Study sees Microsoft brand in sharp decline

[OhioChick]

No. 1 among U.S. business users in '96, it's now 59

March 28, 2008 (IDG News Service) Microsoft's brand power has been in sharp decline over the past four years, an indication the company is losing credibility and mindshare with U.S. business users, according to a recent study by market research firm CoreBrand.

According to the CoreBrand Power 100 2007 study, which polled about 12,000 U.S. business decision-makers, Microsoft dropped from number 12 in the ranking of the most powerful U.S. company brands in 2004 to number 59 last year. In 1996, the company ranked number 1 in brand power among 1,200 top companies in about 50 industries, said James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand.

CoreBrand measures brand power using four criteria. It first rates the familiarity of a company's brand. Once a company has a certain level of familiarity, it is ranked according to three "attributes of favorability": overall reputation, perception of management and investment potential, Gregory said. While Microsoft's brand is still eminently recognizable, the company is declining in all three favorable attributes, he said.

Gregory said that a decline in and of itself is not indicative that a company is losing its mindshare or reputation among customers. However, what's significant in Microsoft's case is that the decline has been consistent over a number of years, and has plunged dramatically in a brief time.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9072939&intsrc=hm_list

[Clear Blue Sky]

1. The market is speaking...

[davidwparker]

2. never liked MS

[RC]

3. Linux is gaining on them.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(Linux_distribution)

It Just works.

(This isn't to denigrate other flavorers, just my preference.)

[Triana]

7. Yep - and the fact that Mac OS X runs on Unix/Linux...

...is likely a factor too. I gave up MS for personal use couple of years ago. I don't regret it.

[skepticscott]

4. Not a big surprise

Think about it...when was the last time Microsoft came out with a product that made you say "wow, that is SO cool...I HAVE to have that!"?

[rAVES]

5. well... this:

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

[skepticscott]

10. Interesting, but

where's the popular appeal, except among photo and graphics geeks? Is the general population rushing out and standing in line to buy this? When I used "you" in my original question, I was really meaning it in a broader sense, not just the particular person reading it.

[Diclotican]

6. skepticscott

skepticscott

The Flight simulator series maybe?.. Have been playing with that game for more than a decades; (since FS95) So I guess "something" is right in MS world...

But VISTA on the other hand... DISAPPOINTED!!

But hopefully it would be like safe and good as XP was, when the time is right (hopefully)

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[AdHocSolver]

8. Microsoft has long been overpriced and overrated. The world is finally starting to realize it. n/t

[DavidMS]

11. Yes.

They overprice everything except business level support.

Office, Windows, Windows server need to drop in price dramatically to be competitive with FOSS offerings. If I can get Open office for nothing and it does 90% of what MS office does, why should I shell out $500+ per seat? Why should I spend $500+ on a server license and have to deal with Client Access Licenses for a file and print server?

However, for $250 Microsoft will troubleshoot any business's problems. And give you your money back if they can't. Its pretty impressive.

Overall, I see a slow steady decline until prices fall or there is a compelling and easy to use implementation of SAMBA (software that replaces Microsoft's network security software and does file and print sharing) with good support. Then things will get painful for Redmond.

[girl gone mad]

9. What took so long?

It's not like they just started sucking 4 years ago.