Microsoft support letters from dead people :

August 23, 2001 8:18 AM

Microsoft support letters from dead people : Bill, "I can see dead people, and they all seem to like me"
posted by tomplus2 (5 comments total)

And this is when he met them...
posted by fabrizio at 8:47 AM on August 23, 2001

Arrgh. This is bad journalism. After reading the first several paragraphs of the article, I was under the impression that MS was attempting to fake public opinion by fabricating letters. The hook: some of the letters were supposedly sent by people confirmed to be dead.

Of course, that's completely and wildly inaccurate. The article waits until you're 3/4 down to explain that a pro-MS lobby group sent out suggestion letters to people they thought would be sympathetic; ie, form letters that people could sign and send in themselves if they wanted. And the dead people? Well, 2 people did indeed die, so their relatives crossed out the name and address of the dead person and filled in their personal information instead.

I'm no rabid MS supporter, but let's at least call a spade a spade. I was under the impression that lobby groups send out this sort of form letter all of the time. It makes it easy for people to show their support without having to think or go to much effort. All MS did was handwrite the letters and vary the wording slightly so that it would look less like a form letter. Sneaky? Yup. There's really no need to be misleading about it, though.
posted by gd779 at 9:06 AM on August 23, 2001

That is standard practice. I'm surprised that they have not been caught doing a lot worse. With their sort of cash they could fund an incredible underground manipulation system.
posted by Atom Heart Mother at 9:21 AM on August 23, 2001

Haven't we been down this road before?
posted by Fofer at 9:33 AM on August 23, 2001

WHO SAID YOU COULD DIE? GIVE IT UP FOR ME!

I
LOVE
THIS
COMPANY

CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
CORPSES
posted by NortonDC at 1:36 PM on August 23, 2001