Microsoft's hamfisted marketing

My friend Alan Gutierrez came to New Orleans after Katrina to help rebuild, mostly by applying his expertise in creating websites, and by teaching people how to access the web.  His site ThinkNOLA has been a great web resource for many people.  Recently, he got an email from a marketing person at Microsoft who asked him to post something on his blog.  Looks like there are some people in Microsoft's marketing department who don't get the web.  Or marketing.  Or New Orleans.

Comments

[anonymous]

When are you guys going to start sending the message that YOU ARE OPEN for business? The entire airline is subsidized by the government! How about making those subsidies pay off with real benefits?

http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2006/default.mspx

"Microsoft has made the difficult decision not to hold Tech·Ed 2007 in New Orleans. With this event drawing a large number of attendees from around the world and with the airlines only servicing the city with about half of their pre-Katrina flights, the logistics of moving that large a group into and out of the city is challenging and would likely result in travel and logistical challenges for attendees."

[Bill Paterson]

Yes which came first? The chicken or the egg here? Are the airlines not flying people here becuase we don't have confrences or are the confrences not coming here becuase of the airlines?

Or maybe it is a bunch of egg-heads that came first to propogate this?

[ashley Morris]

Anonymous, you put the same comment on every NOLA blog...it's getting old.

The airlines aren't flying here because they're idiots. The flights are over 90% full, much higher than the industry average.

[anonymous]

If the arilines are screwing us, I want to know. The industry gets more coorporate welfare and more of our tax dollars than public radio does. If they trying to maximize their profits on a city that needs help I want everybody to know about it and to discuss it. The more people shouting about it the better!