Summary: Microsoft gives away a method for ensuring that press coverage is positive and developers target Windows
AS we pointed out earlier today, Microsoft's mobile business is dying. Ina Fried still advertises for the monopolist, hoping to advance the mobile platform which Microsoft is now bribing for [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Based on this report, Microsoft gives incentives and schwag again:
'Many Thousands' of Pre-release Windows Phone 7 Handsets Prepped for Developers
[...]
Microsoft is confirming that "many thousands" of pre-release Windows Phone 7 handsets will be given to selected developers starting in July, but confusion over how that will be done continues.
The payments to developers were mentioned last week along with the Xbox 360
bribes [
1,
2,
3] (for journalists/reviewers, not developers). For Xbox 360, Microsoft relies on the buying of people's hearts, not to mention
shameless marketing, which is dishonest by definition. More on that in the next post.
Some
pro-Microsoft Web sites like Neowin turn out to be
rather excited about more giveaways:
Microsoft said on Wednesday that it will be offering a complimentary copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 to technical beta testers.
According to Tim of
OpenBytes, this is an unethical gift. "Let's expect loads of praise from the receivers," he writes, "Give em a free gift, they will shill for life." Microsoft Office 2010 is a separate subject we'll touch on later today.
Todd Bishop, who
occasionally receives Microsoft sponsorships,
chose the headline
"Microsoft's Xbox 360 'bribery' makes journalists squirm" to more or less belittle the seriousness of this issue.
Like other tech journalists, I do occasionally ask for units on temporary loan if I'm doing a review, but in this case Microsoft was clearly just making a massive unsolicited gift to the assembled media.
Microsoft Nick took Bishop's place at the
Seattle P-I (after Joseph) and he
uses this to just advertise Microsoft, still. Is Microsoft sponsoring him or his publication somehow? It's hard to tell. In general, the Seattle press is very supportive and protective of Microsoft, for obvious reasons that are selfish. The bias can still be seen in
articles such as this. The circulation of Microsoft gifts and favours must never be ignored; it has a profound effect on the press.
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