The New Experts

I headed over to microsoft.com this morning to see what ornate festivities Microsoft might be throwing for the launch of Windows 7. I was met, however, with an interesting surprise. Instead of a slick Silverlight movie extolling the virtues of Microsoft's new crown jewels, they had scoured the Twitter-sphere looking for positive tweets about Windows 7. These 140-character reviews were on full display, each hitting on a different aspect of the new OS. Social media has definitely changed the way computer companies do business. A few years ago, a launch like this would surely consist of industry experts sharing their lofty opinions about Windows 7, using proof by authority to demonstrate that Windows 7 is a superior product. Now the consumer has the power, and trust is placed in the common man to confirm the usefulness of Windows 7 to the next common man. Proof by quantity. I hope it's better. Windows 7 as well.