It seems that Microsoft’s biggest critics, bloggers, are now being asked to write what ‘People-ready business’ means to them as a way to bolster the phrase and Microsoft’s association with business. This strikes me as a flailing attempt to garner support in people’s minds to think of Microsoft as a business software company. Yes, they own the Office productivity market. Yes, they own the OS market. No they are not ‘People-ready business’. (and no I am not going to link to their site!)
If they were people-ready they wouldn’t need to resort to trying to convince the market that they are. Apple has done a better job of marketing a people-ready image, especially with the Business vs. People concepts in their commercials. What does it really mean to be people-ready? Here is a short list of descriptions of what I consider to be people-ready:
- Easy to install
- Easy to operate
- Stable, reliable
- Intuitive
- Consistent in it’s presentation
- Providing more substance than flash
- Exceeding expectations, not underwhelming people
- Providing what you advertise
- Thriving amongst competition, not burying competitors
- Giving people what they want, not what you want them to have
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While some of these opinions would require a fair amount of evidence to back up, others seem to be the general sentiment amongst bloggers. So If you really were ‘People-ready business’, why wouldn’t you realize that people like bloggers generally don’t like your business?
Just for giggles I went to their site to see the commercials that they are using to see this concept… What an amazing collection of vapor ware. The commercials indicate that the world will be this idyllic place without problems, and with instant solutions all because businesses use Microsoft software. When did this software come out? I don’t remember seeing it on any shelves…Oh I get it, they are pushing the same stuff they had last year, just telling us it’s something new. Why actually develop the products you claim to produce, just convince people that you provide them.