Hi Ed, Thanks for responding.
>> Why the free laptop? Why not provide a free copy of Vista? Why not do >> what hardware companies do, and provide a paid shipping box for returning the hardware after the review?<< I agree this is a bit much. If I was a blogger in this situation I would be stressing the specs needed to run Vista based on the hardware I was sent, but this is not the point I am trying to resolve. One simple reason though is time. How long does it take for you to set up a new machine? How many potential reviewers have extra hardware available? I have listened to Craig Boyd and the amount of time he has taken to load and reload Vista on his machine during the CTP cycle. I would not have the time or energy to do so. Microsoft also offered to take back the hardware or allowed the blogger to give it away if they wanted. So in fact they should be satisfying your requirement. I have said the same thing about beta software. I want vendors to provide me a virtual PC (VMWare appliance, or VirtualPC image) to me so I don't have to risk my primary machine, or my backup machine to test out their products. I beta test a lot of products (not all Microsoft) and this would save me tons of time. What Microsoft did was save the bloggers time. Would you be complaining about this if Microsoft simply handed out Vista DVDs with the same intention? I am guessing a lot of people would. In fact, I would say the same thing would have happened. Microsoft bribing bloggers with free DVDs - it is a slow news week. >> I suppose that if corporate lobbyists gave politicians free travel, >> free golf outings, free dining at fine restaurants and yes, even free computers, but said "Senator, this isn't a bribe! No, no, of course not! I just want you to *think* about our interests before you vote. You don't have to promise to vote a certain way!", you'd consider that to be ethical? I mean, after all, they explicitly did not require a quid pro quo, so it is just "another way that companies can market" to politicians.<< While I see your point on this, I believe this is different from politics, this is marketing. The government lives in its own world, and unfortunately lobbying is still legal, and will likely always be legal unfortunately. In fact, this is an accepted practice because it is legal. I don't agree with it, but it is as it is. What we are talking about is free market enterprise and getting the word out on a commercial product. We are also talking about the blogging communities self proclaimed "new media" title. So, is it so wrong for a company to use the "new media" to do marketing/advertising provided the proper rules of disclosure are followed? This is the core question I am trying to answer. >> Do you want everyone to immediately discredit anything you write because >> you work for Microsoft? Does your relationship with Microsoft by default mean that you are a shill? Would you hold a high opinion of someone who used that as their only basis for discrediting your writing?<< Definitely not, and in fact I asked this to clarify my understanding of your opinion. It is not my intention to discredit your writing. I am trying to understand the situation and form an opinion. That is all. I actually used the word "dislike" to tone down my question. I believe you have been very strong in your opinions of Microsoft on this forum. I think most people on this list understand how you feel. I find myself agreeing with you sometimes and disagreeing with you on others. In this particular case I was trying to understand how you formed your opinion on this topic. Nothing more, nothing less. >> I sure hope that you don't mean to imply that mine isn't. That would be >> well below your standards for discourse.<< Ed, I did not mean to imply this at all. I was trying to emphasize that I have not made up my mind on the topic of PayForPost. I am really sorry you feel I was attacking you personally. It was never my intention, honest. I am trying to make a business decision the same way I make all my business decisions: based on understanding the facts, on the how it will affect profitability, based on my moral and ethics, how it impacts my schedule and life, and whether it fits into the company's mission. >> How open are you? How many operating systems do you use on a daily >> basis? How many development languages do you use regularly? Out of those, how many are not Microsoft products?<< For the record I believe it is six different operating systems (2003 Server, XP, 2000, NT4, PocketPC, Fedora <gasp>), three or four different development languages (VFP, ASP, PHP <gasp>, T-SQL (depending if you consider this a language)). Not all of my business is directly resulting from Microsoft products, but most is and the reason is simple: expertise and demand. My clients run Windows and I develop for the platform. A simple implementation of fundamental economics - supply and demand. Thanks for helping me in my quest to resolve this issue. Rick White Light Computing, Inc. www.whitelightcomputing.com www.rickschummer.com 586.254.2530 - office 586.254.2539 - fax _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
