[Linux-aus] Microsoft ad campaign

[Michael Still]

Robert Brockway wrote:
> Anyone seen this?
> 
> http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/
> 
> Isn't that a little anti-competitive? :)

According to TechCrunch, they've backed down on the IE8 only thing.

"For the past few days, we’ve been digging in pretty deep against
Microsoft for its odd way it’s trying to push IE8 online. And we were
hardly the only ones. Apparently, Microsoft was listening.

Today, it has changed the worst of those campaigns, the “Ten Grand Is
Buried Here” one, to remove the restriction that required you use IE8 to
have a chance to win the money. Previously, there were 4 rules for the
promotion, but Microsoft cut those in half, removing the ones that told
you to get rid of your current browser and download IE8. More
importantly, it removed the language that told users to “get lost” if
they were using anything besides IE, and implying they were idiots for
using any other browser.

The Microsoft blog I Started Something tries to spin this as Microsoft
just making changes to make more clear what it always intended for the
campaign, saying that “get lost” was meant to be “get lost in the hunt”
(both have since been removed from the site), and saying that, “The
“it’s not as stupid as it sounds” text in the footer was always in
context of the “tell a friend” messaging. It implies that telling your
friends about this competition is not a bad idea since you might not
have the chance to follow or solve all the clues yourself. Some people
obviously misinterpreted that.”"

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/19/microsoft-tells-its-ie8-campaign-to-get-lost/

Mikal