Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Path: sparky!uunet!timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!bgm
From: b...@cray.com (Bert Moshier)
Subject: Watching OS/2
Message-ID: <1992Mar20.182352.4325@hemlock.cray.com>
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 20 Mar 92 18:23:52 CST
Everyone / Anyone:
I am attaching my article from the first issue of OS/2(tm) Monthly
Magazine. The copy included a cartoon, as will all of the future
columns. Get a copy to see the cartoon. A picture is a thousand words
and this mesasge doesn't have the room. This article is the first of
two parts on the marketing and advertising of OS/2 2.0. The second
part is at the printer.
It is my plan (not a promise) to release a machine readable copy of my
previous copy when the next one is about to come out.
Those who have a copy of the first issue will notice a difference
between this copy and the one printed. An accident occurred and the
magazine published a draft copy not the final one. This is the final
copy as I planned on it appearing. IMHO, it is **MUCH** better but
then I am the author and bias.
The lesson I learn? Never share with the publisher a draft copy unless
you're willing for it to go to press.
Bert Moshier
(c) Copyright Bertram Glenn Moshier, 1991. All rights reserved.
Watching OS/2
By Bertram Glenn Moshier
As I look out over the OS/2 plain, I see OS/2 version 2.0 rising like
the Phoenix. Many people within and outside IBM share this view of the
future. We see OS/2 as a great operating system worthy of being the
desktop operating system of the 1990's. However, we also see a storm
cloud threatening to turn this Phoenix into yet another layer of OS/2
ashes.
OS/2 has one chance, one window, for success and it is rapidly closing.
Our joint concern is that the IBM Communications department is not
"hungry" enough to step out of IBM's past. This department's
ineffective effort to advertise OS/2 is the storm cloud on the OS/2
horizon.
Today's computer marketplace differs in very fundamental ways from the
marketplace of just 10 years ago. Frank Carey, during his 1980 Share
keynote speech, said mainframes were moving to the desktop and
programmers must adapt to this change or find another profession.
Moving the mainframe to the desktop changed every aspect of computing,
including its advertising and marketing. This movement empowered the
end-user and his department in very basic ways. IBM sales methods must
adapt to this change or IBM risks its entire business.
The IBM image is of a company that sells hardware and corporate
solutions. During the 1990's, this image will not only fail to assist
IBM, it will hurt sales. Computer buyers look for companies with open
systems who are willing to share information, take suggestions, and
provide end-user solutions. Many IBM employees are working towards
these goals, but the IBM Communications department prevents the
consumer from seeing these efforts.
One example is the IBM TCP/IP products (for VM, MVS and OS/2). A well
known consulting firm calls them the stealth TCP/IP products, since
they really fly and deliver for the user but no one knows they are
there. What good does it do IBM, its shareholders and the end-users to
have a technically superior product without any advertising? Will this
happen to OS/2 version 2.0? Will it be a product that no one knows
exists?
IBM's attempts at mass marketing during the last two years show it does
not understand the consumer. The ads are abstract, obscure and don't
include the essential information a buyer requires. The OS/2 2.0
announcement at the Fall 1991 COMDEX was both feast and famine. The
juggler inside the wooden triangle was more than obscure, it was
boring. Many other examples of poor marketing and advertising
techniques exist, especially in the current OS/2 print advertisements.
IBM needs to work with, organize, and educate the computer industry,
the business community, and IBM itself at the grass roots level. As a
first step IBM needs to:
- Establish a high-powered OS/2 Consumer Marketing unit within each
trading area.
IBM and its branches need to realize that end-user expectations
come from what IBM says, and from competitor marketing methods such
as those employed by Microsoft. OS/2 Consumer Marketing
(Evangelist) units must be close enough to the grass roots
consumers to hear and assist them, and high enough to assist the
corporate direction.
- Have high level executives publicly speak about OS/2 and its
future.
In the 10th anniversary year of the PC, magazines are quoting Bill
Gates' opinions on where the PC is heading. Is there an IBM leader
who can give us a vision of the future? Lee Reiswig tries, but the
IBM Communications department fails to spread the word effectively.
OS/2 end-users need to know and be able to talk about the OS/2
future. We know IBM has plans for a portable OS/2, but we have no
specifics. I, as a strong OS/2 supporter, know more about what
Microsoft plans for Windows/NT than I do the IBM plan for OS/2.
People don't want to change operating systems every few years.
They need to know what the IBM plan is and feel they have some
control over their future.
- Inform people about OS/2 (usage, migration, etc.) by using TV
informational commercials like the SOLOFLEX advertisements.
- Provide OS/2 supporters with feedback and listen to their
comments.
We strongly suggest expanding on this idea with a marketing
advisory board made up of OS/2 supporters. The view from outside
is that no one within IBM has the authority to act on a good idea
even when they see one.
- Create OS/2 Learning Centers in each branch area.
- Actively show that OS/2 is an open system.
OS/2 advertisements must show OS/2 running on compatible equipment.
IBM branches need to include clones in their OS/2 activities.
IBM needs to share OS/2 ownership with end-users, ISVs and OEMs.
- Package OS/2 with the PS/2.
- Lead the industry and end-users by consensus!
- Promote the creation of a national OS/2 end-user group like Guide
and Share.
- Treat OS/2 as a mass market product, and show the public IBM
understands this fact.
- Advertise IBM OS/2 expansion products such as TCP/IP 1.2 for
OS/2.
- Do not cut back on OS/2 marketing and advertising staff or
funding in this downsizing period. Expand the groups.
In summary, IBM is failing to define the OS/2 customer properly. The
OS/2 customer is everyone using a 386SX or above. This includes much
more than Fortune 500 I.S. Directors. IBM moved computers into the
mass market. OS/2 is a mass market product and IBM must show the
public it understands this fact.
IBM will damage the OS/2 future if it alone sings OS/2's advantages.
People need to hear many "independent" minds speaking positively before
they will take the time to retry it. This is just human nature. A
grass root OS/2 movement exists and IBM needs to water and tend it.
As Spencer & Son quoted in PC Week (12/9/91)
This is your brain: IBM OS/2 PM
This is your brain on drugs: Microsoft Windows
-- 30 --
Bert Moshier is the president of the Minnesota OS/2 End-user Group. He
has been working with VM systems since 1977, and as a VM system
developer since 1979. He became interested in OS/2 in 1989 when
PC-DOS, MS-Windows, SUN's PC-NFS, Mansfield's REXX and KEDIT would not
play happily together on his PC-AT. You may reach him through this
publication or on the IBM BBS (Bertram Moshier) at 404-835-6600.