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Microsoft: We Make Hackers Obsolete

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the thats-funny-stuff dept.

bahamat writes "This article explains how Microsoft was forced to yank a magazine ad by the Advertising Standards Authority. In the ad MS claims that they'll make the hacker extinct. The tagline reads "Microsoft software is carefully designed to keep your company's valuable information in, and unauthorised people and viruses out. Which means that your data couldn't really be safer, even if you kept it in a safe. Which is great news for the survival of your company. But tragic news for hackers." Does MS really think that people are too stupid to remember what happened less than 2 months ago? My favorite quote from the article is "Clarke described Microsoft's claim as "laughable". "

3 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Advertising Standards Authority by fobbman · · Score: 5, Informative

    If anyone else was confused by the appearance of the "Advertising Standards Authority", it should be pointed out that this all occurred in South Africa, and not in the United Corporations of America.

    America, naturally, would never CONSIDER such an insightful group.

  2. Now if only they could stop some of the other ads by Frohboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's great that Microsoft's advertising claims were shot down in this case for being unjustifiable, but they've still got some other pretty nasty falsehoods floating around out there.

    I don't know if this particular campaign is appearing at American schools, but certainly at Canadian universities, Microsoft has launched a fairly heavy ad campaign for academic-priced software (I've seen the ads at Waterloo and Simon Fraser.) The ads feature bold print saying "Getting software for any less would be illegal", and in smaller print, below: "90% off the estimated retail price!". (See a banner ad of it at the University of Waterloo computer store.)

    Hmm... given that I've paid less than their listed prices for the software on my computer, I guess they're accusing me of breaking the law. It's too bad that a lot of their competition's software is still cheaper (e.g. I use OpenOffice, myself, but I'm pretty sure I could get a full-priced copy of StarOffice for less than the student-priced Office XP.)

    I would love to see Sun start a competing campaign saying "Getting certain other software at these prices would be illegal. Save money and keep yourself out of jail: use StarOffice."

  3. Re:I cant wait! by MoreDruid · · Score: 5, Informative

    If only more technically trained people were put in a tight-loop with markteting and advertising...
    You mean like Cisco does? They require the Sales experts to be certified as well, with some requirements: Networking 101, minimum pass score: 80%

    --
    The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.