More on HP's Share-to-Web

This month's Observations, the column, refers to software conflicts affecting users of Windows and HP (NYSE: HPQ) Share-to-Web software. Here's what HP says about it, as of yesterday:

Microsoft has issued a patch to fix the problem some customers are experiencing with the earlier Microsoft security update MS06-015 that conflicted with HP's Share-to-Web software. Such software was distributed prior to 2004 with HP cameras, printers, scanners and CD and DVD drives. HP's Share-to-Web software has not been distributed since 2003 and services that were used by the software have been discontinued. HP does not believe there are many customers using the Share-to-Web software today.

Which also relates to another of my recent blog entries, regarding the "Shoebox Print Market" and my belief in the importance of an attractive and catchy name or label as applied to a new or growing product/service/activity. Seems like HP did have a good one in "Share-to-Web" that they've pretty much abandoned -- it's so good that a friend of mine, still at HP, swears he's recently used "Share-to-Web" to upload photos to Snapfish.

This takes me WAY back in HP history, when customers of HP 3000 systems were offered a "Guaranteed Uptime Service", aka GUS. The legend was that many customers claimed to have it, while in reality a very very few really did. Their ultra-reliable HP minicomputers had never failed, so they must have GUS! Hey, perception IS reality, right?

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