There’s an age old school of thinking that says that its not how good something is but how good people think it is that counts. Whilst we are now somewhat calloused to this line of thought I came to thinking tonight how big a difference it makes in the world of technology.
A well known technology company is almost always considered either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. If I say Microsoft, you think evil etc. This plays a HUGE part of the way we, or at least I, think about a situation involving such a company. For example if Microsoft make a press release about some great new product X, then I’m instantly sceptical and begin looking between the lines for the hidden trap. Conversly if Apple make a similar announcement I focus almost exclusively on the good points and don’t worry if something might look a little strange under scrutiny. This is especially in a case where one company is making claims against another (good vs evil) which is, unfortunately, quite common and i would almost always instantly side with the ‘good’ company and trust their claims more.
A number of observations I’ve made about this:
1) A ‘good’ company would be able to slip dodgy things through with much greater ease.
2) When a ‘good’ company sides with an ‘evil’ company (No prizes for guessing what I’m thinking here), then it seems to drag them down rather than the latter up.
3) Why don’t more companies see this as a way of gaining market share? At the moment Sun is doing a fantastic job of turning themselves into a ‘good’ guy and IBM has already shown how a massive company can be successful doing this.
4) Even if you are just a company interested in nothing but money, screwing your customers for short term income isn’t the way to go.
5) I’m not saying everything should be open source (Though this would be nice), I’m simply saying that make a quality product and offer it in a way that is appealing and you will turn a profit. Raising lawsuits against people because you’re pushing shit to people isn’t the way to win friends.