Comments on: When Microsoft Wants To Bribe You

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:55:27 +0000

Hahaha…let us know when the Ferrari laptop with Vista comes in.

By: A closer look at John Chow: self-proclaimed dot com mogul. | Uncommon Knowledge.

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:53:32 +0000

[...] John’s success also seems to stem largely from the fact that he loves to take pictures and can tell a good story. For an example of what I’m talking about, check out John’s love-hate relationship with Microsoft. [...]

By: ReviewMe, PayPerPost, and Microsoft

ReviewMe, PayPerPost, and Microsoft — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:33:03 +0000

[...] There’s been alot of noise about bloggers selling out recently. The increasing popularity of ReviewMe and PayPerPost, along with Microsoft offering free Vista-powered laptops to prominent bloggers has got the “blogosphere” in an uproar about what the “blogosphere” is supposed to be. [...]

By: Windows Vista!! »

Windows Vista!! » — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 10:05:12 +0000

[...] if u want to read more about this story u could read it in “When Microsoft Wants To Bribe You” in john chow blog. [...]

By: Dian

Dian — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 09:02:45 +0000

This Is The best Blog I’ve read from u john about reviewing something, damn, that’s the best closure i’ve read too. it’s a pity i read it too late. if weren’t coz the earthquake in taiwan i would read ur blog sooner. Thanks for the insight.

By: Leftblank

Leftblank — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:05:26 +0000

I suppose you didn’t take any pictures there John? Would be surely nice to see.

By: John Chow

John Chow — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 06:47:35 +0000

At the time I visited, the Xbox wasn’t created yet. I did get to tour the MS Museum and saw the world’s first PC.

By: Sonia

Sonia — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 06:44:31 +0000

Ya, Microsoft is very generous when it comes to their visitors. Did they show you a gallery of the abstract art they have? I saw several pieces in Xbox building and these were pretty damn good.

By: John Chow

John Chow — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:47:02 +0000

This kind of stuff happen all the time in the review site world. The TechZone gets tons of free stuff and nobody raises an eyebrow. Now that it’s starting to happen it the blogging world, there’s a uproar because it’s new. MS didn’t do anything wrong - they’re just doing what they’ve always done!

Companies are starting to see value of blogs so you can expect to see more stuff like this in the future.

By: Doug Karr

Doug Karr — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:31:24 +0000

There are 2 issues I have with this entire flack:
1. That it’s somehow a ‘bribe’ to give away products to influencers.
2. That Microsoft quickly back-peddled from a great marketing campaign.

Even when I was at a newspaper, journalists often got freebies (not from advertisers… but from people who wanted reviews of their goods).

Instead of back-peddling, Microsoft should have really looked these folks in the eye and said, “So what?!”

Please add me to your mailing list, Microsoft