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The Press Releases of the Damned

Harry writes "Once upon a time, Microsoft said that Windows Vista would transform life as we knew it. Palm said its Foleo was a breakthrough. Circuit City said firing its most experienced salespeople would save the company. And Apple said that Web apps were all that iPhone owners needed. I've collected the original press releases for these and other ill-fated tech announcements, and annotated them with the facts as they played out in the real world."

4 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not worth reading by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Informative

    AutoPager for FireFox or
    Re-pagination

    AutoPager requires 'plugin' scripts for sites (which there is one for technologizer). But it makes it look like one page.

    [header]
    page 1
    page 2
    page 3
    [footer]

    Re-pagination works on most sites I've tried it on (other than those damn Javascript "next" buttons). But it loads a copy of each of the pages.

    [header]
    page 1
    [footer]
    [header]
    page 2
    [footer]
    [header]
    page 3
    [footer]

  2. And some comments on press releases... by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 4, Informative

    My favourite, regarding the announcement of the iPod:

    No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame
      -- CmdrTaco

  3. Re:Not worth reading by teslar · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well obviously. "Anonymous Coward" has been here since the very beginning and has an even lower UID than CmdrTaco ;)

    If I remember right, the AC has an (internal) UID of 666 - which would by higher than CmdrTaco's 1 :)

  4. Re:I wonder. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    As a PR/marketing flack myself, I'll freely admit that I'm an embittered mercenary, as I think most in the profession are. But the problem is not us marketing people; it's just the nature of the industry. 1) No one will read a press release unless it claims a huge benefit. No one reads press releases to begin with, but a press release that makes only modest claims will just get drowned out in the overwhelming 24/7 noise of the modern marketosphere. 2) No client will approve a release that makes him sound anything less than the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and his product anything less than the Holy Grail 2.0. 3) Selling is hard, stressful work. You can't afford to have a rational conversation with the public about the merits and demerits of your product, because your job is on the line if the sales curve slacks, so you've got to do your damnedest to sell the thing, no matter how awful it is.