Slashdot Mirror
Leaked Microsoft Video Parodies Chrome Ad
First time accepted submitter Stratus311 writes "An article from The Verge shows a video leaked from Microsoft that parodies Google's Chrome ad. From the article: 'Microsoft and Google have been locked in a war of words over a YouTube Windows Phone app, but in the midst of the arguments a new Scroogled ad has emerged. Designed to be an internal-only video, a copy has somehow managed to find its way onto the web right in the middle of Google's I/O developer conference.'"
"Somehow" leaked.
I feel like Microsoft is truly correct with this video. Google is monetizing you, and worse yet, tracking everything you do in unseen scale.
At least with Microsoft I know they will value my privacy. I pay for their product and that's it. But Google's business model is around the monetarizion of its users.
Did you know that just like Zynga (the facebook game company), Google uses professional human psychologies when building their services. They don't just track, but they go directly after the science of human behavior. All done in a warm, fuzzy feel that Google is somehow your very best friend. It's entirely psychological.
Stop calling quiet press releases "leaks" FFS. We all know people yawn at press releases so they call it a leak and you look like an investigative journalist. Everyone wins right? Bleh fuck it. Slashdot has officially joined The Great Stupiding.
I'm pretty sure Microsoft used to insert adverts into the footer of hotmail emails.
Apple wants to sell you hardware, services and content. You pay for everything.
Microsoft wants to sell you hardware, services and content. You pay for everything.
Google wants you to use their services. You're being sold to pay for everything.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Designed to be "internal-only", my ass. Designed to be "leaked" is more like it...
It just seems like MS is jealous that Google is making money hand over fist. Microsoft tried to do the same thing Google did. They have a search engine and advertising business. They just aren't as good at it as Google. Tracking is pretty independent of what browser you use anyways. Besides, people don't give a shit that they are being monetized. People still use facebook don't they? And people do realize, to some probably limited extent, that facebook is all about monetizing them.
Don't we have ads on Bing? Don't we ads on Hotmail/Outlook.com? Don't we have ads on every service out there from Microsoft that's free? If you can't trust Google, you will never trust Microsoft either. Birds of a feather ...?
double meh.
Quick! Put it on YouTube so everyone ... can... see... it.
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
The ad is simply brilliant. I never thought I'd see Microsoft looking out for my best interests.
It doesn't make me want to use Internet Explorer, but it had me laughing, and got me thinking.
Which is more than I can say for these comments!
Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
I think Microsoft makes lots of these internal videos.
I worked as a temp at Microsoft a few years back, and there was a screen in the building that showed videos on loops. There was a pretty cool ad showing the wonders of an "ultra-mobile PC" being used in tablet mode, for example. (It didn't mention cost or battery life, just the cool stuff you could do.)
Anyway I saw a video, something like ten minutes long, that was a parable about outsourcing IT: This C-level guy (maybe the CEO but I'm not sure) wakes up and starts his day; his car comes by to pick him up, but it isn't his usual driver. "Where's my usual driver?" "He's... not here." The driver introduces himself as "Charles" and the C-level guy immediately starts calling him "Chuck" (which annoyed me right there). They get to the office building and all the people are gone. C-level guy: "Where is everyone?" Charles: "You forgot them." It turns out that the company decided to outsource IT to save money, not thinking about the effect this would have on the workers, so now this is a magical "A Christmas Carol" sort of situation where Charles is taking the C-level guy on a tour to show him what is bad now. A sales guy lost a sale because he didn't have a Windows Mobile smartphone. Other things... the one I remember is that they visited the server room, and it was empty, because the IT was outsourced to the cloud (this was pre-Azure so cloud meant non-Microsoft and therefore bad). A kid, maybe nine years old, rolled slowly past on a skateboard. "Who's that?" asked the C-level guy. "Oh, that's Linux." At the very end, the C-level guy wakes up for real and of course the people aren't missing, and he bumps into Charles who it seems is actually in his IT department. "Oh, can we get those Windows Mobile phones now?" Happy ending! Heart-warming!
I've searched YouTube a few times to see if this was ever leaked, but I don't know what it was called and I've never found it.
Whats the big deal with getting ads for things I may actually care about (as opposed to crap I dont care about)? Its really on me to decide whether I want to spend the money on it so if it really ends up costing me a lot of money then thats my fault, not the advertisers. Either MSFT has nothing else to hit the competitor with or they truly believe that everyone has gotten so bad at moderation (Which I guess is true in the US) that they cannot get out of their own way and not spend money on everything that flies infront of their face. As far as the cost of having to "Deal" with ads getting in the way or other advertisers having more information on me. I would like to see some examples of how this has resulted in any significant cost to anyone because the most it has ever "cost" me is a click or two to close the ad or a call to the national directory to remove my number from the list. Thats not much cost to me, especially compared to what I get from Google (Mail, Maps, Android, machine learning in all those things to make them more tailored to my life.).
Thet post troll has unintentionally stumbled on something interesting.
See how Google started removing borders around ads and made the shading super light in order to get ad clicks from older people and people with bad monitor calibration:
http://ppcblog.com/fbf0fa-now-you-see-it [ppcblog.com]or-maybe-not/
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentionally-trying-to-minimize-the-fact-that-these-are-ads/ [blumenthals.com]
Those carefully and scientifically calibrated colors must be worth atleast few hundred million of extra revenue from their cash cow by making gullible people click on ads mistaking them for real search results.
"Study:Contrast sensitivity gradually decreases with age"
http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=818&strict=0&morphologic=0&query=
This space for rent.
From the video, Microsoft wants you to think that Google is an evil oppressor that takes money out of your pocket by selling data on your behavior. They also want you to think that Google is "watching" you like some nosey neighbor who rather than blabbing your secrets all over town, will instead sell all your dirty secrets to the highest bidder.
And hey, if you think of it like that, it's pretty scary.
But seriously. Have you ever tried to actually sell your personal data to someone? Like, if you went to Starbucks and said, "Hey, I like coffee, I'm single, have a full time job, and disposable income. I'll let you tell me how great Starbucks is if you just pay me a dollar!" I'm sure that they'd probably look at you with some understandable confusion. Nothing is worth more than you can sell it for. That's simply the reality of economics. So your personal information generally has 0 monetary value to you and would probably cost you more to sell than it would cost you in time and energy to affect that sale.
Google is providing you a service. You're "paying" for that service by allowing Google to monetize your personal information ON YOUR BEHALF. It's a sort of barter agreement. Google will give you something at no monetary cost in exchange for the opportunity to sell your data to third parties. They're not selling your emails. They're not selling your text messages. They're not "reading" your data in any real sense (no actual person ever sees your data without an appropriate reason). They're effectively acting as your agent to monetize your demographic information. And rather than paying you in cash, they're paying you in services.
This is actually no different than how broadcast television works. They use companies like Nielsen to determine aggregate demographic information on the viewership for a given show. Then they sell that information to third parties (advertisers), who supply the necessary capital to run the TV channel and produce new content, which the network then gives to you for "free". Google's model is identical. Just because Google can fine-tune that demographic information does not alter the basic structure of the model.
All the FUD about "big data" relies on some over-zealous anthropomorphization of large scale data processing systems. Microsoft likes to use phrases like "Google reads your email" to scare you into thinking that there's some overworked engineers at Google that do nothing all day except sit around and chuckle about those emails you sent to your wife. But that just doesn't happen. It's scare tactics put out by people who have either never worked with large data sets or are purposefully obfuscating the truth with the intent to scare you.
In the end, you ultimately have a choice: You can simply stop using Google's services and thereby refuse to opt-in to their tracking. Humankind lasted millions of years without Google. You can avoid Google today if you don't want to pay for their services. But to freak out and say that Google is somehow operating nefariously by monetizing their services in a way that doesn't cost you cash out of pocket comes across as a bit obtuse.
hasn't quite figure how to implement these features into their software. Otherwise, you can be certain that they would be just as intrusive as they say Chrome is... or worse.
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
I can only speculate on what kind of kind, generous and benevolent entity would produce such an informative production. Surely a non-profit of course? Regardless, they must _clearly_ must have the interests of the general populace at heart!
And I do look forward to a similarly insightful exposee on the likes of Facebook, Amazon, and the many other, lesser known advertising/tracking groups in the internet...
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
Wait, how is "tracking me" taking money out of my pocket?
Microsoft seems to have a tradition of doing this kind of ad parody. I remember seeing one in the early 1990s that was a parody of the You Will television ads that AT&T was running at the time. There was a scene with a woman walking along a beach while wearing a large straw hat. The hat suddenly beeps, the woman takes it off her head, and there is a piece of paper sticking out. Voice over narration: "Have you ever received a fax in your hat on the beach? You will.... and the company that will bring it to you is..."
Alex: No. No! NO! Stop it! Stop it, please! I beg you! This is sin! This is sin! This is sin! It's a sin, it's a sin, it's a sin!
Dr. Brodsky: Sin? What's all this about sin?
Alex: That! Using Ludwig van like that! He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote music!
Dr. Branom: Are you referring to the background score?
Alex: Yes.
Dr. Branom: You've heard Beethoven before?
Alex: Yes!
Dr. Brodsky: So, you're keen on music?
Alex: YES!
Dr. Brodsky: Can't be helped. Here's the punishment element perhaps.
for their own products maybe they would be more popular. At least this was somewhat creative, unlike their past Scroogled ads. Funny thing is that while Microsoft points the finger of shame at Google they are trying to do the same thing: http://advertising.microsoft.com/international/display-ad-targeting
I lost my sig...
Something to compete with Google.
They've been terrible about it. I WANT TO BUY MS. I do. But what are my options?
They could have dominated smart phones if they just offered a reasonable OS. They could have built Windows compatibility into their smartphone platform. Don't pretend they couldn't... people have run Windows XP on the newer smartphones. ACTUAL WINDOWS XP. If you can run windows XP on those things then you can run a program emulation that lets you run windows software sans booting the whole windows OS. Imagine Google marketplace suddenly competing with a windows phone that runs pretty much all windows applications from the desktop OS. Exactly. MS instantly wins.
And then Windows 8... are you f'ing kidding me? Didn't you bozos learn from Vista? STOP IT.
And then Office... they're changing the interface again. *pinches bridge of nose* WHHHHY!?!
MS is right on their criticism of google. But what are we supposed to buy in the smartphone market? Your phone? Your tablet? Why? They're terrible. You've gone out of your way to make bad choices and we're supposed to buy it anyway.
I do not want google products. I like my MS stuff. BUT it has to be competitive. And current MS products are not competitive. They're a joke. And they're needlessly a joke. MS could in a year release products that would annihilate google's whole product line. Yes.
But they won't because they're stupid. It makes me rage.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Absolute bottom line is if you use any online services whether free or pay, it can easily be assumed that you have no online privacy at all. If that bothers you, then maybe the interwebs aren't for you.
I have been using Google services for as long as they've been available for me to use. My life has had absolutely NO negative effects because of this and no money has left my pocket. If I've been sold to other companies for marketing purposes then I sure as shit haven't seen it or felt it. I also have a Windows Live (or MSN, Hotmail, Outlook or whatever the fuck they're calling it now), email account that is almost entirely filled with spam/junk email from none other than Microsoft themselves. I cannot say the same for my Google account.
If Microsoft positioned themselves as not only critics of Google's disregard for privacy (see countless statements by Schmidt, for example) but as actual champions of lobbying, legislation, standards, and technologies that always favored the consumer's right to privacy, security, and choice/notification, they could really win me and a few other people over.
Merely pointing out how someone else is super shitty and shady, alone, isn't enough.
Not a single comment was incorrect. If the DHLS did this, the uproar would be toppling. One interesting aspect is that even though this data is being collected in the raw, the information is mercantile. I guess then we can chant, "All Hail Ad Blockers."
Someone's bitter.
Downloading Firefox now
>> At least with Microsoft I know they will value my privacy
Ah? ahem. It's not like they record and analyze all your skype traffic.....
aaaaaaa
For me the worst part is that they play the opening of the Beethoven 5th as a triplet when it actually starts on the offbeat.
I can't get too worked up by google tracking me. It's like saying EA is the worst company in the world when there's Monsato and Goldman Sachs out there. Seriously, from where I'm standing there are far bigger troubles out there. It just doesn't resonate with me. I'd rather people focus on declining wages, increased food, housing and health care costs. Basically the entire 'Middle Class Eroding' thing that's been going on for 50+ years.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
this is the other reason I don't care. Without that as context it looks like I'm just complaining :P.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I feel like Microsoft is truly correct with this video.
Except the part where the money is flying out of your pocket, unless you are suggesting that instead of Google selling aggregate information about us, we should be selling our non-aggregate personal information to Microsoft and Acxion ourselves, and trusting them to aggregate it like we know Google does?
Google is monetizing you, and worse yet, tracking everything you do in unseen scale.
So what? No I mean really so what? If I wasn't getting anything in return I'd be outraged, but I am.
In return for something that MANY other companies take from us without anything in return, Google takes our information and gives us THE world class search engine, incredible experiences across multiple platforms, productivity applications, services many other companies didn't offer, and all this in exchange for what we give other companies anyway and often with a price attached.
If this is so bad, why do I not feel Scroogled?
And how do we know this really is created by microsoft? It is true what the ad says, but I'm very hassitant to believe this is created by MS just because someone on the internet says so.. Unless MS confirms it, I'm gonna go with it being created by someone outside of MS without the knowledge of MS and is using MS for his/her 15 minutes of fame..
They may not be negatively impacting you.... today.
But think about everything you've ever done online or on your phone. Ever. Now think about what that set of data will look like in 10 years.
THAT is the power that Google has. It's the power that Microsoft DREAMS about. I'm not saying that is good or bad, but the fact is we don't KNOW what they will, or can, do with that data.
But I do know that they can do incredible things. They can do incredible good. Look at something like street view on maps. Astounding. And it's only one example. Bottom line for me is, I don't understand why people willingly share all of their personal information. Facebook, Google, etc. There is no privacy anymore unless you really try. Banks track all of your transactions, go into a casino and they monitor your wins/losses to find that sweet spot where you'll keep playing. I am sure that there are many many other things they are doing that we don't know about. But we get complacent because of convenience.
I'm not paranoid, it is the reality of today, and of tomorrow. Google is not bullet-proof, and they could someday be bought by another company, who could then own all of their data. The information age is an incredible one, all of that information is power... and you and I don't own that power.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
...than use that POS search engine Bing.
All this ad proves is that Microsoft is very, VERY jelly of Google. Maybe if they focused on things like, I don't know, an OS that doesn't blow massive cocks on Hollywood Blvd. or keep failing to make POS phones that have a snowball's chance in hell of beating either Apple or Droid, then maybe we wouldn't be seeing crap like this Jelly Doughnut.