Jon Udell, one of my favorite writers, is leaving InfoWorld to become a Microsoft evangelist. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Amazon Web Services’ awesome evangelists. I said it then; I’ll say so again. I really really think evangelists can do wonders for your marketing success.
Anyway, according to Jon’s self-interview podcast, he will take on a blogger/analyst/developer/educator/multimedia producer role at Microsoft. He will work with Channel 9 and Channel 10, which cater to an audience of Microsoft-oriented developers.
Jon’s news reminds me of Om Malik’s Wall Street Journal article. Om remembers Steve Ballmer screaming “developers, developers, developers” on stage at a conference:
“Truer words have never been spoken – or repeated. Without “developers,” Microsoft would not possess its desktop monopoly or billions of dollars in profits. Developers turn operating systems, browsers, game devices and much else into platforms upon which a whole economic ecosystem rests. Windows is but one example of many software engines that have propelled mega-billion-dollar industries and created wealth beyond compare.”
What does this have to do with web hosting? Microsoft is in the software business – or so you may think. But Ray Ozzie, MSFT’s Chief Software Architect is all about the services revolution. He is taking the same platform approach with Office Live.
So my question is, why hasn’t the web hosting industry done more for ServerBeach-oriented or HostMySite-oriented developers? Why doesn’t Hostway or ThePlanet have an ecosystem in which developers can learn from and build upon each other’s work?
Instead, a vast majority of hosting providers I’ve met don’t have any information on what tools their developer customers use, what applications they’re building, whom they hope to sell their software or services (or software AS services) to…
Cheaper hosting packages with more outrageous amounts of bandwidth just aren’t going to cut it when newcomers to the hosting market are making active efforts to engage these developers.
