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March 23, 2006
Bye Bye ajaxWrite, Hello Hype
I'm reluctant to mention Michael Robertson's newly-launched "Word-killer" ajaxWrite. Why? Not because it's crummy, because it's not, but because getting you to talk about one of his gambits is Robertson's game. Call his approach "stick in the eye" marketing, or marketing by pissing big companies off. The essence is that Robertson does something that really bugs a big company, and then revels in the free publicity as techies talk about that bigger issue more than the product itself.ajaxWrite is a typical example. It's a perfectly adequate web-based word processor, but it's unlikely to have a real impact on MS Word. It lacks features, is web only, and is a service run by a company with unknown staying power. Nice hype though.
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Oh darn, Adam, I wish I'd caught that. Love when people accidentally invert their hyperbole.
Microsoft Announces Major Restructuring to Compete Against Google. Writely was very smart to sellout quickly. They would have been DOA.
damn, a MSFT killer is looking less likely every day.
;-(
By having a post about ajaxWrite, aren't you in a way adding to the hype (by way of spreading the word about the service) that you feel Michael Robertson is looking for? :-)
I know, I know -- a terrible trap, really. I thought about using an acronyn, like TASTCBN (The Ajax Software That Cannot Be Named), but that felt too cutesy, so I was stuck serving the hype.
To be fair, though, Robertson's announcement does include this line:
The impact of this shift in how software is delivered to users cannot be understated.
So I guess Robertson doesn't really think it's a big deal either.
Also, the service is delivering a 403 error right now. I don't remember Word ever doing that.