Harsh article on Microsoft’s brand at this week’s brandchannel.
The article describes Microsoft as a commodity brand. It explains how no one describes the company in ‘warm and fuzzy’ terms. It’s always the ‘big monster’ that everyone chooses to use.

But increasingly (and probably because of our inability to connect with the Microsoft Brand), people are turning to the alternatives like Firefox, Google, Linux and Apple. Companies that re-invent themselves for the benefit of their customers – like Yahoo! – also benefit from Microsoft’s indifference.

The author suggests:

Microsoft needs to have a soul, it needs to connect with people, to be cool, to give a damn about helping its customers. It needs to forget about building just up until the point of what it can get away with and concentrate on building beautiful things we never knew we wanted.

Microsoft isn’t going away any time soon. But one thing it could do is figure out ways to re-connect with its customers in meaningful ways. We just haven’t seen that yet.