Nightmares of slow Vista sales is still bugging corporate suits in Microsoft's headquarters. So to improve Vista's sales or to improve "public perception" of Windows MS is planning to spend mammoth $300 million on new ad campaign with the first commercial of Microsoft's new marketing push aired on Thursday. One of the major reason why XP (or Mac for that matter) fares much better than Vista is the system performance. While XP and Mac offers decent performance at not-so-impressive specs, the Vista eats out all machine power without providing enough system performance. Wondering what's Microsoft's solution for this problem? To spend as much money as you can on advertisement to "educate" people on how good Vista is. According to official reports, "the commercial is part of a broader, long-term initiative to change consumers' perception of Windows, which will include setting up a retail corner at several hundred Best Buy and Circuit City stores staffed by Windows Gurus to explain the benefits of Windows."

On the positive side MS said that it has been working with various computer makers to optimize systems to speed up computer boot time and improve the overall experience of using a Windows machine. Now this is a better option than spending staggering money on ad campaign, which actually doesn't change anything except creating an illusion of how good a product is.

[Via CDR Info]