This is my last post on this topic!

In an article here, Dan Warne of APC Magazine, after a rant on the Microsoft/AMD review units sent to certain bloggers, asks the following question, "Is it a bribe, or is Microsoft buying good reviews?"

How tilted is that question?

A fairer question would have also asked readers if it was no big deal.

I wasted no time in commenting:

Bribe?

Buddy, get real!

Your premise is somewhere between ridiculous and ludicrous.

Moreover, the two choices you present to your readership is insulting to all bloggers.

In the computing business, we receive review units all the time. Most of the time, these units are then given to charity.

Virtually all of the recipients of the review units, myself included, already have Windows Vista and Office 2007. Most also got a free copy as members of the Vista beta process.

Personally, there must be at least four (4) free licenses floating about at my home, not to mention the ten (10) that we at SmallBizVista.com receive as part of the Microsoft Partner program.

If that takes care of the monetary issues, what else is left?

Do you think any blogger would risk their credibility for the Velocity Micro Media Center unit or a Ferrari 1000/5000?

Do you think any self-respecting blogger would descend into irrelevance for a PC – of any kind – when our homes, and indeed our workspaces are filled with computers of all sorts?

Could *you* be bought with such a trifle trinket?

Look inwards.

Search yourself.

Is it sour grapes? So you weren’t on *The List*. C’est la vie. It is OK. Maybe next time?

Turn the page.

Then redo this column.

His comeback:

No, I'm not pissed off

:-) No, I'm not pissed off that I didn't get one. As the longest running PC magazine in Australia, we can always get a loan of any hardware we'd like to review. The difference is, though, they're loans, not gifts.

The cost of a computer might be minimal to you in "the computing business", but I'd say that for many bloggers who earn money on the side from their blog only in the form of Google Adsense revenue (perhaps $100/mth at most) a free, high-spec laptop turning up on their doorstep would be a considerable bonus.

To which I now reply here:

Dan, longest running PC magazine in Australia or not, you didn't get one.

Period.

Have you ever had a review piece of anything? Ever?

invidious
adjective
Definition:
1. unjust: making or implying an unfair distinction an invidious comparison
2. unpleasant: unpleasant because producing or likely to produce jealousy, resentment, or hatred in other people placed in the invidious position of appearing to criticize from the sidelines

As to review units, it would be hard to imagine that your magazine has never had any vendor hardware or software gifted to the magazine for raffling to your readers.

If you have ever done so, what is your point right now?

What you glaringly forgot to note in your rant is that the review units were sent to influential Microsoft bloggers and evangelists.

Operative words being Microsoft bloggers and evangelists.

In other words, to those who dissect and use Microsoft products and technologies on a daily basis. Not to fence-straddlers or onlookers, but to those who had displayed some dexterity with Microsoft-based software.

BTW, how many in the media got an iPod? Or a MacBook? Or a Zune?

Did you?

spiteful
adjective
Definition:
vindictive in petty way: full of or showing petty maliciousness

Where's the outcry?

If you didn't get a review unit as well, maybe, just maybe it is time to reconsider the credibility provenance of your magazine. As seen by OEMs and vendors, not log-rolling, a$$-kissing commenters on your website.

Have a Happy New Year.

Well, now back to reviewing the Velocity Micro HTPC!

EDIT: Dan Warne was kind enough to comment further on this topic. While our views differ, his opinion is very well laid out and I fully respect it.