Microsoft's brand problems stand in stark regard to Apple's success with branding - lack of a coherent overall product strategy, releasing too many products, releasing too soon, changing tone and strategy too often - failing to make up their mind and focus. In response they seem often to try and compensate by racheting up the enthusiasm levels, with limited success. It's hard to trust a company pushing their newest product on you with maniacal enthusiasm - the emotional environment that attitude creates makes it virtually impossible to really enjoy a product, to feel comfortable and relaxed and as if the product truly belongs to you. This is something Apple has been really successful with, and it's absolutely crucial if Microsoft is to host a truly creative user community which can match Apple's.

The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower.

I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other.

The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.