Actually, that would be FAT tire (as on the mountain bike that is used as the illustration on their bottles), not Flat Tire! Try their Loft beer, which is especially yummy with Bluegrass music.

Met with Sanjay Parthasarathy in Redmond last week who turned me onto MSFT bloggers. Up to 800 now, he says. Rather impressive.

Like your blog; learning much. One niggling thing: wanted to point out one thing re blog entry on 6.24.04 post. I think you may mean fat tire, not flat tire.

re: "TW, a Flat Tire is not always a bad thing.  It's also the name of a very good US microbrew made in the Belgian style."

Just want to make sure your readers get their suds... See below:

http://www.newbelgium.com/beer_fattire.shtml

FAT TIRE: "While so many beers these days want to be super flavorful ... unique ... or just plain weird ... the good people at New Belgium Brewing decided to make their Fat Tire Amber Ale a beer that tastes good and is easy to swallow. Sure it has flavor-a woodsy one-but the texture is more impressive. This is so smooth...you'll probably drink a whole bottle without even realizing it...."

--Paul Semel, RayGun Magazine


T.C. Doyle
Sr. Exec. Editor
VARBusiness Magazine
tcdoyle@cmp.com

Oh, I know. I know. NDAs aren't going away but that doesn't mean I have to like them. And even with NDAs, I expect your blog to be very valuable. After all, any words from your thought processes are better than no words. Just let us glimpse into that keen mind of yours because it's always great to know how successful people think.

However - if given a choice between signing an NDA or no NDA - think about the value of being open with others and being able to collaborate because you are not bound by some lawyerish document.

I lean with Layne on this one. As always room to hash-out things behind-the-scenes before things are formulated. But the “NDA culture” has it’s own set of problems. Other countries often times aren’t on the same schedule, and the information can be out there, in say Asian markets, but the USA/European markets deny it exists. And NDAs create a 'tattle-tale' culture, just look at the MVP program per se, most time is spent in-fighting. And co-ordination is always seemingly up in the air. People 'staying on message' long after launch, witness Toshiba's PR per the M200 on that one. A NDA culture creates an atmosphere of fear and trembling, and frequently higher up Exec's break such NDAs, and then the teams are left scrambling, having to deny what a CEO/CIO/Exec just said. And the iron-hand culture, kills any sort of fun or daily news happenings about it all or any Marketing whatsoever. Look at Apple for a case of extreme NDA command and control, people cannot even get badges for the blding next door, told not to ask and a real Stasi 'everyone-is-a-spy' corporate culture. No fun. Reduced to a cultic niche, with a ever-falling market-share. Something like Channel 9 from Apple? Do be serious.

But this “I have seen the future and it's just grand but you will have to wait”, doesn't hold water. The future is a moving target, and promises are false until proven, as so much pie-in-sky grand plans that turn vaporware.

But see, in the case of Longhorn, which by all practical purposes, should all be under NDA, does not follow the mold. But given the long-time gap, and the need to foster sustained interest, things are more out there and open. At PDC, in fact, people (or the “entire world”) were asked to point out problems and future directions. So certain times when showing your hand, works wonders.

And, taking issue with computer history, Osborne was more a supply-chain management problem; hypergrowth, difficulty meeting demand, and then serious quality control issues with the Osborne 1. The leak was an excuse, as the company had seriously masked the overall financial picture, early Valley accounting style. I know it’s common Silicon Valley yore to blame Adam’s “leak” for everything, but history is a good deal more complex. But Osborne’s last-minute efforts to raise $20 million in VC monies were unsuccessful. And Kaypro Computer, Apple II and the 16-bit IBM PC nipping at heels. And who’s to say Adam's announcement was, in fact early? Maybe they just couldn’t deliver, given the track record and history of that company, quite likely. I mark it all more down to hypergrowth problems and fraudulent accounting. Placing all cards on the “leak” is backtracking and misses the overall picture.

That being said, cool, glad you are here. :)

Sorry for going overboard. :)

More at work here than JUST the early showing. Serious Egomania, False Promises, Accounting Fraud, Blind to Competitive Threats (IBM), Venture money as a drug, Manufacturing and Quality Control problems, Software as the main hook, Supply Chain problems, Order Backlogs. In short: unmanaged hypergrowth, Boom to Bust.

And it was only a 3 month lead time, if that was "way too early", it says to me, he had nothing but a jazzed-up demo unit. Adam's ego got the best of him and he was showing off smoke and mirrors, and got caught. You have to factor in that the next version will decrease the price of the prior, and prepare for the off-market. The single-point of failure was not his publicity tour, as VARs, OEMs, Marketing and the press almost need a 3 month timespan to prepare. Sounds all normal, industry-standard practices to me, prep in Feb. deliver in mid-April. The problem was not the early showing, it was all in the poor planning all around. And those canceled orders, were mainly backlogged units, hence had things been better managed prior, well the transition would have flowed more smoothly.

http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n3/24_Osborne_Comptuer_Corporat.php

Key passages...

Adam Osborne is one of the most charming, persuasive, egotistical, and supremely confident people in the computing field, indeed, in all industry. Of the failure of his company, he says, "I don't feel any personal embarrassment."

A premature announcement? Well, not exactly. To give the jazzy $2495 Osborne Executive a running start, Adam began orchestrating publicity early in 1983. We, along with many other magazines, were shown the machine in locked hotel rooms. We were required not to have anything in print about it until the planned release date in mid-April. As far as we know, nothing did appear in print, but dealers heard about the plans and cancelled orders for the Osborne 1 in droves.

Rob, I completely agree with you concerning the NDA. I also appreciate your use of easy-to-decipher acronyms. Please don't "Reader's Digest" your blogs. Reading them in the manner that you write them now makes me feel that I am reading from the horse's mouth, from the cutting edge, and from an opinion that holds merit. If the acronyms aren't easy for everyone to figure out, don't worry. Your information is not geared towards the mass consumer, nor should it be. It is worth more to retain the level of respect your writing exhibits.

PingBack from http://greenteafatburner.info/story.php?id=2523

PingBack from http://cellulitecreamsite.info/story.php?id=5585