Assessing Media Bias: Microsoft Vs. Everyone Else

snydeq writes "J. Peter Bruzzese questions whether Microsoft receives unfair criticism in the media, while Apple, Facebook, and Google seem to get away from missteps unscathed. 'I've noticed an unfair, ongoing trend: If Microsoft does something a little off, it gets bashed into the ground for it. But if Google, Facebook, or Apple (all three of which can be categorized, like Microsoft, as The Man in their own rights) missteps, it generally gets mild reprimands and even support from the media and those drinking the Kool-Aid.' Do you feel any inherent media bias in its coverage of the tech industry?"

Comments

Microsoft Deserves It

[wrightrocket]

If Microsoft hadn't already alienated the world by trying to bully them, then I might care.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[Anonymous Coward]

May zombieTaco come back and mod this up to +1,000,000. MS has so thoroughly pissed me off with their offensive behavior that there is no way in hell that I would give a shit how much they are bashed in the media or anywhere else. They deserve it.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[Anonymous Coward]

During the 90's, Microsoft supporters were super-quick to bash, deride, and mock anything that Apple came out with, or anything in the open-source world, while corporate publications poured endless praise on Microsoft itself.

Now the situation is reversed and Microsoft wants to complain about bad press? Maybe they should sit down, shut up, and watch as what goes around comes around.

(Alternately, if you don't want bad press, don't ship bad products. If Microsoft wants to stop a flurry of articles about how awesome their competitors are, maybe they should ship products that are clearly, measurably better than their competitors.)

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[Tablizer]

It's called "burning bridges". If other big co's burn enough bridges, the same fate will await them. Oracle's Java burning will subtract a big a chunk from their Karma, for example, such that another attack on open standards may push their reputation over the cliff and they will join Microsoft.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[Fluffeh]

MS has so thoroughly pissed me off

I think that is the crux of it right there, but for most people, perhaps not so much the /.'ers but rather mainstream media, they get snitchy with Microsoft because they are associated with "My Computer crashed again, damn Microsoft!". Microsoft does get a big bunch of bad press - or rather stories that they are involved with might get a bit more of a sour take due to their association with problems, lets face it, if a PC crashes right before the sales rep finishes putting that sales presentation together - and then has nothing to show, the sales rep will remember that and blame Microsoft. Google, Facebook and the likes don't have this problem. It might be argued that they offer a better service then, but that would be comparing apples to oranges.

I am not taking the side of Microsoft here, they piss me off as much as the next guy, but more for the fact that they abused their power greatly, they acted in amazingly un-ethical ways, especially in the early days, their (in my opinion) abuse of their operating system to push out other inferior products (Hello IE, I'm looking at you!). When it comes to the Windows side of it, I have to say that I am both in awe and loathing over the product. It is terribly unstable, though getting better with Win 7, the security is poor compared to *nix - but when you look at just how much hardware they support, and how well it works, any techie will have to say that it is amazing that it works. Slap any old or new hardware together and you can load Windows. It might not be terribly efficient, and bloat up, but it fricken works.

So, to sum up, I agree with They deserve it but not for the reasons that most people do.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[StikyPad]

Google didn't spend decades ignoring security, stability, quality, and performance all while strong-arming providers into using their product. They didn't start a "software alliance" that focuses almost exclusively on piracy of MS products and provides incentives for people frame their employers for fun and profit. Apple didn't file lawsuits against open source projects trying to give people viable options.

While MS is somewhat better behaved these days, and arguably focusing more on delivering a quality product than using questionable methods to achieve and maintain dominance, they still have a long and sordid history that doesn't just magically go away because they decided to start playing a bit nicer. Google has plenty of faults, but those who would compare it to MS in its heyday are either ignorant of the facts, or viewing history through rose colored glasses.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[celtic_hackr]

Perhaps it can be explained this way.

1) MS has been historically a bully and no one likes bullies.
2) MS is still a bully, but now a bully with a gang of surrogates. Rather than doing the bullying out in the open they send their legions to do it.
3) MS has been two-faced. "Do as I say, not as I do".
4) MS is still two-faced.
5) MS has been a thief, stealing other people's code. There are many lawsuits proving this. Stacker compression being just one case.
6) MS has been petty to companies and yes the members of the press.
7) Members of the press have long memories.
8) This is getting to be a long list. you get the picture, I hope.
9) There are lots of features in MS products that are there, because exactly one person asked for it. Making programs bulky, and error prone.
10) MS products are millions of lines of code maintained with patch after patch over decades and reused, based on a design that lacked vision (which is admittedly a difficult thing to have, Steve Jobs was one of those few visionaries).

The lesson we learn here is if you do evil, lack vision, are too greedy, and don't play nice with others, people won't like you. Hence MS is only reaping the rewards of decades of arduous planting of seeds they have sown. Or you reap what you sow.

Re:Microsoft Deserves It

[starfishsystems]

Why are you willing to let Google get away with monopolistic behavior that Microsoft gets crucified for?

Google has market share because it provides services that people want to use. It's not above criticism, and it bears watching if only because it's got fingers in so many pies. But so far, I haven't seen compelling evidence that Google is evil. And neither have the courts.

Microsoft has market share because it historically used every means, fair and foul, to lock customers into its products, intimidate vendors into incorporating its products, and crush, absorb, or threaten competitors to its products. Not only did Microsoft make crappy software, it did so strategically. Microsoft still threatens Linux with unspecified patent violations. Oh yeah, and stacking the ISO standards committee so it could get its bloated and patent-encumbered XML standard ratified. Microsoft is a convicted monopolist in both the US and the EU.

What was your point again?

Witness the power of competent PR!

[Dr. Spork]

What you're describing is the difference between a giant, scary company with a good PR department, and one that has no idea how to sell their brand. I think it's that simple.

Re:Witness the power of competent PR!

[93 Escort Wagon]

And I remember that people used to say Microsoft was only big because they had good marketing.

It's almost as if it's more than just PR, for long-term success you actually need to make a product that people want and can use.

It's almost as if people have forgotten about Microsoft's antitrust conviction now that we're ten years out from the end of the trial.

Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are we really entertaining the topic of Facebook getting a free pass on PR? They get slammed every time a privacy issue comes up;

Likewise Apple gets hammered every time there's an iphone glitch or IOS issue effecting battery life.

Google? You mean the near universal punching bag for reasons why "do no evil" cannot be their motto?

Re:There is a huge positive bias

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say they're polarizing. Having owned both an iPhone and (presently) a nice Android handset, I never understood why people get so up-in-arms over a cellphone.

Facebook gets TONS of hate (and outright bullshit) over privacy issues. Yes, they make money by knowing everything about you. No, they don't sell your information.

Google gets a bit of free pass everywhere, except for the odd privacy gripe. They seem to be the punching bag du jour in the courts though.

Microsoft, we all just love to hate, even if they're not in a position to deserve it anymore. They certainly did though. We'd be years ahead of where we are with the web, if it weren't for them and their (former) antics.

Are you kidding me?

[dell623]

Microsoft has been left relatively alone while Google and Facebook and Apple have faced the most severe scrutiny of late. Also the fact that conversation about the patent wars is dominated by Florian Mueller and people quoting Florian Mueller has meant Microsoft has got off very lightly, even in its extremely dubious attempts to collect royalty for Android based on software patents, and attemps at bullying smaller companies like BArnes and Noble: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2011111122291296

Or the fact that despite anti trust rulings, we still get Windows bundled with all non Apple laptops with no option to avoid paying for it, and IE is still bundled?

No, they still get off too lightly.

Did Fox News write this?

[gatfirls]

This reads just like one of their whiny op-eds about the liberal media only focusing on republicans (and of course they're all lies or exaggerations).

Cry Me A River

[fwarren]

It is the circle of life.

Once upon a time, it was IBM who had every misstep reported as evil and Microsoft was the could-do-no-wrong company,.

Twenty years from now, No one will talk about Microsoft at all, though they will still be in business. Everyone will jump on the evil that Google does, and no matter what they do, OCP (or the current new kid on the block) will do no wrong.

Microsoft earned their bad reputation the hard way

[Omnifarious]

And they haven't really done anything that dispells that reputation. Their recent attempt at bullying with patents is a case in point.

But I still agree with the article. But that's because I don't think Apple or Google are appropriately taken to task for some things they do that are wrong. Particularly Apple.

Selection Bais

[jythie]

It all depends on who you listen to and which negative coverage you 'notice'. Microsoft gets tons of praise and has an army of fanboys, just like Apple and Google and Facebook, each of which seems to feel that their brand is under constant attack while the 'others' get off easy.

Bias thy name is Gartner

[gelfling]

Gartner couldn't be any more insanely pro MS if they were branded a subsidiary of MS.

Media vs tech media

[MrEricSir]

In the media, sure. Apple is always launching new gizmos and the media eats it up like a child on Christmas morning. They can't help it if it's a slow news day.

But do tech publications have the same bias? Seems unlikely to me; there's always stories on Slashdot criticising Apple (and Google, and Microsoft.) Same goes for any other tech news site I've seen, baring 9to5mac and such.

Re:Media vs tech media

[Benaiah]

Between 98 and windows xp Microsoft was probably at the height of their power. They were on everyone's PC, everyone's laptop. There wasn't a viable alternative because they had all the Apps! Fast forward to Vista and you see that Microsoft squandered their position. They lost touch with their market, fed them hype and shit and delivered a product that didn't work... then we had a failed phone, a failed zune and whatever else that never saw the light of day... Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista but really that's not a comparison that even Microsoft wants to make. With windows 8 and the tablet market heating up there really is potential for Microsoft to "innovate" and develop an O/S that runs the same application on a Arm tablet all the way up to an i7 desktop.

So do they deserve the bashing they get? Damn right they do. Do evil was there motto there for a while, as well as charge more for less. Buy out a product just to destroy it, charge outrageous prices for licensing and just generally piss everyone off. On the other hand look at google maps. what a brilliant tool that we all rely on that got released for free... Google mail offering 1gb instead of 1mb at Hotmail. Facebook hasn't done anything of note yet, but Apple (which I do bash constantly) releases a new and evolutionary tool every year that is compatible with old. Playstation should be taking notes and following in their footsteps. So yeah, Microsoft is the herpes of the world.

Bullies

[sgrover]

Bullies have to work extremely hard to loose their reputation as a bully. Non-bullies who mess up are worthy of more lee-way.

Re:There is a huge positive bias

[HermMunster]

Embrace

Extend

Extinguish

Do I need to say more?

Convicted monopolist maybe?