Re: Microsoft Propaganda Machine

Robert S. Thau (rst@ai.mit.edu)
Fri, 10 Apr 1998 11:43:50 -0400 (EDT)


I leave it up to you to decide which is the predominant factor. It's
hardly asecret that MS is revving up the PR machine in the wake of all
the negative publicity, but even I doubt they'd have to stoop to
bribery in order to get positive press.

Hmmmm.... a few notes. First, I don't think anything that the Drudge
report described amounts to bribery in any legal sense. Second, this
sort of thing goes on all the time --- it's what large PR firms get
paid for. One of the books I've read on the rise and fall of Mike
Milken describes the conception and execution of a campaign like this
in great detail --- the PR drones even wrote op-ed pieces to appear
under other peoples' by-lines. It wasn't a great success for Milken
because getting convicted of illegal gamesmanship is a little hard to
hide --- but if you can avoid that kind of public embarassment, it
actually works a fair portion of the time.

rst