Platform Evangelism 419
An anonymous submitter writes "James Plamondon, a former Microsoft employee is writing a book on Technological Evangelism at Microsoft. He's posted the first chapter, "Evangelism is War."
Robert Scoble, a current Microsoft Evangelist doesn't like the metaphor, but Micah Alpern is concerned Microsoft could use similar strategies against Macromedia Flash."
mac vs linux vs windows vs etc. (Score:2, Insightful)
If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone be (Score:4, Insightful)
MS has destroyed company after company that tried to work with them or cooperate with them. Adding MacroMedia to the list would be no surprise. In fact, if you can name a company that depends on MS to any significant extent, then I would add them to my list of "endangered companies". It takes them longer to get around to some than to others is all.
MS only thinks of technical evangelism as war if you idea of war is scorched earth that nobody can live on.
Re:As much as I hate to say it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:3, Insightful)
Consider for a moment that Wired article [wired.com] on the downfall of SUN Microsystems. One recurring theme in the personality of McNealy, SUN's CEO, is his inability to cooperate with the competition and instead his insistence on turning competitors into enemies and market competition into war.
If MS does this (and they may indeed), this is merely business as usual among many of these corporations. Corporate America is not a day-care facility; companies can and do play hardball. The question is not "does MS want to help or hurt the competition" but rather "did MS engage in illegal anti-competitive practices which are bad for the consumer and bad for the market." I don't see you answering that question.
Wal-Mart destroyed the competition. And, yes, some say Wal-Mart is evil. But all they did is healthy, normal competition, no?
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:2, Insightful)
It's funny hearing this from the same place that thinks BSOD jokes are always +5, Funny. The Slashdot Community is nauseatingly evangelistic about Linux to the point of modding down people who don't join in with their pitchforks.
Re:mac vs linux vs windows vs etc. (Score:3, Insightful)
Pawns? (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if Microsoft understands how motivating it is when people to learn it regards them as pawns? In the last couple years Microsoft has succeeded in motivating me to develop software for the Palm OS, and now for OS X...
Re:Macromedia in trouble? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was an Evangelist too (Score:5, Insightful)
One very good point he makes is the idea of empowering other people to create materials about the technology you are evangelizing. It was amazing to me that I could get a lot of high quality help out of people for just a little public recognition, or some free software, or a nice gadget. People like to feel like they are helping with things that they feel passionately about. Heck, that's one of the reasons why the Linux movement has done so well, since just about anyone can dive in and start contributing in some way.
The problem I always experienced was from internal groups who were afraid of losing control of the corporate image. For example, we talked a lot about providing open forums and community sites for end users and consultants to share their solutions. This ended up being a series of communities we called CoolSolutions. But the actual code and solutions that people wrote went through a gauntlet of legal and marketing people, and it really wasn't an "open" community, it was all carefully screened.
The book "The Cluetrain Manifesto" talks a lot about these issues with large companies afraid to give up control. I think the right thing to do is for companies to loosly try to encourage an "ecosystem" around their technologies that then becomes self supporting. In this sense, they are practicing biomimicry in the form of crop diversity. You could think of internal PR and marketing departments as monocrops that are very susceptible to a single bad link, such as a sucky chief marketing officer. Diversity is good, and a product evangelism is one role that can encourage corporate "crop" diversity.
As an aside, I'm currently looking for a job. So if anyone in management read this and said, "product evangelists? I've gotta get me one of those!", then you can get to my resume here. [dailey.info] or e-mail me at twid @ projectjellybean.com. I don't smell, I brush my teeth several times a day, I have no open oozing wounds, and I'm great fun at parties.
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:2, Insightful)
Right, because we all know this type of thing is never done by companies like Apple, Borland, IBM, Sun, Cisco, etc. Or (heavens forbid) people who advocate open source software. At least company wars are fought in level fields - the "good vs. evil" mentality that permeates most open source zealots is downright cynical and pathetic at best.
(btw, spare me the "m$ is a monopoly so teh [sic] rules are difrereent [sic] with them" line)
Re:mac vs linux vs windows vs etc. (Score:2, Insightful)
microsoft is not a tech company (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft is responsible for macromedia's success (Score:5, Insightful)
In the old days, when you hit a site that has flash content, and you don't have it installed, it would try to install Flash. The dialog box has no option to permanently refuse Flash, so sooner or later everybody just gives in.
This policy allowed Macr to reach critical mass. Now brosers ship with Flash. Now you're telling me Microsoft is against Macr?
Good Heavens (Score:5, Insightful)
The truth - the almost sinister truth - of that statement grips me at my soul.
The trick is that folks think they're making a choice to purchase a merely single item, be it a CD, and DVD, a software package, a computer, a vehicle, or a politician (with a vote or literally with a breifcase of money). The reson this is a trick is that by making that choice, the purchaser endorses the entire chain of policies and events that bring that product to the shelf. You're literally saying, "whatever happened to get this product in my hot little hands, it's okay by me because the price is right.
Until I read that line above, I hadn't thought of the entire hegemony that lurked behind a price sticker with the kind of laser precision that the author used to word it. And I always thought I was a reasonably self-aware guy. HOLY SHIT. His side won, and I didn't even realize I was in a battle.
I'm making that line my sig. Nothing woke me up with quite the same jolt that it did. Maybe I'm just dumber than I thought I am. Is it just me?
GMFTatsujin
Lever analogy flaw? (Score:3, Insightful)
Harware Support: Linux outshines Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
yes, windows outshines Linux in that it supports more commercial hardware and that most companies only make drivers for windows.
By commercial hardware, I assume you mean components and peripherals which are compatible with what we know as the "IBM PC". In terms of platforms supported, I think you will find that Linux runs on a far greater variety than does Microsoft Windows. Think SPARC, Alpha, PowerPC, ARM, MIPS...
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Guy Kawasaki (Score:1, Insightful)
Microsoft evangelists are brainwashed idiots.
I hate them both.
And like every rule there are exceptions. I've met Apple user(s) (albeit only one so far) that was actually a really cool guy. I've also met many Windows users who are just using it becuase it allows them the most freedom to run almost any application, and used Linux whenever they could on spare boxes.
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:5, Insightful)
They have been convicted of doing just that. Everybody knows that.
Re:Flash is dead (Score:5, Insightful)
No authoring environment.
Without a well designed, functional UI, how can SVG hope to compete against things like Flash? It's all well and good for the programming types to go : "Wow! SVG is great! I can write a few dozen lines of code and make a circle go from point a to point b!" but the bald fact of the matter is that programming types are not responsible, and will not be responsible, for doing the graphic design and animation. And for good reason : they usually suck at it (people like Maeda and the like aside). Designers are used to, and require, professional class UI and organizational tools (things like timelines, text tools, visual hierarchies, etc.) to do what they do in an efficient manner. Having a good GUI would help things, but Flash already does tons of things that SVG MIGHT do in a year or more.
And Flash is perfectly capable of handling XML and database-driven content, thank you. The fact of the matter is that as of today, SVG is an esoteric curiosity, nothing more... which may well change, as Adobe and Microsoft both are getting mighty anxious about Flash and it's capabilities.
Now, I'm all for Open Source, but come on -- I'm not going to get on the "If it's proprietary, it's EVIL" bandwagon. Macromedia has spent tons to develop Flash to the point where it is now, and has done so in a fundamentally benign manner, especially when compared to things like the GIF fiasco and the other various predatory business practices out there. They have a right to make money off their product, the Flash application itself.
Re:I was an Evangelist too (Score:3, Insightful)
It was amazing to me that I could get a lot of high quality help out of people for just a little public recognition, or some free software, or a nice gadget.
I think this is a very important point, and one that explains why Microsoft has the upper hand on Linux. These things all generate mindshare and loyalty, whereas just paying someone to do the same work won't produce the same results. For you developers: Would you be more inclined to start programming for Linux if your product got mentioned in a press release? If you were given a suite of otherwise expensive development tools? Or a Sharp Zaurus? I know I would be.When Microsoft gives away products, people think they're getting something valuable. When users download a Linux ISO, it's something that, legally, isn't allowed to carry a measurable, monetary value. Finding a way to make people think about your product as something with intrinsic, definable value makes it more valuable, for everyone involved.
--Jasin Natael
How to counter? (Score:5, Insightful)
Developer-specific:
Open Source should make sure to set de-facto standards - release early, release often.
Define your data formats in something well-known like csv, sexp or xml so other open source programs can make use of them. Better yet, use a relational database backend with a public schema of views. It'll make most development easier, and all MS's best products do that, anyway. It's great (very convenient) for business use, and easy given the existence of postgres,mysql, sapdb sqllite, etc, etc.
At the same time, don't get too hung up on data format standards - MS has shown that so long as your next version reads them, that's good enough, your next version doesn't have to use the same data format as its native format, so long as it can read the old format.
MS has shown that what matters is to get a product out there, capturing mindshare - once a user has psychologically committed to your product, they'll probably stick with it, even if your next version is a ground-up rewrite so that it actually works. And if you release for windows, code to libSDL+OpenGL for games, and use cygwin, qt or gtk for utilities. NEVER use the Win32/.net directly API for new applications, even via WINE or Mono - that's one of the "proprietary standards" the chapter excerpt talks about (don't beleive the ECMA-standardisation
For general evangelism to non-technical audiences
Make sure that your desktop runs a window manager with a really snazzy theme and some flashy applications (xmms...) when anyone drops by. Current Linux WMs can outclass WinXP in flashiness stakes. Contrary to popular opinions, consistency doesn't seem to matter a great deal - if the program is flashy enough, it might be a consistency nightmare, but will impress the yokels (don't call them yokels). It doesn't hurt to have a speech synthesis program e.g. festival going to read the subject lines of incoming mails, or some other geek-gimmick. Appearance is everything to the non-geek (and geekiness is domain-specific, a DIY geek who sees straight through gimmicky power tools won't necessarily see through flashy computer GUI gimmicks)
Try not to get all philisophical on I.P. issues. Stick to "you have the right to change it or ask/pay someone other than the original manufacturer to change it for you. Like taking your car to a garage.". Anything more complex doesn't work for MS, it won't work for you. Yes, you may think I.P. is an absurdity. But most people are keyword-scanners. The message they'll get is that you're "anti-property". Yes, information is non-scarce and therefore you should't mindlessly apply scarcity-based property laws to it, yes, the very idea of information as property runs counter to the scientific method, but boring them by droning on about it won't help (I just droned on about it, and you damn-near switched-off, didn't you?)
Re:Hate Flash too - Re:As much as I hate to say it (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone (Score:1, Insightful)
What kind of socialist doublethink is that?
If they are the COMPETITION they goal is to make sales at your expense. There is no "peaceful co-existence" in this situation. You either combat them headon, combat them in a more subtle manner, or simply just file for bankruptcy.
A large company can "cooperate" with a smaller one in such a way as to destroy them (e.g. licensing a technology, then "embrace and extend"-ing). Two competitors can work together against a third (e.g. airline marketing agreements). A dominant company may prop up a small competitor to avoid being considered a monopoly. Competing companies may work together on mutually beneficial projects, each thinking that they're getting the lion's share of the benefits. And so on.
"Socialist doublethink"? Ha! Grow up, kid.
Re:I was an Evangelist too (Score:2, Insightful)
This, in a nutshell, is the power of Linux, and what makes it such threat to Microsoft. Microsoft's business has always been low end computing. They got to be a powerhouse because they get a percentage when computers became a commodity.
Microsoft's problem is that the operating system its self is going to become a commodity, and who or whatever can serve up web pages, or word processing documents or create images or whatever the cheapest wins. Linux is a pretty strong contender here; the price is hard to beat, and it does the job well.
Re:Good Heavens (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, of course, you go to Fry's, as do I, because they have 10,000 different types of case fans, and you can pick the exact one you need. And the good experience of knowing that if you want something, however obscure, you can get it at Fry's drives you to go to Fry's without thinking.
But this can change in an instant. When Apple Stores started opening, I found out that I could get amazing, first-rate service for almost exactly the same price I was paying at Fry's. Sometimes it was actually cheaper (especially in software). So now I only go to Fry's for things I can't get at the Apple Store. Above a certain price, I'll check both and generally give the Apple Store a slight preference because I just like their service so much better. For Apple-brand stuff, I know all retailers are within a dollar or two of each other, so I just head straight for the Apple Store. (Mail order might give you a two percent discount and a lousy free printer; not worth the bother).
The point I'm making is that it's easy and rational to form a preference, and then not examine it until something new comes along. That is clearly the goal of companies like Fry's. But this does not eliminate competition, and when better alternatives come around, shifts do occur.
It's a pity there is such a huge buy-in with an operating system purchase that it's very difficult and expensive to switch. My operating system choice (MacOS X) determines my video editing program of choice (Final Cut Pro) and keeps me more or less locked in to my Photoshop, After Effects and Illustrator licenses - even though I could cross grade when updating, this would be difficult and time consuming.
I think Apple would have a much easier time gaining market share if this buy-in effect was not so strong. The buy-in effect, when used as ruthlessly as Microsoft has, is truly brutal.
D
Re:mac vs linux vs windows vs etc. (Score:4, Insightful)
Like i said, when Linux is set up by someone who knows what they're doing it will outshine. What you've said is indicative of wanting the product to suit you, when you should be adapting to your tool. Learn to code, it's really quite simple. Write the drivers you need, and don't expect others to do it for you or expect a piece of software or hardware to just miraculously adapt to your needs. Using a computer isn't like just turning on a television. Really sometimes I wonder, and think people should be licensed to own a computer before complaining.
Like I said, when your television is set up by someone who knows what they're doing it will outshine. What you've said is indicative of wanting your television to turn on when you hit the power button, and somehow display shows that you enjoy, when you should be adapting to your tool. Learn a little electrical engineering, it's really quite simple. Build a VCR out of parts, don't just expect to buy one and have it miraculously work. Using a television isn't like using a hammer. Really, sometimes I think people should be licensed to view a television before complaining.
Yeah, mod me down. I've got a useless comment quota to meet.
These guys make me cross (Score:5, Insightful)
* Independent software vendors (ISVs[4]) assume the presence of Windows on the consumerâ(TM)s PC.
vs.An electric toaster supports the American electricity standard if
* Its plug can fit into the American-standard electrical outlet, and...
How can anybody seriously compare this kind of free-to-implement, non-trade-secret, properly documented standard with what MS does?
Standards organisations define standards, companies implement them. That way you get this thing called competition that's quite popular with economists.
Part, but not the whole. (Score:1, Insightful)
It is only MS that believes that THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.
MS was given a monopoly when IBM licensed MS-DOS for their PC.
MS has managed to leverage that monopoly into the empire it controls now.
MS knows that if they ever lose that monopoly, they lose their profit margins. There will be no more stock option millionaires.
So MS fights any other possible competition using any legal (and many illegal) means possible.
Evangelism isn't war.
The computer industry isn't a war.
MS only sees things in this fashion because MS feels the need to maintain its monopoly.
And that belief is hammered into their employee's minds over and over and over.
When you talk about "competition", you are talking about taking away their retirement.
Or their house.
Or their car.
And so forth.
Re:I was an Evangelist too (Score:3, Insightful)
AMEN! I can't begin to express how great Linux is for developers. It's like you said... The OS is becoming a commodity. But vertical market applications are NOT, nor will they likely ever be. Right now, you're fighting against a HUGE range of incompatibilities. Not the least of which are hundreds of complicated online services that run only on IE.
Entrenched vertical market apps mean that organizations have no flexiblity in choosing a new platform -- heck, most of my big jobs over the past two years have been cleaning up, patching, and rewriting apps so they'll run under Win2000, since the companies couldn't keep running Windows 95 anymore. Nowhere has there been discussion of an OS change, for two reasons: (1)Porting the app to another, less familiar platform would have been much more work, and a lot more debugging, and (2)many sites needed for daily business were IE-Only.
There's got to be a way to get the developers on your side for this. Help them understand Linux well enough that the development costs for (re)writing vertical market apps is not so much higher than for Win32, and make sure IE isn't the only working browser
It can be done. And the best way to produce the desired effect, is to make current Windows developers more familiar with Linux. Give stuff away on physical media; Force them to think about Linux whether they want to or not. Make them realize that Linux has value, even if they don't have to pay for it. It'll help your cause to do the same with browsers. Give away a copy of Mozilla Firebird on CD, or Opera.
--And while you're at it, get ready to do the same for OpenBEOS; It looks like it's gonna rock--
--Jasin Natael
Re:Hate Flash too - Re:As much as I hate to say it (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not the box that should meet sepcs, it's the webpage. It's about seperating content from presentation.
Flash is a great medium, but has nothing to do on the web.
Flash "Royale" vs. MS "Future Product" Not So Much (Score:5, Insightful)
Flash won't be a threat to Microsoft as a "full platform". The primary reason is that Macromedia is great at marketing their products - but architecutally their product line lacks consistancy of vision and execution. Flash for example has, over the past three versions proved time and time again that it lacks a reliable, and easy to use programming environment, an absolute necessity for building truly sophisticated ui's and functionality.
Don't get me wrong - there is some amazing flash work out there. Kudo's to the design/developers that were able to produce such things. The road to such accomplishments however is frought with errors, head scratching and mysteries.
This is primarily because Macromedia seems to think that it's OK to produce API level functions that don't behave as expected so long as they are documented. See Macromedia 'Technotes' [macromedia.com] for further ammo er info. I think somewhere along the way someone at Macromedia misread "Test and Deploy" as "Deploy and Test". Most have to do with I/O such as load movie, getUrl, and loadVariables. Solid multi source I/O is an absolute necessity for building fully featured "rich client" applications. JavaScript is also not an acceptable language for building real applications. Especailly Macromedia's implementation which has a very loose object based approach to dealing with items in the movie. Flash is also slow. On machines who are not as "swift" as their high speed grand children - high complexity movies are sluggish and don't respond well.
What this all comes down to is the fact that from a technology perspective, Macromedia lacks a coherent architecture for accomplishing complex tasks that will be required to build "Royale" and there is a good chance that developers first taste of Royale will be a bitter one.
Re:Hate Flash too - Re:As much as I hate to say it (Score:4, Insightful)
It hasn't been that for years. The web is anything a person with server space wants it to be.
Re:I was an Evangelist too (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you misunderstood my point. My point was that just the mention of someone's help in a readme, or on a mailing list, or other non-physical help is a great motivator for people too.
While the ability to pay for giveaways and sponsor other freebies is an advantage for commercial software companies, I see Linux User's Groups getting similar sorts of free stuff from hardware vendors, and I see no shortage of Linux related freebies at conferences.
In the BSD world, I know a couple people that are BSD committers, and they are held in respect by others in the BSD world. Just that is a powerful motivator for them.
So, what I'm saying is that corporate software companies should emulate the free software world and give more people outlets for contributing articles, white papers, and code without reviews from the marketing or legal departments.
Giveaways are nice too, and it all adds up when you're going for a "network effect", so your point is still a good one. And yes, people *do* do crazy amounts of work for just a little recognition and some freebies. Look at the Microsoft MVP program, for example.
Re:Hate Flash too - Re:As much as I hate to say it (Score:2, Insightful)
OK who's the moron that modded this drivel insightful?
This is the web, not .pdf. What he's expecting is exactly the design specs for the web, and thus he has every right to expect it. If your webpage isn't usable at 640x480x256 then it's your fault, and there's no excuse. Assuming your webpage isn't a picture-diary or something, there's no reason he should have to have a screen at all to access it!
Re:Hate Flash too - Re:As much as I hate to say it (Score:1, Insightful)
It does, but everybody is abuseing the ease of use to create Flash content.
If it's well designed and actually usable I don't have a problem with it.
This does count out 99 % of the current flash sites