You can compete against a product -- not against a community
Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz discusses the success of what they see as their "ecosystem of strategic communities". Apparently all of them are accelerating, hand in hand with financial success. Schwartz's explanation of why these communities are so important should be read and understood by many business leaders.
"If it wasn't obvious, blogs (coupled with extraordinary innovation) are playing a central role in driving community awareness and adoption - of all these platforms. Blogs put a human, and real-time, face on communities, their participants and community evolution.
As will become more obvious by the day, you can compete against a product, but it's close to impossible to compete against a community.
It's no coincidence that as we enter our most aggressive product cycle ever, an understanding of ecology, ecosystems and community development will once again be at the core of our strategy."