly.

The Internet is changing the original software and hardware ecosystem. The impact of software updates and hardware upgrades on users has been weakened. Microsoft is trying to adapt to the ecosystem under the Internet, which will be user-centric, not upstream vendors of hardware and software. In the past, every new release of Windows was a feast of the IT industry chain, and in the future it will be a delicious meal for users.