Re:How is this bribing? It's NOT it SOP (Score 1)

Professor UNIX, it is nothing like an iPod & speakers, why deal with the analogy. Why not justrdeal with the facts of this case.

Let's look at what is going on in my humble opinion. Folks, Microsoft is not just shipping some little tiny application or patch to the OS. They are shipping a brand new operating system that has significant requirements for hardware. You can't just drop vista on you Pentium 2 or old AMD CPU with 256MB. It behaves like a "dog" trust me I have been running the RC1 on minimum hardware and it isn't pretty. Comparing what open source companies do is also not a fair comparison, because they are not multiply billion dollar companies, they are too small to know better. The magazine and website professionals (paid reviewers, not free time bloggers) get samples sent to them all the time, because if you don't send the right hardware for the job you won't get a review of the product, you just get an announcement that "it's coming out..." Windows Vista is not Linux or UNIX it you cant just recompile the OS to run on the CPU in the clock radio or that old P2 CPU your not using right now. You need cutting edge graphics hardware, a good monitor, 100Gig HD, 512MB RAM (1Gig is better), and a kicker for a CPU... do you have that kind of hardware around that you can allocate to do a review of Windows Vista? I doubt it!

Comparing Microsoft's laptop-gate to how the music industry works is absurd and even the assumptions folks are making about the music industry are uninformed fancy. And even the gaming industry will send a reviewer the game station if the reviewer doesn't have the required hardware.

Do you think that the review would buy a two grand laptop to do a review of a Windows Vista? No, they might put it on a 3rd rate box they have, but if you could get the OS to install it would run badly and the review would reflect this. The only reasonable thing is to send hardware that is compatible and ask that they give Windows Vista a fair review. Why ask for the laptop back? When was the last time you got back something that you lent out, or at least on time without having to ask? It is human nature to forget to return something. What would happen if the reviewer broke it? Should M$ sue them for the value?

What happened here is that some bloggers were given VIP status by Microsoft marketing. Elevating an "ordinary smuck" to a status they are not used to they reacted badly. They are not used to receiving expensive packages so that they can give something a fair shake. Come on folks most geeks spend more then $2,000/year at Starbuck! You really need to get some perspective and think beyond your level of experience. Microsoft spent six-billion dollars to develop Windows Vista, what is a couple more hundred grand more to get a fair review from some popular bloggers. I would hope, but obviously it hasn't happened, that the reviewer would simply say Microsoft sent me a laptop with Windows Vista on it, this is because it has hardware requirements, after I review it I feel I should return the laptop, or I will donate it to..." The responsibility is on the recipient not on Microsoft who are just following SOP and are including a couple of newbie's. I think reviewers have enough integrity to give fair reviews, you can usually spot the ones that don't, but people in situations they are not comfortable in will usually react badly. In this case, I would think that the folks that started this furrier thought their integrity was being tested. Since they aren't sure of there integrity they lashes out, the other folks that are carrying the storm forward are probably either jealous (Where is my free laptop). Or, are Microsoft haters anyway (It's not good to be a hater!), or are people that don't understand how the industry works. IMHO: There really is not story hear, just misunderstanding and jealousy.

An ACER $2K laptop really isn't that much of a bribe, my past experience is their products has never been good. But that is another topic. CloneZero