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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.
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.
So does every other company in the world with an advertising department.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Truly correct fore sure. The part that is missing though is "we would do it if we had the chance".
MS values your privacy? You mean how they read encrypted Skype messages? Don't kid yourself about MS motivations. They would monetize you in every single way they can and they will sell data to third parties. They are just not as good as Google yet. Google makes no pretense about it; it's how they make money from the free services they provide.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
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
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.
Astroturfer or ignorant?
Microsoft tracks you everywhere for contextual ads as well. And they value your privacy far less than Microsoft.
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/microsofts-new-outlook-mail-welcome-hotmail-replacement-917473
https://www.eff.org/who-has-your-back-2013
Microsoft has been caught selling DATA to advertisers, which is the worst offense.
http://rt.com/usa/yahoo-microsoft-campaign-political-862/
And they have a patent specifically covering selling your personal private data to advertisers, allowing advertisers to bid on that data.
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2010/02/gates_ozzie_other_microsoft_execs_patent_personal_data_mining.html
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Quick! Put it on YouTube so everyone ... can... see... it.
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Skype is worse than you think. Research the partnership that Skype has with TOM in china. Hint: If you plan on using skype in china, you probably dont want to download their version: It reports every word you say directly to the CCC.
Call me when Google Talk starts shipping with backdoors for one of the more politically repressive governments out there.
I'll focus on documented facts instead.
Microsoft and Google both track you to serve up contextual ads. However, the key differences are:
* Microsoft handed over search data to the US government without a warrant while Google refused.
* Microsoft SELLS YOUR PRIVATE DATA to third-parties without telling you. Google never gives your private data to someone else.
* The EFF ranks Microsoft as having a worse record for protecting your privacy.
The fact that Google makes more money from advertising doesn't make them evil or nefarious. It means consumers prefer them.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
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.
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.
Personally, I feel Microsoft is frustrated Google succeeded in changing the rules they worked so hard to establish.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.
Or rather jealous of Google since they make money from free products while Bing makes losses every single quarter.
*They* want to track you just as much, they are just incompetent at the implementation.