WHAT actually happened in PDC 2008 (other than Novell's presence) will remain a bit of a mystery because of secret meetings, but undecided observers should understand perfectly well that anything to be said about Vista 7 lacks integrity because money and bias were introduced into the equation.

Windows-now.com, surely some kind of a fan site, drops some numbers

The Sunday before PDC, I was given the opportunity to join about 200 other journalists for a workshop on Windows 7.

Incidents of laptop-gifting (only those which we know of) so far include:

1. IDG/IDC (Yardena Arar): Bribed by Microsoft
2. Gizmodo Possibly Bribed by Microsoft Too
3. GeekPi/Steve Allwine: Bribed by Microsoft
4. Ed Bott: Bought by Microsoft
5. Laptop Magazine: Bribed by Microsoft
6. Jason Brooks (eWeek): Bribed by Microsoft
7. Harry McCracken, Technologizer: Bribed by Microsoft
8. Tim Anderson Received Bribe for Vista 7 Review

Watch this linkage to all those bribed reviewers, giving an overall impression that the software was liked.

Many new features have been incorporated apart from updating existing features. To know more about the features read the reviews by those who were loaned the beta release.

Windows fan sites are all hyped up, fueled by the publicity planted out there by Microsoft and its 'special' (rewarded) affiliates.

Look at the Seattle press: "Reviewers mostly applaud Windows 7"

“All these reviews that are floating around are mostly from bribed people.”This is amazing! It seems like almost every review that Joseph cites is a bribed blogger which we mentioned in the list above, except Microsoft fans like Andre Da Cost and Randall Kennedy, whom Microsoft simply "blacklisted", according to his rant.

All these reviews that are floating around are mostly from bribed people. Other people just don't have access to the software, so they can't contradict (not fast enough anyway). Microsoft seeded the Web with disinformation using optimised gifts and journalists who needed to return a favour for that gift (moral obligation to reciprocity).

One of the comments in the Seattle P-I proudly states: "Just to be clear here, Microsoft handed journalists a machine that already had Windows 7 installed and tuned. Knowing this, how can anyone take these reviews seriously?

"Unless Microsoft reps are going to personally install and tune Windows 7 on our millions of machines, any talk of performance is meaningless."

Other Stories

2 days ago it was a Microsoft MVP receiving his Vista 7 (pre-beta) laptop.

The fabulous folks over at Toshiba have loaned me a brand new M750 to help with my early testing of the Windows 7 pre-beta. While certainly not the lightest tablet I have used this is a HPIM1643seriously fast workhorse of a tablet. It really is the whole package.

How about letting impartial people review the operating system before it's released (no earlier than 2010)? Is that too scary for Microsoft to allow?

Randall Kennedy got his hands on Vista 7 and he hated it.

I have seen the future, and it is bleak. Windows 7, the next big version, the one that was supposed to fix everything that was wrong with Vista, is here (at least in pre-beta form), and I can now say -- with some confidence -- that Microsoft has once again dropped the ball.

Roughly Drafted wrote about Vista 7 as well.

InformationWeek pundit Mitch Wagner has decided that Windows 7 is bad news for Apple because he’s willing to assume, based on optimistic comments made about the early alpha of the new softare, that Microsoft will solve all of its problems with Vista, “the way the Coca-Cola Company did with New Coke.”

Apparently Wagner fails to recall that the Coca-Cola Company solved its New Coke problem by canceling the product and going back to the old Coke. Does Wagner really imagine that Microsoft will battle Apple with Windows XP Classic, or does he just have no idea what he’s talking about?

A couple of hours ago in the IRC channel, dsmith claimed that he had installed Vista 7 and it was very bad, akin to an SP2 of Vista or the mythical "Mojave". That's just what he said.

Innocent enough was this post from an IDG editor who did not review Vista 7 and there are those who say nothing about where their screenshots came from (benefit of the doubt would only be fair though). Well, some PDC attendants only received CDs/DVDs but no laptops, so we're left with this mix of trusted and untrusted voices. Which is which?

Attendees at the event received a copy of a pre-beta version (about six weeks older than that demoed) of Windows 7 and a number of media outlets received loaner laptops with it installed. Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Engadget, Neowin, SuperSite for Windows, and many others have walkthroughs of the pre-beta’s UI.

To conclude, reviews of Vista 7 cannot be trusted because there was money -- in the form of expensive gifts -- on the table. Most importantly, none of those who received a gift from Microsoft said anything bad things about the gift. That would be insane, would it not? All the Windows sites appear to be linking to the bribed bloggers/journalists, so they lead to a cascading type of effect. They harbour manufactured bias.

Be nice to Microsoft and they will give you a computer. What's next? Just remember to be nice. ⬆

"[French President Nicolas] Sarkozy and his family have been vacationing at a lakefront estate in Wolfeboro owned by former Microsoft Corp. executive Michael Appe. The president was previously photographed relaxing dockside in his swim trunks."

--MSNBC