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08/30/2001 Archived Entry: "30-August-2001 -- WebWord Comment"

M Cubed -- I often explain to people that Microsoft dominates the software world because it has an incredible marketing machine. It seems that many people are under the spell of Microsoft. I call this Microsoft Marketing Magic, or M Cubed for short. But what is M Cubed? How is it best explained? I decided to develop an answer. If you take a look at this image, taken directly from the Microsoft homepage, you will see a simple yet powerful marketing tool in action. They spoon feed users simple action words and then slip in the results of those actions. This action-result interaction works very well and if you think about it, it is exactly the tactic used on the best resumes. With each bullet you hit people with a loaded verb and then you provide folks with the benefits of that verb. It is energetic. It is spicy. It is fun. The action-result technique works really well on mindless people. It also works well on people that scan information, i.e., web users. By the way, it doesn't matter if the material is wrong or if it doesn't actually say anything. The intent of M Cubed is to grab mindshare. When you control minds, or even when you just manipulate them, you own the market. If you dig into the idea of M Cubed you will understand why Microsoft truly does care about usability. For example, when they make their tools and web sites easy to use for even the biggest idiots, then they really don't have to worry about security. M Cubed is used to manipulate the minds of developers and IT decison makers, and then usability keeps people on the soma.

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