Leading Software Firm Seeks to Raise its Image Among Users

The Wall Street Journal

December 23, 1983

RECOGNIZED BY PEERS AS PERHAPS THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONAL-COMPUTER SOFTWARE COMPANY, MICROSOFT CORP. IS MAKING A BIG PUSH TO RAISE ITS PROFILE OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY AS WELL.

BUT IT HAS A LONG WAY TO GO. ITS OWN RESEARCH SHOWS THAT EVEN PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AREN'T SURE WHO THE TOP SOFTWARE MAKERS ARE. WHEN ASKED IN A SURVEY TO NAME ALL THE SOFTWARE COMPANIES THAT CAME TO MIND, MOST NAMED APPLE COMPUTER INC., WHICH ACTUALLY MAKES VERY LITTLE SOFTWARE.

TO RAISE ITS NAME RECOGNITION, MICROSOFT IS TRYING OUT MARKETING TECHNIQUES AND PROMOTIONS MORE COMMON TO MAKERS OF SOAP OR TOOTHPASTE. IT'S ALSO AIMING NEW KINDS OF PRODUCTS AT THE PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS INSTEAD OF AT ITS TRADITIONAL BIG CUSTOMERS, THE COMPUTER MAKERS.

"WE WANT EVERYTHING THAT THE CONSUMER SEES IN IBM, IN TERMS OF THE SAFE BUY, THE QUALITY BUY," SAYS C. ROWLAND HANSON, THE COMPANY'S CHIEF IMAGE MAKER.

MICROSOFT IS WAGING WHAT SOME COMPETITORS CALL A STRIDENT CAMPAIGN. "IT'S KIND OF A BRUTE FORCE APPROACH," SAYS KEVIN L. WANDRYK, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER WITH DIGITAL RESEARCH INC., A LONGTIME COMPETITOR. JEAN YATES, PRESIDENT OF YATES VENTURES, A LOS ALTOS, CALIF., SOFTWARE MARKET RESEARCH CONCERN, SAYS, "THEY ARE TAKING THE TACTIC, 'LET'S GO AHEAD AND PREMPT EVERYBODY ELSE'S PRODUCTS.'"

IN FACT, MICROSOFT HAS ALREADY MISSED A COUPLE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE ITS NAME BETTER KNOWN. THE CLOSELY HELD COMPANY, BASED IN BELLEVUE, WASH., CREATED MS-DOS -- THE OPERATING SYSTEM, OR PROGRAM THAT CONTROLS THE BASIC FUNCTIONS OF A COMPUTER -- FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP.'S PERSONAL COMPUTER, AND HELPED DESIGN THE MACHINE ITSELF. WITH ABOUT 100 COMPANIES NOW LICENSED TO USE IT, MS-DOS HAS BECOME THE STANDARD OPERATING SYSTEM FOR THE CURRENT GENERATION OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS. MICROSOFT ALSO ADAPTED THE COMPUTER LANGUAGE BASIC TO MICROCOMPUTERS FOR THE FIRST TIME, AN IMPORTANT STEP FOR THE THEN INFANT PERSONAL-COMPUTER INDUSTRY.

HANSON GRIEVES OVER THE MILEAGE LOST WITH MS-DOS. FEW PEOPLE OUTSIDE KNOW MICROSOFT DEVELOPED IT. WORSE STILL FOR MICROSOFT, IBM CALLS ITS VERSION PC-DOS. "WE LOSE TWICE," HE SAYS.

TO HELP REGAIN LOST GROUND, MICROSOFT NOW INCLUDES IN ALL ITS ADS A "MOTHERHOOD" STATEMENT THAT READS, IN PART, "WE ALSO DESIGNED THE MS-DOS OPERATING SYSTEM THAT TELLS THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER HOW TO THINK..."

TO RAISE ITS PROFILE, MICROSOFT HAS TURNED TO MARKETING AND PROMOTION TACTICS FAR MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN THOSE IT HAS USED BEFORE. SUCH TECHNIQUES ARE INCREASINGLY NECESSARY, GIVEN THE COMPETITION IN THE INDUSTRY.