Office Live Jive

Microsoft needs to take a step back and rethink its product-naming strategy. The company changes product names too frequently, which has got to confuse the hell out of some customers. I can barely keep up, and I closely watch the company.

Consider that Windows Server 2003 had four different names before the product officially launched. Four! Some other recent changes: Pocket PC got a June makeover to Windows Powered 2003. In March, Microsoft changed SharePoint Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services. The change did little to diminish brand confusion with SharePoint Portal Server, a completely different product sans the name. SharePoint Portal Server has had its own rebranding/name change to Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Renaming products has been a popular 2003 activity, also affecting other Office and Windows Server products, among others.

That said, Microsoft really has a problem in the messaging and online collaboration space, at least when it comes to renaming and rebranding. On May 27, the company announced that the new messaging program codenamed Greenwich would become Office Real-Time Communications Server 2003. That was after an April announcement making Greenwich the Real-Time Communications Server 2003. The May change added “Office” to the name and positioned the product as part of the Office System family of products.

Less than two months later, Microsoft changed the name yet again to Office Live Communications Server 2003. So, that works out to three names since April. Since Microsoft hasn’t shipped Live Communications Server yet, the company still has time to match Windows Server 2003’s renaming record.

I can understand some of Microsoft’s likely reasoning for the second name change. In April, the software giant completed its acquisition of online collaboration software and service provider PlaceWare. In July, Microsoft changed that product’s name to Office Live Meeting 2003. From one perspective, it makes sense that Microsoft would want to similarly brand its collaboration and messaging products. Of course, the change effectively kills any brand equity built up by PlaceWare.

For a company the size of Microsoft, which during fiscal 2004 will spend $6.8 billion on research and development, it’s pretty reasonable to expect some serious thinking about product names before announcing them. These frequent name changes suggest product strategies are in constant flux, which may not be the best way to install confidence in larger customers looking for software stability over long periods.

I suppose the strategy makes sense if the goal is customer confusion, but that generally has not been the sharpest way to win customers to products, particularly new ones like Live Communications Server. My advice to Microsoft: Be smart. Work out product names and branding before announcing them, and then stick with them--at least for more than a couple of months. :)

Posted by Joe Wilcox at August 01, 2003 10:51 AM