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sMoRTy71

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by smorty71

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This is page 3 of the discussion. Read the opening post

219 replies

by smorty71

Or is it just a coordinated effort to battle internet rumors?

In
my continuing quest for an XBOX 360, I have been keeping up with forums
and blogs on the subject. A couple that I frequent happen to be from
MSFT employees who were part of the XBOX 360 team.

I always felt
like these were great sources of info because they helped make the
console. And because it is a blog, it felt more credible for some
reason than a press release.

For example, Major Nelson's "Who is Major Nelson?" page reads:
"I
work at Microsoft under the title of 'Xbox Live Director of
Programming' in the Xbox Live product group and use this blog as a
method to communicate to anyone interested in Xbox and Xbox Live.
It???s important to note that what I say on this blog (including any
podcasts) is my personal opinion and is not read or approved by anyone
before it is posted."

And John Porcaro's blog reads:
"Even
though I work in marketing for Microsoft, not everything accurately
reflects the views of my employer, my management, my co-workers, or is
even true. So, little I say here is 'Microsoft policy'."

Well,
today, my confidence was shaken by the striking similarities of two
different posts from two different Microsoft employee bloggers. Is MSFT
feeding them things to say about XBOX 360 shortages and recalls? Looks
like they are cutting and pasting from the same memo and then adding a
little color of their own. Even the structure of the blog post is
almost identical.

Here are some excerpts that seem too similar to be coincidental:

Excerpt #1
"Replenishment:
There are a couple reports of retailers saying they won't have units
for weeks or months (or worse.) Generally speaking, this is not true.
We are shipping units constantly." -- Major Nelson

"Replenishment
Units Are On The Ground: Also, there are reports of some retailers
saying they won't have units for weeks or months. Also not true (in
most cases)... We are shipping units constantly (we have chartered
747's regularly flying in with units)." -- John Porcaro

Excerpt #2 (Word-for-word)
"Some
retailers have a backorder wait list, and might not have units that
will be on shelf for some time, and some retailers might allocate more
units to one store over another, but all stores that have placed orders
are getting replenishments regularly." -- Major Nelson

"Some
retailers have a backorder wait list, and might not have units that
will be on shelf for some time, and some retailers might allocate more
units to one store over another, but all stores that have placed orders
are getting replenishments regularly. " -- John Porcaro

There are several other examples, so take a look at their posts and decide for yourself:

Major Nelson's post

John Porcaro's post

I
wouldn't put this tactic past MSFT (and other companies like Macromedia
have tried to use blogs to push their agenda); however, considering how
far MSFT needs to knock the ball out of the park to catch up to Sony,
there is a lot more at stake for jerking people around. I hope that's
not the case. And, of course, this information could actually be true;
however, when I see the exact same quotes in a personal blog, it tends
to make me suspicious of the information. Am I just paranoid?

by jamesrl

I am shocked and appalled that you would leap to such conclusions. Um, ok, no not really.

It used to be letters to the editor written by an unseen hand. Then it was planting people on call in shows. Or the bogus "sunny" movie reviews from little known reviewers, who always get quoted on movie ads.

Now its fake blogs. But they all have the same logic - it is the PR campaign that is designed to be hidden.

Do I think MS or their PR firms are above such suspicions? Not for a moment. Seems many people think these methods are perfectly legitimate. A Canadian MP got caught with having one of his staffers call him with an easy softball, pretending to be a constituent, when he was on a call in radio show, and there was a little media flurry but no long term negative consequences.

People don't seem to mind media manipulation. Or perhaps they just accept it now. Did anyone see National Treasure? You might recognise that Benjamin Franklin did the same thing a few hundred years ago, or so they would have us believe. MS has just found another way to accomplish it.

 

James

by stephen howard-sarin

Yes of course the message is coordinated. Your quotes prove that. But is the message compelled? I bet not.


Think about it: everybody and his aunt knew that supply was going to be a huge issue for the Xbox 360. It is for every new console from any company (unless it utterly stinks). So what do you think the directors and marketing managers -- and programmers and designers and suport staff -- in the Xbox group talk about?

My bet is that topic #1 was "Will we ship on time?" and that quickly ceded to "Do we have enough units?" And since everybody internally and tons of people externally are asking the same question, what do you think Microsoft does? Well, I'm not in their shoes, but I'd bet a dollar they have some group e-mail update on supply issues every day. I bet they have an internal Wiki page (or SharePoint server) where the supply managers post updates and info so that all the Xbox team members have access to the latest information. I mean, it's pretty cool if they are flying chartered 747s full of Xboxes around the country. I'd want to brag about that if I were doing it.

So what's a good Microsoft blogger to do? When answering questions about Xbox supply, they're probably going to the daily supply e-mail or intranet site and grabbing the latest info and FAQ. Cut-and-paste is a revered blogging tradition after all.

I say there's no propoganda strategy, just bloggers grabbing and posting the best info they've got.

Stephen

by peter spande

Anyone remember the fracus a few years ago when it was discovered that
some reviews of Microsoft products (I believe they were reviews) were
actually being generated by a PR firm paid by Microsoft? 

by smorty71

Like I said, all of this information may be completely accurate. I
guess I just have certain expectations about bloggers that weren't met.
The biggest offense being an obvious cut-and-paste from some official
MSFT memo. The fact that they both claim to be speaking outside of the
corporate communication channels (and they are clearly
cutting-and-pasting) makes me question their credibility.

I would have preferred that they just quote the document directly.
"Hey, we got a memo today that states that units are shipping blah blah
blah."

Maybe I'm being too tough on these guys. I guess time will tell whether
or not there really are any 747s loaded with XBOX 360s heading our way.

by zaferus

MS should put them to work doing something more constructive, like delivering Xboxes to the stores that are backordered past Christmas.

No Timmy, I can't explain why Santa couldn't bring you an Xbox this year for Christmas...

by smorty71

Here is another reason why I love blogs. In my last post, I questioned
why two MSFT bloggers had almost identical comments about the XBOX 360.
While I wasn't necessarily questioning the authenticity of the
statements, it just seemed odd to me that the message would be so
similar (without being MSFT-sanctioned).

Well, I got an e-mail
from John P. over and MSFT and he explained that he and Major Nelson
work closely together and that one post inpsired the other. No company
mandate or anything sinister. Just a couple of employees trying to kill
some of the nastier rumors running wild (in blogs... like this one).

So, my apologies to John and the Major. Turns out I was just paranoid after all.

by smorty71

Here are some tech-related headlines that I don't expect to see in
2006. Nothing too crazy (since I don't want any of these to come back
and bite me later in the year).

XBOX 360 becomes #1
in Japan
Based on the lukewarm reception the new XBOX 360 has
received since its launch (selling less than the original XBOX over the same
period after launch), I think it is safe to say that MSFT won?t gain as much
ground as they expected with the new console. Too bad we can?t get some of
those unwanted consoles over here.

TiVo goes out of
business
TiVo has been declared dead many times over the years; however, their
recent moves to integrate with web services and the iPod video will
keep them around for a quite a while (even after losing their deal with
DirecTV). The rival cable DVRs that analysts always
cite as the beginning of the end for TiVo are actually an advantage for
them IMHO.
Once someone uses both, the choice is clear. TiVo makes the best DVR
software
(and remote) available. The only chance of them going away in 2006
would be an
acquisition by Apple.

XM maintains lead
over Sirius
Howard Stern?s move to Sirius satellite radio is going to
help it overtake XM in 2006. Considering that Stern reaches 8-12 million
listeners right now, it is hard to imagine XM finding someone who has such a
loyal following. I recently purchased Sirius equipment (mainly to hear Stern)
and I personally know a handful of others are doing the same.

TV and movie execs
shun iTunes
I think that 2006 will be the year that the entertainment
industry finally wakes up to the potential of digital distribution. By
partnering with Apple, entertainment execs will see that they can make a ton of
money (in $1.99 increments) simply by making their existing catalog of films
and TV shows available for download.

by jmgarvin

TiVo is going to be in deep doo-doo with things like Myth TV taking up the "geek" slack.

XM and Sirius are both just pointless.  I've decided that radio
should be free and that paying for it is just a slippery slope to pay
for play.

by smorty71

I went the Home Theater PC route a couple of years ago (when I already
had a TiVo). I used just about every flavor of DVR app that I could
find. I ended up liking SageTV best; however, it still couldn't compare
to the ease of use of the TiVo. I ended up using the HTPC for movies
and music only.

I seriously doubt that any app like MythTV is going to make a dent in
the cable DVR or TiVo market. The only people who will use those apps
are people who wouldn't have used a TiVo or cable DVR anyway (i.e. The same people who say, "I'm
not going to pay a $x/mo fee when I can spends hundreds of dollars to
build one of my own"). And once the novelty of building their own wears
off, they will pick something off the shelf.

And I am shocked that a Linux advocate who opt for free radio :)

by jmgarvin

I think you are underestimating the power of geeks.  The TiVo SNAFUs we are seeing now are just the tip of the iceberg.  If you anger enough geeks, they'll just get another DVR or move to MythTV (which works really well for us uber geeks...we always have spare parts to build that extra box)

by smorty71

I totally understand the power of geeks. I just question whether they
have the numbers to make a real difference. I would say 95% (if not
more) of people who want a DVR will not want to build it themselves.

by smorty71

I think the title says it all. I now have a 360. Look for my next blog post some time in 2006.

BTW, thanks to my mom who did all of the hard work to get the console.

by jamesrl

OK, I am still not buying one. But I was in a best buy last night and saw a 360 hooked up to an HD TV - pretty sweet.

 

James

by smorty71

Bill Gates' CES keynote contained some really exciting (at least for me) news.

First,
he announced that MSFT would offer an external HD-DVD drive for the
XBOX 360. The lack of support for next-gen DVD formats was a major
point of criticism for the 360 at launch (even though I suspect that
installing HD-DVD drives in all 360s at launch would have bumped the
cost of the console up). It's good to see that the option will be there
for those that want it.

Second, "Gates announced a new
partnership with DirecTV that will allow subscribers of the satellite
television service to move shows from their set-top boxes onto Windows
PCs, the Xbox 360 and mobile devices that are part of Microsoft's
"Plays For Sure" program."

Read more in this News.com article or download Gate's keynote from MajorNelson.com

by local support

I would too. If they were $8 I would b uy even moore.

After all , if you sell 100000 CD's It would cost you almost nothing more to sell 20000 extra.

 

/local Support

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