PC gamers of an appreciable age will no doubt recall Daikatana and the furor surrounding that oft-delayed, oft-maligned game’s foul-mouthed ad campaign – a campaign that ultimately may have contributed to the game’s flop status. Daikatana‘s creator John Romero promised more to users and publishers than he could ultimately deliver and conveyed those promises in the form of a childish advertisement. Sun Microsystems appears to have learned little from Romero’s stumbles and has begun taking juvenile potshots at Dell.
Jeff over at The Shape of Days thinks the “rejected” ad campaign accompanying Sun’s stunts (as opposed to their “real” campaign) is a brilliant idea. I have to disagree. While Sun’s “rejected” ads are mildly amusing to me and my systems administrator brethren in a fart-jokes-on-the-playground way, I have to think that they will do next to nothing for CFOs and CIOs looking for a server vendor to bet their companies’ future wellbeing upon. Let’s face it: the C*Os of major corporations tend to be a stodgy, risk-averse lot. Just who does Sun think they’re going to appeal to here? Certainly not someone with control of the pursestrings.
Taking The Low Road, Or: Sun Pulls a Romero
