On Jun 30, 10:15 am, InDeep <ind...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
[SNIP]
>
> REALLY? IF THERE AREN'T ANY CUSTOMERS BESIDES WALMART, WHAT ARE MY
OPTIONS?
> WHY WOULD I WASTE MY TIME WITH THE PRODUCT IF NOBODY OUT THERE IS USING
IT
> BESIDES ONE BIG CUSTOMER?
>
> INFORMIX :: THE DATABASE WITH INVISIBILITY PERMANENTLY BUILT IN.
InDeep,
Do you know why IBM sings the praises of IDS?
Its simple really. Its an organization where the members volunteer to
work on a grass roots marketing campaign with little or no help from
IBM.
If you look at the numbers from the cost of the IIUG's conference, and
the number of people "touched", IBM got bigger return for what they
spent than for a "brand" advertisement in a single ad.
Congrat's on the IIUG, and Eric's site for being the marketing arm of
IDS.
Oh TANSAAFL applies and some of the board member along with Eric et
al, do what they do because of their own self interest. (And there's
nothing wrong with that).
But unfortunately, the community is small enough and they're not out
there creating the buzz that one would expect from a "web 2.0"
company.
IBM doesn't want to invest their time/money/equipment in creating
that.
Because of this, those large clients that see value in IDS will
continue to use IDS and its to their advantage in keeping quiet.
To your point about a developer's program, its a loss leader. In order
to promote the program, you need to promote it across the board of SWG
and you need to have evangelists who can talk about using IBM's
products to architect a solution. Evangelists cost money, more money
that they want to spend or have buget for.
HINT: I know of a way of solving this problem. But again, you'd have
to fight silo politics.
Of course the bigger question... "Why should Senior IM execs spend
more money when they don't have to? I mean after all, look at IDS's
growth curve. As long as its growing, they're making money and hitting
their projected sales targets, who cares?" "Don't rock the boat as
long as you're successful and you're getting your ticket punched..."
BTW, getting your ticket punched is a military expression. I'll leave
it to the ex-military types here to explain it to you civilian
folks. ;-)
But hey! What do I know? Hmmm maybe enough to fill a book ? ;-)
-G
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