Kurt Brockett: WPF Needs a Brand

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Kurt Brockett is now blogging (again) over at brockett.net and his first post is one that I’ve thought a lot about. WPF as a name/brand sucks. There isn’t really a logo, the name itself isn’t catchy. Yet out of all the RIA technologies, it’s arguably the most powerful.

Kurt points out that Silverlight, with it’s cool, hip logo and brand, really turned heads at MIX. Part of that is just that Silverlight is cool, but part of it is due to branding. Kurt’s blog looks like it’s going to be awesome, so it’s worth subscribing to. He’s a director of product management at IdentityMine, a company doing a ton of interesting things with WPF and components.

[tags]Kurt Brockett, IdentityMine, WPF, Microsoft, Silverlight[/tags]

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  • http://www.brockett.net Kurt Brockett

    It’s one of those things that I’ve run into a bunch of times talking to press/business execs and even friends and family. I figured if I’m having a problem describing/branding WPF I can’t be the only one.

  • David

    Settling on “WPF” was…unfortunate. There was a time when the only people who had to worry about the acronym’s were those that used them the most – IT Departments. More and more, these days, executives and business units are are taking a more active role in IT decision making (we’ll leave the “why is that?” question for another time).

    The only thing worse than “WPF” (4 syllables, for anyone that’s counting) is “Windows Presentation Foundation”. Jeez! It’s work just to say it!

    “Silverlight” is a full syllable better, but, word wise, nothing beats “Flex”. Simple to say, easy to remember.

    Flex was the easiest technology “sell” I’ve made to senior management, ever. When we’re in strategy meetings, and I explain technology direction, I still get asked “Is that Flex?”. The technology made an impression, and the product name stuck. The perfect combination!

    Cheers,

    Davo

  • http://subvert.ca/ Geof Harries

    Silverlight is an absolute mouth full. Conversely, Flash, Apollo and Flex just roll right off your tongue.

  • http://zug.flathatter.com Bryan Zug

    Flashlight, perhaps? ;)

  • http://www.zeuslabs.us/ Josh Tynjala

    David, it’s worse than you think! WPF is FIVE syllables long.

    Duh bull you pee eff

    That sounds dirty, somehow. ;)

  • David

    Josh – I stand corrected! When I saw you spell it out, I thought you were talking to me! >:-) LOL

    Davo

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    I hadn’t really thought about the actual syllables before. Hmm, and Adobe does do a very good job of keeping those down. I wonder if that’s intentional.

    Also Josh, this is a family site. Lets keep the swearing to a minimum ;)

  • http://www.donburnett.com Don Burnett

    I think that WPF already has a “Brand” it’s called Microsoft Windows applications.. I think Microsoft shouldn’t be branding “WPF” any more than it already has been, and they should start identifying these and folding them in as standard “Windows” applications.

    WPF is not really “NEW” anymore and while it represents a change in the status quo of what a standard Windows application is, it’s still a standard Windows app just the current “version”..

  • David

    That’s a good point Don – alot of exec’s (and I’ve personally witnessed this) settle on the MS solution because “it’s MicroSoft”. I don’t think that should be discounted in all of this.

    I do see a disconnect, though – we (and I actually mean just about everyone outside of the IT department) have been bombarded for the last 10 years with the message – “The web is where it’s AT”.

    It seems to me like MS is doing an about face, and saying “Back to the desktop”. A part of the branding issue, when it comes to a technology, is not just what it is, how it works, but why you would need it. What problem does it solve?

    That’s my opinion, I’m slightly biased, towards corporate facing applications, I must admit, but that’s where I’m coming from.

    Cheers,

    David

  • click

    You have a great website. Keep up the good work.