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Al Gore and George Bush fought for it in the Presidential race.
The Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints fight for it on the
football field. However, nowhere is the competition for mediocrity
more fierce than in the world of technology and media where the Giants
of Good Enough Microsoft and AOL Time Warner wage war.
"AOL is committed to providing internet service that is just
good enough," said CEO Steve Case. "Innovation is overrated.
When I hear our users proclaim our service is just bearable, a smile
covers my face." AOL has broadened its reach into mediocre with
its purchase of Time Warner. With properties such as Time and Discover
magazine, AOL now has a dominant position in ordinary media.
Case also fired a salvo at Microsoft, "I've taken a look at
Internet Explorer 6 and I have to warn people that it's pretty good.
Much better than average. I can guarantee you won't be seeing that
sort of quality in AOL version 7.0."
Microsoft was quick to respond to such charges. "Microsoft
is committed to mediocrity. For years the Windows operating systems
have symbolized passable software. We are very proud that MSN.com
was voted the most average portal on the Internet," said CEO
Steve Ballmer, "and with our new .NET services we want to redefine
mediocrity."
"That's where a lot of dot coms failed. They tried to be too
good, tried to innovate too much," said Merrill Lynch analyst
Harry Vincent, "The secret of success is giving customers less
than what they paid for, but not so much less that you piss them
off."
Other battlefields include cable news networks where CNN and MSNBC
battle for ratings among those who really don't care that much about
news.
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