Microsoft´s "Red Bull" back in the pen

January 18 2006

Gee, that's funny... Microsoft has pulled the beta of the newly announced version of the Application Analyzer for Lotus Notes down from microsoft.com.  The entry on the page referenced in yesterday's press release now just says "coming soon".  The old 2003 version is still available.

It couldn't possibly be that all that bad publicity associated with failed installations, FUD-based hardcoded limits, and faulty application recommendations has lead Microsoft to reassess the beta, can it?  Perhaps they should have reassessed the press release instead.

Ed Brill Las Vegas, NV USA Category:  Microsoft  Add/View Comments [13]

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  1. 1  Dan http://techandother.blogspot.com | 1/18/2006 8:06:55 PM

    Seems like this is what usually happens when there's more focus on the marketing than on the actual product. I'll always prefer to find the product that's been through the R&D and QC wringer than a product that is pushed to market, simply to be in the market.

    The question is, why did they release it in the first place in its current configuration? Seems like a last grasp at a corporate collaboration industry whose cutting edge is quickly accelerating beyond their current reach.

    Interesting development!!

  1. 2  Paul Mooney http://www.pmooney.net | 1/18/2006 8:31:07 PM

    Simple reason... released to try to knock wind from the Lotusphere sails over the next week.

  1. 3  Roberto Boccadoro  | 1/19/2006 2:26:49 AM

    @2 Good point. I wouldn't define it a success though :-)

    This is a good example of the value that bloggers have in the IT space and in the market in general. Once MS (like any other company to be honest, maybe less aggressively) would have issued the press relaese and then could have go on with the FUD without any contradictory. Yes, there would have been someone who testing the code found it to be crap, but no easy way to tell the truth to others. Now, assuming that the blogger is honest and authoritative (and this is definitely your case) there are tons of people who read him and then can make their ideas based also on his experience. I believe that it will be harder and harder in the future to spread FUD as easily as it has been in the past; at least in cases like this one where there is a product to put under test.

    RoB

  1. 4  Nathan T. Freeman  | 1/19/2006 2:46:03 AM

    @3 Someone better tell Dan Lyons, then. After all, edbrill.com is really just an attack blog against MS and Radicati, dontcha know?

  1. 5  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 1/19/2006 10:05:34 AM

    Jeez, did these guys hire the Smatiem Fix Pack QA people? They're the only other people I know that pulled something so quick. Although the ST folks do something like post, pull, post, pull, post, pull, post...

  1. 6  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 1/19/2006 10:08:26 AM

    @3 That's a great point, Blogs do have an impact. Microsoft long touted Excel as being able to run Lotus 1-2-3 Macros. <sarcasm>It was very true, it could run the one's that did the equivalent of "hello World" and not much else.</sarcasm> But preception from the marketing was you could take 1-2-3 macros and just run them on Excel. The truth was very different. Sadly we didn't have blogs to try help fight that FUD. FYI my definition of FUD is different to most, mine is Fear, Uncertainty and Deceipt. I always found that applied very well to MS.

  1. 7  Duffbert http://www.twduff.com | 1/19/2006 11:07:28 AM

    @5... "Smatiem"... Is that a new IM package you're working on, Carl? :)

  1. 8  Tony S Lee  | 1/19/2006 11:54:07 AM

    @3 WRT reporters, I also have more confidence that a blogger would have actually tried the products in question rather than just copying and pasting from the marketing material.

  1. 9  Roberto Boccadoro  | 1/19/2006 12:30:17 PM

    @7 - Nah, they do not make keyboard for big fingers :-) Carl himself told me that some time ago :-)

  1. 10  Duffbert http://www.twduff.com | 1/19/2006 12:42:58 PM

    @9... LOL! I'm sure Carl will give me grief in a couple of days for that comment. :)

  1. 11  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 1/19/2006 6:48:16 PM

    @7 No it was my example of the Sametime QA folks ;-)

    @9 That is the real reason, I can knock out a concerto on a tiny violin, but give me a keyboard and weeeaaahhhh. You going to be at LS Roberto?

    @10 I'll find you in ESPN and use you as a bar stool :-D

  1. 12  Sean Harris  | 1/19/2006 9:37:09 PM

    As we go through the years things seem to change, but when we look behind us at the years gone by we find they really don't.

    Edward Gibbon:

    I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.

  1. 13  Roberto Boccadoro  | 1/21/2006 2:47:06 PM

    @11 - Posting from the Dolphin, Carl. First round is on me when we meet :-)