Better grades with MS Student 2006

Interesting way to help our burgeoning physics students with their homework....

....so what exactly is "Student 2006"?

...and why is it being advertised in 2005?

(never studied physics)


Am I nuts, or should there be a V somewhere in that formula?

W3bbo wrote:

....so what exactly is "Student 2006"?

...and why is it being advertised in 2005?

This marketing campaign reminds me of the "Dinosaurs" Office 2003 one.

It's essentially blackmail, I'm also reminded of the Encarta 2003 Reference Library one too.

One word: "Blackmail" or "Insult your customers"

The Dinosaurs campaign accused companies that use Office 2000 (or even Office 2002!) as being "Dinosaurs" because they're not using the latest version, which arguably, most companies (especilly small businesses) don't really need (if they've already got Office 2002, and for most people, Office 2000 is fine)

The Encarta 2003 one had the "Get the library, or get out!" campaign... I don't know what happened to that one.

As for "Student 2006", it's all there, only in a less negative fashion. Its projecting the impression that "Buy this and automatically get great grades!"

...but students have been acheiving A+ grades for years without "Student 2006" and if this software is going to improve other students, wouldn't it just result in grade inflation?

Well, reading between the lines says "Don't buy this and you'll get worse grades than if you didn't"

Hmmm

TristanK wrote:

(never studied physics)


Am I nuts, or should there be a V somewhere in that formula?

It looks like an extended encarta, you can search true the information and get extra help (howto) on writing a book report, brochure, etc.
Lots of sample templates for powerpoint presentations, word documents, etc.

Considering the fact that encarta cots 75 euro the 99 euro for student 2006 isn't that expensive. If you are in the store and looking around it is only 25 euros more and gives a lot more resources to a student. Sure you can find them online, but then you need to search, that takes energy.

If you buy 2 or 3 school books, you are paying the same and might get less information. It's not THAT bad. I might even find this a little bit handy.

The first person that markets a product in this catagory with "Buy this and your grades will go down FAST!" still needs to be born or is shot. It stays marketing, if I watch a block of tv commercials I get tons of stuff that isn't really true or only gives a nicer impression, but hey it sounds nice enough to buy it.

W3bbo wrote:

This marketing campaign reminds me of the "Dinosaurs" Office 2003 one.

It's essentially blackmail, I'm also reminded of the Encarta 2003 Reference Library one too.

One word: "Blackmail" or "Insult your customers"

The Dinosaurs campaign accused companies that use Office 2000 (or even Office 2002!) as being "Dinosaurs" because they're not using the latest version, which arguably, most companies (especilly small businesses) don't really need (if they've already got Office 2002, and for most people, Office 2000 is fine)

The Encarta 2003 one had the "Get the library, or get out!" campaign... I don't know what happened to that one.

As for "Student 2006", it's all there, only in a less negative fashion. Its projecting the impression that "Buy this and automatically get great grades!"

...but students have been acheiving A+ grades for years without "Student 2006" and if this software is going to improve other students, wouldn't it just result in grade inflation?

Well, reading between the lines says "Don't buy this and you'll get worse grades than if you didn't"

Hmmm

Marketing 101:


Step 1: Create an insecurity

Your business is archaic / You'll fail your exams / You're breasts are too small

Step 2: Offer the solution

Office 2003 / Encarta / Wonderbra


It's an old trick, used by just about every ad agency under the sun. To be effective you need to present step 1 in a way that's subtle enough not to totally offend the customer (the Dinosaur thing went too far) but not so subtle they don't pick up on it.

W3bbo wrote:

This marketing campaign reminds me of the "Dinosaurs" Office 2003 one.

BruceMorgan wrote:

I don't see where there's any sort of similarities between "Better grades start here" and the Office Dinosaurs campaign.

"Better grades start here" tries to appeal to what students (or more importantly, their parents, who buy the software) want.  Essentially no different than "Fresher breath starts here" for a toothpaste.

The Office campaign is something else entirely.

I don't see Student 2006 as being particularly useful.

blairkenn wrote:

The first thing that caught my eye though, was the disconnect in using consistent terms for their physics example: the use of r for rate in the formula and the v for velocity in the explanation.

Just a funny marketing faux paus, IMHO.  However, I don't know if I would part with $99 after seeing this ad.

Michael Griffiths wrote:

r doesn't have anything to do with v.

It's the radius.

The point is to transform the relationship into v.

There is nothing incorrect about that ad.

Okay, I'm looking through the product specs for this, and it kind looks like yet another tool that a rich kid could use to earn better grades (versus a poor kid whose parents could not afford such a tool). 

However, you can afford all the tools in the world and still not be able to work your way out of a paper bag.  Even with GPS. The product may give you quicker answers, but it doesn't mean it magically provides you with original thoughts or will help you on tests where the teacher actually expects you to think for yourself.

Edit: <inner cynic>Wait, now I get it.  It is a "conditioning tool" to get kids hooked on Microsoft Office at a young age.  Nice.  Where's the Joe Camel-like character?</inner cynic>

I'm a UK University student, I looked though the bull marketing material and the impression I took away was that this is a wonderful product; wonderful if you fit exactly into the very small demographic this product is aimed at - An American high school student.

Instead of creating general purpose tools for students to use across subjects Microsoft seems to have gone down the route of creating very specific tools for very specific subject areas... Which is excellent if you are studying these subject areas but useless if you happen not to be.

This product will not be on my Christmas list and I wouldn't recommend it for UK students in general... But as I said, if you are an American high school student then you should be looking at it for your needs.
 

billh wrote:

From a science page here, the formula is:

KE = (mass x velocity²)/2 or KE = 1/2 mv²

I think the "r" in the equation above (in the picture) is probably a cursive "v", but it looks weird because of size and resolution of the picture above.

That is right... It is KE = 1/2 (M * (V * V)), or KE = 1/2 MV²

Manip wrote:

That is right... It is KE = 1/2 (M * (V * V)), or KE = 1/2 MV²