Bonum Certa Men Certa

GeekPi/Steve Allwine: Bribed by Microsoft

Kid with laptop



THIS is part of a series of posts. For context, have a look at previous parts of this sage, such as:



What's new then? Yes, you've guessed it, there's another one. It is almost self explanatory and there are more important examples which would take a long time to explore and touch on, so let's make this quick.

Here’s a look at the hardware that Microsoft is using to demonstrate their lastest pre-beta version of Windows 7. Journalist reviewers are loaned 1 of two models of laptop, the hard hitting, but feather weight Dell 1330 and a lenovo laptop with an SSD hard-drive (I don’t recall the model). That’s all I can say about the lenovo, since I wasn’t assigned that machine. My reviews will be based on the Dell.


More here.

I’m attending a good number of the conferences at PDC, and as part of the media, was loaned a laptop with a certain operating system to take back to the geek-lair. Check back at 9 am PST to find out some surprising new facts about the new Windows 7. I’m pretty excited about it and I think you should too.

Oh, and just a note, other than this loaner laptop, I receive zero compensation from Microsoft (or from any other entity), my regular job is covering my travel expenses to the conference, and I receive no advertising dollars from this website. I do this just for the heck of it, and I really think the GeekPI coverage is going to put the rest of those ‘tech’ blogs to shame.


Translation: I got a $2000 worth of schwag from a company that does not even manufacture it. But that's all, I promise! No more than $2000!!

The only comment there says: "Thanks for this blog. I look forward to your “independent” coverage."

Paul Thurrott wannabes? He too has been shilling for whatever is Windows related. Gosh, Microsoft is really destroying trust in the blogosphere.

"I've been thinking long and hard about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that this is ethically indistinguishable from bribery. Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity. This is best explained in Cialdini's book Influence (a summary is here). The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft."

--Former Microsoft manager



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