http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2007/11/21/apple-
takes-shots-at-microsofts-vista/?mod=yahoo_hs
(combine lines to view URL)
This is the third time *recently* that I see him making fun of/lies about open
source, Google, and Apple. The subscribers were outraged, absoluetely outraged
by his inaccurate reporting and some cancelled their subscription to WSJ
because of him. The pattern cannot be ignored.
Here too he spreads lies about Windows Vista sales, which have actually slown
(he says they doubled and cites Microsoft's PR 'numbers game'). Watch the
first comment. Classic Microsoft astroturfers? It sounds too promotional. The
whole thing looks like a stage act with Microsoft's PR lies. Wall Street
Journal? No surprise. This is becoming the new fashion.
Recent:
EU cracks down on fake blogger astroturfing
,----[ Quote ]
| But back to the web, and with sneaky marketing campaigns likely to be more
| effective than upfront marketing campaigns, what is stopping companies from
| simply risking it and continuing existing practices?
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/03/eu_flogging_ban/
Related:
Microsoft pays star writers to recite slogan
,----[ Quote ]
| The stodgy old media industry has a rule that newspaper reporters, and TV
| news hosts, shouldn't trade on their public trust to endorse products.
`----
http://valleywag.com/tech/federated-media/microsoft-pays-star-writers-to-recite-slogan-271485.php
Malik, Arrington and Battelle: X-22, come in [to Microsoft]
,----[ Quote ]
| What would possess a collection of online publishers and venture capitalists
| to pimp a Microsoft advertising slogan?
|
| Valleywag today reported about a site tied to a Microsoft ad campaign
| where the likes of Michael Arrington, Om Malik and others seemingly
| lend their support to the "people-ready" catchphrase.
|
| I sent e-mails both to Arrington and Malik and--surprise,
| surprise--heard nothing back. (Obviously, they are not yet
| sufficiently "Coop-ready.") Microsoft was still checking for me into
| whether money exchanged hands. But even if not a single shekel exchanged
| hands, I must wonder about the absence of common sense. Why would
| ostensibly independent voices come across as Microsoft shills? If
| they were hoping for a free dinner with Bill Gates, there are
| smarter ways to go about it.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9733995-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
,----[ Quote ]
| "The main thing I'm pissed off about right now is that they pulled all the
| ads, which mean we're taking a revenue hit. We're running a business here,
| and have payroll to make. We run ads to make that payroll. Those ads have now
| been pulled."
|
| Microsoft once again corrupts confidence in the blogsphere. They
| turn 'citizen journalists' to marketing people in disguise.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9734034-7.html?tag=head
How's the Reception at [Microsoft's] Channel 9?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates emphasized the importance of blogging in a
| May 2004 speech during the company's annual CEO summit. But Gates doesn't
| blog; same for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
|
| [...]
|
| Many Microsoft employees do blog, reportedly more than 4,000 of them.
| The number of employee bloggers was comparatively quite small, about
| 300, before the launch of Channel 9 and the success of Scoble's blog.
|
| Last year could be called year of the blog at Microsoft. Employee
| blogrolls swelled and Microsoft bloggers disseminated lots of
| vital information about the company. Increasingly, employee
| bloggers are becoming Microsoft's primary evangelists. They are
| certainly a group over which the company can exact some control
| and which can spin information to Microsoft's advantage.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/developer/hows_the_reception_at_channel_9.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Recidivist M$ Up to New Tricks
,----[ Quote ]
| Unleash the Astro-Turfers!
|
| Already on Apple oriented developer mailing lists one can see the
| astro-turfing has begun. A really amateurish attempt by 'Mac Developer' (no
| one uses a stupid handle like that) turned up today.
`----
http://rixstep.com/1/20071004,00.shtml
Meet Thomas Brooks. He's a viral marketer for Microsoft.
,----[ Quote ]
| It's unfortunate that paid blogging is becoming all the more prevalent in
| communities like 1UP. And it's not just the blogs or reviews, it's also the
| message boards. Microsoft, for instance, also has a person (or people?) who
| is paid to post on some of the popular gaming boards (and no, Jeff Bell
| wasn't part of that plan). But it's not just Microsoft -- I know of a few
| other game publishers who pay users to blog. They don't necessarily require
| bloggers to say positive things about their products, but it's certainly
| implied with the paychecks.
|
| What bums me out about all this viral stuff is that, to some extent, you
| don't know who to trust anymore. There was a time when, if you no longer
| believed in what the professional editors where saying, you could at least
| count on your fellow gamers for honest opinions. Not anymore. In a sense,
| perhaps that helps elevate the importance of the professional word once
| again, which I suppose is a good thing for us. But I'm still not happy about
| it.
`----
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8281416&publicUserId=4561231
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2001, the Los Angeles Times accused Microsoft of astroturfing
| when hundreds of similar letters were sent to newspapers voicing
| disagreement with the United States Department of Justice and its
| antitrust suit against Microsoft. The letters, prepared by Americans
| for Technology Leadership, had in some cases been mailed from
| deceased citizens or nonexistent addresses.
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
,----[ Quote ]
| "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using
| online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues
| of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it
| was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers
| and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who
| liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows won
| the operating-system war through fifth-column tactics"
|
| Mr Dvorak wonders if Microsoft is today using reverse-dirty-tricks
| to promote the Xbox 360: pay people to create Web sites that slam the
| gaming computer in order to provoke a barrage of defenders.
`----
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html
Microsoft really loves Bloggers !!!
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft regularly flies customers and industry experts to its
| campus in Washington to listen to the feedback given by those
| people.The company invites dozens of key customers and partners
| to the event,where they spend brainstorming as a group.But as of
| late, Microsoft has changed it's strategy and the company is
| making extensive use of blogs to get direct customer feedback.
|
| Within a year,more than 1000 Microsoft employee blogs featured
| developers and product managers talking directly to customers every
| day, instead of once a year.Microsoft employees read dozens of
| blogs every day to see how customers react to Microsoft products
| and services. In fact,Microsoft employees have taken a bigger leap
| and even contribute to other's blogs in the expanding space of
| Blogosphere.
`----
http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com/2007/03/microsoft-really-loves-bloggers.html
Microsoft Traps and Hunts for Bloggers in India !!
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has announced the "Microsoft BlogStars" contest, to Hunts
| for Developer Bloggers in India. After feeling the power and increase of
| the Bloggers community in India, Microsoft tries to trap and hunt Bloggers
| in India to buildup the blogging community, for writing blog posts
| supporting towards Microsoft Technologies.
`----
http://i5bala.blogspot.com/2006/10/microsoft-traps-and-hunts-for-bloggers.html
Bribing Bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the most frustrating thing about the practice of giving
| bloggers free stuff: it pisses in the well, reducing the credibility
| of all blogs. I'm upset that people trust me less because of the
| behavior of other bloggers. Don't even get me started about PayPerPost.
|
| [...]
|
| Do not, under any circumstances, consider upgrading an XP system to
| Vista... even if it's fairly new and even if it's Vista Supremo
| Premium Ultra-Capable.
`----
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/12/28.html
Microsoft's Laptop Giveaway Becoming PR Disaster?
,----[ Quote ]
| This thing is starting to feel like a PR disaster. Bloggers are
| starting to smell blood and this thing very well may begin to
| turn into yet another episode of bloggers gone wild.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061228/23174_id.html?.v=1
Bribing Bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| It's a bribe. Period. You say nice things about us, you get nice
| things from us. Heck, just say neutral things about us-we'll give
| you a killer new laptop and we know that you'll be inclined to say
| better things about us.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2077596,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
Getting a Vaio [with Vista, from Microsoft, even in March 2007]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Belgium rang me yesterday (I don?t think they realised it
| was a public holiday here!).
|
| [...]
|
| The phone call yesterday was to confirm my address - the laptop (a
| Sony Vaio - dunno which model or spec yet) is en route with Vista
| Ultimate and Office Ultimate pre-installed.
`----
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/getting-a-vaio/
INQhack survives Vistability test in Volesville
,----[ Quote ]
| The Vole (Microsoft) supposedly invited The INQ over for tea because
| we are notorious "Microsoft doubters" - and we were accompanied by
| other supposed Vole doubters such as the folk from lifehacker and
| a very nice man from Slashdot, as well as some Microsoft MvPs.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36312
Microsoft desperately wants my love -- and yours
,----[ Quote ]
| I spent December seventh, eighth, and ninth in Seattle as Microsoft's
| guest. Microsoft flew me there from Florida at its expense, put me up
| in a nice hotel, provided decent food, and comped me and four other
| invitees to this "special conference" with presentations about the
| marvels of Vista and other recent or upcoming Microsoft products. They
| didn't quite play the old Beatles song "Love Me Do" in the background,
| but it was the event's unstated theme.
`----
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/12/085222
|
|
