OS/2 Users Make History By "Connecting The World"

Palm Harbor, FL -- November 1, 1996 -- History was made on Saturday, October 26, 1996, when OS/2 users from around the world organized a global demonstration of IBM's OS/2 Warp 4 (code-named "Merlin") over the Internet. This was the first presentation of its kind conducted independently by customers on a worldwide basis for a computer related product (perhaps for any product), thereby demonstrating the power of OS/2 and the Internet.

During the event, the CtWwM Help Desk in Florida recorded OS/2 users from 28 countries, including: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Lithuania, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. OS/2 users registered their sites via our web site (which recorded over 5,000 accesses during the day), the InterCom Internet telephone (where we had as many as 43 users concurrently at one time), and by e-mail.

A summary of the project (and graphics) can be found at: http://www.tbos2cla.com/ctwwm/

Project Audit

The following project audit was excerpted from the Editorial Page of the December 1996 issue of the OS/2 CONNECT newsletter (scheduled for distribution in mid-November). It was prepared by the Project Manager, Tim Bryce, Editor of OS/2 CONNECT.

How We Connected The World

During my 20 years in the business I have participated in a wide variety of project audits, both for clients and internally within my own company. When performing an audit it is important to stick to the facts and learn from your successes and mistakes. I don't see any reason why the "Connect the World with Merlin" (CtWwM) event should be treated any differently.

As you probably know, CtWwM was a demonstration of OS/2 Warp 4 orchestrated independently by OS/2 customers on a worldwide basis. The event was held on Saturday, October 26th at computer stores, universities, cyber cafes and other institutions. On that day, OS/2 users conducted demonstrations of the operating system as well as interface with other users over the Internet (through a web site and Internet telephone). The intent of the project was to convey a sign of customer confidence in the product. Such a worldwide demonstration of customer support is unprecedented. I do not know of any other instance where customers independently organized and conducted a worldwide marketing program. From this perspective alone, the project was a resounding success.

By The Numbers

Based on the updates to our world web map, the discussions with users at the Help Desk in Florida (via Internet telephone) and e-mail messages received, we know that:

• 165 sites from 28 countries participated in the event. This surpasses our original estimate of 150 sites. We suspect there were many more sites participating in the event but failed to contact project organizers for some unknown reason. For example, we know there were 77 sites planned for Germany alone, yet we only heard from a handful of them. We also didn't hear from Israel who had planned three sites.
• Over 1,000 volunteers participated in the event. Based on the feedback we received from the volunteers, we conservatively projected that OS/2 was exposed to 15,000 consumers. This represents a 15:1 ratio of consumers to volunteers (on the average, one volunteer connected with 15 consumers). From a marketing perspective, 15K may seem to be an insignificant number. However, when you consider this demonstration was performed with minimal funding and with some credible customers, this becomes a rather significant figure. There were several reports that volunteers helped to "sell-out" OS/2 at various computer stores. A lady at the Fry's Electronics store in Anaheim, California was so impressed, she purchased OS/2 Warp 4 and a new Pentium/133mhz based computer after talking with the CtWwM volunteers.
• The overall reaction to OS/2 Warp 4 by the consumers was very good. Based on the Project Review Forms returned by the Site Coordinators, the overall reaction to the presentation was rated a 1.9 (based on a scale of 1-high/good to 5-low/bad).
• Our world web page was accessed over 5,000 times during the one day event, representing another positive sign of interest in the project and the product.

From a product perspective, the "hot buttons" for the consumers were (in order of priority):

1. Speech Navigation/VoiceType Dictation - this was far and away the most interesting feature to the general public.
2. Integrated Internet capabilities.
3. New graphical user interface with the WarpCenter.
4. Sample OS/2 applications demonstrated (such as ColorWorks, InterCom, and the Application Sampler CD-ROM).
5. Multitasking (the stability of multitasking under OS/2 amazed even the more ardent Windows users).
6. Java support (although many consumers were at a loss as to how Java would directly benefit them).

There were many other highlights demonstrated, such as the Internet telephone, but those listed above represent the most popular features of OS/2 Warp 4.

The biggest weakness of OS/2, as reported by many Site Coordinators on the Project Review Forms, was lack of support for Win95/NT applications. Although other weaknesses were reported, lack of Win95/NT support garnered the most attention.

What We Did Right

On the positive side, we did several things well...

• Good administration - early in the project I realized we needed a mechanism to track the volunteers and demonstration sites. For this I used our OS/2 based Repository (the "PRIDE" Information Factory) and IBM Works. This provided the means to sort and search for volunteers by various attributes, produce volunteer logs and e-mail addresses, and print shipping labels. In other words, we had adequate control over the resources.
• Good communications - notifying volunteers of project developments was very important. To this end we issued bi-weekly updates via e-mail to volunteers. Since this project was a voluntary effort, issuing a project update every week would have been more time-consuming and may have inundated volunteers with too much information. Bi-weekly updates seemed to satisfy everyone. Beyond this, we did a couple of other things right in terms of communications:
  • The concept of Country/Regional Coordinators (where someone acted as a "territorial manager") worked very well. These coordinators were invaluable in terms of organizing events and solving local problems, as well as communicating with Florida.
  • The Site Coordinator concept (where an individual manages all activities at a demonstration site) was also successful.
  • Web pages were very helpful in generating interest in the project and communicating with volunteers at the local level. National CtWwM web pages were created in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, and Sweden. Our private "Download Area" web page was also helpful in terms of delivering last minute updates to volunteers.
  • The OS/2 Help Desk, as implemented by the Tampa Bay OS/2 Users' Group (TBOUG) using the InterCom Internet telephone was very successful in terms of answering technical questions and as a public relations tool for talking to people around the world. As an aside, IBM and other vendors should consider using such a tool in Help Desk activities.
• The Script was good but could have been improved by adding more detailed instructions for demonstrating every facet of the product. The script was implemented as an INF file (for use with the OS/2 View utility). It was suggested earlier in the project to implement it as a set of HTML files. Although this was certainly possible, the INF format was efficient and easy to implement (and no one objected to the format).
• Generosity - it was amazing how many people came forward to make contributions to the project. The CtWwM logo, the store posters, the CtWwM web site, the web client/server software, and the 3rd party software, etc. were all provided on a gratis basis. As Project Manager I needed to only broadcast a message that I needed something and the volunteers responded immediately. Many thanks to all of the people for their generous support. Needless to say, such generosity greatly reduced the cost of the project.
• All OS/2 show - our insistence to keep CtWwM an "all OS/2 show" is an important one in that it demonstrated the power and availability of OS/2 programs (an area the press contends is a serious weakness of OS/2). By using OS/2 apps throughout the project, we were not only able to effectively demonstrate the availability of native 32-bit OS/2 programs, but how they can greatly outperform their counterparts in the M$ world.
• Back-up - our web back-up site was provided by the Central Alberta OS/2 users' group (CAOS) in Edmonton, Alberta. Although it wasn't necessary to use their services, it was a wise move to have a back-up sight.

What We Did Wrong

No project is without problems though and CtWwM was no different.

• Client software - the concept of the "client" software needed to communicate with the CtWwM web server was a good one and our volunteers invested considerable time developing it. Basically, the software provided the means to update the world map and extend greetings to other OS/2 users. Unfortunately, users reported problems executing the software, particularly over the IBM Global Network. However, other users experienced no problems whatsoever when using other ISP's. Needless to say, the software needs to be made more "bullet-proof."
• Web server - the CtWwM web server went down inexplicably a handful of times during the event. Fortunately, our WebMaster had a good re-start procedure which brought the server back up within minutes. Regardless, whenever the server went down, the OS/2 Help Desk was flooded with Internet telephone calls. In hindsight, it would have been helpful to provide the Help Desk with the means to directly monitor and control the Internet server.
• Internet access - IBM generously provided accounts to access the IBM Global Network. Unfortunately, several users experienced difficulties logging on with the accounts provided and opted to use a different ISP instead. These Internet access problems were inexplicable.
• Shipping the demonstration kits - This was perhaps the biggest snafu in the entire project. Although all of the demonstration materials were delivered to the packer on time, the packer botched the shipments causing them to be delivered very late (if at all). To make matters worse, the packers used boxes that were much too large causing the contents to bounce around and damage some of the CD's and diskettes inside. Tighter control over packing and shipping (including shipment tracking) is required if this type of project is to be implemented again.
• Contacting the press - key members of the press (particularly those in the computer industry) were routinely apprised of project developments. Further, we issued two press releases internationally and many others at the local level. Unfortunately, we received very little interest from the press at any level. It appears that the press was either not interested in the story and/or did not like receiving the press releases via e-mail (most wanted to see the press release in fax form). Personally, I find it rather disturbing that technology reporters have an aversion to using simple technology (such as e-mail) for collecting news. Even though we posted our press releases in key areas on the Web and the Usenet Newsgroups, accessing news in this manner is evidently at a level of sophistication most technology reporters cannot comprehend. If we were to do this type of project again, it would be highly desirable to have a dedicated "press secretary" to maintain a data base of media contacts and work with the press.
• IBM support - ever since we approached IBM with the concept of this project last February, interest from the vendor can best be described as lukewarm at best. It took us a long time to get any interest from the powers that be at IBM, almost to the point where we almost decided to conduct the project separately from IBM without their acknowledgement. At times we felt IBM regarded CtWwM as more of an annoying curiosity as opposed to an important marketing event. This is not to suggest our project liaison, David Barnes, didn't faithfully work with us. In fact, he did an excellent job with what little resources he had at his disposal. However, IBM was very reluctant to provide the volunteers with copies of OS/2 Warp 4 and promotional materials (as I told various project volunteers, we had to beg for supplies from IBM).

Bottom-line, we lacked polish in certain areas of the demonstration and support from IBM was weak.

Conclusion

Was CtWwM a huge success? No. But it was a good first start. In spite of all of our problems, we still succeeded at getting the word out to 15,000 people; not bad for a loose confederation of customers with little marketing experience.

On the Project Review Form we asked the Site Coordinators, "Is this type of event worth doing again?" Everyone responded with a resounding "YES". However, a lot depends on IBM. Personally, I do not believe IBM has properly exploited the energies of its OS/2 customer base, thereby missing an important marketing opportunity. If we had better leadership and support from IBM, we could go a lot further in the promotion of OS/2. An army of OS/2 advocates have been mobilized, but does the vendor know how to lead them (or even want to)? The IBM PC User Group Relations does a nice job of tracking user groups but does little for stimulating marketing programs such as CtWwM. If the proper incentives and support were implemented by IBM, there is no telling how far OS/2 customers would go in terms of promoting the product in a cost-effective manner.

Copyright © 1996 by M. Bryce & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the writer and CtWwM Project Manager:

Tim Bryce Editor, OS/2 CONNECT M.
Bryce & Associates, Inc. (MBA)
777 Alderman Road Palm Harbor, FL 34683
United States
Tel: 813/786-4567 Fax: 813/786-4765 BBS: 813/786-4864
E-Mail: TimB1557@aol.com CompuServe: 76235,2364 WWW: http://warp.eecs.berkeley.edu/os2/connect/
MBA: Developers of the "PRIDE" Information Factory(R) and Batch Manager
Since 1971: "Software for the finest computer - the Mind"

IBM and OS/2 are the registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

This document has not been reviewed or approved by IBM and the contents herein are solely the responsibility of the volunteers in the "Connect the World with Merlin" project.