Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

It's NOT Brenda Vs. Barbie

Author:Peter Merholz
Posted:3/2/1999; 11:39:00 PM
Topic:It's NOT Brenda Vs. Barbie
Msg #:3493
Prev/Next:3492 / 3494

I'm sick of the press covering the failure of Purple Moon as a case of the little guy getting stomped on.

I'm no fan of Mattel, but I doubt they are to blame for Purple Moon's failure. Sure, it makes an easy story for a reporter to write, but what really happened?

I know a few people who either worked at or with Purple Moon, and from each and everyone I heard that the place was managed horribly. And I've not used the CD-ROMs, but of those I know who have, no one found them very impressive.

I have some familiarity working with a cool small company that failed because I worked at Voyager. And while it's easy to pin the blame of Voyager's demise on "the market" or "big media corporations" that took over CD-ROMs, a huge factor in Voyager's failure was that it's management screwed itself over and essentially drove it into the ground.

It's annoying, though obvious, that journalists will take the easiest road possible to a story and frame the whole article around it, whether or not it has any true bearing on reality.




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