barry.b wrote:
Scott, what I don't get is (reading between the lines) Robin's position as a technical evaneligist (sp?) has been made redundant.
I'm guessing that it's no way personal (how can it be? he's a hard working straight-talker that knows his stuff) but organisational.
I have no idea the reasons why? i just assumed it was Robins personal choice to move on? is there more to the story? I know Robin has done an outstanding effort for Macromedia not just ANZ but world wide, through his upfront honesty. We Australians can pick most of the time bullshit a mile away, and that was what was good about Robin in that he gave it to you straight and you didn't feel like you were getting fleeced by some corporate suite. Thats something you just can't order in from a Recruitment firm imho.
so how can we trust workshops or product launches without someone like Robin's "cred" attached to it? who'd take it seriously? Who could they get to do as good a job (and if they get someone then clearly there is a need so why let Robin go?)
Maybe he's the whipping-boy because sales ain't as great as MM(US) wants. But that's just short sightness and not wanting to lay the blame on others (eg: pricing set by MM US - Breeze and Flex as examples?).
If thats the case, then thats just a sad day for all of us in many ways as we all base our majority of our development skills around some macromedia products.
Its just me but i feel that Macromedia is starting to get more Enterprise focused and less medium business. TQ is regarded as an Enterprise and yet we admit that the price models are hard to swallow and its not because we are doing it tough or are to cheap? rather the opposite.
examples: (1) At my prev employer (a private RTO) one of things that helped decide to make the swap from teaching ASP to CFMX was the technical support available that gave the org the confidence that it was a correct decision. That meant MM/CF licencing went from 1 CF4.5 to 3 new CFMX licences. Robin helped make that sale. His activity on CFAussie (and elsewhere) helped provide that confidence.
Ditto in many ways, thanks to one of Robins launches, i got decided to hangup my CFMX boots for a while and go pro-flash. This later resulted in TQ buying into Flash technology more, which resulting in purchase of Flash Com and maybe FLEX. All pretty much to one guy and his abilitiy to provide ACTUAL information.
(2) (was it really a year ago?) that we (the RTO) recieved an invite by Robin to a FCS and flashcom workshop, held at TQ. It took me a couple of months take-up time before I realised what a brill idea the technology was, and since then tried to get all and sundry enthused. Sure the RTO have yet to purchase any licences for FCS and I've sinced moved on but they are starting to "see the light" - and it all started with Robin "just doing his job".
Not only that, but while he was at TQ, he also helped us with consultation on bestrates.com.au and what not!
so who (and in what position) are going to be doing what Robin did? is anyone? who's going to run workshops? product launches? straighten out the on (and off) -list misguided rumors (like this one)? surely MM(anz) aren't going to fly someone over from the US? and we are all sick of trying to get technical answers from glorified sales managers thrust in front of an audience!
who is going to continue to give us - us who spec a system and tender for jobs - the confidence that using MM product is both long term and viable.
Australia is NOT a little outpost to the US market. We have timezones, local conditions, local infrastructure ("what do you mean you can't get broadband!?"), local knowledge to consider.
I'm ill-equiped to comment on John Trelor's move within MM(anz) but I can't help feeling we've been shat on from a great height with Robin's departure.
some one please prove me wrong or give us more info than Robin's "so long and thanks for all the fish" email.
I keep hearing that Johns moved on or something like that? where was i when this was announced? whats he doing etc.
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Regards, Scott Barnes - http://www.mossyblog.com http://www.bestrates.com.au
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MXDU2004 + Macromedia DevCon AsiaPac + Sydney, Australia http://www.mxdu.com/ + 24-25 February, 2004
