Friday, May 05, 2006 5:49 PM
?
Google has it, Apple's got enough to bottle and give away.
What am I talking about? It's Coolness.
Coolness that most fickle and allusive of all sort after qualities, sells. Admittedly it's no guarantee of success or even profit but it it desirable and certainly an aid to help your product fly off the shelves.
So is Microsoft cool? Only amongst the die-hards and apologists perhaps, but not the man in the street.
IMHO Microsoft's image is pretty cheesie. The video about if Microsoft designed the iPod box, here, is a parody but it isn't a million miles from the truth.
Microsoft still sells products by the bucket load, so is there really any point in wanting to be cool? Perhaps not, but remember Keeley's law, a product must be capable, viable and desirable. It's a three legged stool. If the balance isn't just right the stool isn't comfortable to sit at best to not being able to sit on at all at worst.
Recent additions such as on10 are recognised efforts to help rectify this situation but they aren't Amanda yet.
So, what do you think Microsoft should do to become cool?