By Prince McLean

Published: 04:00 PM EST (01:00 PM PST)

The Quiz

The training materials next present four features in Windows 7:

* "Snap" window positioning
* The bundled Windows Media Center DVR application
* "Jump lists," a new name for Recent Items
* Location Aware Printing, a feature that changes the default printer to the current location.






That last feature only works under the $300 Windows 7 Professional edition (a $200 upgrade from XP or Vista, although Amazon says "we recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC") or other more expensive editions. It does not work under Home Premium.

Microsoft says none of these are available on the Mac. It's true, the Jump List feature that "opens files in just two clicks from the task bar" is not called that on the Mac, and only requires one click under Recent Items under the Apple menu. There are also other features unique to both Windows and the Mac. But are these four features really the strongest Microsoft can include in its sales pitch training for Windows 7? Apple calls most of Snow Leopard's new features "refinements," but may are more significant and useful.

Completing the course requires matching the four feature blurbs to their brand name. For completing this, participants get a $10 copy of Windows 7.




Microsoft's retail training program indicates a defensive posture against Apple's mounting direct retail sales, both in its own retail stores and in the "store within a store" merchandizing done with retails such as BestBuy.

Whether the company will use the same tactics in its public advertising remains to be seen. If it does, it will expose itself to charges of false claims and deceptive comparisons, which could cause the same blowback as the company's earlier Mojave Experiment and Laptop Hunter campaigns.