Marketing (was Re: Columbus analogy (Was: Corrections to trivia

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_ncal.verio.com>
Date: Sun Oct 11 15:24:39 1998

On Sun, 11 Oct 1998, Doug Yowza wrote:

> On Sun, 11 Oct 1998, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
>
> > Perhaps I'm cynical, ...
> > But I maintain that what determines the course of the industry is NOT the
> > quality of the technology, but the marketing. How else do you explain
> > the successes of IBM, MS, etc.? Surely not due to their superior
> > quality?!?
>
> No, not the "M" word! We just had a "marketing" thread and the term was
> tossed around like it was this magical thing that was responsible for
> everything that couldn't be explained by technical merit.

It doesn't explain everything, but you'd be a fool to think marketing is
not responsible for at least 50% of a product's success (and that's being
conservative).

> First of all, IBM can hardly be called successful. *In spite* of all the
> "marketing" they did, Taiwanese with no marketing at all were able to
> completely erode their PC market share.

Let me get this straight...you're saying IBM can hardly be called
successful? This must be a typo.

> Microsoft is certainly successful, but do you honestly believe it's due to
> their inane marketing? Puuhlease! They own the API, and their platform
> has huge momentum due to the number of software titles available for it.
> You can't fight that momentum with mere technical superiority, and
> certainly not with "marketing."

Sure, take the easy example of Microsoft, which was a fluke. They rode
the coattails of IBM and through sheer luck and determination ended up
where they did today.

Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Received on Sun Oct 11 1998 - 15:24:39 BST

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