Here comes the marketing machine

It's pretty amazing how something most people can't even describe, let alone understand, can garner so much attention and fervor. I wonder how many people can actually articulate what an operating system does, or describe where an operating system ends and applications begin (DOJ?). Well regardless, Microsoft, along with the whole technology industry is trying to make the release of Vista a landmark event. I guess it's a little like Easter or Father's day. The whole ecosystem is incented to create an "occasion" so that consumers have a reason to get off their couches and spend their hard earned salary on more stuff.

So the man who still personifies Microsoft even though he announced his retirement will be appearing on the Today Show and the Daily Show, Vista is on the cover of every computing magazine out there, there are events all across the world "celebrating" this triumph of human engineering, and LeBron James will be appearing in Microsoft ads - the Microsoft marketing machine is in full force.

I wonder if any of this actually help sell more Vista. Or is the money better spent pushing fledging products and brands like Dynamics or Zune, or better yet, giving it to the employees.