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Spin the introduction

Posted by TheFallen on March 26, 2003

In Reply to: Spin the introduction posted by James Briggs on March 26, 2003

: : : Entrenched vendors were quick to spin the introduction of Cisco's SN 5428 storage router, which supports both Fibre Channel and IP, as a coup for their protocol.

: : : being a foreigner, I am a little confused about "spin the introduction".

: : In this case, "introduction" means putting a new product (the router) on the market, offering it for sale. "Spin" has recently become a popular word for talking about something (often, publicly interpreting an event) in a way that isn't quite lying but is distorted so as to favor one's interests. "Putting a spin on it" means interpreting what happened in a way that makes oneself or one's business, government, political party, etc., look good.

: In think the word 'spin' in this context comes from ball games. Certainly in cricket and tennis it is possible to put spin on the ball to make it do things that it might not do without the spin - a way of modifying its behaviour and end result. Sounds familiar!?

That's a very neat theory, further backed up by the major purpose of putting spin on a ball in many sports - cricket, table tennis etc - is to deceive the receiver.

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