On January 30, 2007 the earth shook from the millions of DVD drives spinning and humming as they installed Windows Vista. It was as anticipated as a movie screening for Twilight showing to Orange County teenage girls. Likewise it was also an epic failure in the eyes of sensible adults.

So here we are, two and a half years later on the launch week of Windows 7. Now I won’t lie, I will probably install a copy on my home PC [I ambi-compute]. And even though I have every desire to run to the store to buy it, install it, and deal with whatever Microsoft has in store for me, I am refraining due to my social media prowess and sensibilities.

Simply put, I was waiting to see a positive affirmation from the millions that should be Tweeting.

Key words, should be. And this is why I won’t be an early adopter, this time…

Tweets haven't been so kind as of late for Windows 7.

I’m definitely not here to slam Waggner Edstrom and their savvy PR and product launching. But what I will slam is the lack of cohesiveness between the software development teams and their marketing arms; nothing entirely new here for big companies such as Microsoft. Unfortunately for them, they are battling one hefty media campaign from their friends at Apple. With that said Twitter is such a catalyst for compulsive buying that without the twitter affirming temperature Windows 7 will not fully realize its potential sales, regardless of what numbers they post.

GEEK GRADE D+

Wins

1. The most anticipated PC launch date in years. The Windows 7 house parties were a great buzz and the Microsoft store is a step in a direction, time will tell if it is correct.
2. Ample coverage on many partner sites.
3. Twitter is ablaze with ‘Windows 7′ as a top trending topic.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

1. With the flurry of Tweeting the opportunity was missed not solely by the marketeers or the PR teams, but rather by the consolidation of efforts between those teams and the software development teams. Going forward, companies that engage their social media teams leading up to a product launch will sell more products.How could they have done it this time: The painful but necessary campaign in this case would have stemmed from a Windows 7 integration of social media  platforms upon FIRST BOOT of Windows 7. While this would have been nonsense even a year ago, this year products demand a proliferation of ‘We did it’ messages. That’s right….we took the leap and we LOVE IT! Understand the impact of thousands of Tweets saying ‘I just installed Windows 7 and it looks amazing #windows7install’. Now I know there will be plenty of naysayers to this strategy, but really the only thing keeping Windows 7 from busting wide open, is validation that it works. Not from bloggers or review engines, but from the profiles of the early adopters on Twitter and Facebook.
2. This is painful. Microsoft, or their agency representing them needed to step up and acquire at all costs @windows7

Whoops, windows7 has few friends and no tweets

Really with a launch this big, it is easy to pick it apart to no end, but these are some big gotchas.

Let’s just get this out of the way: Starbucks is really a social media platinum brand. Their ability to foster their social media presence as the customer service interaction for their international brand through @Starbucks is really quite remarkable. But even still, and it is always easier on the sidelines, Starbucks had a few things that could have taken them to another level with their latest VIA product launch. Some might argue that what they have done thus far is already successful, but my perspective is there is always room for improvement and with this being their largest launch since Vivano which in my opinion failed miserably every avenue MUST be considered.

Starbucks VIA Launch

GEEK GRADE: C+

Wins

1. Starbucks has an amazing social media arm, even the failures have wins within them.
2. User interaction is very high judging by the contest submissions thus far.
3. They have done a great job of integrating many platforms: Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, etc.
4. Their contest incentive is great. There should be awesome pull from this alone. Free coffee is always a good sell.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

1. The Twitter syndication engine is a complete failure. The engine is supposed to allow you to vote and ‘share’ your favorite submissions; these vote are what drives the entire contest. Weeks into the contest this should be a non-issue. I was wondering why there were no tweets of submissions, and this is why. QA failed you guys.
   

   Starbucks VIA error

2. In store presence for this launch has been awesome, but there is zero mention of the contest. Brands that continue to not be cohesive on their launches are asking to be beat in their respective marketplaces.
3. Lastly, shouldn’t there be a Twitter contest? I know you have the current one going, but it seems that Mevolving, an independent blog is using your launch to promote her blog. How is that for souring your biggest product launch, Starbucks? Whoops she stole your thunder!
4. Would have been so hard to throw up a Facebook fanpage?