Microsoft: Do not mention/use Apple products at our events
Microsoft are a constant source of amusement for me. Constantly shooting themselves in the foot, with actions and statements so detrimental to their own business and image a blind man could see them.
Banning journalists from using or talking about Apple products at Microsoft events is a step too far though. It reminds me of a quote I read the other day from a book I'm busy reading called Apple Confidential 2.0 by Owen W. Linzmayer. In it, he goes on to describe the birth of the spreadsheet. Created by Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston, and while still named Calculedger, they approached Microsoft in 1979 in the hopes that they would publish their application, that would later go on to be named VisiCalc. Bill Gates' response was "We do not talk to any end users".
Yeah, no kidding. Considering the current focus in their Windows 7 adverts mostly bragging about how they are now listening to end users, it only took them 30 years to cotton on to the idea. That's almost my entire lifetime, give or take 4 years, but who's counting?
