Paul Thurrott:

I know that, internally at Microsoft, many people do not agree with the direction the company is going. And all you have to do is read the tech press and, heck, the mainstream press, to see who’s getting all the press these days.

It ain’t you, Microsoft. And that is indeed bad news.

I have to agree with that whole heartedly. Microsoft for all intents and purposes has dropped off the radar of the press. This is never good for a company, even when Apple is in lock down developing a new product there is still tremendous buzz about the company.

But Thurrott had to go and say this:

And if you’re looking to copy Apple’s success–and you are–then at least do it right. It’s not about the products at all. What Apple does right is marketing. It’s form over function, plain and simple. How else could the world be so excited over an unnecessary over-sized iPod touch? Because it’s from Apple, that’s how. And the press markets it for them, and makes people believe that this is somehow a big deal. It’s a self-replicating back-patting, buddy system, plain and simple.

And you’re not part of the circle, Microsoft. How else can you explain the ginormous Windows 7 sales that get no attention, and certainly no love from Wall Street? You’ve sold over 100 million licenses of this thing in record time and all anyone can talk about are lost iPhones and the iPad. I mean, give me a break.

Actually it is about the products, marketing will sell your products initially, growth comes from having a great product. This is how you explain Apple’s success, amazing marketing to get the early adopters to buy and then the product will carry it the rest of the way. The iPhone / iPod / iPad sales are nuts, and growing still.

Windows 7 has been a financial success I am sure (compared to Vista) and it has sold a lot of copies. That does not make it good however, because unlike with the iPad or iPhone people are not buying it because they want it. People are buying Windows 7 because they don’t want to use a slow, 9 year old Operating System. That and the fact that all new PCs comes with it helps.