Hey Microsoft - Can you be any more confusing?

Microsoft has clearly learned no lesson in terms of making its Windows 7 upgrade strategy clear to users of its operating systems. Just like with the launch of Vista, there are various flavors of Windows and various prices based upon what version you are upgrading from, and where you want to end up.

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/07/31/windows-anytime-upgrade-and-family-pack-pricing.aspx

So, let's say you buy a new machine with the "Starter" version installed, but you want to move up to "Home Premium" - that will set you back about $80. If you want to move from "Home Premium" to "Window 7 Professional", tack on another $90. You want to go from "Home Premium" to the "Ultimate" edition? That's $140.

But, what if you want to go from Starter to Ultimate in one move? Shake that magic 8-ball again - "Answer Unclear".

Another item of seemingly decent good news is that they will offer a "Windows 7 Family Pack" which is "Windows 7 Home Premium" that you can install on three PCs in your home. That goes for $150, which seems like a decent deal if you have three machines. But I sense a dark cloud with this silver lining:

Today, most homes have more than one PC in them. When you run Windows 7 on more than one PC on a home network, you can do more with features like HomeGroup. HomeGroup allows people to connect to PCs on their network and share files, music and photos with the whole family – easily. The Windows 7 Family Pack is an easy and affordable way to get all your PCs in your household running Windows 7 through licensing to install Windows 7 Home Premium on up to 3 PCs.

The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available starting on October 22nd until supplies last here in the US and other select markets. In the US, the price for the Windows 7 Family Pack will be $149.99 for 3 Windows 7 Home Premium licenses. That’s a savings of more than $200 for three licenses. This is a great value and we’re excited to be able to offer it to customers.

While supplies last? Uh, what? Isn't it possible to, I dunno, MAKE MORE WHEN SUPPLIES DWINDLE?

This isn't rocket science, Microsoft - make your intentions clear and easy to comprehend to the layman, and you'll be okay. But all of these skus, options, limitations and the like strike me as a brilliant way to diminish your brand.

This would be like McDonalds saying "Our French Fries are $1.00. If you want to upgrade to cooked fries, that will be an extra $.49. If you want salted fries, that will be another $.19. However, we're offing value pack of cooked, salted fries to be shared by three people for $1.99. But only until Tuesday."

You know why they don't do that? Because they know that would be too confusing, it would annoy their customers and in the end, it would diminish their brand. You'd think Microsoft would have figured this out by now.

My worst client... is staring at me from the mirror...

They say that those who choose to represent themselves in a court of law end up having a fool for a client. While don't want to go too far with that metaphor, I have found that I always put TopStax marketing needs at the bottom of the list after working on client needs, doing research, business development and, well, I can have a fairly long list by the time I'm done...

So, with no pressing client work facing me these past two weeks, I finally made myself focus on the topstax.com web site and facebook page.

I had grown weary of the slow-to-load flash animation which had been on my home page, and needed a refresh. I wanted to be able to quickly highlight what I can do, but I also wanted to tie it into my brand, which is essentially "Marketing Rocket Science". I had comped a number of different concepts, but nothing was really hitting the mark. And then, history struck!

The 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission gave me the creative spark I needed to focus on what should have been an obvious solution. But, like any business owner, sometimes you're too close to the problem to see the solution.

So, take a gander at the home page, www.topstax.com, and let me know what you think. Also you may want to look at my updated page of The Biggest Branding Mistakes - What to Avoid to help you side step some common issues that can trip up a company. I hope that you gain some value there.