Microsoft Pushes Vista with Gas Giveaway for Small Businesses
With oil prices rising and other operating costs trailing not too far behind, Microsoft has launched a promotion to highlight the environmental breaks small businesses can reap by switching their computer systems over to the Windows Vista operating system.
Owners or employees of U.S.-based businesses with two to 100 workers can visit BumptheSlump.com to register for the gas giveaway. The winner will be chosen after July 21 and will receive the award in the form of a gift card for Shell gasoline.
The sweepstakes, designed for Microsoft by agency Bradley and Montgomery, also offers Web visitors five basic tips for reducing the load their computing systems place on the energy grid and cutting their own costs. These include replacing business travel with Web conference via Microsoft Office Live Meeting, enabling employees to telecommute with a Windows Small Business Server, and deploying Windows Vista as a standard operating system.
“Windows Vista can save you as much as $70.77 in energy costs per PC per year compared to a typical PC not running Vista,” the Web site says. “It saves you money and lets you give Earth a little hug.”
Microsoft has previously highlighted the green benefits of its Vista operating system. In a speech to an industry group last March, CEO Steve Ballmer said Windows Vista had been engineered to use 3 watts per hour on an idling PC compared to 100 watts per hour for one running Windows XP, the operating system the company rolled out in 2001.
Microsoft has been campaigning to get both business and personal users to adopt the Vista operating system for more than a year now, but has been encountering resistance from users who want to stick with Windows XP. Most recently, computer chip maker Intel announced on Monday that it will not upgrade its 80,000 employees to the Vista system.
Consumer resistance to Vista has been heightened by Microsoft’s announced plan to launch its next new OS, Windows 7, late next year or in early 2010. Some business IT departments have reportedly decided to skip integrating Vista in favor of that next OS.
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