Microsoft Tackles Chromebook in New Ads
- Paul Thurrott
- Jun 14, 2017
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Microsoft this week published two ads in which it compares Windows 10 PCs to Chromebooks. The interesting bit? One targets education, as you might expect. But the other targets businesses.
And that is rather telling, I think. Microsoft is in the midst of losing the US education market to Chromebooks, and the popularity of these simple and inexpensive devices is starting to spread internationally. But less well known is that Chromebooks are starting to make headway with businesses as well. And that, of course, is Microsoft’s core customer base.
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I mentioned that latter phenomenon back in April in The PC Market Just (Barely) Bounced Off the Bottom (Premium). “IDC noted that ‘the commercial PC market [in the US only] came out strong mostly backed by the growth of Chromebooks’,” I wrote. “Chromebook penetration in business is an interesting story—and I’d love to see more data there—but remember that big growth is easy when you’re small. And Chromebook sales are very small.”
But a threat is a threat. And these ads show that Microsoft finally taking it seriously, at least publicly. The timing of these ads has a lot to do with the release this week of the Surface Laptop, which you may recall is the first computer to include Windows 10 S. It’s also the only decent computer to include this system: The others we’ve seen so far are education-bound stripper PCs. So the ads focus instead on Windows 10 Pro, which is kind of interesting. Perhaps because the Windows 10 S to Pro upgrade is free during 2017.
So let’s start with the ad for education. Here, Microsoft says that Windows 10 Pro better meets the needs of today’s students and teachers because it is supported on a more diverse array of device types. The ad also highlights new Microsoft Office apps, like Sway, with which many users are probably still unfamiliar, and that Windows and Office support touch, pen and desktop modes. Windows 10 features like Ink, Sticky Notes, and Cortana are also highlighted. Finally, the ad touches on security; “Windows 10 is a virtual fortress,” it claims. I know. Ugh.
“When it comes to your OS, you have a choice,” the ad concludes. “Consider this: Windows 10 Pro offers better security, manageability, innovation, and value than Chrome.”
The business ad is perhaps more interesting, if only for the spectacle of watching Microsoft defend Windows 10 against the Chrome upstart. And it gets weird right away in describing the “years of research” that Microsoft has done into the device power-on experience, which it described as “superior.” But it then moves into familiar areas, touting Windows 10 features like Windows Ink, Sticky Notes, and Cortana, just like in the other video. But tailored for business use cases.
The security argument here is interesting as well. Compared to Chrome, the ad says, Windows 10 is “the most secure Windows ever” (well, sure), with Windows Hello, two-factor authentication support, and a more secure browser in Edge.
Then we get to value, an area where most might think that Chrome has the advantage. Nope. “You want a greater number of devices at a lower cost,” the ad intones. “No problem. Devices with the full Windows experience are available at affordable prices, all running full Windows, unlike Chrome, which allows only a select few devices to run all their apps.” That last bit is interesting, and is an allusion to Android apps on Chrome. Which is indeed a mess.
“Better value, security, and innovation” is the theme for this one. “There’s simply no comparison.”
It kind of makes me wonder why anyone would consider Chrome OS. Cough.
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Conversation 62 comments
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Bats
<p>OMG…that's it? That's the best Microsoft can do?</p><p>It's the same old rhetoric. Boring. Everything in this ad that Paul talks about…..no one cares about it. The bottom line, Chromebooks overall cheaper to buy and most importantly cheaper to maintain. Microsoft stupidly omits the maintain part.</p><p>In addition, cheaper Windows computers have been around for years! Remember Paul's endorsement of the Chromebook killer, the HP Stream? He said that he bought it for one of his kids years ago and later he tells us that the same kid is now using a Chromebook and he loves it. </p><p>It will be interesting to see if Microsoft will spend the same amount of advertising dollars that they did with Windows Phone. I remember a few years ago, all I saw on TV was commercials for Windows Phone. I remember the song Brave coming on all the time, and who can forget the wedding fight commercial. Let's not forget all the in-place advertisements in tv shows like Dallas and Elementary, where the characters primarily used Windows Phone. The bottom line is, did people listen and take to heart Microsoft's message from that barrage of commercials promoting Windows Phone? The answer is No. The same thing will happen here.</p><p>Everything about Chromebooks is easy. Everything about Windows is hard.</p><p>The education is not moving away from Google, because it's just so much cheaper to maintain, Update, and Use. As for Microsoft, a huge part of their revenue is the licensing of thousand dollar servers,seats, and support. I am sure that everyone who has worked in the real world knows what happens when the mail server goes down, right? Or how about when the network drive is not showing up on your computer? Or how about when your Windows computer runs so sloooooooooow or drive is not working? The answer: IT comes along and fixes or replaces your drive and hours later, you are back in business with have wasted so much time. With Chromebooks and Google, none of those problems exist. </p><p>For businesses, I can see Chromebooks and Google being the perfect solution for small business, not unless we are talking about a POS environment that's system is dependent on a Windows Environment. Other than that Chromebooks is so much easier to use and so much easier to maintain. Plust, who needs Windows Ink? Windows Ink is only good for artists and not for the other 99% of computer users. It's really a no-brainer. Not unless you are a business that loves to throw away money. LOL…even Paul Thurrott doesn't even use a pen for his blogging.</p><p>As for Windows Hello,….it's slow. It's just like Samsung's technology for Android phones a couple of years ago. </p><p>Google must be laughing at their faces.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#125699"><em>In reply to Jorge Garcia:</em></a></blockquote><p>Android was designed as a mobile OS and if Google had tried from the beginning to make it 90% like full Widows it would have crashed and burned. It's 2005 tech, not 2017. But from a user's point of view I don't see the benefit of making an OS that is 90% like Windows when you own a PC that is 100% like Windows. We can imagine all kinds of perfect OS's that do whatever we want on every device but actually being able to design and deliver such an OS is a different matter.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#125761"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>There are multiple criteria. In addition to price and maintenance, compatibility with existing systems is also a big factor. </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#125813"><em>In reply to Jack Smith:</em></a></blockquote><p>Rates can be misleading when comparing two products with very significant differences in raw number magnitudes. Despite a 38% growth in Chromebook sales, Windows PC sales are well over an order of magnitude higher. The 38% growth will begin to decline as the sales numbers increase. </p>