The countdown for the long-awaited Aug. 24 launch of Windows 95 has begun with an outdoor teaser campaign which broke this month in major Canadian markets.

Microsoft Canada released the advertising to help generate pre-release orders at retail level for the new operating system software, which could reach distribution of nearly 30 million copies worldwide within four months of launch.

Microsoft already controls about 80% of the global market with its ms-dos and Windows 3.1 systems.

The billboards from Chiat/Day, of Toronto, Microsoft’s Canadian agency, show a blue sky and a start button, with the line, ‘Start Something Amazing.’

This will later evolve to say, ‘Start with Windows 95. Coming Soon.’

Consumers are getting a peek at Windows 95 with self-running demos in many retail outlets.

All of this is building to Aug. 24 when the bombardment begins, a co-ordinated worldwide launch from Oregon-based Wieden & Kennedy using the corporate tagline ‘Where do you want to go today?’ introduced last November.

Matthew Price, group product manager for Microsoft Canada, says the tv and print campaign will target a broader consumer base to go beyond the avid computer user to the novice.

The global campaign will be supplemented by made-in-Canada work from Chiat/Day in Canadian publications.

A significant direct mail campaign will also be directed to Microsoft’s registered user base.

The Windows 95 Aug. 24 launch will be augmented by the first wave of new software releases compatible with the system, including new improved versions of Microsoft’s Office software suite.

ibm released its rival 32-bit operating system software, OS/2 Warp, in November 1994.

During the past several months, the impending market battle between Microsoft and ibm has regularly been the subject of press coverage.

First, there were two postponements of the Windows 95 launch date. Then, there was commentary on Windows 95’s performance based on the use of beta and preview copies.

Price says the launch delays were not a marketing tactic, but rather due to consideration taken to ensure the software was 100% compatible with all the software and hardware people are using now.

‘If the product had been ready, we would have gone ahead, because that would be the best thing for the customer and us,’ Price says.

‘But, we’re not introducing software that’s only for future products, we’re introducing something that’s going to work with what you’ve already got,’ he says.

Harvey Lewi, manager of personal software marketing for ibm, says more than 2.5 million copies of OS/2 Warp have been sold worldwide since November.

Lewi says while OS/2 has features such as multitasking and Internet connection, unlike Windows 95, it also offers a full suite of products that allows users to be up and running at home or at the office with just one box.

ibm has no specific advertising campaign planned to counter the Windows 95 launch.

Lewi says some programs are scheduled to be completed by the end of August and new campaigns are not scheduled until mid-September.

In more recent advertising, a tagline has been added that says, ‘Can your software do this?’

Says Lewi: ‘In the [tv] commercials, we extol the virtues of OS/2, but we also highlight things that are common everyday functions and tasks that OS/2 does exceptionally well.

‘We have doubts, and our customers should have doubts, whether the other guy can do the same, so by asking that question, we’re challenging them [Microsoft] and asking our customers to do the same,’ he says.

ibm’s ‘Solutions for a small planet’ theme will continue to be a big part of its advertising, which is handled globally by Ogilvy & Mather.

‘It’s a theme we’re very much on top of,’ Lewi says.

‘It’s an offering our customers can understand, versus, `Where do you want to go today?’ Well, I want to go on vacation,’ he says.

Lewi says he does not see Windows 95 as a strong competitor to OS/2 Warp, especially in the business environment.

‘We have a better product that’s been proven in the marketplace, and very well accepted,’ he says.

‘Windows 95 is brand new, never been tried. What I’ve read is that it isn’t designed to take advantage of full 32-bit capacity.’

But, Price is enthusiastic about the performance of Windows 95, which he says makes everything easier and faster than the current 3.1 version.

He says features such as the ability to use long file names, a start button to launch applications, a task bar and the new Plug and Play concept, have been well received by preview users.

The premise of Plug and Play is that end-users should not have to know how to configure hardware.

‘In the past, installation of a multimedia upgrade, a cd-rom and a sound, has been a very difficult experience for users, and almost half of all multimedia upgrade kits purchased at retail have been returned,’ Price says.

‘With Plug and Play, turn off the machine to make the installation,’ he says.

‘When you turn it back on, Windows 95 will say – it feels like you’ve just put in a sound card and cd-rom drive – `Do you want me to set these up for you right now?’ ‘

When hooking up a different computer to a printer, Price says the reconfiguration is done immediately and all the user has to do is print.

He says to develop this type of ease of use and compatibility has taken a great deal of time and could not have happened without the co-operation given to Microsoft by hardware manufacturers.

Windows 95 also boasts an e-mail system called Microsoft Exchange, and the more controversial Microsoft Network.

u.s. network competitors such as Prodigy, CompuServe and America Online have tried to block the Microsoft Network (msn) because they say it will give Microsoft a monopoly on electronic commerce.

Microsoft has confirmed msn will be part of the Aug. 24 launch.

It will include a direct Internet connection in addition to a direct connection to Microsoft’s online community of forums and advertisers, including its first, Swatch watches.

Although, the full version has not been available, consumers have been able to get a taste of Windows 95 this year.

After the beta testing worked out the bugs, Microsoft sold 400,000 copies of a preview program worldwide, each with a five-user licence.

In Canada, 20,000 copies were sold, and Price says the feedback has been positive.

To get even more exposure for the product, Microsoft took the Windows 95 World Tour to 17 Canadian cities.

Ads were placed in newspapers, along with an rsvp number extending an invitation to the World Tour, a two-hour interactive presentation, and more than 22,000 people attended.