Friday, March 02, 2007

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story...

Marketing has been defined in a number of ways, by a number of people, for a number of years, but, basically, the definition is something similar to "the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service"... interestingly, I've not been able to find any definition that makes any reference to marketing having to actually be reflective of reality or, dare I say it, the truth.

So it shouldn't really have surprised me to learn that the marketing folks at IBM are foisting yet another...oh, let's call it a "good story" upon the world of business again. Reuters carried the story (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN2845453020070228), which was picked up by a host of other outlets, including the Washington Post... Basically, the new, earth-changing news is that IBM has reached a deal with Google to embed Google Gadgets into WebSphere Portal pages for IBM customers. The article goes on to blather about how IBM is (for the first time, you would believe) making it possible for businesses to leverage the really cool stuff that Google provides for business. Sounds great...except that it's not really a big deal. People seem to fail to understand that web stuff is web stuff, and portals are, well, portals. Making a big deal out of this is kinda like DirecTV boasting about bringing HBO to its customers, as though nobody had done it before (or could).

As evidence for my opinion, I offer http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/sharepoint/playground/Shared%20Documents/Gadgets.aspx.

Look, I have nothing against good marketing. I do, though, have a problem with misleading marketing...

'Nuff said.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

we've really missed you.

Just a guy... said...

Thanks! Wish I knew who you were!

Anonymous said...

Well said.