“Microsoft is dangling prizes made by arch-nemesis Apple to entice Australian web surfers to give its online search products a second chance,” Asher Moses reports for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Through its local joint venture with the Nine Network, ninemsn, Microsoft recently completed a full revamp of Live Search to improve results and integrate video, images, news and maps into search queries,” Moses reports.
“But in what is perhaps a sign of desperation given Google’s growing market share dominance, ninemsn is running a new Live Search promotion – Secret Search – offering surfers the chance to win prizes including the iPod Nano, Shuffle and Touch just for conducting searches,” Moses reports.
“A Microsoft source said using competitor products was frowned on at Microsoft and the company was offering large discounts on Windows Mobile-based smartphones to dissuade staff from buying iPhones,” Moses reports. “At ninemsn, staff are forbidden from using Google search.”
Moses reports, “Ninemsn’s head of Live Search, Alex Parsons, said if the Zune music player was sold in Australia it would have been offered as a prize instead.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Nate” and “Matt” for the heads up.]
If Microsoft were dangling Zunes, not only would we tell them to wipe better, but they’d drive the three shut-ins they have left to Google, too.
The only thing i can think of is Nelson from The Simpsons . . . “HA-HA”
And just a few days ago I saw Microsoft dangling the Zune. How pathetic, people probably stopped searching after they saw the crap Microsoft was trying to sell them.
OK everyone that is eligible for this should go in and do a search for Zune Sucks:-)
australia doesnt have the zune ? far-out
Just a prelude to an inevitable result – MS getting out of the MP3 player business. Zune never had a chance, never took off, never will. Those who bought one were fooled by MS. If MS was smart (which it isn’t) they would have put more resources into that shithole OS they call Vista, but that wouldn’t have helped them anyway.
Funny story – my brother-in-law, a “self-professed expert” on technology, hates anything that is NOT Microsoft, including Apple (he’s also an asshole). He ran out and bought a Zune on the day it was released, then proceded to call me and taunt me about how Apple sucks and MS rules the universe. Fast forward to the present – after seeing me run Vista on both Boot camp and VMware Fusion, he is now sneaking into his local Apple retail store and secretly looking for a Mac to buy. He is also going to dump his Zune on his nephew and buy an iPhone 3G along with an iMac 24″ – on what day? July 11. Even assholes are crossing over from the dark side.
Microsoft is pathetic.
I’m trying to ahahahahaha….. thats just pathetic.
Dangling zunes.. isn’t that call a “dingleberry”?
I think that the term “Dangling Zunes” should be adopted and a prize named as such. The Dangling Zune award.
> OK everyone that is eligible for this should go in and do a search for Zune Sucks:-)
Why only the eligible ones? I searched that anyway. Let’s fill their database up with these search results
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Ferf: With all these dark side assholes now buying Apple products, I just hope Apple won’t feel the need to dumb down to cater to them.
Ferf, I guess your brother-in-law’s sneaking is not such a secret anymore… How did you find out? Does he know you know?
“”A Microsoft source said using competitor products was frowned on at Microsoft and the company was offering large discounts on Windows Mobile-based smartphones to dissuade staff from buying iPhones,” Moses reports. “At ninemsn, staff are forbidden from using Google search.””
that explains the entire winmobile and live search market……
@ferf
I have seen this trend among a few MS-loving A-holes as well. Although I am glad for Apple, I am sad because I was always sort of glad these people were NOT of the Mac faith because of their obvious personality defects. Does that make me elitist, pretentious, snobbish? I suppose it does but I sure don’t feel that way.
“He is also going to dump his Zune on his nephew and buy an iPhone 3G along with an iMac 24” “
he must really hate his nephew!
All Australians should conduct their searches on Nemesis just to drain the prizes out! there after, they can revert back to their favourite search engines!!!!!
@@Ferf Muckmeyer,
Shortly after “sneaking” into an Apple Store, he was over at my house, starting to inquire about running Vista on a Mac. Then he told me he had been looking at Macs. I keep Winclone images that I can restore to a Bootcamp partition and I had a Vista image. So I restored it to my iMac, and when he saw how fast it was he almost crapped his pants. But then we started tinkering in OS X and he was liking what he was seeing there. After a couple of more visits to the Apple Store, he called me and told me he was sold on it, and since he needed a new phone anyway he’s going to get the new iPhone. So that’s the story. BTW, had to restore my XP image to Bootcamp because I hate Vista – and the only reason I have XP at all is for specialized applications for work.
@ED,
Yeah, I agree with you. I don’t think Apple will do that though, because they have a formula that works – even for fractured assholes like my brother-in-law. he he he
– ferf
I just might use an MS product if I had a chance to win a touch. BUT I don’t live down under.
@ Buster,
What does this make him? Still an asshole.
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@ Shen,
His (our) nephew is 12, and was already told he was getting the Zune. Smooth move, asshole brother-in-law, because the kid wants a nano!!!
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Microsoft’s logic is that people will probably be searching for MS products, and possibly why the Zune isn’t in Australia yet, and use the prize of the iPod and pawn it off for the money to buy MS products! Yeah!
Either that, or MS has finally admitted it doesn’t make any products even worth giving away for free.
Doesn’t the iPod touch have Google & Yahoo search built into the browser?
So they will give a product away, that uses both rival search engines?
Not too terribly surprising. How many times has Mafia$oft been caught using photoshopped Macs on their website and in print ads?
Well, at least he was able to eat some humble pie and admit that MS is NOT the shiznit after all.
MW: “instead” as in, buy a Mac instead of a Win PC
So Macs are now WinTel machines, get over it!
<< So Macs are now WinTel machines, get over it! >>
It’s the OS stupid,
get over it.