Last week Microsoft launched a new series of advertisements that is part of their long-term marketing effort called "Life Without Walls." These commercials feature Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld and ordinary people from around the world. Some of the ads are done in a style similar to the Apple Macintosh ads that started running a few years ago. After viewing these commercials I got to thinking, "Why is Microsoft advertizing? Just about every PC in the world is running Windows® anyways."

I installed Windows Vista® SP1 on a few PCs in the lab here at the college, asked a few students to use the PCs and in about a week they were going back to the ones that had Windows Xp® still on them. At a meeting I asked several local businesspeople if they were considering converting to Vista. The answer was a resounding "No." Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was recently released and promised to fix the many problems and complaints from users. But people are still resisting the change.

This marketing ploy by Microsoft is trying to get the general public to lighten-up their view of Windows. Instead, Microsoft should be spending that money to improve a product that has many faults. I even got a Windows error while watching the commercials on Microsoft’s website. Before you decide to take the plunge and convert to Windows Vista, think before you switch.