● 12.29.08

●● Microsoft AstroTurfing, Part II

Posted in Microsoft at 5:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

FOR CONTEXT, see this post about Microsoft’s AstroTurfing getting exposed. The following has just been released to the public domain.

I gather that new interest has emerged in the content of the internal training seminars that I gave to Microsoft’s Technology Evangelists back in the 1990’s.

As you know, I had planned to write a book on this subject back in 2003, but so much of the core material was Microsoft Confidential that I was at risk of prosecution had I revealed it. The entry of this material into the public record eliminates that risk. I have recently found myself with time on my hands, so I am now proceeding with the book.

I expect to detail the theory and practice of Technology Evangelism at Microsoft in the 1990’s. While some may say that this is ancient history, that can’t be entirely true, because the underlying theory hasn’t changed. In markets that are dominated by network effects, standards battles are still, inevitably, winner-take-all struggles to be the first to achieve a critical mass of complementary goods. As to whether Microsoft’s *practice* of evangelism has changed—well, you’ll be able to judge that better than I.

The other thing that makes such a book timely is the emerging battle to control the standards of cloud computing. This is likely to be the most important standards battle since at least the Browser Wars, and perhaps since the DOS Wars, because the winner will be in control of the entire software stack from the hardware in its proprietary server farms right through to the cloud application APIs. No part of the computing industry will be unaffected by this outcome. For Microsoft, losing this battle would be fatal, so it is likely to use every trick in the book. In my book, that is.

If you’d like to help make this book available, I would welcome your helping me find any material entered into the public record (in the Iowa case or any other) that deals with Microsoft’s evangelism practices, First Wave programs, etc.

Interested?

Thanks!

James Plamondon

Stay tuned. A book on Microsoft AstroTurfing may be coming, thanks to James. █

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