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Microsoft Bribing Bloggers With Laptops

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hey-where's-mine dept.

Slinky writes "According to at least six bloggers, Microsoft has been sending out free top-of-the-line laptops pre-loaded with Vista as a 'no strings attached gifts'. This 'reward' for their hard work on covering tech in general is coincidentally right before the launch of Vista to consumers. To be clear, these weren't loans, they were gifts, and they were top-of-the-line Acer Ferrari laptops. Microsoft blogger Long Zheng broke the silence over the source of the freebies."

8 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. top of the line? by spotter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since when is an "Acer Ferari" laptop a top of the line laptop. There are really only 2 types of top of the line laptops. One is an Apple MacBook Pro and its understandable why Microsoft wouldn't give that out. The other is the Thinkpad. No other PC laptop comes close to the thinkpad. Though its too bad they don't make a 15" 1600x1200 model anymore.

  2. Hardly a bribe then by mccalli · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the summary:
    According to at least six bloggers, Microsoft has been sending out free top-of-the-line laptops pre-loaded with Vista as a 'no strings attached gifts'.

    To me, that's a gift not a bribe. I can't remember the specifics, but I'm sure Apple did something similar a while ago. They're saying "thanks for the coverage", and that's that.

    I'm happy over here with my OS X machines with Linux installs on the server side, and I still can't see a reason to be going after Microsoft for this. They got coverage, and they said thanks.

    Cheers,
    Ian

  3. Disclosure by truthsearch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't see this as too big a deal. What's far worse is bloggers who don't disclose the fact they got the gift in any related blog posts. Bloggers aren't expected to have any standards, but those that disclose this important information when blogging about Vista gain credibility.

    --
    Developers: We can use your help.
  4. Re:How is this bribing? by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No different from record labels sending promos to music journalists, or game companies sending software to reviewers. How is this "bribing?"
    Sending them a 30-day trial of Vista to evaluate is one thing, sending them a very expensive laptop preloaded with Vista is quite another. It'd be like record labels sending journalists a free 80 gig iPod and stereo speakers with every new song they're promoting.
  5. Why is this bad? by vtcodger · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Lord knows, I'm no fan of Microsoft nowadays. I think most Vista customers are people who will end up wishing that they'd walked away from Microsoft software back in 2006-7-8 when it was relatively easy to do so. But there is absolutely nothing unethical about putting a product in the hands of folks who have an audience and might say something nice about it. It's not dishonest. It's not an abuse of monopoly. It's not, so far as I know, illegal. And it's not wrong.

    Since Vista might not run all that well on some of these folks old A21M Thinkpads or whatever, sending out CDs might be a bit risky. Especially given the general flakiness of laptop hardware. Getting a harvest of blogger comments about how Vista refused to install or installed, but ate six directories containing a new novel is really a dubious marketing investment. Since Microsoft is awash in profts from its unchecked monopoly practices, why not give away laptops along with the OS?

    --
    You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
  6. Re:How is this bribing? by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It'd be like record labels sending journalists a free 80 gig iPod and stereo speakers with every new song they're promoting.

    Well, record labels will send free CDs, t-shirts, and other materials. Movie studios will fly reviewers out to special reviewer-only screenings of their films in a high-end theater. Microsoft wants Vista to be run on the best possible hardware for it, so they'll send out laptops with Vista preloaded. Apparently, Slashdotters are just now realizing how the industry has worked for decades. It's in the best interests of the companies for reviewers to have access to their products for review, because all this stuff is expensive and can be hard to find.

    You do realize they can send the laptop back to Microsoft when they're done reviewing Vista on it, right?
    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
  7. Re:I'm confused by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People don't complain about the cost as much when they don't need to pay for it. Put Vista on a Beefy system make sure it runs fast and smooth. These Bloggers otherwise would be rating Vista on a slower System, and probably paying for the smaller versions of vista. Where it could run clunky and choppy (plus MS May not have the drivers for it) Giving them systems they know it works perfectly on is like using systems at marketing expos They are setup for perfect use.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  8. Re:Yay, a free laptop that isn't really yours by Orange+Crush · · Score: 3, Insightful
    While it may be possible to reverse engineer enough to do it

    Part of MS's onerous content protection guidelines is to make the hardware as difficult to reverse engineer as possible. From inaccessible circuit paths and obfuscated drivers to encrypting the bus and "suspicious voltage" trip wires. Widespread adoption of DRM-crippled hardware will make open source and alternate platform drivers outrageously difficult. In addition, all the extra hardware and effort to lockdown equipment from its OWNER will make it cost more too.

    You cannot avoid DRM by simply avoiding Windows. Freedom loving geeks will have to do a bit of research to pick DRM-free parts. Maybe someday manufacturers will opt for a "DRM free" sticker on the box instead of "Designed for Windows Vista."