September 18, 2007
jyri on the blue monster
Jyri Engestrom, the anthropologist behind the “Social Object” theory, writes about the Blue Monster. Rock on.
Since its inception by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, the cartoon has been adopted by microsofties as a symbol of the company’s and its people’s aspiration to innovate. I’ve heard Microsoft employees refer to it as the company’s unofficial mascot.
[Bonus Link: Adriana has a really good post on Stormhoek Blue Monster. Very thoughtful, as usual, coming from her.]
My understanding is, some pockets at Microsoft COMPLETELY get the Blue Monster, and others don’t. I suppose that’s to be expected with a company of that size.
That being said, from what I can glean from my limited, outsider perspective, there seems to be a large constituency within the company which strongly believes that Microsoft’s entire future rests on how well it talks to people outside the company. I happen to concur. “Porous Membrane”, Baby!
If the blue monster is their “unofficial mascot”, what’s their “official” one?
That floating window? It’s hardly inspirational…
“…and others don’t.”
Hmmm… the Vista group, maybe?
Microsoft’s Windows Vista (specifically, I am using the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium) really did change my world: under Windows XP, I could count on my printers, scanner, other devices, and most software working well enough, but now I never know what will or won’t work. I have been transferring files over to an Ubuntu system just to print them. After months of suffering with Windows Vista, I just put Windows XP back on that system — dual-booting with Ubuntu — to transfer some of my Windows stuff back there and ease my Windows-using workflow, but even sharing files between Windows Vista and Windows XP is not as easy as sharing files between two Windows XP systems. Wow, way to change the world, Microsoft.
Don’t even get me started on Internet Explorer.
Talk, talk, talk. How very social. Let’s see some actual results — like a version of Windows that is actually *MORE* usable than previous versions or a version of Internet Explorer with XHTML support and a rendering engine as good as the ones in Konqueror, Safari, and Opera or even Firefox — or it doesn’t matter who gets what at Microsoft.
You should consider doing a similar mascot for the RIAA and the handful of people inside who still love music and making great records. Seriously. If any organization needed a Blue Monster to rally around, it’s them.
Hey, Hugh, Congratulations for the great mention in Monday’s Financial Times (September 17, 2007; Business Life; page 12) I think what you’ve created here, for your blogging friends, for Stormhoek, for the advancement of Social Objects everywhere, is to be commended.
Well done!
For balance perhaps we also need a “White Monster” for Apple. “Change the world or go home” is an equally good slogan for them. And when did Apple decide that appeasing corporate partners was more important than making insanely great products? They need to be reminded.
Of course a white monster might be hard to draw with a black pen.