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WebWord Weblog Posting

Posting Date: August 09, 2002
 

If I Hear One More Word About .NET... (News Factor) -- "Call it the public relations faux pas of the century. It amazes me that a company could spend millions hyping a product for two years without generating enough interest among its customer base to spur them to find out what it does." (Comments: The .NET marketing has been confusing. Also, advertising is not equivalent to marketing. If you already have a strong position with an old product line, advertising keeps sales up and competitors out. Promotion and marketing, on the other hand, rely more on creating a new market niche and expanding it. Microsoft obviously had an opportunity to do this from the start but they dropped the ball...this time. Microsoft often fails the first time around, but they learn. They learn. And, they have cash. Don't ever forgot about their war chest. I'll bet you didn't know that they had more cash than Ford, ExxonMobil and Wal-Mart combined. They have enough money to buy the entire airline industry twice. I'm not joking. So, they can afford to screw up .Net because they have the room to recover. Oh, and they are ruthless. That helps.)

 

  

Reader Comments...
 

Read about Microsoft's Catastrophe Hedging Program -- "In one of the most treacherous interest-rate environments in years, Microsoft earned a remarkable 9.42 percent on its cash and short-term investments in its fiscal 2001, which ended June 30, 2001."

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 9, 2002 08:18 PM

 

FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 9, 2002 10:36 PM

 

Huh? The .NET link leads to a WebWord login page.

Posted by: Jack on August 10, 2002 01:32 AM

 

Jack, thanks for catching that boo boo. Band aid has been applied. We're all better now.

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 10, 2002 12:56 PM

 

From article:
Call it the public relations faux pas of the century. It amazes me that a company could spend millions hyping a product for two years without generating enough interest among its customer base to spur them to find out what it does.

I think this article misses the point of dotNET
dotNet is not a product, it is just a tag that teccy types can use when talking to their bosses.

Microsoft is trying to sell dotNet to the programmers in corporations. The rest is just marketing hype. Miscrosoft are having a hard time selling this to the money men, because it doesn't actually exist as a real thing

Posted by: Mac on August 11, 2002 04:53 PM

 

Maybe this will help clarify the point I'm trying to make:

From InfoWorld - Putting people first for a change (Jon Udell 9 Aug 2002)

The gone-but-not-forgotten Hailstorm initiative was an effort to put people at the center of the software universe. When the socially inept masters of that universe try to restate their case, they utter awkward phrases like "first-class data objects." Luckily, developers all around the Internet know what that's supposed to mean, and have been busily making a trail of clues for Microsoft to follow: ad hoc peer-to-peer networking, instant messaging, presence, Weblogs, and publish/subscribe notification.

Posted by: Mac on August 12, 2002 04:03 AM

 

Bck in the mid 1980's IBM was at the top of the computing heap. They attempted to create "architectures" and market the concept to their customers - - which at that time were large mainframe users. Lots of presentations and expanations about how good it was going to be. The only problem was that no products emerged that implemented the "architecture" in a meaningful manner. dotNET smells like an architecture with no real products that customers will find compelling.

If you can't state the purpose and advantages of the product or service in a fairly short and clear manner, it may be that there is insufficient clarity and understanding on the part of the provider as to what they are doing.

I've yet to have a clear and understandable explanation of what dotNET is and why it's good for my company. The Microsoft salespeople I deal with can't articulate it and seem to know that they are in deep water here. Remember, the sales force didn't invent dotNET. They need to have it explained to them, before they can bring it to the customers. It's been months since dot NET was announced and the Microsoft sales force hasn't shown that they understand dotNET well enough to convey the message. It doesn't bode well for Microsoft.

Posted by: mcw on August 12, 2002 07:52 AM

 

Now here is the real question: Is bottom up design the polar opposite of top down design? Why or why not?

Posted by: on August 12, 2002 10:39 AM

 

Now here is the real question: Is bottom up design the polar opposite of top down design? Why or why not?

Huh? If you are going to drop crap here, at least be clever or funny. Don't get me wrong. Now and then I really like to see stupid postings on WebWord. However, I like them because they are crafty. Be slick and interesting with your spam posting -- "spastings" -- or don't bother us!!

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 12, 2002 10:55 AM

 

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