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Sony More Trustworthy Than Microsoft

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the and-nintendo-too dept.

DesertBlade writes "Forrester Research examined the trust that American households place in PC and consumer electronics. Sony, Dell and Bose all recieved a ranking of A+ while Microsoft recieved a C (I know most of you would say it is closer to a F). "Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk. One measure of consumers' dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that give it a brand trust score of 1 [distrust a lot] or 2 [distrust a bit]. Compared with all Microsoft users, these at-risk users have higher income, are much more likely to be male, and are bigger online spenders.(see endnote 7) These households know they run Microsoft software but would be just as happy to leave it behind -- if they could." Does Microsoft face that big of a risk?"

7 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. Trusting Sony by pen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yep, I trust Sony. That's why I don't mind them installing a rootkit on my computer.

    1. Re:Trusting Sony by sgant · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's not true though. Many people DID care. Which is why it was all over the news, newspapers, radio...it was everywhere. Even the old-person's radio station here in Chicago was talking about it!

      The thinking of the "Joe Sixpack doesn't care about things like that" is dying out. More and more people, young AND old are getting computer literate. Yes yes, there are still people out there that will never be comfortable with computers and there are people that really don't care...but the majority is changing.

      If people really didn't care, then Sony would have kept up with the Root-kit shenanigans to this day. But they got a huge black-eye from it and have to now build back their customer confidence.

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      "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
  2. Oh if only by LandruBek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    oh if only there were a way!

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  3. Re:Interesting quote in the article: by flood6 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Exactly what I've always thought - allthough I think Apple could blow away any market it chooses to enter.

    Well, they haven't exactly blown away the home computer market.

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    SEO Firefox Extension
  4. Microsoft isn't going away yet... by Starker_Kull · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They still have tremendous inertia in the marketplace. How long has it taken for the general public to have the same perception of Microsoft as a typical /.er? The biggest problem is that Microsoft has gotten people to believe that computers are inherently unreliable, unstable, and buggy - so that people EXPECT such behavior from any computer, not just one with a Microsoft OS or application software on it. As long as a large number of people expect crappily behaving computers, Microsoft's position is secure. In a similar manner, Microsoft has acclimated the business world to the idea that a standalone PC is incomplete without anti-virus, anti-spyware addons and a dedicated IT staff to maintain them.

    On the other hand, businesses tend to hold onto computers and custom/favorite apps much longer than individuals do. Apple may have a shot of displacing Windows from household computers, as many people become more savvy about what they need a computer for, which can usually be covered by web browsing, email, document reading, picture viewing, video watching, and music listening, and are willing to pay a bit so they don't have to constantly tinker with their systems. I think replacing Microsoft in the enterprise world will be much harder.

  5. Re:Interesting quote in the article: by Phroggy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Exactly what I've always thought - allthough I think Apple could blow away any market it chooses to enter.

    To put this another way:

    Apple chooses to enter only those markets it can blow away.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  6. The Business Model keeps them Safe by Aqua04 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You see, the problem is their amazing "toll bridge" business model. Sorry to repeat an old fact, but in 1997 Jeff Raikes described it in a letter to Warren Buffet, where he basically stated "What we have is a toll bridge, where every new PC has to pay a Microsoft fee." Back, then they got $45 for every PC license. On top of that they have their "finished goods" business that heavily relies on their entrenched Windows OS. That is an AWESOME fact, and an amazing lock in, which will be super hard to break unless they really, really fuck up their business relationships somehow.

    They don't even have to fuck up the technology that much. I mean look at the delayed Vista, its been five years and no one has been able to touch them. Microsoft knows that. That is why their software really only has to *just* work and *just* be useable enough. Their domination is based on that amazing business model they are in, nothing else.

    The question is what are YOU going to do about it ? Are you going to keep paying the fee ? If you're an OS maker, are you going to work, not only on the technology, but on the all important business relationships, including working on disrupting MS's relationships ?