Office is the new Sexy

How NOT to create passionate users #24: tell them they YOU'RE the one with the passion, while THEY have... potential.

Kathy Sierra accusses Microsoft of taking passion away from the users.

So true, and yet not so true. The reason that Microsoft isn't talking about "your" passion is that Microsoft isn't selling its product to you. Microsoft is selling it to your boss or, more likely, your bosses boss, and it's not his potential they're selling, it's his employees' potential. The message isn't about passion at all, it's about good old fashioned productivity.

But I also think this trend is starting to shift. Scoble is a huge signpost on how it's changing and why. He has the capacity to be passionate about Microsoft (but they have to deserve it, aye, there's the rub).

Another place to find the passion at Microsoft: look at Office Zealot. At Microsoft, Office is the new sexy, which is, IMHO, as big a headstand as Microsoft's famous (late) discovery of the Internet.