29 December 2006
Vista Laptop Blogger Reviews Good Marketing for MS
Currently there seems to be a controversy over the laptops that were sent out to bloggers with Vista installed to be reviewed. Many are saying they are bribes, but MS has stated that they are for review only and should be returned or given away. While I disagree that the are bribes, I am curious to learn the selection process Microsoft went through to select bloggers for the laptops.
From a strictly selfish point of view, I would have loved to have tested the laptops. While I'm not a supporter of MS, I am not against any product that works well and would like to see for myself the performance of Vista. It wouldn't take me away from Linux either way, but it might have affected my warning people against using Vista for the time present if it turned out to be a system that is better than XP or other Windows versions.
But going back to the topic at hand, it is a very good marketing move by Microsoft. If they can win over some bloggers, they have people who will write about Vista as well as tell friends. It may be more believable than reading a review in a magazine. Microsoft can use all the commentary on Vista it can get to make the system popular at a time when there are a lot of skeptics especially when speaking of Vista.
The only question I have is of the 90 laptops that were given out, how many of them were to people who were already pro-Windows and how many were to critics. It may be even more believable to have a Mac- or Linux-biased individual say something good about Vista than the usual Windows junkie.
From a strictly selfish point of view, I would have loved to have tested the laptops. While I'm not a supporter of MS, I am not against any product that works well and would like to see for myself the performance of Vista. It wouldn't take me away from Linux either way, but it might have affected my warning people against using Vista for the time present if it turned out to be a system that is better than XP or other Windows versions.
But going back to the topic at hand, it is a very good marketing move by Microsoft. If they can win over some bloggers, they have people who will write about Vista as well as tell friends. It may be more believable than reading a review in a magazine. Microsoft can use all the commentary on Vista it can get to make the system popular at a time when there are a lot of skeptics especially when speaking of Vista.
The only question I have is of the 90 laptops that were given out, how many of them were to people who were already pro-Windows and how many were to critics. It may be even more believable to have a Mac- or Linux-biased individual say something good about Vista than the usual Windows junkie.
Labels: bloggers, laptops, microsoft, vista, windows
