Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Employees Push Vista Phone 7 [sic] in Twitter, Without Disclosure

Phones in row of five



Summary: Microsoft staff is spreading the love in public but does not name the paymaster

MEET Kurt. Microsoft pays him a wage and he wanders around Twitter promoting Microsoft products, working around the clock at the moment for Vista Phone 7 [sic] (see tweets like [1, 2, 3]). We've also learned that he is sometimes interrupting other people's conversations in attempt to control the mood, so to speak, especially around the release of Vista Phone 7 [sic], the operating system so far behind that it can only rely on marketing and patent threats.



His blog seems like it may have been migrated from the now-dead/expiring Live Spaces [1, 2] and an old post from 2005 says:

I’ve been working for Microsoft since 1995 as a Systems Engineer. For those of you who aren’t familiar with that position, it’s basically a pre-sale technical sales role. Back in the 80′s, it was common for a single salesperson (Account Executive) to speak to customers, manage licensing contracts, and demonstrate products. Some time in the early 90′s, it was deemed near impossible for one person to accomplish all 3 tasks with the exploding number of products that we were creating. So in addition to the Account Exec role, we produced a role called the Systems Engineer, similar to what IBM had, whose responsibility was to understand and explain the usage and implementation of our technologies and how they could be best used together.


It is not unusual for Microsoft to use Twitter for marketing purposes and we wrote about the subject in posts such as:



Kurt has another blog from which our reader Tim quotes: "The thoughts expressed in this blog are my own and not representative of the opinions of my employer, the Microsoft Corporation."

"Bingo!" says Tim, "He's a Microsoft employee....now its all clear.

"There's another advocate of Microsoft products....shame he's an employee...I wonder, when will they get a person supporting them who isn't on the payroll? [...] that one was too easy..... and it has reminded me why I started OpenBytes, to expose this type of thing....been sort of sidetracked by great FOSS software over the years... I should be basking in the glory of the find....unfortunately he was far too easy..... he interrupted a twitter conversation with a little WP7 promotion.... This is the blog he advertises on his Twitter profile: http://kurtsthoughts.com/ ... and this is his wordpress blog (notice date of the latest post (11/10/10 so its current) http://kurtsh.wordpress.com/ [...] this is his twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/kurtsh [...] on his "official" twitter blog he doesn't seem to mention his association [...] If you compare the pictures between the blog and the twitter account, I think you'll agree its the same person. [...] It's a little bit of a hollow victory, he was far too easy....did make me nostalgic for exposing these "impartial" Microsoft employees that forget to mention who they work for. [...] I discovered Kurt on the journey home on the train, so Im not getting much satisfaction from the find...it was about 10 minutes work [...] One last thing on my new best friend Microsoft Kurt....... He said on Twitter (before I found out who he was) Quote "our presumption of understanding my purported "self-imposed preference limits" based on a 140 char Twitter descriptn is laughable. [...] To which I answer...well not really, I was spot on."

The above is from IRC. We are having connections issues with IRC at the moment, so we'll resume posting the full logs for all the days shortly.

Kurt's antics reminds us of Microsoft's Wong, who was heckling our Web site one year ago (he did not disclose the fact that he was working for Microsoft). We wrote about this in:



Some more thoughts from Tim:

_Goblindon't forget "I myself am an Account Technology Strategist for Microsoft in Los Angeles, CA, USA."Oct 13 00:01
_Goblinand if Technology Strategist involves covert marketing, I'd suggest he get some training....very amatuerishOct 13 00:01
cubezzz_Goblin, my own old commodore buddies are all Microsoft users nowOct 13 00:02
*Chips_B_Malroy has quit (Ping timeout: 250 seconds)Oct 13 00:02
cubezzzI was the sole non-Microsoft hold-outOct 13 00:02
cubezzzkind of lame :-POct 13 00:03
*Chips_B_Malroy (~username@nv-76-3-157-174.dhcp.embarqhsd.net) has joined #techrightsOct 13 00:03
_GoblinHi Chips!Oct 13 00:03
_Goblinyou've just missed the fun....Oct 13 00:03
_Goblinbagged myself another Da Costa....Oct 13 00:03
_Goblinthis ones actually on the payroll of Microsoft...Oct 13 00:04
cubezzzhow does one become a shill anyway?Oct 13 00:04
_Goblincheck out my new best Microsoft friend: http://kurtsh.wordpress.com/about/Oct 13 00:04
-TRIdentica/#techrights-[satipera/@satipera] Excuse my Anglo Saxon but the Palestinians really are stuck in a game where the referee is a wanker. http://ur1.ca/21tnr #occupationOct 13 00:04
-TRIdentica/#techrights-[silner/@silner] An odd (presumably outsider) view of how an OSS community works [old] http://ping.fm/jk5bsOct 13 00:04
TechrightsBot-trTitle: About €« Kurt Shintaku's Blog .::. Size~: 21.33 KBOct 13 00:04
TechrightsBot-trTitle: U.S. nudges Palestinians to answer Israeli proposal| Reuters .::. Size~: 63.07 KBOct 13 00:04
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Review of "Socialization in an OSS Community: A Socio-Technical Analysis | CSCW 2010 .::. Size~: 21.15 KBOct 13 00:04
_Goblincubezzz: I personally think there are three routes into it:Oct 13 00:04
schestowitzChips_B_Malroy: _Goblin gave me a post to start tomorrow withOct 13 00:05
hazzyhttp://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101006-710910.htmlOct 13 00:05
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Oracle CEO: 'We Are Interested In Buying IP Of All Kinds' - WSJ.com .::. Size~: 129.39 KBOct 13 00:05
_Goblincubezzz: 1. You are an employee and its part of your job...Oct 13 00:05
_Goblincubezzz: 2. Your blog/social networking site is befriended and given gifts/enticementsOct 13 00:05
schestowitzhazzy: they can get some from ICANNOct 13 00:05
schestowitzThere's plenty in IPV6 spaceOct 13 00:06
hazzyLOLOct 13 00:06
_Goblincubezzz: 3. You start off proactively championing them and hope to get noticed.Oct 13 00:06


Those who come across Vista Phone 7 [sic] promotion ought to be suspicious and aware of these marketing tactics.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
 
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web