Joel Spolsky:

"I'm a software designer! I'm your target audience, and I can't make head or tail of it! [...] [Y]ou're ruining your products because you can't explain in two sentences what they do in a way which would be meaningful to the people who are going to make the purchase decision."

I hate PRBS (Press Release BullShit) and its meaningless pompous style as much as the next cluetrainer. However, I'm not sure software designers, or more generally speaking, technical-savvy people, are the real decision makers at most corporations. They're influencers for sure, but you have to acknowledge Dilbertesque pointy-haired managers often get the last word. They don't understand the tech stuff, might be fooled by these buzzword-driven sales pitches (though I think they don't care and mainly play internal politics), but they sign the checks.

06/29/01 update: Peter Merholz blames the VCs.