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MaplePrimes??!??

Tom 4 744
June 24 2005
0
Yesterday, I was in a Maplesoft management meeting where we concluded that the launch of MaplePrimes was to become the number one (or maybe two) priority for the company. So here it is ... MaplePrimes is new and at the same time, not so new. It is a new Web site (though it's borrowing a name from a previous Web site), and this blogging thing is all the rage now among you young people. But it is not so new in that people talking about their interest in Maple or math is as old as the hills ... the technology is different and faster, but the energy that drives blogging should be familiar to most of us in the Maple community. "Great!" I said ... but to have any sort of credibility, we'll need to make a concerted effort to distance the corporate agenda from the content in this site. We nervously looked at each other and proceeded to cautiously nod in agreement. So what's the point? you ask. Why would a for-profit company invest time and valuable resources in something that does not explicitly serve a corporate agenda? The theory is our particular customer base values the judgement of their peers more than any fancy marketing brochure and lively interaction and debate among colleagues moves business faster than anything else we can do (see www.emanuel-rosen.com for a brief explanation of this crazy concept). On MaplePrimes, I go by Tom 4 ... in a future post, I'll likely explain the 4 part. I'm a VP at Maplesoft but more importantly, I've been a Maple zealot since 1987. I am the Chief Editor (moderator, censor, poobah, ...) of MaplePrimes. It is my job to get this Web site going ... and growing ... and generally providing a meaningful service to our user base. The company has given me a lot of editorial room to manoever. Consequently, my first goal is to encourage and incent flow of creative content. We'll do this through the promotion of a healthy Forums environment where users new and not so new can ask a range of questions and get good answers (often from Maplesoft staff). In addition, we hope that some participants will take the plunge and become Bloggers and really let their thoughts out. Knowing this community I'm sure that we will begin exploring new content frontiers beyond general Maple talk ... it's all good. To help this process, we'll be announcing cool prizes and incentives for Bloggers and prolific members ... stay tuned to find out how you can get a hold of a cool new Maple 10 "Cheat Shirt". Stay tuned we're working through some of the mechanics right now. Another big help is the clear distinction that we've made between this site and our marketing web sites. I will try my best to keep MaplePrimes a "slogan-free" zone. That's it for round one ... I hope you stay with us. It promises to be a great ride. Aside from the usual Maple stuff, if anyone is interested in British motorcycles, photography and vintage cameras, travel, or Northern Italian Cooking ... I'm all ears! Ciao! T4.

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