the launch is not cancelled

My days now seem to consist of queues of wild people, frothing at the mouth running at me like some sort of marketing shaun of the dead scene screaming "cancel the launch!".  People, hear me, take a chill pill, we are launching and we are on track. :-) 

Things will go wrong when you run a launch.  Customer projects deploying the beta are fraught with politics and yes sometimes bugs, shock horror, can crop up when you least need it.  But we will launch.

We will get our events together, we will sort out who attends, we will get that PO sorted, that content will get written, that speaker briefed, that customer PR form signed, that video will get recorded and edited and how can I be so sure???

Because the products are great and they are on track. 

It reminds me of couples who spend their whole lives planning their wedding.  Our wedding took a lot of work too.  There are myriads of things needing organised.  Things go wrong, people get upset about this and that and issues are resolved.  but you have to remember you are not planning a wedding - you are getting married!  What is important is that your married life begins.  And with that perspective, it doesn't really matter if the ribbons match the flowers because it is a happy day.

We will launch this product and it will be a great day but what really matters is that the 2007 wave will be out there.  Customers will use it to make their businesses more effective, to enable their people.  It is not about the day, happy though I will be, it's about what what happens after that. 

We are bringing to market some of our best ever work as a company with Vista and Office and that still makes me feel excited even after the 120 presentations I've delivered about it.