This is it! The rapture! I see the seven horsemen on the hill coming for us all! The blogosphere has been attacked by an evil of unimaginable proportions and we will all rot in our own feces for it.
…or this is nothing new. You choose.
So, the latest faux crisis in the blogosphere is that Edelman (poor, poor Edelman) has come up with a scheme to distribute souped-up laptops with Microsoft Vista installed on them to some influential bloggers. This is the method chosen by Edelman and MS so the bloggers can see the operating system first hand on a properly configured machine. Edelman is Microsoft’s PR agency for the Vista product line. They are also the PR firm behind the fake blog fiasco that deservedly crashed and burned for Wal-Mart a couple of months ago.
because of this new PR stunt, the blogosphere has its collective panties in a wad. apparently many bloggers are unaware that this type exchange happens daily. The uninformed perceive this as a moral and/or ethical crisis for bloggers. and as usual, they are throwing molotov cocktails around the virtual town square without getting all the facts first.
I'm sorry your blog doesn’t generate enough traffic for you to get a freebie laptop to review for Microsoft. actually, I'm sorry that MY blog doesn't generate enough traffic so I can get this kind of freebie, play with it, review it and keep it to be mine, Mine, MINE!
So is this a bribe by Microsoft? I suspect that some at Microsoft hope so. How about Edelman? I’m sure a few folks at the PR giant would hope so as well. but from a more practical perspective, this is simply an attempt on the part of the PR firm to get the product in the hands of bloggers so they can comment on the new OS in the blogosphere before the Vista consumer product launch in 2007. It's a risk like any other in public relations. but it is also a way for Microsoft to demonstrate that it is behind the product and wants the hear feedback about Vista.
Do Microsoft and Edleman want bloggers to comment on the product in a positive manner? Of course they do! are there any strings attached to the deal? No. The laptops were sent to the bloggers w/o any notice beforehand and with only the hope that the new product would be commented on in the marketplace by the bloggers. Look a the email received by Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek Software and the Joel On Software blog.
I’m working on getting some hardware out to key community folks, and I’d like to offer you a review PC. I’d love to send you a loaded Ferrari 1000 courtesy of Windows Vista and aMD. are you interested?
This would be a review machine, so I’d love to hear your opinion on the machine and OS. Full disclosure – while I hope you will blog about your experience with the pc, you don’t have to. also, you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away on your site, or you can keep it. My recommendation is that you give it away on your site, but it’s your call. Just let me know your opinion on Windows Vista and what you plan to do with it when the time comes.
From what I read here, Microsoft is being clear that this is a machine for review and also made it very clear that Microsoft is only looking for his opinion on the machine and OS. They then offered Joel several options as per the disposition for the laptop. Send it back, give it away or keep it.
Is this new? No. No. No. and…no. …and…no.
Walt Mossberg and andy Rooney did pieces about the freebies they get for review several years ago on the major networks. Do a search on Google and you can get a small sampling of how many companies are very open about this practice.
This thread and the other negative ones around the net are absolutely amazing to me. I can understand where laypersons may be surprised by this if they don't have an inside knowledge of how industry, PR, and the media work to get these products into the hands of those who have the reach to report on them.
Here's one REaLLY ironic point: We in the blogosphere constantly bitch and whine that we are not taken seriously. We cry when we don't get press passes to events. We bemoan the fact the the major media outlets don't treat us as "real" journalists. We complain when big business passes on social media because they don't understand us or think of the movement as more fad than revolution.
Enter Microsoft: In a gesture that both shows great respect and understanding, Microsoft extends the same courtesy to some of our brothers and sisters in the blogosphere as they do big media and what do we do collectively? We cry like a bratty four-year-old because we wanted the cherry sucker and not the strawberry one. We scream that they should have put the OS on a crappier laptop. We whine that the bloggers didn't give us "full disclosure." When was the last time C|NET, MacWorld, NYT, TWiT, or Time told the readers all the freebies they get for their reviews? Let me know when you find it…
With that said, I’m not surprised by the mob mentality of the blogosphere. However unsightly, this behavior pattern is one of the many things that makes the blogosphere such a powerful destructive force in the world today and a viable check against the fourth estate. However, until we can do the same in a positive manner, we will continue to marginalize ourselves.
Oddly enough, there are some bloggers that are "informed" about this practice who seem to think that this is a crisis for bloggers but are being strangely silent about the practice overall.
I am very surprised by b.L. Ochman, Joel Spolsky and others with backgrounds that would suggest that they would have known about this who have jumped on this ridiculous bandwagon.
Frankly, I believe b.L. is being disingenuous about the moral stand she is taking. She can't be that naive considering her background.
as for Joel: how DaRE Microsoft! Poor Joel Spolsky, who has built a very successful software business and is one of the most respected personalities in software development, has been left to his own gullible, weak devices to figure out how to respond to this monumental ethical dilemma. Give me a break. Of course Joel states that he knows what to do with such a mental challenge.
Microsoft's crazy offer, though, made me think a lot more about this whole thing, and I've decided that from this point forward I'm not accepting anything, full stop. Even if my moral logic is faulty, and there's nothing wrong with accepting gifts, I personally feel that it's not worth the reduced credibility.
To be fair, Joel is only concerned about the ignorant readers out the the world who are too stupid to decide on who they can trust as an information resource.
Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity. This is best explained in Cialdini's book Influence (a summary is here). The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft.
This is, of course, a very arrogant and offensive stand on his part. The blogosphere should be lambasting him for being so paternalistic and condescending. This same way of thinking has historically gotten many in trouble (see the british Monarchy RE: 1776/american Revolution; The Catholic Church RE: hiding pedophiles; Major U.S. News Media re: The growth of citizen journalism and social media; Donald Rumsfeld re: breathing; and Sherwood Schwartz re: the introduction of Cousin Oliver on The brady bunch).
Full disclosure: Google sent me a brand new iPod for Christmas because our company sells ads for them to our clients. I have been known in the past to be very critical of Google and I will continue to be when they deserve it.
OK… another disclosure: Microsoft recently gave me a Zune. Check out my podcast about the Zune customer support calls I am making on the Zune to see how they were able to buy my opinion with the gift.
Crap…This is getting embarrassing: MSN bought me dinner in Chicago during the Internet Retailer show so they could pick my brain.
Oh my, speaking of Chicago, there’s another: Yahoo! flew me up to Chicago a few months ago and paid all my expenses to have a peek at their new ad serving/management platform.
Good golly! I’m really speechless…I just remembered that Microsoft also flew me out to Los angeles this past summer to attend their Microsoft architecture Conference. again, all paid by the unholy software giant itself.
Oh jeepers! Do parties count? I'll have to start a new post for all the vendor sponsored parties I've been to where I've eaten and drank 4 times my weight in food and cocktails that I didn't pay for.
Good gravy, I’ve sold my soul to the devil. I guess my opinions and experiences have been corrupted to the point that I can't honestly be trusted to say that the Microsoft Zune is a piece of trash and MSN's client support sucks smelly arse crack. Nope, I'd never say that because my credibility has been compromised.
Everyone who is so disgusted by this that they won't be able to sleep tonight needs to get in line and speak out against every company that has done this in the past as well as every journalist, consumer and business person who has accepted any kind for freebie from said companies. You can start with Google, Yahoo!, IbM, Sun, Pontiac, Sony, Canon, apple…
