Microsoft's Ad Blitz Targets Wrong Enemy

"I know piracy is a very difficult problem for Microsoft to solve, because the fastest-growing markets are the emerging markets that are rampant with piracy," Wolf says. "The money Microsoft's spending on ads and marketing could better be spent on this problem not because added revenue means more success, but because there's a bigger share involved."

Brooks acknowledges that piracy has troubled Microsoft in countries like China and India, but says Western users' belief that Windows XP is "good enough" is just as problematic. Though 90% of the population uses Windows, roughly 70% is still using XP nearly eight years after its release, a statistic Brooks blames on Vista's "tarnished" image and glitch repairs that came too late. The nearly 18 months of commercial combat with Apple, he says, was an attempt to repair that image and maintain visibility until Windows 7's arrival.

"Vista took a lot of hits in the marketplace," Brooks says. "We had a product and a reception of it that lingered through the lifespan of Windows Vista, which ends Oct. 22, that put a lot of questions in people's minds about whether Vista was good enough."

Windows 7 is a bit of a softer sell, with a campaign focused more on the product than its competitors. The gentler approach may be wise; of the 12% of U.S. computer-owning households that own a Mac, 85% also own a Windows PC, according to NPD Group. Considering Microsoft's reaction to an infomercial-style YouTube video promoting Windows 7 house parties , it may take only a bit more ribbing by Apple to ratchet up the snark and spending again.

"Clearly, they're threatened by it," Graff says. "You would think that, as such a dominant leader, they wouldn't need to fight back, but I think they look at what Apple's doing and realize that they could be the next generation's product of choice."

-- Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.

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