NC (NetPC) attack plan

Date:

Synopsis
Already covered: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/19/gartner-corrupted-by-microsoft/

Analysis: Monitoring and attacking potential NetPC accounts, lobby Gartner to fraudulently show Windows TCO as lower, feed the press fake 'the NC is dead' stories, spy on the Open Group.

Snippet
Date; To: Brad Chase, Jim Allchin Cc: Adam Taylor, Yusaf Mehdi, Windows Marketing, IF. Marketing From: Keith White, Windows Org lVlktg. Team RE: Windows Organizational Marketing 2H FY98 Plan

Executive Summary

The Windows Org marketing team has spent the past 6 months fighting the TCO battle, addressing the threat of the NC, executing a number of Windows sustain marketing programs, as well as begun the preparation for the launch of Windows 98 and Beta 2 of NTWS.

Some of the highlights include:


 * We have been closely monitoring, attacking, and winning NC threatened accounts


 * successfully lobbied and changed the Gartner Group TCO model to show Windows as providing the lowest overall TCO


 * Developed and shipped the Windows 95 Zero Administration Kit


 * Wrote and shipped the beta version of the Windows 98 Resource Kit


 * Successfully trained our field sales force and channel on the benefits of Windows" 98 in corporations


 * Executed on a number of high level keynotes and tradeshows, including a massive PDC and Comdex


 * Executed an informative Banner’s & Bridges exercise to find and address key issues with NTW becoming the default OS in organizations


 * Developed and began implementing the corporate plans for Windows 98 and NTW5


 * Developed corporate focused demonstrations of Win98 and NTW5


 * Presented over 80% of the desktop focused EBCs, Win98, and MESs

Even witht this Work, organizations are still in a state of confusion on the desktop. They have the issue of running multiple versions of Windows (Win95 Gold, SP1, and OSR1, 2, or 2.5, and NTW4, SP1, 2, or 3) in their environment. There is still a significant amount of Win16 (~35% of the installed base), the Year 2000 issue is taking away focus and diverting resources away from evaluating new OSs, and Windows is still expensive to deploy and support. Corporations see NTW5 as the silver bullet, and many are planning on bypassing Windows 98 in order to deploy NTW5, however many of the TCO benefits are tied to NT Server 5.0, which could expand the evaluation cycle as well.

Given the above situation our 4 main objectives for 2H FY98 will be to:

1. Increase Win32 penetration in corporates to 65% in FY98 by focusing on NTW4 sustain activities. With the huge mind-share NT3 is demanding, it is critical we continue to sell today’s products in order to increase Wn32 penetration. Along with Billsha’s OEM team, we are implementing a number of NTW 4.0 sustain activities including an "NTW Means Business" campaign to drive customers to purchase NTW pre-installed on new systems. We are also demonstrating customer momentum and standardization with case studies at high profile events such as the MMS/Intel Workstation Leadership Forum, and working with the OEM team to promote the advances NTW has made in driver, mobile, and application support.

2. Deliver a worldwide launch of Win98 to corporates in FY98, by delivering a core set of evaluation and migration tools. Though NTW is the recommended product for organizations, we are positioning Windows 98 to corporates as "A smart upgrade if you can’t move to NTW’. We are executing on a corporate and partner-driven Rapid Deployment Program in order to understand deployment issues and generate PR references. We are also developing tools such as a Deployment Guide and a Zero Administration Kit for Windows 98, as well as working with analysts to demonstrate the support and deployment cost savings realized with Win98.

3. Prepare our field, channel, and customers for a worldwide launch of NTW5 in FY99. As Billg has stated that Microsoft is "betting the company on Windows NT5", we are focusing the majority of our efforts on ensuring we generate early wide scale evaluation of Windows NT 5.0 via the Windows NT 5.0 Corporate Preview Program. We’ll gain knowledge of deployment issues and process from the Rapid Deployment Program, build tools such as the Evaluation and Deployment Guide, and educate our partners and customers on how to deploy via a series of Windows Technical Workshops and Deployment Conferences. At the same dine we are synching with the NT Server, Office 9, and the IE 5.0 teams to promote "Platform 99" as the next generation business desktop.

4. Halt the NC from making any noise in FY98. Though the NC has failed to live up to its early threat of mass PC replacement, we are actively tracking threatened accounts and monitoring and attacking the NC constituents (IBM, Sun, Oracle) with high level TCO and Windows messages. We are executing on a PR plan to expose the NC as "dead", continuing to arm our field sales force with competitive analysis and responses, and working with the Hydra and WBT OEM teams to build the Windows value proposition for thin clients.

If we are successful with the above objectives, we will have made significant progress in migrating the majority of corporate desk-tops to 32-bit Windows, adequately prepared the marketplace to shift to NTW, and stopped our chief competitor, the NC, from making any inroads. The remainder of this document will provide greater detail on the core objectives, including budget, timeline, and roles and responsibilities.

..

4) NC Attack Plan-"The NC is Dead"

Though we have made great strides to ensure the NC does not gain footholds in any of our accounts, we can expect another big push from IBM and Sun in the 2nd half. IBM is already pushing their NetStations hard into accounts, and Sun is planning on releasing the Java Stations in the first half of CY98. Our focus will be to continue to expose the issues with the NC idea, while communicating the benefits of Windows and our thin client strategy with Hydra and the Windows-based Terminal. We'll execute on the following programs to ensure the NC makes no headway in the 2nd half of FY98:


 * Expose the NC as Dead to the press and analyst: We will spend a considerable amount of our time focused on educating the press about the pitfalls of the NC in order to generate "the NC is Dead" press articles. This will cumulate in a press and analyst tour in March, coinciding with Internet World in LA. Prior to the tour, we will be delivering monthly Windows TCO wins to the press, as well as NC trial/rejecter case studies. We’ll leverage our NetPC and WBT OEM and Partner successes, and utilize the web, onLine news banners, and other online delivery channels to get this information to our customers.


 * Arm our field and customers with tools and competitive information: In order to keep the worldwide field sales force up to speed, we'll continue to utilize the NCSQUAD alias as our core information mechanism, and our NC Champs program in the US will be expanded internationally. Starting in February, we’ll provide NC competitive reports on IBM NetStation & Sun JavaStation including Technical Reviews, Market Bulletins, Competitive Updates, and Presentations all on our http://winmarketing/nc web site.


 * Continue to monitor and track threatened accounts and NC standards groups: We have done a good job to date on tracking and responding to any NC threatened account worldwide, and we’ll keep this up over the next six months. We’ll maintain a direct focus on tier 1 & ECU Strategic customer threats. To help facilitate this worldwide, we are panning a couple of tours to South East Asia and Europe in the March and April to visit threatened accounts, educate subs & generate PR. We'll also implement a monthly conference call series with NC Champs for intelligence gathering & updates. We'll also continue to track and attend meetings of NC related standards groups such as The Open Group’s NCMG.

Full Exhibit
http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px02817.pdf