(someone moved the thread...)

JVP: Why do you think this is a brand marketing problem?

What other category of marketing problem could it be?

JVP: Your statement holds out the possibility that in fact, there may not be merit to this. Building a brand is a very difficult thing to do. It is also quite expensive to build the requisite mindshare. And assuming your assertion had merit, it would be expensive to address. It is unlikely that one could achieve an adaquate return on the investment.

< ROFL > Agreed that mind share is an expensive proposition. But "mind share" isn't a framework for thinking about brand marketing, just as "war on terror" isn't a framework for foreign policy.

Consider, for a microsecond, that getting MS Reps to stop saying "VFP is being discontinued" is almost costless in terms of marketing resource costs. This is percieved by hundreds of us as the largest single problem with VFP: it's sold short at source by ignorance. The cost of remedying this is one strong memo (and failing that, one strong demo) from the right person. And please, John, don't underestimate this: even this minuscule achievement is a multi-month proposition, because marketing implementation, however simple sounding, is never quick or easy, especially in the software field, and therein especially at Microsoft, where the ambient noise is so high.

If that doesn't seem like a sensible step in any marketing remediation program, nevermind this specific one, what does, John? Advertising?

I don't understand why we'd confuse advertizing with the sort of marketing that works, nevermind the sort of marketing VFP could best use right now. What VFP needs right now is marketing internal to Microsoft, for which nobody one earth is better suited than Ken Levy, and about which nobody knows about progress except for Ken, Ricardo, and several notable others, but that group doesn't include you or I.

So stop asking people "show me how VFP is being advertized" and "show me evidence of the internal sell-job" to prop rickety arguments, because they don't know, and you don't know.

But I know this, so do you, and everyone should be reassured: VFP's marketing resources are not being wasted. So if there's cause to bitch, that ain't it.


**--** Steve