Dear Microsoft
11 Nov 2004An email sent to Microsoft, regarding an advertisement they placed on the Sydney Morning Herald website.
Updated: Microsoft responds, 12 November. ACCC makes contact, 16 November
Your advertisement on the Sydney Morning Herald website, inviting people to check their new computer in order to determine whether it is “genuine” or not, is poorly represented at best, and outright anti-competitive, ill-founded and deceptive at worst.
The advertisement (a Flash animation) begins with text stating “Buying a new PC?”, and then progresses to inform the user they should “Insist on secure and reliable software.” It then itemises an edge-to-edge hologram CD and Certificate of Authenticity as “must haves” for legitimate software. That extends beyond the protection of Microsoft Intellectual Property. That becomes protection of markets.
Under the guidelines established there, white-box computer systems sold without Windows on them (I dare not go so far as to propose that an open-source product be shipped instead, for that is utterly irrelevant to the thrust of my argument) are inherently illegitimate. This advertisement disseminates false information, with the ultimate effect of discouraging consumers from purchasing non-Microsoft products.
There ARE alternatives, which I do not feel the need to detail here, and Microsoft HAS actively discouraged people from pursuing the application of these, based on lies regarding the necessity of licensing Microsoft products. For the record, the term “PC” is not synonymous with “Microsoft Windows system”, and should not be considered such.
If this matter requires clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me via any method. A copy of this email has been posted on my personal website, and is publicly viewable to all. In the event that this advertisement is retracted or modified, I will add note to the posting of this message that the matter has been resolved, if Microsoft so desires it. The full address to this posting is http://www.joahua.com/blog/2004/11/11/dear-microsoft
Regards,
Joshua Street
This response came from Microsoft today:
Dear Joshua,
Thank you for your comments on the advertisements, however we
respectfully disagree with your assertions. The advertisements are
related to purchasing genuine Microsoft software.Further we request that if you are posting communications on your web
site that Microsoft’s response is also posted.Regards,
Colleen Baguley
License Compliance Manager
The advertisements are related to purchasing a PC, not to purchasing Microsoft products. Regardless as to the intended effect of this wording, to an uninformed reader, the outcome of this advertisement is a fear and distrust of non-Microsoft products. A response to Microsoft will be posted here at a later time, and a complaint with the ACCC shall be filed.
Message to the ACCC reads as follows:
Microsoft have produced an advertisement which I believe to be misleading, in the form of a Flash web ad displayed on the SMH website ( http://www.smh.com.au/ ). A complaint, sent to them on Thursday, November 11, is reproduced on my website at http://www.joahua.com/blog/2004/11/11/dear-microsoft – their response is also posted there, at their request.
My reasons for this are outlined in that posting. Essentially, they confuse, either deliberately or incidentally, the notion of “legitimate” software with “Microsoft” software. This disinformation leads consumers to perceive Microsoft offerings as the only legitmate option, when this is in fact not the case.
A copy of this message is also being sent to Microsoft piracy, and posted on the same web address given above. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further queries regarding this matter.
Microsoft was forwarded a copy of the same, with the full message reading as follows:
As requested, your response has been posted at the address previously provided. Additionally, the following complaint has been sent to the ACCC and posted to my website.
Microsoft have produced an advertisement which I believe to be misleading, in the form of a Flash web ad displayed on the SMH website ( http://www.smh.com.au/ ). A complaint, sent to them on Thursday, November 11, is reproduced on my website at http://www.joahua.com/blog/2004/11/11/dear-microsoft – their response is also posted there, at their request.
My reasons for this are outlined in that posting. Essentially, they confuse, either deliberately or incidentally, the notion of “legitimate” software with “Microsoft” software. This disinformation leads consumers to perceive Microsoft offerings as the only legitmate option, when this is in fact not the case.
A copy of this message is also being sent to Microsoft piracy, and posted on the same web address given above. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further queries regarding this matter.
Any response Microsoft may have to this shall be posted on my website, as has occurred previously. I shall contact you if or when further correspondence with the ACCC occurs, and the matter shall continue to be detailed on the website.
Update, 16th November: Today, I received a phone call from the ACCC (to voicemail), which requested I call them back on a 1300 number which I did not note at the time (I was out, and negotiating phone systems on a mobile, especially of government agencies, can get expensive). I hope that attempts shall be made to contact me via email; failing that, I’ll follow it up with a phone call in a few days.