Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft PR Rep is the Switcher
Here's a followup to our
earlier story
about Microsoft's "inverse switch" campaign. The AP tracked down the switcher and spoke with her:
she's an employee at a Microsoft public relations firm but says she actually did switch from Mac to Windows. Microsoft's
page
is still 404 (but Google's
cache
still works).
The interesting part to me is that the AP "tracked Mallinson by examining personal data hidden within documents that Microsoft had published with its controversial ad." Hmmmmmm.
(Kudos to obidonn, the first to
demonstrate
the use of a stock photo, which piqued interest in this story.
As of noon EDT Oct. 15, other
stock
photos
are still being used in anonymous Microsoft "testimonials.")
How do we know the Anonymous Poster isn't an employee of Linux and is just trying to discredit their biggest competitor?
I remember this same thing happening with the antitrust trial. Soon dead people are going to be writing in to say that they switched from Mac to Windows.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
But on topic, if they tracked her down, how 'bout a real photo of this person? Just for comparison's sake.
It looks like MS is trying to do a "save my face" operation here by spinning the story by (of course) a MS PR person.
I think Microsoft just wants to ignore this until it goes away. Further actions that would end up in the news would not be in their best interest. By tomorrow most people will have forgotten about it, except the thousands of slashdot users that will make references to it anytime a MS article is posted for the next 2 years.
I want them to advertise on MSNBC...
"Piter, too, is dead."
Hi, my name is Valerie G. Mallinson and I work for a Microsoft PR firm.
One day I asked my boss for a new video camera for my Mac. He said "Remember, your paycheck comes from Microsoft, let's switch you for our new marketing campaign!"
So I switched.
And then my boss said "Hey, Microsoft wants to tell the world that you switched, but you're no prettier than those people Apple used. We wish you looked BETTER than Apple people."
And so they used some stock photos to give me a make over.
There's been plenty of people that switched from Apple to Windows, they're just too embarrassed to publicly admit their mistake.
I went and immediately threw my g4 into a dumpster and bought an e-machine with xp after I saw that ad.........it was so powerful and convincing.
Can I have your G4, then?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Daughter: "Mommy, did you have your 15 minutes of fame?"
Valerie: "Yes, honey."
Daughter: "Did you like it, mommy?"
Valerie: "No, honey."
Daughter: "Why?"
Valerie: "It was for Microsoft."
The best part of the article:
"A spokeswoman from Apple would not comment"
Yeah - because she was still cleaning up all of the millk that she laughed through her nose.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
"Fire another round, corporal."
"But sir... we're running out of feet."
-pyrrho
Do you think that M$ gets pissed that 95% of their traffic for web marketing programs comes from slashdot?
According to this site, she was helping this guy put together PocketPC solutions for use on his Africa biking trip. Sounds like she was a little more in the MS fold than the article said. I'm surprised she even still used Macs, being a PocketPC "solutions troubleshooter" and all!
"Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
I can see it now...
Quick fade into rocket taking off. Cut to two 70's crash test sedans in a head-on collision. Horizontal wipe to atomic bomb detonating. Crossfade to fat guy taking a cannonball in the stomach. Star wipe to garish orange screen with Microsoft logo and "Where do you want to go today?" tagline. All done to the tune of cheap, generic classical music.
In a strangely Microsoftian twist, this'd all be done with iMovie, which would be revealed on Slashdot a few weeks later. The ad would be immediately pulled.
SIGFEH
From the article:
"I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing."
But if you work for Microsoft PR, you can't be freelance now, can you?
Perhaps she was misquoted:
"I am writing promotion materials for Freelancer, a game which will demand the best in computing hardware"
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I mean, look at the difference:
Apple: spends the better part of a year looking for interesting, off-beat, photogenic people. Then they read hundreds of emails. They hand-pick a bunch of folks and pay money to fly them out, coach them, then tape them. They put the ads on nationwide TV.
Microsoft: Somebody at Microsoft's PR firm picks up the phone and says "Hey, remember that writer, Valerie? And remember how the screen on her Mac Centris 610 finally died and she got that Windows laptop? .. What's that? .. Yeah that was funny.. though I probably I did the same thing the first time I used a CD-ROM .. But anyway, track her down and give her $500 to finish some copy for our new campaign. I've already got most of it written.. .. what?.. No, just put a stock photo like usual .. okay .. bye!"
How easy! That's why Apple will always be a "niche" player. They give a shit about stuff like this. Like the guy in college who actually wrote all his lab reports while everybody else just copied one from last year.
"Look at the pretty colors"
"It doesn't lock up as much as previous versions."
"Look at the pretty colors"
This may have been pointed out already, but Microsoft Word 10.0 (the version stamped in the ShowOffYourSkills.doc file), is the Mac OS X version. So, apparently, she wrote this piece on a Mac.
I love this world.
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
As a side note, I think some of you Slashdotters agree that you'd be more than willing to go "biplatform" if Macs weren't so expensive... There's a $199 Wal-Mart PC for the curious Mac users, where's the $199 Mac for curious PC users?
Same place they sell the $12,000 Mercedes Benz.
-- thinkyhead software and media
I want that job!
Boss: Johnson! What are you doing?
Jonhson: Reading Slashdot, sir!
Boss: Good! I want your report on it by 5:00 tonight. And for the love of god, stop trolling those newbies!
char sig[120] = "\0"
Monday October 9, 2:04 pm ET
REDMOND, WA, Oct. 9
MS Mac User Converter®. MS Mac User Converter® is a product that converts a Macintosh® user
to MS Windows XP® user. "Our internal tests has been more successful than we had expected," said
Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft®. "If we can successfully convert all Macintosh® users to MS
Windows XP®, we're going to dominate 96% of the desktop market." Ballmer said. "Next step is to
convert all the Linux® users, but we still have some problems that needs to be solved. Linux® users
tend to be tougher to convert." Ballmer said.
Microsoft® can now add MS Mac User Converter® to their already successful list of innovations,
such as:
- MS Windows®
- MS Excel®
- MS Word®
- MS Powerpoint®
- MS DOS®
Microsoft® clearly shows the world that they're ahead of their competitors. "None of the competitorshave been able to launch a product like MS Mac User Converter®. This strengthens Microsoft®'s
position on the market" said Blackie Lawless, industry analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Software
Industry Research group®.
you know, with all their troubles with security, patches, linux, anti-trust trials, and everything, they just don't have the time to find people who have benefitted using their products. i mean, come on, there must be one.
surely, you can cut them some slack. ballmer is up late at night thinking of more ways he can attack linux/open source. with 40 billion in the bank, they just can't aford to do the necessary research and investigation. give them a break will you.
i'm sure there are plenty of people who'll testify that they learned how to program using "Learn Visual Basic" and are now working at a major software company.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Ignoring it must work, 'cause gee, who remembers Microsoft 'Bob'?
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Why ask? All you have to do to restore his Mac is drag it out of the trashcan.
Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. Pick any two.
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-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Switch to Windows, more Microsoft employees chose it than any other brand!
KFG