June 3rd, 2009
Is anyone WOWed by desktop wallpapers any more? Microsoft thinks so!
Quick! If you had to come up with an image and a bit of text to sell Windows 7 to IT professionals and the tech media, what feature would you choose to highlight?
To be honest with you, there are countless things you could look at, but I’ll tell you one feature that I wouldn’t choose - the desktop wallpapers.
Take a look at this press release on the Microsoft site. Now scroll down about halfway to the second image. Be sure to read the caption:
Picking on this one image seems petty, but it strikes me that Microsoft PR is once again falling into the same trap as it did with Vista and the “WOW is now” eye candy nonsense. Microsoft needs to get beyond thinking that IT professionals are WOWed by background images, transparency and nice icons. It’s time to start selling the stuff that matters. If Microsoft’s own PR machine can’t put together a package of features and get behind them, then 7’s PR message could be the same kind of “WOW!” nonsense that we saw for Vista.
[UPDATE: It's worth pointing out that the ability to change the desktop wallpaper on the Starter edition of Windows 7 is disabled (and no, getting around it is not just a matter of renaming an image) then maybe "cool wallpapers" is actually going to be a feature item ... ugh ... just be grateful they didn't make this acid trip hallucination of an image the default!]
Thoughts?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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