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No-one gives a toss about green things, say Lexmark users
Round table diners won’t chew the fad
U.K. OCT 2007 :LIKE ALL IT INDUSTRY vendors, Lexmark loves to bang the marketing drum about all things green and productivity. Like all printer makers, it is obsessed with feeds and speeds of its inkjets and lasers.So the firm invited an audience of high profile end users to one of Soho’s swankiest restaurants, for a lunch and a summit. And kindly invited The INQUIRER in to meet some real humans for a change.But the end users were in no mood to accept any greens.They stubbornly refused to chew the fad.For appetisers there was a polite discussion about the effectiveness of colour documents. The man from Lexmark’s points went over very well.But as the hors d’oevres arrived, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Perhaps it was the prospect of eating snails from their shells.A productivity expert suddenly knocked over the sweet trolley (metaphorically speaking). “IT vendors are always banging on about green issues. We don’t give a monkey’s about green issues,” he ejaculated.This prompted host Guy Clapperton to ask “Has Jeremy Clarkson just walked in.”But it was too late, the revolt had started. “Saving the planet is a very low priority,” agreed a music impressario.
“Being green is turning your PC off when you go home,” asserted an accountant called Nigel.As the main course arrived, one man nearly spat out his pancietta when the Carbon Trust was mentioned. “It’s a great idea, but the execution is terrible,” he said, reasonably enough. He could have stopped there, but he had to overegg the pudding. “It’s a bureaucrat’s paradise. There’s some real numpties involved.”Lexmark’s Gareth Kirkshaw gazed meditatively at the dessert menu, as the conversation moved on to the government’s plans to clobber small businesses with capital gains taxes, while allowing the rich to save up to buy a peerage. We were definitely onto duties outside of his job description.Suddenly, as the wine glasses were being topped up, a Buy to Let entrepreneur had a corker of an idea. “Here, why don’t you change your business model? Make a really expensive printer, but with cheap consumables?” That wouldn’t put Lexmark out on a limb, would it?On that bombshell Lexmark waved away the wine waiter and called for the bill.Are all end user forums like this?
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