Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away

Posted Dec 28th 2006 12:33PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Blogs, Microsoft (MSFT), Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and Advertising, Columns, Advanced Micro Dev (AMD)

Yesterday I told you about the recent PR stunt of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT). Microsoft, with Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD), sent A-list bloggers Acer laptops with the new operating system, Windows Vista, installed on them.

The blogosphere was buzzing. Some thought it was a great idea, others thought it was a fiasco, while others yet thought it was an "ethics scandal" with laptops worth on average $2,000 used as a bribe of sorts. Many bloggers seemed to like the term "PayPerPost" for the idea.

After all that, today we hear that Microsoft is asking the bloggers to send the laptops they have just received back. More accurately, several bloggers posted the messages they received today.

Marshal Kirkpatrick received this note:

"Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding of our intentions I'm going to ask that you either give the pc away or send it back when you no longer need it for product reviews." Michael Arrington received this one:

"Also, you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away to your community, or you can hold onto it for as long as you'd like." So, is this whole thing turning out to be a PR disaster? I mean, it certainly highlights several interesting issues, especially in the realm of business ethics. While it may very well be customary in many industries to send product samples to newspapers and magazines for review, when does the line of sample vs. bribe becomes blurred? Could Microsoft have sent the software (with say a 30 day testing period) without the laptops? Would that have been better? AMD surely cannot send chips for review though.

It seems that Microsoft and AMD have taken a bet here, but targeted the wrong crowd. Bloggers are notorious for being very upfront; they leave no information unturned, classified and certainly do not like feeling influenced or pressured. That's what gives blogging its power. In a way, it is the little guys power, especially on the Internet, where bloggers can face off against the giants and say exactly what they think.

Perhaps Microsoft and AMD should have simply hired a different PR firm. After all, it was Edelman that was involved in the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) flogs fiasco. It doesn't seem that Edelman knows bloggers. Yet, I would have expected better understanding from Microsoft and AMD.

Tags: amd, blogs, microsoft

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-28-2006 @ 2:47PM

Steve Schullman said...

Melly:
It is obvious that you dislike Microsoft. That is an understatement. You are so negative towards a company that has contributed so much to society & business. Face the facts, most people 90% in the world will never master open source. It is like asking someone to take a horse to an appointment instead of driving a car. Without Vista & XP & 98 & 95 our world would be in the dark ages. Millions of people have been saved in life threatening conditions over the years from information displayed on a hospital's network. Give me a break.

12-28-2006 @ 3:20PM

Amey Stone said...

I don't think melly shows any anti-Microsoft bias in this post. I think she raises some important questions. It seems these days a lot of companies try to curry favor with bloggers in a way that they never would with mainstream media. She is just pointing that out and making us all think about it. Gone are the days when a blogger can simply accept a free laptop and say thanks and not have to wonder what is really going on.

12-30-2006 @ 5:04AM

Darren Mobley said...

Steve Schullman:
The author doesn't even bring up open source, Linux, BSD or anything along those lines. It's as much against MS as it is AMD, but you aren't defending Intel. It would appear you are just a MS fanboy (hey, maybe you get a free laptop for that?) trying to make an argument against something where there isn't anyone else around trying to argue back. Your "company that has contributed so much to society and business" notion is cute, at best, however you are predicting that the other businesses MS pushed out of the way wouldn't have been able to do as good or better of a job, something no one can be sure of. Your trolling skills are ok but only good enough to get the most bored of people (me right now) to bite. EOF.

12-29-2006 @ 5:50PM

M W said...

Why is this such a big deal again?? Honestly, if anything, it seems like it was a good idea to me and not a disaster at all. People just love to make a big deal out of nothing.