NewAirplane, but NoNewBlog

So in an effort to boost transparency, and attract the attention and mindshare of average consumers, Boeing has set up a website (http://www.newairplane.com/) to let everyone know about the new 7E7 Dreamliner.

It’s a great idea - showing some of the nifty innovations they have planned, and providing the kinds of photos that make aviation fanatics like me drool. They even have live chats from time to time with their engineers. It’s all so cool…

Except that you have to log in with a user name and password.

Except the only way to stay connected is to be on their mailing list.

Except that feedback is pretty darn difficult to provide.

Except that the only conversation you’ll have, is at those chats (which are during business hours - I barely have time to go to lunch these days, where am I going to find time to remember my password and log into a chat?)

Oh Boeing. So close. Yet so far. Perhaps some of my Redmond friends can drive a few miles down the freeway and tell the Boeing folks about this new thing called blogging. Tell them the power of chronologically organized data. The power of rich semantic data. The power of easy to provide feedback. And most importantly - stop password protecting the site!