Oddly Together

Oh My Goodness

Earlier today, Michael Gartenberg, my boss from when we both worked at JupiterResearch, retweeted Pete Bernard’s “development goodness,” which linked to Sam Jarawan post “Why I love Windows Phone 7 Development.” Somebody has got to save the world from all this goodness.

On Oct. 24, 2006, I posted to the defunct Microsoft Monitor blog (JupiterResearch is gone, too):

I’m fascinated by corporate culture and how vernacular spreads through a company’s messaging. Sometime last year [2005], I heard someone at Microsoft use the word ‘goodness’ to describe one of the company’s new products. I found the usage unusual in context but dismissed it until I heard the word again. And again. And again. Now it’s a rare product briefing when goodness isn’t used someplace.

I blog about it now, because I’ve started hearing people outside Microsoft use goodness in a similar way: “It’s all goodness,” or something like that—and usually in reference to a Microsoft product.

Tragic is the blandness of the word. And it’s kind of meaningless in the context usually used. Better: Microsoft propagating something more catchy, within and outside the company that achieves some real marketing objective. The viral spread of goodness shows the way for Microsoft to achieve, ah, well, greater goodness.

Five years have passed since I first heard a Microsoftie utter “goodness.” What? Is the corporate culture there so insular, so isolated that such jargon just goes on into perpetuity? I Binged and Googled microsoft.com for “goodness” (The Bing results proved useless). My God, it’s epidemic! I demand a moratorium on goodness.

[Photo Credit: J. T. Gorus; courtesy State Library of New South Wales]

[Editor’s Note: This post was moved from joewilcox.com to oddlytogether.com on May 8, 2011.]

Do you have a tech culture story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

TechFlash Podcast: Apple, Microsoft Retail Clash in San Diego

Editors Todd Bishop and John Cook invited me to join this week’s TechFlash podcast to talk about the epic retail clash in San Diego, where on the same day Apple released iPhone 4 to the masses and Microsoft opened its fourth retail store in the same shopping mall.

I’m a better interviewer than interviewee. Too many “ahs.”

Do you have an Apple or Microsoft story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

Even Paper is Better Than Windows Mobile

Say, does anyone remember that the Census Bureau was supposed to use HTC handsets running Windows Mobile 5 this year? I briefly blogged about the strange deal on April 6, 2006: “When New Technology is Old Again.” The post appeared on my old joewilcox.com blog, which content recently migrated to Oddly Together.

HTC handsets running Windows Mobile used for the 2010 Census go oddlytogether—or they did four years ago. The Census Bureau had reportedly planned to buy a half-million handsets for this year’s count.

I wrote in April 2006:

Is the Census Bureau getting ahead of itself to get behind the times? Cell phones have changed much in the last four years, as has Windows Mobile. Where will the technology be in 2010, and surely Windows Mobile would have advanced a version or two. Considering the census data usually is years old before it’s released, there is something karmic about the situation.

Well, well, how optimistic was I? Change? Couple new versions? Apple hadn’t yet announced iPhone, which shipped in June 2007. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s mobile OS stopped major versioning; the software advanced little since 2006. The dramatic handset changes since 2007 sure would make those 2006-vintage cell phones look rickety.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that when the census taker came to my apartment building in April, she collected data the old fashion way—with pen and paper. No HTC handset. No Windows Moble. No stylus. 

I wonder. The Census Bureau planned to buy those phones. But did it—and waste taxpayers’ moolah? According to several stories from July 2009, including “2010 kicks off with Windows Mobile,” the Bureau did deploy some handsets. Oh yeah? So why did my census taker use paper and pen? She surprised me by being a former NPR journalist, who knew her tech. Surely she was capable enough to electronically collect data.

Perhaps I should have posted this item at Betanews, but it’s short, refers to a post on this blog and asks more questions than it answers. Now an expose on why the Census Bureau used pen instead of stylus would be appropriate for Betanews. But not this week. Apple’s developer conference, which starts tomorrow, will be a black hole sucking up tech news readers.

[A few minutes later] Oh, hell, I can’t let a good story go. I did some quick Googling. Computerworld (March 6, 2008), Federal Computer Week (April 7, 2008) and CIO Insights (May 20, 2008) explain how the handset program ran aground and why the Census Bureau largely switched back to pen and paper. Windows Mobile wasn’t the reason for the program’s failure but costly mismanagement.

Perhaps that was lucky for Microsoft. Just imagine the punditry about Census workers using aging Windows Mobile 5 handsets when Android phones, BlackBerries and iPhone are so much more advanced. Engadget had a boner for the HTC Census handset in April 2007. The mobile looks oh-so 1950s today.

Photo Credit: US National Archives; Census tabulation, circa 1950.

Do you have Census story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

New York Dog Walkers Bing? What About California?

Microsoft has this nifty marketing promotion where New York City dog walkers wear Bing T-Shirts. Hell, why not any city in California? The people out here are dog nuts, sometimes walking two or three animals at once.

I like the concept, but c`mon, Microsoft, what’s up with the search links? In Microsoft’s blog post promoting the service, the link to partner Big Paws, Little Paws doesn’t go to the outfit’s Website. It goes to a Bing search page. After reviewing the Bing Community blogs, I see this kind of cheap linking—to drive search engine traffic—is common practice. Ah, ha! So is the Microsoft’s secret weapon for gaining search share against Yahoo! (but not Google)? ;-)

[Photo Credit: John Thomas, 1895, The National Library of Wales]

Do you have a marketing story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.