There are THREE things I want to write about this, so bear with me.

1- GigaOM and Sun Microsystems are trying a new, and VERY innovative branding campaign in a partnership.

For the next month, they are going to write about “The Future of Software” — covering everything from features, to platforms to the business of software. This should be an incredible ride for analysts like myself, because hey its the new world, everyone including myself can participate no matter where in the world I am!

2- Their inaugral post is called “The 7C’s of software” which describes how the purpose of role of software is evolving. Specifically, it argues that all software will soon be:

• Collective, while privileging the individual.
• Connected
• Cyborg
• Closed and Open at the same time
• Composed by a broad population
• Choreographed into workflows to make you more productive
• Cognizant of what you mean or what you want

Just reading this gave me the chance to breathe a sigh of relief for a few seconds while reflecting on the past few months.

Product ventures are incredible gambles — companies typically bet the book on a certain set of trends that are yet to take shape in the near future, and analysts / consultants like myself have the fun job of predicting that and pointing to where the company can put all of their investments on for the next 2 years. These bets usually involve platforms (javascript? .NET? Java?), business models (micro-transactions? Freemium? Something else?) market niches, business products, pricing models, distribution plans, feature roadmap, marketing plans and more.

The 7C’s of software gave me a sigh of relief because with such a pivotal and often high-stress position, any tips, indications or ratifications that I find that suggests we’ve taken the right bets seems like a God-sent pat on the back.

In fact even Anne may not realize what she’s described, because she gives really bad examples in her post — these concepts will become more empowering than we might imagine today.

3- Now THIS is the way to do Edge-Centric Marketing!

Full kudos to SUN for figuring out the right way to make an ethical and relevant branding campaign that engages bloggers at the edge!

I get sick of talking about how branding is about more than just putting your logo on a webpage — can someone explain to me why Sun’s approach with this is nothing less than brilliant?

Bonus – 4 – If you want to work on an ambitious project that embodies all of these 7Cs and was described as ‘no less than revolutionary’, send me an email. All that is required from you is that you should be one of the ten sharpest programmers you have ever met.