Dissecting Microsoft's Marketing Strategies

Okay, again, I'm really no marketing expert, but apparently neither are Microsoft's marketing people. 

First we had Mojave, a campaign whose sole purpose was to emphasize that Vista does have a serious perception problem, but people really are so stupid, we can trick them into buying it anyway.  I, personally, found it so lame that when my local channel rep called asking me if I was planning to upgrade to Server 2008 here at work, I told him, "No, I'm probably going to hold out for Windows Mojave when it comes out."  He hasn't called back.

Now we have the launch of what can only be thought of as a conspiracy.  Microsoft has now announced Azure, which is an OS for cloud-based applications.  Of course, they've got a bad name in OSes now, so it's really more of a "services platform."  (Make finger quotes in the air when you say that, by the way.)  I don't know what that is, but I hope that's cheaper than an OS.  What they call it is not the problem, it's what they named it that is baffling me:  Azure.

• (adj) azure: sky-blue, of a deep somewhat purplish blue color similar to that of a clear October sky

Uhhhh ... "clear October sky?" ...  As in, a sky that has no clouds ... much less any cloud computing?  Hey ... wait a minute ... 

• (n) cloud:  a visible mass of water vapor suspended at a considerable altitude   

So clouds are vapor ... as in ...  

• (n) vaporware:  products announced but not yet commercially available. Often used by suppliers to lock users in with the promise of great things to come.

I think I've finally cracked the code!

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