● 08.08.09

●● The Microsoft Schwag Club

Posted in Hardware, HP, Microsoft, Vista, Windows at 4:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Another look at transactions of computers among fans of Vista and the maker/distributor of Vista

SEVERAL days ago we wrote about Andre da Costa [1, 2, 3], whom Microsoft sent an expensive laptop after he had praised the company in many thousands of postings. Microsoft has a proven habit of using rewards to incentivise positive coverage. Not so long ago we wrote about John Obeto, who runs a Vista glamourisation Web site. Microsoft sent him an expensive laptop. What was even more interesting is finding out that two recipients of gifts from Microsoft are in fact connected too. Here is John Obeto giving Andre da Costa a Vista computer, which was apparently sponsored in exchange for some publicity and positive coverage. This cannot be confirmed however.

adacosta (Andre da Costa) has been selected as the winner of the HP xw4600 Personal Workstation Giveaway by AbsoluteVista.com.

Our reader Goblin is preparing another report to the FTC. His is already 33 pages long (excluding exhibits). The FTC has plans of stopping the bribing of bloggers by companies — schwag in exchange for positive coverage. It is a commendable push, and it had to start somewhere. █

“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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