06.26.10
Microsoft ‘TEs’ (AstroTurf Employees) Comment on Predictions of Microsoft Doom – Using Talking Points, Without Disclosure
Summary: Paid Microsoft AstroTurfer (probably several, but not yet confirmed) copies and pastes talking points from his bosses, typically as comments in response to blog posts that are critical of Microsoft
OUR earlier explanations of Microsoft problems contain many citations of other posts and articles on the subject. Kara Swisher from the WSJ (Murdoch) has been defending Microsoft in posts we would rather not cite here; she is quoting Microsoft’s talking points and propaganda, printing, defending and publishing them verbatim (without challenging the obvious fallacies and made-up numbers).
Those who have read this site for the past week or so will know that Microsoft has many predictions of doom about it not only in blogs but also in the mainstream press (Forbes for example). Microsoft has taken a massive PR hit and it knows this.
Thanks to one of our readers we now have some evidence that Microsoft unleashes its employees to ‘fight back’ against truthful articles. How? Talking points and propaganda. The damage control is clearly extracted from the head of propaganda at Microsoft (Microsoft names it ‘Communication’, just like the Gates Foundation names this role which Larry Cohen abandoned last year). Microsoft’s current ‘Communication’ minister was put in place after a few shuffles which even involved Waggener Edstrom. This ‘Communication’ minister (officially a VP), whose Microsoft TEs join as they post copies (as in “copy and paste”) of his message (c/f Kara’s original) in blog comments without any disclosure about their employer, is a sign of great failure, maybe even a violation that the FTC should investigate. The blog comments are sourced from Microsoft, posted by paid Microsoft AstroTurfers (TEs), without disclosure. Microsoft ought to develop products, not people who hound Microsoft critics.
“Microsoft must be rather scared given how low it has stooped.”This particular example which we gave happens to have come from a Microsoft employee who smeared this site [1, 2] and smeared me personally with a comparison to a serial killer. It’s part of the same technique which is used against one’s opposition in the least ethical of ways, essentially a daemonisation which portrays one’s opponent as a dangerous terrorist or something of that sort [1, 2]. In some cases, the intention is to provoke and rile up one’s opposition for an insult to be blurted out in return and then used completely out of context as ‘dirt’.
But anyway, the main point is that a reader of ours found evidence that Microsoft still uses old tricks to rescue a reputation it lost long ago. It’s not just one example as there are many others like the Microsoft employee in question and they are all on Microsoft's payroll. That’s their job.
Microsoft must be rather scared given how low it has stooped. Kara Swisher should know better. █
Read this post for an explanation of the screenshot
