Forrester Releases Survey on Brand Trust; Microsoft Near Bottom

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060330-6491.html' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...60330-6491.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Research mavens Forrester Research, known for almost always recommending against the early adoption of any new technology, have released the results of its semiannual survey on how much we trust well-known consumer electronics brands...Going by the results of the study, the biggest winners were Bose, Apple, and Dell...At the other end of the spectrum was Microsoft, which was included due to its presence in the gaming console market. By a long shot, the software giant scored lowest on both dimensions. The score is a measure of consumer apathy and/or dislike towards the entire Microsoft product line rather than reflective of any distaste for the Xbox. Forrester thinks the score means that Microsoft could be headed for trouble."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20060401-ArsBranding.gif" /><br /><br />Ars Technica reports on the Forrester report, and I've got one word for Microsoft: Ouch. 8O Despite security improvements in recent Microsoft products, the average user experience is, if anything, more frustrating, thanks to spyware and software complexity (... and ActiveSync). In my opinion, Microsoft will have to decisively solve the spyware problem with Vista to begin to rebuild this image, and they've not done themselves any favors by allowing another Christmas season to pass with yet more XP boxes in the hands of consumers. Of course, branding is not just about quality: witness Bose at the very top of the chart. Looks like Microsoft has <i>both</i> product and PR work cut out for them. Microsoft does have the resources to pull through this, so we'll have to keep on watching.

[yslee]

*pukes* Buy Other Sound Equipment is rated better than Apple??? Ouch!

MS has a long way to go. I think it never really handled the Internet revolution too well. From being to slow to its trouble in courts, then with all the spyware nonsense. Activestink doesn't help too! :P

PS. What the heck does "Brand Potential" mean in this case? Anyone with US$775 care to download the report and share? :lol:

[applejosh]

The Microsoft thing doesn't surprise me a bit. Microsoft is like the phone company used to be: a necessary evil. They do need to improve upon things, and I think they know it. It just remains to be seen how quickly they will do that.

The thing that surprises me the most is the Dell rating. Apparently, many of the respondants never had to call tech support. :roll:

[Steve Jordan]

Sory to doubt you guys, but after yesterday, I had to go to the link to make sure this wasn't one last April Fool's gag played on us (now I know better which ones would have nailed me)!

You'd think that, knowing how most people don't really know the difference between hardware and software (especially when there's a problem), that Microsoft's score would have pulled Dell down a bit more. I guess if Dell was running another OS, they'd be up there with Bose. ;)

[Phoenix]

When it comes to surveys, I always take them with a grain of salt. I could never agree that a limited test group and a bit of mathematics could ever substitute interviewing everyone that used these products (which would be impossible to do). And the mere suggestion of substance, rather than true substance often alters peoples views of things and how they respond - witness the nature of the stock market. So I often question just how worthwhile surveys and polls really are.

But Microsoft's brand potential near the bottom? I don't think so. With 70 billion dollars in cash in the bank (and probably more now) along with everything else, I think it's safe to say that Microsoft, which has allowed Bill to become the wealthiest man in the world, has pretty much proved their brand "potential".

Another thing that makes no sense to me in this survey is how Dell can have "brand potential" and "trust" ratings so much higher than Microsoft, when virtually all of Dell's products are built around and depend on and run Microsoft's products.

There are frustrations with everything, but all these things also have to be looked at relatively. Bose, for example, creates things that aren't as complicated as an OS or an Xbox, and this has to be taken into consideration when comparing products in regard to overall trust and satisfaction. Not to mention, at least for me, I don't trust Bose more than Microsoft. I prefer MS over Bose anyday.

[DaleReeck]

Plus, for Microsoft there's the problem of an uneducated public willing to trust the opinions of those that probably shouldn't be giving opinions. For instance, security. Anyone who works in the computer security field knows that Microsoft OS's are no more or less secure than anyone elses. But as top dog, MS's flaws are searched out more and discovered more. If Linux or Mac had the same 90% market penetration level as Windows did, they would be attacked as having weak security too since hackers would go after them more.

IE vs Firefox is another good example. IE gets blasted for huge security problems. But we've had to patch Firefox countless times in our public labs (I work at a large university) since its deployment. FF is a good browser, but, again, no more or less worse than IE.

[biglouis]

Conversations that are never going to happen:

Steve: Bill! Bill! Take a look at this survey! It says that consumers don't trust us!

Bill: Oh no! I can't believe it! Where have we gone wrong?

Steve: I don't know - whatever shall we do?

Bill: Steve, we must take immediate action to win back the trust and love of our consumers.

Steve: Yes, we have to demonstrate how much we revere and respect our consumers, nothing else is as important to our company.

Bill: Go to it Steve. Make Microsoft loved and respected in this industry. Do it Steve! Do it for our customers!

LouisB

[Janak Parekh]

Plus, for Microsoft there's the problem of an uneducated public willing to trust the opinions of those that probably shouldn't be giving opinions. For instance, security. Anyone who works in the computer security field knows that Microsoft OS's are no more or less secure than anyone elses. But as top dog, MS's flaws are searched out more and discovered more. If Linux or Mac had the same 90% market penetration level as Windows did, they would be attacked as having weak security too since hackers would go after them more.
Not true. The simple fact is Microsoft is implementing things in Vista like Least User Access (LUA) that they should have done years ago, and which Mac OS X and UNIX have had for years. There's security as in the buffer-overflow vulnerability aspect, and then there's security in the user interface aspect. I will agree with you that XP SP2 is a huge improvement on the former, but Microsoft still releases some patches too slowly, and is still too vulnerable in the latter category. Vista may be the first MS operating system to "get it right".

IE vs Firefox is another good example. IE gets blasted for huge security problems. But we've had to patch Firefox countless times in our public labs (I work at a large university) since its deployment. FF is a good browser, but, again, no more or less worse than IE.
Well, at least you can download that patch in a timely fashion. There remains a significant security hole that is being exploited right now for IE and for which Microsoft still hasn't released patches for. It's gotten to the point where people are releasing unofficial patches (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1943687,00.asp). :?

--janak

[Steve Jordan]

Vista may be the first MS operating system to "get it right".

Psst. PSST! Dude. I have a bridge in NYC to sell. Cheap.

[Janak Parekh]

Psst. PSST! Dude. I have a bridge in NYC to sell. Cheap.
I get your point, but I've seen previews of Vista by MS folks, and as a security researcher, I'm happy with some of the things they've done. Case in point: IE will now run in its own "sandbox", meaning that if someone manages to exploit it, either via bug or user stupidity, files cannot automatically be written to the \WINDOWS directory by processes/controls launched through IE.

There's lots of other cool features. LUA itself will make Vista a lot more UNIX-y in terms of user privileges and has the potential to help with a whole class of spyware. Incremental patching and application checkpoint/restart makes it easier to apply patches without rebooting. Of course there'll still be vulnerabilities, but I'm happy if the bar is raised. :) The problem, of course, is no one knows when exactly we'll see it. :|

--janak

[Steve Jordan]

If they actually manage to pull it off... fine. But they do have a LOT of corporate and performance bad history to overcome (they haven't done anything to convince me to upgrade from Win2K). I know I'm not the first to say "I'll believe it when I see it" about MS, and I doubt I'll be the last.

[Janak Parekh]

If they actually manage to pull it off... fine. But they do have a LOT of corporate and performance bad history to overcome (they haven't done anything to convince me to upgrade from Win2K).
Yes, exactly. Ergo the lousy brand rating. No doubt MS has work to do in several aspects.

--janak