Adam Fields (weblog)

Microsoft has so badly made a mess of things that it’s gotten to the point that every new bad thing you tell me about Microsoft makes me want to use it more than I currently do. Here’s the twisted reasoning behind that seemingly paradoxical statement, and then some spiralling off into something that’s only partially related, but which is the real point:

1. Microsoft has a LOT of problems.
2. They are capable of doing good work when beaten over the head with problems and forced to fix them. (But they don’t always.)
3. Every problem pointed out is now a public problem that may be fixed. Every problem not pointed out is a private problem that will not be fixed. The hope of a fix is better than the complete denial. This seems to be because marketing runs the company, and dictates what the technology talent can do.
4. I feel like if their marketing department gets a clue, they might stop getting in the way of their good products.
5. The first signs of the marketing department getting a clue will be with an ad campaign that actually works and tells the truth.
6. Scoble is a very visible aspect of the Microsoft marketing machine, and he recently posted an opinion that, while in direct contradiction to the way Microsoft marketing is working, is nonetheless true. The opinion in question is that Microsoft marketing is going about tapping into the media player market in exactly the wrong way, and that their marketing of music players sucks. This is true. It’s not the entire reason that they’re losing to Apple – some of that also has to do with overly restrictive DRM bullshit. But it’s at least an accurate opinion of the way Microsoft marketing has completely dropped the ball (or is not even aware that there is a ball at all) on promoting what’s good about portable music players.
7. I often find that Scoble’s posts toe the party line, but when he goes against the grain and actually points out what they’re doing wrong, it’s refreshing.
8. Maybe that means that they’ll actually fix this.

Here’s the Scoble post:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/12/18.html#a8925