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Microsoft Found Guilty of Misleading Advertising

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the everybody-play-nicely dept.

gtoomey writes "The UK Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints that Microsoft misled consumers by running advertisements claiming Linux is 10 times more expensive than Windows. The print advertisements used "independent research" to compare the cost of Linux on an expensive mainframe to Windows on a PC."

18 of 608 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Marketing slime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    " all marketing people are evil. Perhaps we should enact the death penalty for marketing droids?"

    Douglas Adams had it right. I have my rifle ready for when the revolution comes.

  2. nonsense by kg_o.O · · Score: 5, Funny

    Linux is as cheap as Windows. Windows is as cheap as Linux. They both cost ~one CD-R.

    1. Re:nonsense by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, Linux is more expensive. Most distros take up three or four CD-Rs these days.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    2. Re:nonsense by kg_o.O · · Score: 4, Funny

      >You should be taken out and hung with the rest of the pirates, Blackbeard. ;)

      Why me? This is a result of an independant research :P

  3. Fark by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think Slashdot needs an "Obvious" tag.

  4. Surprising by StevenHenderson · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm surprised Microsoft didn't go ahead and factor in an SCO license to the "cost" of Linux.

  5. In essence... by Biotech9 · · Score: 4, Funny

    MS compared server 2003 on dual 900 MHz Xeons to Linux on an IBM z900 mainframe.

    By my own similar method of comparison I can conclude Apples Mac OS X is 2000 times cheaper than MS server 2003*.

    * Mac OS X running on a dual G5 Xserve. MS sever 2003 running on a quad quantum cyberdine systems X-9000 with gold plated tri-lithium cooled case and diamond studded cup holder.

  6. Re:Marketing slime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Marketing Dept.
    Microsoft UK
    Reading

    Dear Microsoft,

    Go stick your head in a pig.

    Signed your chums,
    The Advertising Standards Authority.

  7. Re:Marketing slime... by pottymouth · · Score: 5, Funny

    "First, kill all the lawyers" .. then we can do the marketing dept and then, just for fun, lets go after the accountants. They're like fish in a barrel anyway.

  8. Microsoft used false advertising for Windows 98 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Windows 98 setup it said,"You simply plug in a USB device and your system automatically configures itself. You don't even have to restart your computer"
    I've plugged in USB devices that prompted for a reboot.

    Windows 98 setup also said that "Windows 98 is Year 2000 ready." But later Microsoft issued two patches to correct y2k problems in Windows 98.

    1. Re:Microsoft used false advertising for Windows 98 by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny
      In Windows 98 setup it said,"You simply plug in a USB device and your system automatically configures itself. You don't even have to restart your computer"

      As Bill Gates said when demonstrating this, 'Well, uh, you just plug it in and uh-oh....' (enormous round of laughter from audience) '...well, I guess that's why we're not releasing it quite yet!'

      Best-timed BSOD ever ;-)

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  9. Re:independent research? by scsirob · · Score: 5, Funny

    The outcome makes sense. Microsofts claim is very similar to claiming that Diesel is 10 times as expensive as gas/petrol to travel 100km, when testing a 40 tonne Diesel truck and a 650 Kg Nissan Micra.

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
  10. Not the first time... by shigelojoe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hell, Microsoft was guilty of false advertising when they released Microsoft Works.

  11. Re:"Results may vary outside the United States" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, didn't you know that for loops run in the other direction in the southern hemisphere?

  12. OB Bill Hicks Quote by Halthar · · Score: 5, Funny

    "By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. Thank you, thank you. Just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day they'll take root. I don't know. You try. You do what you can. Kill yourselves. Seriously though, if you are, do. No really, there's no rationalisation for what you do, and you are Satan's little helpers, OK? Kill yourselves, seriously. You're the ruiner of all things good. Seriously, no, this is not a joke. "There's gonna be a joke coming..." There's no fucking joke coming, you are Satan's spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage, you are fucked and you are fucking us, kill yourselves, it's the only way to save your fucking soul. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show."

    ""You know what Bill's doing now, he's going for the righteous indignation dollar, that's a big dollar, a lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research, huge market. He's doing a good thing." Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scumbags, quit putting a godamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!" ~ Bill Hicks

  13. Re:"Results may vary outside the United States" by autophile · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...The results showed that IBM z900 mainframe running Linux is much less capable and vastly more expensive than Windows Server 2003 as a platform for server consolidation.*" The ASA said the asterisk linked to a footnote that said: "Results may vary outside the United States".

    Because the higher the voltage at the outlet, the faster the electrons in the CPU go.

    --Rob

    --
    Towards the Singularity.
  14. Re:"Results may vary outside the United States" by timeOday · · Score: 4, Funny
    The ASA said the asterisk linked to a footnote that said: "Results may vary outside the United States".

    I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean: is Linux less capable in Abu Dhabi than it is in the US?

    it means "dont sue us if you happen to read this in a country that has enforceable truth in advertising laws"
  15. Only 10 times as expensive? by ohad_l · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn, that's either a real cheap mainframe, or Windows is a helluva lot more expensive than I remember it to be.

    --
    If it weren't for fog, the world would run at a really crappy framerate.