Oh, Origami, what art you?

March 2, 2006 By

Tons of Origamisms over on Memeorandum.

Kirsten Osolind had something that caught my eye, though. She asks if Origami is going to do well with women?

Oh, Kirsten, you haven’t seen the final product. I haven’t yet, either. (I’m seeing it on Monday). It’s going to be shown to public for the first time at the CeBit expo in Hannover, Germany next week. Oh, and over on Channel 9. ;-)

There’s no way this thing is going to be able to meet the expectations of the hype being placed on it.

Let’s talk at the end of next week and see what you think then.

Filed Under: Blog Tips, OS

More details on Origami

February 27, 2006 By

News.com has more details on the Origami. I’m getting a good look on Monday morning. Right before the team hops on a plane to go to the CeBit conference in Germany.

Filed Under: Blog Tips, OS

The danger of not letting your bloggers know… (more Origamisms)

February 27, 2006 By

What’s the danger of not letting your internal bloggers know about your product release plans? They might not be able to help keep your announcements in proper perspective. But, that’s OK. Todd Bishop, of the Seattle PI did more work over the weekend to dig into the details behind the Origami project. He learned that there isn’t going to be a product release on March 2, but that we’ll learn more details. John Markoff of the New York Times has more details too. And Memeorandum is tracking a bunch of comments.

Kent Newsome asks “will it walk the walk?”

Whenever hype gets ahead of an announcement, the answer has to be: no.

But, then, you gotta realize that I totally agree with Joe Wilcox who says that the best companies underpromise and overdeliver. ;-)
Maybe I should have posted that no one will want an Origami and that it sucks raw potatoes.

Seriously, let’s keep our hype in check, OK? Where’s the snarks when we need them? Calling Christopher Coulter, calling Christopher Coulter!

Oh, and marketing teams, I know you don’t want to let bloggers in on the secret, but when you don’t tell us what’s up we can’t help you keep expectations under control. Now everyone expects Origami to be bigger than the Xbox. I’d much rather expectations were dialed down a bit.
To bloggers outside Microsoft: it’s not healthy when things get hyped up so much. Whenever a company does this (whether it’s the one I work for, or another company), ask some tough questions. I have a ton. What is this? Who will want it? When will it be purchasable? When will there be decent quantities on the shelf? What are its limitations? Who’ll think it sucks? Who’ll think it rocks? Are any real customers using it yet? What will the price be? What will the real price be (after you deck it out to work properly?) When will we be able to get our hands on one? Does it have a chance in the marketplace? Why? Will Patrick Scoble want one of these instead of a video iPod? Why? (And, yes, as soon as I have one in my hands I’m gonna show it to Patrick and see if we have a clue).

Anyway, it’s gonna be a fun week. And not just because of Origami stuff. See ya in New York!

Filed Under: Blog Tips, Games, OS

Origamisms

February 26, 2006 By

I can’t visit a memetracker like Memeorandum or TailRank without seeing something about the Origami project. There’s pictures, on Engadget, and there are videos and other speculations elsewhere.

My own Origamisms started back last Spring when I visited Otto Berkes in his office and saw that he was tinkering with dozens of portable devices. Otto was one of the four guys, I hear, who started the Xbox team, but now was working in building 32, which is where the Tablet PC team was hanging out. He showed me some wood prototypes that excited me. They were small, would open up new usage models (I want to buy one for my son, for instance, to take to school to take notes on) and were fairly low cost.

Anyway, I’m going to keep my mouth shut about the rest of the deal, cause Otto and his team deserves their day in the sun. Let’s get back together on March 2 after the announcement and see what you think.

Filed Under: Blog Tips, Microsoft Office, OS, TabletPC, Uncategorized
Newer Posts »