One of the coolest things about living in the Seattle area is that its population is among the most tech-savvy in the world.  Apparently we have more high-tech/software companies per capita than anywhere else.  Our government, businesses and individuals have the greatest web presence per capita.  So it’s no surprise that every month several hundred people show up at a networking event driven solely by LinkedIn.com. Check it out at the Eastside Networking Event. This month they will be starting a new feature. Attendees can submit a PowerPoint slide profiling themselves and their business which will be projected as a slide show during the gathering.

I am a firm believer in leading by example.  IBM intentionally chooses not to advertise the Lotus brand to 4 million of the most computer-savvy people in the world because of Microsoft’s presence here.  No problem, I got it covered.  I will not be intimidated by the competition.  I will not be so easily deterred.  I am confident that the superior quality and value of the IBM Lotus brand is desired by those tech-savvy people of the Puget Sound area who are not hypnotized by the gaze of Microsoft marketing.

As it turns out, that is a bigger portion of the market than those outside Seattle might realize.  Many of the high-tech companies here are competing against Microsoft — and winning.  The reality is, even Microsoft employees don’t always buy their own products.  The market here is changing dramatically.  MSFT stock is down.  IE which was once the browser of choice is now minor player taking a distant back seat to open source FireFox as well as Chrome and Safari.  Search and personal email accounts are dominated by Google.  Sure, old-school companies that are still looking for “one brand fits all” go to Microsoft.  For many workers in Seattle and elsewhere, that’s all they know, so that’s what they buy.  But the tech-savvy people of the world are finding that innovative solutions don’t all start and end at one company.  People are recognizing that to differentiate yourself from your competition, you must do things differently than your competition.  So to those who think outside the box and those who look for best of breed and those who consider cost as an important factor,particularly small-medium sized businesses, the MS brand has lost it’s luster, even here in Seattle.

I’m used to being the underdog.  After all, my name is David. And what better place to sling my rock at Goliath than from a networking event held one block away from the tallest, newest Microsoft building.  Here is my slide.

So my question to you is this: What are YOU doing to burst the Microsoft myth and make people aware of the real value of Lotus software?

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.”

–Walt Whitman