FIRESTORM!
New wave IT analyst James Governor has written a long, long post that picks up on last weekend's hubbub about the "sexiness" (or lack thereof) of enterprise software, a hubbub that started with Robert Scoble scratching his Charlie Brown-like head, moved on to Mike Krigsman accusing Scoble …
Context & Ripple Effects
The weekend flare-up began when Robert Scoble questioned the 'sexiness' of enterprise software, drawing a rebuke from Mike Krigsman in a December 9 piece arguing Scoble doesn't understand the category — the latest chapter in a running tension over Scoble's vendor entanglements that dates back at least to his 2006 full-disclosure post.
What makes Nicholas Carr's 'FIRESTORM!' post notable is who just joined: RedMonk analyst James Governor has written a lengthy treatment of the dispute, moving it from blogger sniping into IT-analyst territory and giving the 'is enterprise software sexy' question its most serious airing yet.
First-order effects
- Scoble is now facing criticism on two fronts — Krigsman's direct accusation and a sustained analyst-grade examination from Governor — rather than a single rebuttal post.
- Governor's entry turns a personal spat between two prominent bloggers into a named debate that other enterprise IT commentators must decide whether to answer.
Second-order effects
- Enterprise software vendors find their category's public image being argued over by consumer-web voices, pressuring marketing messages built for buyers rather than blog audiences.
- The attention economics of the 2007 blogosphere reward escalation — each new long-form entry from a known name extends the cycle and pulls more analysts and bloggers in.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, enterprise software gets increasingly judged by consumer-web aesthetics rather than procurement criteria — a shift toward what might be called fashionized computing, where desirability becomes part of the sales pitch for unglamorous back-office systems.
The trend: Tech blogging in late 2007 is dragging enterprise software into consumer-web terms of judgment, with analysts like Governor mediating between the two cultures.