4 ms·

First, I think the News.YC crowd is least likely to be swayed by MS' marketing. Second, I don't think this is "doing Microsoft's marketing". You'll probably fi

by aneesh 18y ago

First, I think the News.YC crowd is least likely to be swayed by MS' marketing. Second, I don't think this is "doing Microsoft's marketing". You'll probably find a fair number of critical comments too.

gojomo 18y ago
The comments pro or con are irrelevant; the submission and ranking (currently the #2 story) are my concerns. We're giving free placement to a company that is (1) rich enough to buy our attention, if it needs it; (2) arguably 'dead' as an animating force for our industry (as in PG's 'Microsoft is Dead' essay). Their desperate-but-cutesy ad campaign does not deserve to be our 'news'. Voting up this goofball lowbrow crap makes us into Microsoft's tools. This is spam.
- neilc 18y ago
  Nonsense. The ad is interesting and faintly amusing, and the advertising strategy from which it is drawn is worthy of discussion. I think you are vastly overreacting to say it is "goofball lowbrow crap", or that it "makes us into Microsoft's tools": YCers are more than capable of viewing an ad without being brainwashed, I think.
  - gojomo 18y ago
    Again missing the point. Of course we won't be brainwashed. We're all media-savvy and generally ad-resistant. But should a 4+ minute skit from Microsoft be 'top of mind' news for hackers? Did watching it make you a better hacker? Did it give you marketing insights that work for anyone other than a fading monopolist with money to burn on sitcom celebrities? Do the best hackers spend a lot of time watching, and chit-chatting about, giant companies' clumsy viral marketing efforts? The value here is in finding what is uncommon. Content-free celebrity-filled Microsoft ad campaigns are as depressingly common as you can get.
TweedHeads 18y ago
"You'll probably find a fair number of critical comments too." Sure, all of them downmodded, which proves his point that HN got invaded by microsoft shills.

by aneesh 18y ago

gojomo 18y ago

The comments pro or con are irrelevant; the submission and ranking (currently the #2 story) are my concerns. We're giving free placement to a company that is (1) rich enough to buy our attention, if it needs it; (2) arguably 'dead' as an animating force for our industry (as in PG's 'Microsoft is Dead' essay). Their desperate-but-cutesy ad campaign does not deserve to be our 'news'. Voting up this goofball lowbrow crap makes us into Microsoft's tools. This is spam.

neilc 18y ago
Nonsense. The ad is interesting and faintly amusing, and the advertising strategy from which it is drawn is worthy of discussion. I think you are vastly overreacting to say it is "goofball lowbrow crap", or that it "makes us into Microsoft's tools": YCers are more than capable of viewing an ad without being brainwashed, I think.
- gojomo 18y ago
  Again missing the point. Of course we won't be brainwashed. We're all media-savvy and generally ad-resistant. But should a 4+ minute skit from Microsoft be 'top of mind' news for hackers? Did watching it make you a better hacker? Did it give you marketing insights that work for anyone other than a fading monopolist with money to burn on sitcom celebrities? Do the best hackers spend a lot of time watching, and chit-chatting about, giant companies' clumsy viral marketing efforts? The value here is in finding what is uncommon. Content-free celebrity-filled Microsoft ad campaigns are as depressingly common as you can get.

TweedHeads 18y ago

"You'll probably find a fair number of critical comments too." Sure, all of them downmodded, which proves his point that HN got invaded by microsoft shills.