Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Taps Bloggers to Promote Longhorn
Tim writes "With Beta 1 of Longhorn less than two months away, Microsoft is looking at a new marketing tool to help promote its new Windows: bloggers. According to BetaNews, Microsoft's "Team 99" evangelism effort will be composed of bloggers that will become Microsoft's voice to the masses. Robert Scoble said Team 99 was once secret, but has been revived and Microsoft is now accepting nominations. It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
...Longhorn...Team 99....how do they come up with these unusual names?
My favorite quote FTA (and I'm not making this up):
"Longhorn got its name from the bar that's between Whistler and Blackcomb up in British Columbia. 99 is the road you drive from my house to get up to the Longhorn bar. So, Team 99 is the team that'll take us to Longhorn's launch," he said.
And people make fun of Linux names!
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
NT
Now Microsoft's stealing ideas from politicians, too.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
Are they handing out shares of stock? I'll gladly make up a few favorable reviews for a hundred shares.
Free Scotland!
Microsoft doesn't have the best record in this area, having been caught astroturfing numerous times. At least when you read an 'official' blog, you are aware that you are getting cooperate propaganda.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Whoever is part of this "Team 99" will be consider shills and rightly so. There's one thing using the Internet to express your point of view. It's quite another to extol a companies product for their backing.
If this group was treated as an unbiased reviewers, I'd have more sympathy but as it is, it seems just another corrupted media.
-Teiresias
It's a good idea to recruit bloggers to advertise your product.
It's not a good idea to publicize that you're doing it.
Well, it is free advertising and people would rather read blogs for an opinion on a product, than read some flash-ad. I know I would. Especially with the open-source world, that's how I hear about the latest and greatest Linux/OS X apps...
They just created Astro-blogging!
There was an article posted less than a week ago about PR companies harnessing bloggers.... Gee, maybe Microsoft DOES read Slashdot.
My little site.
... It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
;)
That's a safe bet - MS could release a patch for XP that cured cancer and they'd still be accused of doing something underhanded.
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
I can only hope its more than that and they'll try to buy off every blogger. Man I could use some more cash. I mean come on.
Unfortunately this will be just for the big boys. Gonna have to start watching Wheaton's site. With all the vet bills and mac troubles lately I expect his next release from O'Reilly will now be "Lovin' Longhorn" or something like that. Don't blame him a bit.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I move to nominate the Bile Blog.
signed the MaD HuNGaRIaN
Do I hear a second to that motion?
I've often wondered how many Slashdot accounts are operated by paid shills and their ilk.
Good stategy, except that vast majority of bloggers use Macs.
Seriously, this situation has serious potential for century-scale big PR hackery. Down in history. Down.
I knitted the cutest sweater for Snowball, and I hear Longhorn's cute, too.
Best Windows Freeware
Step 1. Release Screenshots to Bloggers
Step 2. Claim screenshots were never supposed to be online
Step 3. Hire hitman to kill blogge^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^Dsmile at bloggers.
Step 4. Realize no bloggers like Longhorn anymore
Step 5. Use Hellgate to summon demons from the ether.
Step 6. Train demons for blogging.
Step 7. ???
Step 8. Profit!
In your blog entries, just make sure you remember the (R) after the word Microsoft and the TM after the word Windows or Microsoft(R) will sue you...heh.
Are Team 98 the ones who astroturf on Slashdot then? (You know, the ones moderating this down.)
that just the other day was reported as threatening people who posted screenshots of Longhorn?
Which is it to be? Do they want it publicised or not?
No, let me guess; only favourable publicity.
It also follows the long Microsoft tradition of providing an innovative product that people not only want to use, but actually look forward to using.
Longhorn truly completes me. And I say this as a former Linux power user for the last twenty years. Really. Now I know that Linux blows and it has nothing to do with that bimonthly check from Redmond. Nothing. Really.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Microsoft has been astroturfing for years. This is no different!
I've always found using the public to spread the word other then traditional means to be interesting... Although I don't thik MS is a company that can get away with it w/o being accused of "taking advantage" of the public or some other evil MS scheme.... But then again, this is slashdot, and computer geeks are pretty biased towards MS......
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
"let's use this blog thing for marketing"
isn't this what PR firms are doing for years. Pual Graham writes in http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
blogs are pretty much the natural evolution of the phenomena.
--
Left sigs long time ago!
95% of all sigs are made up.
... and how much more I prefer working on my Mac. I don't outright refuse to use Windows - I've used all three major platforms - I just honestly and simply do prefer OS X. Lack of security headaches is a large part of that. MS still hasn't been able to keep the crackers out. When they totally redo their OS to be more secure, I'll feel more comfortable about using it.
i am a soviet space shuttle
he's good at toeing the company line, and can be had pretty cheap these days!
good god. another reason to despise blogs.
Am I the only one who thinks blogs and bloggers the most over-hyped thing to come along in years?
Back in the day, there was "Team OS/2," perhaps the first internet astroturf campaign. It worked a little (at Microsoft's expense) but not enough. I bet Microsoft remembers though!
Will you be allowed to make screenshots?
Oh, FYI, the "pull these for patent reasons" is bogus. They already HAD their public disclosure, the clock is now ticking on anything in there they would want to patent. So its a bogus excuse for the "The UI is still 1AM3"
Test your net with Netalyzr
I nominate http://www.girlsarepretty.com/
Somehow I think that Prettygirl is the only person who could really capture the value of switching to a cosmetic makeover of Windows XP.
"It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
Blogging was nice while it lasted. Corporations are quickly going to flood the channel with paid content. If you think the PR machine is powerful in major media, which has lots of people looking for bias, has some regulation, and which does not see $10,000 as any more than pocket change, think what's going to happen to blogs over the next five years.
Suppose Coca-Cola offered to pay Joe Blogpack $2,500 to do a column talking about a dead rat found in a storage container at a Pepsi bottling facility, how quickly do you think he would jump? Do you think he would care if the story is true? And if he did, would he have access to the resources to find out if it's true? Suppose news.google.com is running 200 links to other bloggers who didn't take the time to fact check - our honorable Joe Blogpack checks his facts against the tainted stories and even thinks he's doing the right thing.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
That gives you away.
Also, you forgot to mention:
- how incredibly secure Longhorn is, compared to Linux (measured by patches released so far)
- how Longhorn is considerably cheaper than Linux
- how Longhorn promotes industry standards (such as MS Office)
- how Longhorn runs in a smaller footprint (if you balance your PC on one corner).
Secure, cheap, standard, efficient! That's the message you're supposed to be spreading.
You can get your check anyhow. Usual address, I take it?
My blog
Funny that you assholes say, "IT'S COPYWRITE INFRINGEMENT, NOT STEALING!"; but are say quick to say "M$ STEALS IDEA FROM APPLE!", followed by "MOD PARENT UP!"
Fucking rashdots.
...slashbots read what they want to read and interpret the article through their monochromatic lens. This is NOT underhanded shilling of the products, it's a way for Microsoft to distill comments from the community to learn how to better improve Longhorn, and I quote "All will need to sign NDAs cause there are things in Longhorn that we don't want to leak out, but they'll be your proxies. They'll tell us where we're screwing up, what we're doing well, and will be world's top authorities on Longhorn." The reason they want bloggers is becasue bloggers provide a two-way communication between the community of users and Microsoft. Bloggers will take the comments from their sites, distill them into meaningful suggestions for ways to improve Longhorn and Microsoft can then in turn provide these very same bloggers with access to updates on Longhorn to report back to the community of users. Simple enough but as usual slashbots prove they are dumber than your average bear and could do the world a favor by shutting up unless they themselves have something meaningful to add to the discussion.
More or less 800,000. Sure there are a couple thousand legit accounts but, the vast majority belong to trolls and astroturfers.
The fact that there are so few legitimate users makes the regular slashdotting of most sites all the more pathetic.
"You will feel much better about that Mac, once you realize that you could have waited a lot longer for a lot less."
Now, where is my money?
Well, looks like MS is going to add paid shill bloggers to their list of paid shills that they use to spread propoganda. There's one in every popular message board, blindly praising MS for everything they do. It's usually easy to pick them out, they just sound fake, and never rationalize anything. I have to wonder what just how many people MS pays to pretend they like everything MS does. After all, I can't imagine anyone doing that for free.
Kinda reminds me of the way McDonalds pays rappers for rapping about the big mac. MS will pay you for writing propaganda about longhorn in your blog. Is nothing sacred?
God is real unless declared integer.
That makes me sad. :-(
:-)
But thinking about Gannon keeps me erect.
...instead of marketing the hell out of your product by artificially fluffing up support and enthusiasm for it, why not just actually make a superior product that people will naturally get excited about on their own? Then you don't have to hire people to pretend to be excited about it.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
Slashdot has been doing the same for Linux
The licensing terms would be so prohibitive as to render it useless.
Not only did that sound wrong, but even somewhat surprising in view of the recent story about Microsoft and the gay rights bill i.e. recent discussion
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Longhorn community when IDC confirmed that Longhorn market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that Longhorn has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Longhorn is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict Longhorn's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Longhorn faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Longhorn because Longhorn is dying. Things are looking very bad for Longhorn. As many of us are already aware, Longhorn continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
64-bit Longhorn is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time 64-bit Longhorn developers Relph Slenson and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: Longhorn is dying.
[...]
What we were doing wasn't all that sophisticated (we had an evangelist program as well, which who were far better than us at promoting our messages). There were several viral advertising firms out there that were posting in fake blogs, in real blogs, on multiple forums using fake ids, etc.
While you could argue that viral marketing of this sort is unethical or at least questionable, it really is no different than paying people to walk around with your product in public. Online viral marketing, and placement in a blog, is just another form of PR placement.
Of course there is an ethical question to be answered if blogs are truly a form of news protected by the laws and practices of journalists. If that's the case than these blogs are practicing yellow journalism, which would then throw into question their role as independent journalists (then again if you can find me a 100% untainted all the time news source these days I'd be pretty impressed (especially if they have over 100 readers)).
Hell, if Microsoft is going to pay me to say nice things about Longhorn in a blog, I'll start a blog up today and rant about how great it is.
Free MacMini
Compared to Linux, Longhorn is an extensible paradigm shift in operating systems that is designed to facility business agility while improving new customer acquisition. Offering the most secure federation based authenticity validation system Longhorn improves the value proposition while streamlining your business processes and enhancing shareholder value.
Longhorn r0x0rz and Linux sux0rz.
Why is it "nice" to see that Microsoft is "recognizing the power of blogs"? Was the blogging world hurting before now due to lack of respect from Redmond? Were bloggers stinted by a lack of support from Microsoft? No, bloggers did just fine without showing up on Microsoft's radar, thank you.
They implemented a strategy a few years ago to promote Windows CE PDAs, inviting the editors of numerous Palm enthusiast websites to Redmond for all-expenses-paid wining and dining. Several sites immediately dropped their Palm bias. One site, PalmGuru.com, disappeared to be replaced by PocketAnywhere.com, though as I recall the change also had something to do with Palm rattling a sabre about trademark infringement --- something they later recanted, but the damage was done.
Now whether the Palm enthusiasts succumbed to bribery or whether they genuinely and objectively liked what they saw in Windows CE I can't say. But for several years at least Microsoft has been aware of the power of the web for astroturf-style marketing.
Opinions can be bought, and who has more buying power than Microsoft? Be careful not to believe everything you read.
Sue (TM) is owned by SCO (R) !!!
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
Microsoft Office
Microsoft XP
Microsoft Flight Simualtor
and any other Microsoft products out there!
And of course Microsoft's notorious "Mac to Windows" switcher website was the one the took the cake. What took them down was using a stock photo... Sheesh!
I mean, really. How hard is it to find ONE photogenic woman in a company the size of Microsoft? Hell, Apple used a LOT of folks in their ads... And they didn't look like models either (nor did their words sound like PR text).
Yup, look to a LOT of "Longhorn allows me to do things the way that make me more productive" blah blah blah...
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
They will be primarily preaching to the choir as far as users go, so I guess their role is to convince people that they need to upgrade. This ought could be an interesting experiment, if not a humorous one.
that your sig, describing semi-abusive use of the mod system, incites people to mod you down. Yes I'm ACing this for a reason, and that reason is too many people like you ! You do not drag quality up by stamping contributors faces into the mud
Many major companies already mantain a presence on the newsgroups doing exactly what MS is proposing. Some announce their affiliation and some don't. How are bloggs any different than newsgroups other than the webpage owner hosting ads?
Buying bloggers for advertising is about as low as it gets. We should start a huge blog campaign against them and their hype, FUD, and lies!
At last we have a nice concrete example of a large corporation admitting that they're going to spread their propaganda through blogs. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that I was reading an article about how blogging was the new trusted, untainted source of information as compared to magazine articles. Hmmm, I said to myself, that doesn't seem very believable. Looks like journalists for traditional print-media might get a second chance after all as being some sort of independent voice.
... Microsoft can bank on Slashdot "promoting" Longhorn up to, and after its release. :)
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Hey, if the Republicans can hire bloggers to promote their agenda, then Microsoft can hire them to promote their products. Besides fake bloggers are cheaper to hire than real journalists.
bet this gets modded to troll. everytime I bash M$ I get modded down. so mod me down you bastards!
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Not worth my time [April 20th, 2005]
Today at the airport I saw a $100 bill, but left it lying there. It's just not worth it.
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Sweetest Thing [April 25th, 2005]
Bono stopped by for a visit. You can never tell what he's thinking though. I think that's why he wears those sunglasses. Ballmer kept trying to iChat me like every five minutes trying to talk with Bono, but I didn't didn't want to completely negate the Bono's coolness, I know how he can get when he's excited.
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Tiger Fever! [April 29th, 6:31PM]
Just installed Tiger (waiting for the FedEx truck was *torture*!). I can't believe how great it is. I can't stop hitting F12. Oh, and Spotlight! I'll post a more in-depth review later. Until then, check out the one at Ars Technica, it's really good.
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Microsoft marketing, if you're reading this, these marketing ploys just make you look pathetic. Stick to what you're good at and play up the heartless corporation aspect of your corporate image. Honestly...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
which happily will cure your malaria...
stupid bit of OT trivia, syphilis is a cure for malaria.
source, a good read, the history of quinine is particularly fascinating.
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
That M$ asshat Paul Thurott has had his head up Uncle Billy's anus for years due to years of ass kissing, while trying to make it appear like true journalism.
They could well employ a million of them, but what good are they if I never read their prose (that is if you could call it that)
I may well be the only one doing it, but I seem to automatically tune out to anything mildly looking like a 'web log' - in the new age sense of the custom at least. CTRL-w.
Same old story really, if I want it, I'll look for objectivity, not the rational (or insane) ravings of an opinionated and payrolled microsoft voice. (or any other corporate entity)
Don't have to worry about anybody blog-whoring MS products here at Slashdot.
Do we?
I don't like big words..., does that make me anti-semantic?
see subject
How is paying bloggers to hype a product any different than paying a traditional advertising company (or companies) to hype a product. If anything, using bloggers *could* have backlash not usually induced by traditional advertisers.
/.?" Oh wait, its an open invitation for more Microsoft bashing. We at /. can be quite pitiful sometimes, really.
Day 1: Microsoft hires blogger x for Longhorn adverts/hype.
Day 8: Microsoft unsatisfied with blog commentary.
Day 12: Microsoft pulls funding citing services paid for not provided.
Day 15: Blogger now blogs to anti-hype Longhorn out of spite.
Now, I'm sure that Microsoft will be using the medium in a way that probably won't bite them in the butt later on, but the possibility still exists. With traditional advert companies, losing the client means simply losing an account. With blogging, losing the client means making an enemy in many cases.
All that to say, "Why is this even a story on
Dear Longhorners, If the bloggers fail to promote Longhorn, please use the Slashdot forum to spread the word. I understand they love us there. If that doesn't work, please contact every LUG and try that route. Until we rule the world, Bill
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
Isn't this the same Microsoft that made bloggers take down screenshots of Longhorn?
Yet another attempt to turn a counter-culture to an over-the-counter culture.
I thought it said Foghorn Leghorn. I was hungry.
Now people will assume that any blogger that says nice things about Longhorn is being payed to do so... even if they aren't!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I never buy or try anything that is mentioned in somebody's blog. Hell, I don't even read blogs. There are better ways of wasting my time.
Whenever you read a blog, please consider the source. Every freaking blog that I've seen so far was a useless piece or garbage or somebody's opinion that could be questioned. People like one thing and dislike the next. Honestly, it does not take a genius to write something cute and then post it everywhere as if it were the truth. I can replace every freaking blogger with a small shell script, if you will.
Experience is what I am interested in. My experience, not yours. When Nissan 350Z came out, everybody was cuming all over their pants. Blogs of enthusiats were everywhere, forums raved about the car. Finally, I test drove it myself. It was a freaking nice ride, but my soul chose an underpowered RX8 for the car. Were bloggers right or wrong? I do not know. What I know is the fact that ultimately, a consumer will decide what is worth buying. Same will happen with Microsoft or any other entity that puts a lot of emphasis on blogs. Just look at what happened to Dean: he raised money, he was successful at the beginning, but then the country chose a different candiate. It is not where you begin, it is where you end up.
I predict a lot of fuzz about Longhorn. Everybody loves publicity: IBM brags about Linux, Apple tells nice stories about people who switch, Wal-Mart is helping our environment (apparently I am missing out on that one). However, the final decision will come after somebody who is goigng to use the product. In this case, let's talk about the OS a year after its release. Let's hear it from sys admins who spend 24/7 working on their servers. How about scientists that use big ass clusters to compute something? What about an average home user and her experience with malicious attacks? For now, bragging about an OS that nobody actually used is pretty low.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Poostabber!
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
This blog-marketing and the recent Longhorn media blitz is in response to the release of OS X Tiger, a platform that has maybe 3% of the market. Can anyone make sense of this paranoic response ? A few people are switching to Macs but it isn't because of Tiger so Microsoft needs to calm down and concentrate on making a decent product if that is possible for them. I can't speak for XP because I haven't used it enough. NT 4.0 was an OK product but Win 98 should have been the basis for a class action law suit. So I switched. SUSE 9.2 on my cluster, OS X on desktops and laptops, Win XP chained in the corner for dire emergencies.
Why else do you think the Slackware penguin smokes a pipe? :-)
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Payolla ?
..... and ships Tiger to "Team 99," hoping the crack team will tell them what features to include in Longhorn 2009.
... the fact that Slashdot hypes it up is hardly surprising. If anything burns Microsoft it is that Slahsdot, a ton of other geek sites on the net and an army of bloggers hyped up Apple's OS.X 'Tiger' a proprietary OS without Apple having to pay them off.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Longhorn is Bill Gates' nickname for himself that he likes to use when trying to pickup chicks at product releases.
Look at Longhorn, he's acting all funny!
.....
What's that Longhorn, is there something wrong?
Why are you mooing?
You want me to follow you?
wino can't get kikin chikin open
Look at Longhorn, he's acting all funny!
What's that Longhorn, is there something wrong?
Why are you mooing?
You want me to follow you?
linux won't install on new SUX2000 69bit NinSonSamDellFuLG box
Look at Longhorn, he's acting all funny!
What's that Longhorn, is there something wrong?
Why are you mooing?
You want me to follow you?
How much did Microsoft pay you to say that? Approximate dollar figures will do...
Be who you are...and be it in style!
By creating these 'blogs' Microsoft is attempting to use the concepts behind Open Source (i.e. word of mouth that thing X is great and open invitation to be involved).
By creating these artificial communities around products (try finding an MS product without a blog nowadays), they respond to corporate questions of 'what about this open source thing ?' by saying, sure we have that - just look at the blogs. Corporate drones don't see through the blatant plug-fests - the very presence of the 'blog' is enough to convince them the 'open source thing' is there and its OK to keep sending the checks to Redmond since they have their finger on the pulse.
The strength of Open Source is also its weakness - the distributed nature allows evolution of great products, but these are only really appreciated by those with the technical understanding to make a solid assessment. Corporate buyers will always rely on soft fuzzy marketing speak. Unless OSS advocates get on this bandwagon properly, they will continue to be out manouvered big time.
So - where are the slick blogs around OSS ? Lets of people need to get cracking and take the lead otherwise the community approach will be blacked out by the signal to noise ratio caused by the supposed 'blogs' which are nothing more than marketing hype and viral marketing campaigns.
I can't bring myself to say anything good about Windows, but I'd be happy to hire a team of bloggers in India or China to promote Longhorn1999 or whatever it's called, and keep half the profits myself.
So, this team used to be a secret, but is now official. In other words, MS has taken their astroturfing efforts and tried to legitimize them. Wonderful.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
Nominate me! I wanna be an unpaid shill for a corporate convict.
I have to wonder, will MS use of blogging give "blogging" per se any further credibility with mainstream journalism?
C|N>K
Not flamebait, but I can see this leading somewhere really nasty...
If Microsoft admits to using bloggs to spread their marketing messages, how long before some high minded idiot in government suggests that such things should be subject to the same regulations as infomercials?
Just one more stepping stone toward regulating the Internet and how consumers use technology in order to protect consumers from the real villains, all done by way of restricting personal freedoms instead of prosecuting the bad guys!
Just 2 cents worth...
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
For every single one of those blogs, announce the moment it is hosted on Longhorn. If there is downtime, we'll notice. Of course, there's nothing wrong with downtime to install new beta releases, I presume that will be announced too.
Very simply, when they are done right blogs provide immediacy, an individual's authentic voice, and a certain amount of transparency because of their unfiltered nature. Not only do I have no problem with bloggers writing about their beta experiences with Longhorn, I think its a great idea.
Will these people be free to voice any opinions they may have without fear of retribution? Can we, their readers, ever be sure of that? Convince us.
Didn't Microsoft just recently get upset that someone posted screenshots of a recent build of Longhorn? Why would anyone suddenly jump at the chance to get a DMCA-style shutdown of their blog just to review a damned Longhorn beta?
Wish they'd make up their minds. A guy who (misguided or not) seems to run a legitimate Windows fan site (ye gods, that's insane :) gushes about their product and the company slams him down for it. What happens when some blogger with no love for Windows (I fit in this category, though I won't bother pirating/running the beta because I don't give a rat's arse about Windows releases nor will I review it for them) jumps on this "team" and decides some new "feature" sucks or finds a critical, egg-smeared-on-face kind of bug and writes about it?
Free speech sure ain't looking too healthy these days...
Read my stuff.
"Yeah, because while the patch cures cancer, it'll end up giving you syphilis instead..."
I don't think I want to know how you caught syphilis from your computer.
....that this is nothing more than Microsoft attempting, once again, to buy off bloggers in an effort to astroturf their propaganda. Oh wait... did someone already say that? ;P
*Hint: This is what's called a joke
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
"I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him "Money" for short/ I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support"
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I'll let microsoft pimp me out on my blog! Then just like a good ho I'll call all my tricks and tell 'em I just gave 'em CIV (Computing Immunodeficiency Disorder).
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
WTF!!!!! They won't do secret stuff, but they legally obligate their volunteer shills to do secret stuff!!!! That's very funny.
Remember, you can't spell propoganda without NDA.
that was my .02 to this...
sig goes here!
I tell ya, every time I hear about a "blog", or a "blogger", it conjures-up the image of some farking hippie sipping on a latte in a coffee shop while pining about all of the evils in the world.
Makes me pine for a cop with a riot shield, a can of pepper spray, and a metal baton...
N.
That's how I've always thought of it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
On the plus side, Last Call won't mean the end to your drinking at this bar. After they lock the doors, I'm sure there'll be windows or some other back entrance that can be easily opened back up.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Slashdot has been training an elite force of trolls for years, craftily capible of saying something that appears to be one thing on the surface but then is really something else underneath.
It is time, Troll Force, to spring into action! Surely among your ranks is one who can manage to get him/her/itself into the Turf100 group, and do the troll of your lifetime from within - all while being paid!
If that is not one of the Greater Hacks, then I don't know what is.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I am now forming "Team 86" to attempt to cancel this campaign. /. entrants are welcome.
All
Team X (OS) is alive and doing well also.
No way. It's not like we haven't seen this happen several times already.. "Oh, yeah, I took $$ for that political piece.."
The "blogosphere" seemed to overlook many cases of paid-off bloggers because it was too busy in its perpetual circle jerk.
You find that PR people (ab)use their relatives a lot.
Remember all those people who are on those 'infomercials' who all looks like their family tree doesn't fork. Well the roots and rotten too (and different colors from the rest of their hair.)
Im waiting for the 'sincere' voice of one of those QVC or HSN shills trying to lure the unsuspecting, the gullible or the deficient to buy the crap.
Hey, Bill G. needs all your money NOW!
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Would you believe Longhorn has all the features promised? No, Ok, would you believe that most of the new proprietary features will not lock you further into Microsoft's vendor trap? No, Umm, well how about that Longhorn will run on your typical current Windows 2000 PC? Uhh, your going to be taking a closer look at Apple's Tiger OSX and the new Linux distributions as a replayment for Microsoft's lack of choice, aren't you, yes.
I can't stomach blogs...well it's not the blogs themselves, but the losers who feel as if they need to have a blog.
Blar.
between the liars (PR and other 'spin' meinters) and the gummint trying to keep the fuckers honest.
:-)
And who keeps the gummint honest? (The media? Bwahaha!
My advice is "Don't buy anything without a refund policy."
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn!
From reading the blog I see you want to invite a representative group to evaluate your work. Technically that is a good idea, but currently it suffers from some weaknesses.
Let's first assume you want more than just fanboys drooling, you want to evoke the feeling that you're actually listening to other opinions and impress the heck out of your "foes". If that assumption is false then any further interest by current non-MS-users is futile, go stick with Thurrott and his kin. If it is true, then there are two major problems:
1. Selection of participants. Shun any known fanboys at all costs, have some people with known anti-MS-but-fair reputations show up. Go get Torvalds, Cox, Raymond, Parens, and other OSS people (Other Companies people might have a corporate interest to uphold) and their best friends to show up (Actually read about their opinions first, otherwise you'll screw up and invite Free Software people, like Stallman, who cannot, under any circumstances, endorse any proprietary doings, for example). If those people are allowed to play with your new toy a few days, and openly voice their opinions and suggestions, THEN you'll impress the heck out of everyone.
2. NDAs. As pointed out in the blog itself, secrecy is bad, so don't f**king do it, ok? Have everyone allowed to say whatever they want afterwards, including screenshots, etc. Surly, that won't sound positive only, maybe even harshly negative (Though I actually doubt that), but noone would be able to say you're still the evil empire...
In short, if you invite fanboys, then don't expect anyone but fanboys to believe them.
If that makes sense, you're too drunk, and should go home.
I forget what 8 was for.
Or, maybe that's just indicative of what a herd of dim-witted sheep consumers and decision-makers (PHBs) really are.
ACHTUNG! Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
Maybe Microsoft should look at some Programming tools / man power to help make Longhorn better?
Anyone remember usenet postings in 1997 and 1998?
Scary that they say they're gonna pay bloggers to promote their OS, but the scarier part is that's most likely a cover for using their own paid employees to pose as bloggers to push longhorn, chances are, they already utilized this and have had employees making public blogs that talk about everything else, and now will start spreading the "word"
Eat shit, whores.
I can imagine how Longhorn will suck and MS knows it , but didn't know situation is that much desperate. Good luck Microsoft.
Team OS/2 was the OS/2 fan's group...
No way, shape, or form supported by Microsoft, since by that point MS was well into the Windows over everything mode.
That was my point! Team OS/2 was a bunch of IBM people operating in an unofficial capacity, because they were frustrated by IBM's dropping the ball with OS/2 because they didn't want to go head to head with Microsoft. To Microsoft's chagrin, Team OS/2 was quite effective -- they pretty much had everyone believing the best way to run Windows 3.1 apps was under OS/2 Warp.
Gonna have to start watching Wheaton's site. With all the vet bills
....although going by this, it seems you might be? Hey... whatever floats your boat and all that nonsense. (^_^)
My GOD! Wil Wheaton is so short of cash he's visiting a vet's instead of a doctor's?
For his sake, I hope they didn't throw in a free neutering.
I expect his next release from O'Reilly will now be "Lovin' Longhorn" or something like that.
"Lovin' Longhorn"? Ahem... the guy's married! Whatever the rumours say, I don't think he's that way inclined....
Don't blame him a bit.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Because she tells the truth. Oh wait, that wouldn't be good for Longhorn. Nevermind.
Budd: You're telling me she cut through eighty-eight bodyguards before she got to O-Ren?
Bill: Nah, there weren't really eighty-eight of them. They just called themselves "The Crazy 88."
Budd: How come?
Bill: I don't know. I guess they thought it sounded cool.
So when Team 99 bloggers post screenshots of Longhorn will MS sue itself into oblivion?
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
I was part of one of Microsoft's attempts at getting people who were active on the Internet involved. At the Pocket PC, Wireless, and Beyond shindig in 2000 Microsoft invited 35 people - mainly Palm users - who were active online to Redmond, gave them each a couple of Pocket PCs (and mailed them a couple more over the years), and asked for feedback.
There was no NDA.
There was no attempt to encourage people to be pro-Microsoft or even actively promote the product. I certainly wasn't, I was more than ready to highlight the shortcomings of the products, and they still kept me on their list and sent me units to try on.
And most of all, they didn't just talk... they listened as well.
Three things struck me:
First, all the Palm users immediately got together and beamed all their contact info to each other. The Pocket PC users mostly didn't know how to do it, beaming was difficult and the handhelds were generally larger and less comfortable to use and even the Microsoft people on the handheld team didn't tend to have theirs with them.
Second, getting the mail set up on the LAN they were demoing on was really hard. By the second try people were saying things like "this isn't supposed to be rocket science, and besides, we're all supposed to be rocket scientists".
Third, the handwriting recognition was clumsy. It required a lot more strokes and a lot more tries to reliably recognise text, compared to Graffiti.
The really amazing thing, the thing that made me a total fan of Beth Goza and Derek Brown was thet the next version of the Pocket PC software actually fixed all these problems. Not all the changes were improvements, and not all the problems we pointed out were fixed, but so many of them were I was stunned. In fact, since Palm replaced Graffiti with Jot the Pocket PC does a better job of implementing Graffiti than Palm OS does.
Unfortunately, while they made many changes the Pocket PC still has all the deeper flaws that I wrote about back then. Oh well, this isn't about the Pocket PC. This is about Microsoft.
What was key with the PPCWB shindig is that Microsoft set up a two-way discussion with us, and didn't try and control what we said in it or to other people. This wan't an "Astroturf" campaign, it was a real engagement with the community, and they got a huge win out of NOT creating a conduit for synthetic adulation.
Microsoft's done it once. Can they do it again?
And I am not even a Mac user...
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
The internal name is actually split into three: Shorthorn (Windows XP SP3), Longhorn (what will actually be released as 'Longhorn') and Longerhorn (the stuff, like WinFS, that will just have to wait another couple of years.
It is truly pathetic that they can no longer create innovative solutions and actually release them. The best stuff comes out of Microsoft Research and will never see the light of day.
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
Sounds like the old EvangeList...
This tactical idea of rumor-based marketing by getting some bloggers to testify to Longhorn's wonderfulness makes perfect sense in that context.
Whoops, I suppose I better clarify my statement. I really do believe everything I read on the Web. What I believe is that someone wrote it. (Actually even that belief is subject to some epistemological qualifications, such as that my computer and eyes are working properly, etc.) However, I do *NOT* believe in the sense of believing that it is true or even that it has meaning. I believe someone wrote it, and there is a context in which there were reasons why it was written. But true? Just for beginners, the author might be mistaken, though in this case the more obvious concern is that the author might be externally motivated by Microsoft. True? Sorry, I'm not going to believe it just because some blogger says so.
I just had a BSOD a few minutes ago. That's one of Microsoft's Blue Screens of Death, just in case you're some kind of n00b. That's on Microsoft's current "latest and greatest" XP OS.
I keep thinking about what has been reported as the marketing slogan for Longhorn: "It just works." If so, that would be the first time in the history of Microsoft. I really doubt it. Yes, I appreciate that Microsoft is sincerely trying to make better software, but they continue to make their software more and more complex, and I'd certainly wager that Longhorn will have bugs. (Actually, I've already won that bet--Microsoft has already begun patching Longhorn's bugs.) There will be lots of times when it will *NOT* just work. They are building their entire marketing campaign on a bald lie.
Sadly, Microsoft is very much in touch with our times--just like Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert is in touch with modern "reality". Truth is becoming a meaningless notion. Creating "proper" images and making money are apparently the only things that count.
Sad to watch, though from a historical perspective I don't care that much. However, that's just my faith in truth and democracy. I think they are good, and therefore will ultimately prevail--but the current evidence is that the places where they prevail will be elsewhere than my beloved homeland.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Speaking as a Team99 blogger, I can assure you that we strive to provide unbiased...err...
I'm sorry, what was I saying? I can't seem to think clearly with all this money on my keyboard.
Blogs are so overrated.
Except from those who are in the the middle of a war, in the process of doing something really interesting or working on a project you have interest in.
But for 99% of them I'd would say that they are a waste of time.
Is there any truth that this project was initiated on the success of Project: Paul Thurrott?
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
The US Mainstream Media does not have a great reputation outside of the USA because of the lies they let pass during the last election.
It sounds vaguely familiar...
So, what are Microsoft thinking bloggers should write about?
"WOW I JUST SAW THIS NEW UI AND LONGHORN LOKS SO COL AND IT WIL KIK APLAS BUTT SO HARD!11!1!!1 WTF DID U HAAR ABOUT TEH NEW COOL DOT NET TECHS!!111!!1 WHAT F3ATURAS THERE PLANNIG?????!!?? OMG I HAEV NO IEDA YET BUT IMM SURA ITL B AEWSOM31111 OMG WTF"
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
...Microsoft's "Team 99" evangelism effort will be composed of bloggers that will become Microsoft's voice to the masses...
That should read: voice to them asses
Slashdot really needs to put more effort into catching this sort of stuff before it hits the front page.
Most people still don't seem to realise this, but guerilla marketing has now long since become an everyday, "mundane" marketing activity that every large corporation does, all the time. It's dead-standard in the advertising industry that when you place a contract an agency, you also place a guerilla marketing contract as part of it. All decent ad agencies have a guerilla marketing division.
Posting fake messages in forums like slashdot, and creating fake blogs and fake "fan" websites and so on are all totally commonplace, standard methods employed on a day to day basis by these agencies. This stuff is going on all the time; talk to anyone who works in advertising if you think it's just tinfoil hat stuff, you'd be surprised. When you really think about it, the chances that companies like MS are not posting fake comments here is pretty much zero. (I've also seem some pro-Apple posts here that seemed just a tad suspect to me.)
If one is aware of it, it becomes easier to spot. They tend to follow a certain pattern, to maximise 'manipulation' of the reader. So they aren't usually blatantly pro-MS; usually they say something that sounds pro-OSS, to gain your trust, but then turn it around. E.g. a good one will look something like this: "I'm a big fan of Linux, and push it whenever I can, but we tried to migrate our company to Linux and it was a big flop because of the lack of a good calendaring app - we ended up switching back to Windows".
I don't agree that these posts have no effect.
Most people still don't seem to realise this, but guerilla marketing has now long since become an everyday, "mundane" marketing activity that every large corporation does, all the time. It's dead-standard in the advertising industry that when you place a contract an agency, you also place a guerilla marketing contract as part of it. All decent ad agencies have a guerilla marketing division.
Posting fake messages in forums like slashdot, and creating fake blogs and fake "fan" websites and so on are all totally commonplace, standard methods employed on a day to day basis by these agencies. Anyone who thinks this stuff isn't going on is, well, naive, because when you think about it, the chances that companies like MS are not posting fake comments here is pretty much zero. (I've also seem some pro-Apple posts here that seemed just a tad suspect to me.)
If one is aware of it, it becomes easier to spot. They tend to follow a certain pattern, to maximise 'manipulation' of the reader. So they aren't usually blatantly pro-MS; usually they say something that sounds pro-OSS, to gain your trust, but then turn it around. E.g. a good one will look something like this: "I'm a big fan of Linux, and push it whenever I can, but we tried to migrate our company to Linux and it was a big flop because of the lack of a good calendaring app - we ended up switching back to Windows".
I don't agree that these posts have no effect. Companies wouldn't do it if it didn't have an effect. I think they definitely have an effect.
Something went a little wrong posting that one, sorry.
Here's a bit more info on Astroturfing.
...more so every day.
Don't you remember that when the ipod came out the Mac Bloggers were out in full force fulling up /. with all the ipod nonsense.
Big deal ipod. It is just a repackaged and remarketed cheep harddrive with low quality audio. The basic idea for it was created fifteen years ago with the first laptop with a sound card.
So Microsuck now wants to do the same thing.
Big deal. This is not news.
Join up and blog away saying the absolute worst about Short Trumpet. (Micro Soft/Tiny Flaccid/Small Blowing Device, seems like a pattern here...)
Let's call a spade a spade.
Didn't we just read an article about bloggers getting sued by Microsoft for posting screen shots of longhorn? Will MS make up their mind already?
I just assumed Microsoft was going to begin randomly inserting positive review entries into their MSN Spaces subscribers. Those online casino, Texas Hold 'Em, and blackjack blog spam comments were actually Microsoft's first test of the technology.
I'm curious as to what's actually in the NDA that the shills/astroturfers sign to join "Team 99"
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
This hype is rediculous. Longhorn is going to be just another disappointing release of Windows that is just Windows XP dressed in a new suit. Microsoft is stuck in a rut and has been since 1995. Windows 95 = Windows XP + new start button. XP is a continual problem and I can't imagine with the MS track record that Longhorn will be any better. I have a 3GHz Gateway and I still hate the delays that crop up when there are permission errors or it gets into its all too common daze from hell. This kind of crap shouldn't happen. I think I'll get a Mac!