E-Media Tidbits

Acer.com Some of the 90 bloggers selected by Microsoft to review Vista were sent snazzy Acer Ferrari laptops.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Microsoft recently gave away to bloggers 90 computers (valued at up to $2,200 each) loaded with its new Windows Vista operating system. The goal was to encourage blogging about Vista.

Now, news organizations regularly receive review/demo products, books, etc. Those organizations and individual journalists and editors employ various policies for accepting, using, reviewing, disclosing, and disposing of such freebies. Similarly, independent bloggers range from having very stringent policies on freebies to none.

Of course, such a lavish freebie was met with an array of cries -- from "I am outraged! It's a bribe, obviously," to "Where's mine?"

Personally, I think the hue and cry over bribery and ethics is a mere sideshow in this case. (Although Joel Spolsky offers a very thoughtful exploration of that issue.) What strikes me is this: By sending out brand new computers pre-loaded with Vista, the reviewers (be they bloggers or journalists) will not experience -- and thus cannot comment on -- and important part of Vista: installing the software.

I'm betting installing or upgrading Vista won't be a piece of cake, especially for non-geeks. If I were one of these bloggers, I'd request that Microsoft give them an upgrade to demo, in order to get the full experience for accurate reporting. Those reports will be more relevant and interesting.

(UPDATE JAN. 3: Dave Taylor picked up on this theme and discussed it in more detail today.)