I know this thread ought to be killed quickly and is off topic, but I
had the same thoughts when I first saw that ad.
But, then I remembered back to all those boring corporate advertising
strategy meetings I used to have to sit through... and in conventional
adthink they often repeat the same mantras, and usually with ads they
don't care if you got the message too much, they care more if you remember the
ad. Typical large $$ corporation ad campaigns are tested with "recollection"
surveys and measures on response rates. They don't care if you got the
message, but mostly care if you remember the ad and the brand.
By that measure you have to consider that ad a success, because here
we are discussing it.
Oh, and my first thought was, "Gee, free advertising for Marty Roesch's
excellent snort IDS." :-)
--dr
(P.S. Having done some benchmarks of Sniffer's snorting ability, the ad
made me further laugh at the thought of "snorting" anything with the
MS proto stacks even with the NA tweaks. And NAs lawyers are
welcome to _try_ to sue me if they think they can defend an inferior
product with litigation. Their "snorting" stopped at 56Mbps bursts and
less sustained (up to their RAM only capture limitation) on a 400 Mhz
machine. :-)
On Sun, 23 Jan 2000, Craig Rodrigues wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is not really a technical issue regarding Ethereal, but
> some minor comic relief which may be of interest to the readers
> of this list.
>
> Has anyone seen the latest ads for Sniffer from Network Associates
> in Network Magazine? I don't remember the exact wording, but
> it is something like, "There hasn't been this much snorting going on since
> the early 1980's". The ad basically says that Sniffer is so good
> at what it does (protocol analysis) that it "snorts" rather than "sniffs".
> The ad contains a picture of a party resembling something out of
> "Bright Lights, Big City" (a Michael J. Fox movie from the 1980's which
> highlights the druggie party scene in New York at the time). I thought
> this ad was really funny.
>
> Obviously, Network Associates is feeling threatened by the
> rising popularity of Ethereal in the protocol analysis market.
> Will Ethereal resort to such low-brow marketing tactics?
> Anyone have a good idea for a marketing slogan? ;)
>
> (By the way, if any Network Associates lawyers are reading this,
> I'm just joking, and am not intending to disparage Sniffer or
> your company. So don't sue me.)
> --
> Craig Rodrigues
> http://www.gis.net/~craigr
> rodrigc@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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