RE: RE my XP Windows got broke in a Hailstorm

Jim,

Cheap is winning regardless of the ongoing problems. Their marketshare is
increasing. Can we say the same for iSeries?

If MS were ever dumb enough to start seriously going after Joe Public for
his pirated copy of Office, or the latest OS upgrade, we'd see the monopoly
collapse in no time. JP won't switch to Linux because to him, open source or
not, it's all free anyway, so why bother. But if he suddenly had to cough up
$500 for his version of Office, then StarOffice would start looking a whole
lot more attractive.

Of course, they're not nearly dumb enough to do this. Whatever JP uses at
home is what he's going to be whining for at the office. Instead, they're
going to try to nickel and dime him to death with subscriptions and
transaction fees. And JP is very likely to go for it, because he's proven
time and again that he'll pay whatever you ask, as long as it can be done
with easy monthly payments.


> but you are right - cheap wins until something bad happens. I think
> some of the coordinated attacks on IIS & XP will change some people's
> perceptions. (NT/2000 is now considered a "kiddie-hack")

I disagree. JP has a very short memory.

MS has been campaigning hard to develop market awareness for .NET/Hailstorm
et al. And outside of the IT world, they really hadn't been all that
successful. Suddenly, the entire world is talking about these technical
problems that MS has been having. Of course, the conversations sound like
"ya, all their Hailstorm servers are down", and "the Microsoft InterNET is
down right now".

If it was my company, I'd be absolutely giddy at all the publicity this has
generated. In fact, if the service *was* ready to be restored the next day,
I'd have told my staff not to do it yet. There is no such thing as bad
publicity, and this amount of press is priceless.


John Taylor



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Jim Franz
> Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 1:35 PM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: RE my XP Windows got broke in a Hailstorm
>
>
> > -cheap
> > -easy to use
> > -cheap
> > -visually appealing
> > -and cheap
>
> until the day he needs that report, and the "network's down"
> until the day his competition read his email...
> until he's fired for not backing up his work & 6 months of work is lost...
>
> but you are right - cheap wins until something bad happens. I think
> some of the coordinated attacks on IIS & XP will change some people's
> perceptions. (NT/2000 is now considered a "kiddie-hack")
> jim
>

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