Product Religion

Evangelists
Fanboys.   Zealots.  Fanatics.   These are words that have been used to describe groups of people who have a fervent belief or faith not in their God or moral belief system (well, ok, maybe sometimes) but rather in a particular technology or product.   Guy Kawasaki even brought it to a full-on professional title when he was "Chief Evangelist" at Apple - a title with all kinds of mixed marketing, emotional, and religious connotations.

Confession Time

Here is the point in the post where I make my confession:  I was a fanboy at one time.   Back in the early/mid '90s, IBM had an awesome piece of software called simply OS/2.   At the time, it was significantly more advanced than Windows and had the backing of the largest computer corporation in the world.   It seemed destined for legendary status and had allowed desktop PCs to do things that were previously either not possible or terribly expensive.   I even built a business on it with a friend and did some evangelism myself as part of a group known as "Team OS/2".    In the end, IBM changed directions OS/2 - and everyone who had depended on it - were left high and dry.    Although it was a great time in my life, I've wondered several times if I made the decisions within the right frame of mind.   If I had it to do all over again, would I make the same choices?    Maybe, maybe not.   I would, however, look at things from a slightly different perspective.

It's Not a Two Way Street
The problem with product religion is that the organization producing the product/technology/etc. is far less loyal to you than you are to it.     They may change their plans in a such a way as to negatively impact their loyal followers without any concern or regard for doing so.    It's been done many times over the years - TV producers abandoning shows such as Firefly, Jericho, and others with a small but vocal following,  the Houston Oilers abandoning Texas for Tennessee, and so on.

There is nothing wrong with being excited about a particular sports team, technology, or product.    The danger comes from making important decisions based on emotional rather than intellectual or logical reasons.   Although decisions can and perhaps should have an element of intuition or "gut feel", they must be backed by data and sound reasoning.

What product/technology/sports team are you fanatical about?   Why?  What would you do if the product was discontinued, the technology obsoleted, or the sports team was relocated tomorrow?