I don't want to get too far OT here but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob has a good summary of what "Bob" was, and Melinda (French) Gates' role.
My point was that it is easy for the advocates of some product (in this case mainframes) to dismiss the success of some other product (in this case "squatty boxes") by saying "they're not REALLY any good, they just dazzle the customers with marketing." However, if one looks at Microsoft's admitted failure with Bob, one realizes that even with considerable marketing expertise and budget, you can't sell people what they don't want. If people are buying squatty boxes, it must be because they offer some benefit. And my larger point was that we will not succeed with mainframes by denying the capabilities of other boxes, but rather by recognizing those capabilities and competing with them. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Carol Srna Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 5:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Just another example of mainframe costs. What about asking Melinda Gates about "Bob"? What's up with that? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
