Microsoft has become the old IBM. And I don't mean that in the dominant sense, I mean it in the lethargic, mid 1980's sense. Have a look at the evolve campaign they are using for Office, for instance. In many ways, this has got to be the most insulting campaign I can ever recall seeing. What is MS saying about their current user base? That they are witless dodos, unable to get anything useful done unless they upgrade right now. Just look at the online ad (which is also in this week's PC magazine, right at the front).

The critical guy is in the field, so guess what? No progress - can't possibly move forward. Umm, has MS heard of this new thing called email? I seem to recall collaborating with it as far back as the mid 90's. Is it as good as team tools that can do online linking? No, probably not. On the other hand, if the guy in the field is at a site - hotel or office - with a firewall, what's the liklihood of that firewall allowing Office tool interop outside the LAN? Pretty close to nil, I'd say.

This campaign insults current users, and it's technically illiterate to boot. Looks to me like Scoble has his work cut out for him.