
The World Famous staff on Chromebook: No deal - philipdlang
http://www.scroogled.com/chromebook
======
chasing
What the _fuck_ is wrong with Microsoft's marketing departments?

I'm to understand that Pawn Shops won't exchange the used Chromebook you
bought for your mom but then decided to, what, _steal back_ so you could put
it in hock in order to scrape together enough cash to get a bus to Hollywood
where you'll wait tables for six years whilst failing audition after audition
before finally being shat out the butt end of the porn industry?

I bet the Chromebook doesn't even make people dance in board meetings like the
Surface apparently does.

~~~
gkoberger
The ad says she got it "as a gift _from_ my mom", but your point still stands.

~~~
chasing
Ah. She kind of swallowed the "from." Thought she said "for my mom."

------
amaks
"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have
absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a
big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't
bring much culture into their products." Steve Jobs

~~~
Bhel
I wouldn't quote Jobs in scenarios like this, given that he pulled a pretty
similar thing with the whole Flash thing: a misinformation campaing with the
sole purpose of attacking the competition with fallacies and sketchy
arguments.

~~~
snowwrestler
He was right about Flash--Adobe never did get it running well on mobile
devices, despite trying very hard to do so on Android.

~~~
kbrosnan
Flash runs reasonably well on Android considering development for it stopped
at v11.1.

The bigger problem for Flash on Android is the vast amount of content that
expects mouse interactions. Small click areas and hover events are nearly
impossible to interact with on a phone.

------
zmmmmm
Has there ever been such a low ball PR campaign by such a large company? It's
seriously hard to think of any major company that's come out with such sleazy
tactics as this against a direct competitor. Can you ever imagine Google or
Apple running direct to consumer ads referring to Microsoft as "Microshaft" or
some other slogan? Even on Reddit, things such as "M$" usually result in a
torrent of down votes.

It's a fascinating strategy, and I'm kind of scared what it will mean if it
works: can you imagine an all out war with every company doing this? I hope
Google has the self control and patience not to return fire.

~~~
kenjackson
Apple had a whole TV campaign with Justin Long mocking Microsoft. It was
pretty successful I recall.

~~~
rpedroso
I tend to agree with you, but there are some differences:

A) Most of the "Mac vs PC" ads focused on showcasing ways Apple products were
superior to Microsoft ones [1]. This isn't universally true though [2].
Regardless, that strategy is better than showing people break dance with your
tablets.

B) The "Scroogled" campaign has a different, more aggressive tone to it. The
whimsical background music in the Apple ads don't come across as forcefully as
the term "Scroogled" does. I suspect this tone is more off-putting.

[1] See some of the ads here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWLyrljLDk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWLyrljLDk)

~~~
shaneofalltrad
What about the "Internet Exploder"(that term is true). Microsoft has taken
it's fare share of insulting and I don't believe calling things "Scroogled"
made by Google are far from the truth. It is funny because it is true, they
are using some great coding, marketing and anything else under the sun to
screw us or at least the competition (we as consumers will pay soon enough).
We all know this. They have great products, but that is NOT a typical laptop,
it is a glorified Search Engine. I personally have insulted Microsoft products
a lot in my time, but you have to admit, they are getting scroogled by many of
these hyped up minimalist products, that do not offer half of what a PC, MAC
or *nix (Ubuntu/Mint) can give you.

------
nl
[http://www.scroogled.com/Home](http://www.scroogled.com/Home) says "stop
Google reading your email". The same page links to
[http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/microsoft-
se...](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/microsoft-services-
agreement), which says, in part:

 _we may occasionally use automated means to isolate information from email,
chats, or photos in order to help detect and protect against spam and malware,
or to improve the services with new features that makes them easier to use.
When processing your content, Microsoft takes steps to help preserve your
privacy._

That document links to [http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-
us/default.mspx](http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/default.mspx), which says:

 _We use the information we collect to provide the services you request. Our
services may include the display of personalized content and advertising._

Pot. Kettle. Black.

~~~
lsaferite
> Pot. Kettle. Black.

My favorite variation of that is, "Pot, meet Kettle."

------
gkoberger
I'm pretty sure the Scroogled campaign is really just brilliant marketing
orchestrated by Google to make Microsoft look bad.

~~~
amaks
No, in that case scroogled.com would require a Google+ account.

~~~
schuke
ha, good one.

------
notacoward
They just don't Get It. I'm typing this on a Chromebook right now - the 14" HP
one. It's cheap, it's light, it's pleasant to use. That's the value prop.
Microsoft claims you can get the same with Windows, so the very first thing I
did was check the specs and reviews for the models they tout. Are they really
that comparable?

* Approximately same price, same screen size and resolution, same processor and memory.

* Four pounds vs. three. Oops, not so light any more.

* Battery life (according to reviews) is around _three hours_ , vs. this Chromebook going all day.

* Typical Windows suspend/resume times, vs. true instant-on for the Chromebook. It's actually disconcerting to have everything _right there_ before I've even sat back on the sofa.

* Typical Windows upgrade/maintenance cycle (and malware), vs. no worries on the Chromebook.

I have other laptops that I use when I need to do more serious work. One of
them even runs Windows, though mostly as a host for a Linux VM. But _at this
price point_ there's nothing running Windows that can match the overall
Chromebook experience. Until there is, sleazy marketing stunts like this only
make it obvious that they're desperate.

~~~
praxulus
> (and malware)

Has this really been a problem since XP SP2? Maybe I haven't been using my
windows machine enough, but I honestly can't remember having any malware
issues in quite a few years.

~~~
krisdol
That really depends on what version of windows was out when you grew out of
your early teens. It is still around, absolutely, but I feel like the typical
hn reader browses wisely enough to never encounter it.

------
recuter
Just a heads up:

Google is basically subsidizing Chromebooks at this point. An Acer C720 costs
as much as a _Kindle_ and is very close to some sort of price floor ($199),
yet it comes with $120 worth of Drive storage (100GB @ $5 x 24 months) and
some other stuff.

You can blow away ChromeOS and use these as a regular PC laptop. 1/5 the price
of an 11" Macbook Air yet comparable in many ways. I feel like they are giving
them away to buy market share.

~~~
teraflop
> 1/5 the price of an 11" Macbook Air yet comparable in many ways.

Comparable in some ways, yeah, but from the specs, it looks to me like there
are more differences than similarities: the C270 is a bit thicker and heavier,
the CPU is way slower, you get 16GB of storage instead of 128GB, 2GB of RAM
instead of 4GB, the display is lackluster (according to reviews), the camera
is lower resolution, there's no keyboard backlight... and so on.

That said, it's still an incredible value for the money.

~~~
tedmiston
> the display is lackluster

This is putting it _very_ nicely. It has low contrast, and really poor viewing
angles in terms of legibility and color. It's plenty bright enough though. Now
if only I could get f.lux on it...

~~~
abrowne
Have you starred this issue?
[https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=217173](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=217173)

------
Gustomaximus
As a marketing person this makes me cringe for my industry, expecially in the
tech world where we are not always the most popular department. Microsoft
should be able to attract great marketing talent so I don't understand why
they keep putting out this quality of advertising.

Clearly the ad budget is there to have options and talented people work on
their briefs. Having a dig at competitors is fine now and again. I once did
very cheap video that poked fun at Google that went a little viral/popular but
it was done in fun, as much mocking ourself, not like this. And I cant believe
one marketing team in MS has produced this steady stream of flops over the
years. It makes me wonder what environment they have that creates this output.

A year or so ago I considered writing to them looking for work as I feel they
are in a great position to stop being the bad guys and let other companies
take that mantle. The need to be brave and approach the market in an open
honest format. On top of which they often have good tech that doesn't get
explained correctly and falls by the wayside. But doing marketing like this,
they'd be better doing nothing.

------
downer95
Pawn Broker: Moral Bankruptcy

Reality TV Star: Moral Bankruptcy

Microsoft Shill: Moral Bankruptcy

In hockey, that's called a hat trick.

------
hankcharles
I got to Scroogled.com and thought it was some anti-google site cobbled
together by a cranky blogger out looking for some corporate interest
representing 'the man' to pick on. I can't believe it was assembled by the
marketing department of one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

I think the actual ad is at least a bit clever, but this 'scroogled!'
catchword and in particular this absurd website they came up with just makes
the whole thing nauseating.

~~~
klipt
> I got to Scroogled.com and thought it was some anti-google site cobbled
> together by a cranky blogger out looking for some corporate interest
> representing 'the man' to pick on.

Funny you should say that ... There used to be a site called scroogle.org
which was kind of like that, allowing "anonymous" searches by scraping Google
while advertising gold and libertarianism on the side.

------
NamTaf
Whoever greenlighted this needs to be made to jump around yelling
'developers!' for an hour as punishment. It's woeful and tacky.

------
rmccue
One of their "Chromebook Can'ts" is called Document Incompatibility [1]. It's
definitely Google's fault that Microsoft uses a proprietary format to lock-out
everyone else.

[1]:
[http://www.scroogled.com/chromebook/OSCants](http://www.scroogled.com/chromebook/OSCants)

~~~
cdh
OpenXML is a proprietary format?

That seems like a stretch to me.

------
Alterlife
I guess Microsoft hired one of the folks who wrote Sarah Palin's talking
points. 'Not a real PC' ? What is a 'real' PC?

Most of those 'negative' things could be said of an iPad.

Screw... pled?

and a majority of those things would be true for the Microsoft Surface RT
device as well.

Screwcrowsoft.

~~~
taspeotis
Scrapple your iPad and buy a Surface at these now Microsoft-ic prices.

~~~
Alterlife
Good idea, except I don't have an iPad.

:-)

------
austinl
This reminds me of last year when Microsoft tried to get #DroidRage trending
on Twitter, and large part of the community responded with #WindowsRage[1]. I
hope offensive advertising campaigns like this one continue to work against
them in some way.

I have no issues with Microsoft products - it is purely this kind of
advertising is that makes me anti-Microsoft. The whole Scroogled campaign is
an embarrassment.

[1][http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/6/3734852/twitter-
droidrage-...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/6/3734852/twitter-droidrage-
windowsrage-windows-phone-microsoft)

------
voltagex_
Microsoft are doing great work elsewhere, why tarnish it with this campaign?

------
GigabyteCoin
That's almost as bad as the political attack ads I see these days...

I'm surprised they didn't mention Larry Page's former friends or love
interests.

That is absolutely disgusting, Microsoft.

I gladly typed this on my arch linux laptop.

------
jeffehobbs
Christ, that is sad. It's just sad.

------
nl
This is going to backfire.

All it will take is one Kickstarter campaign to fund an anti-Microsoft ad (and
isn't _that_ a tempting target), and a site to aggregate all the entries. The
media will do the rest..

I'd _bet_ they would get professional entries from major advertising houses,
just because of the media exposure it would be bound to get.

------
chestnut-tree
This is a terrible campaign as many have pointed out and makes Microsoft come
across as a little hysterical and rabid (not to mention a tad hypocritical).

Just to be clear, I have no love for either Microsoft or Google. But the irony
is that many of the points that Microsoft are trying to put across about
ChromeOS are actually legitimate concerns for many users.

For example, you cannot print in ChromeOS when offline and only a limited
number of printers are available through Google's cloud print service.

Offline mode is important to many users who may have patchy or non-existent
internet access at times.

Apps that run in the browser are still limited compared to their desktop
equivalents. This isn't an issue for everyone, but what Microsoft fails to
persuade in its copy is how much more capable desktop apps are. And maybe for
some users they would be happier with the desktop equivalent rather than the
limited web version. (They could have demonstrated this easily by showing some
simple but attractive documents or tasks that are impossible to recreate in
Google's web apps).

And then, of course, there are the privacy implications of signing into
ChromeOS to do anything. Just what does Google track and record? Do they
record every print job you send through it's cloud printing service? Do they
track your activity in their web apps? I know many users simply don't care,
but for me the privacy implications are horrendous. If you're always signed
into ChromeOS, Google knows how often you're online, where you browse, how
often you use certain apps - basically everything you do on the Chromebook.

Of course, Microsoft are no better on the privacy front, but they don't have
the online reach of Google. Windows 8.1 requires signing into the OS with an
email address (but it can be bypassed quite easily), and when you're using a
desktop app you're not generally being tracked. In other words, you can have
pretty good privacy on a desktop system. Can the same be said for ChromeOS?

------
quaffapint
I make my living on MS products and while they are better at things lately,
this is just an embarrassment.

~~~
digler999
"lately" ? They've been around for what, 30 years ? Do you know what kind of
shame it is to only "lately" get better at things ? They should be prosecuted
for fraud for selling an OS that just gets rooted, 10 years strong, by a few
lines of malformed javascript.

------
Bhel
This is quite common in markets where there are only two or three competitors:
instead of focusing on showing why your product is good, you simply bash the
competition.

Pepsi vs Coca-Cola is a great example. Elections in countries with only two
parties is another perfect example of this.

It's been happening for a while and it will continue, since it yields results:

The ones educated enough limit themselves to a "sigh. seriously?" and keep on
using what they know it's best for them.

Then there's the target market: the ignorant masses, who will fall to these
strategies, prove them useful and validate them as good marketing strategies.

The funny thing here is that there's a similiar thread every 24 hours and
people always react like this is something new, and like the company in turn
is super evil for doing it.

------
jfacorro
I've had a chromebook (the Samsung model) for the past 4 months I've been
travelling around the world. It has proved to be a practical, light (1 kg) and
powerful little computer. Using crouton, I've installed lubuntu so that I can
have Linux and ChromeOS running at the same time. I've been able to work
coding Clojure, installed GIMP and Inkscape, watched movies and I could have
installed Open Office but I didn't really seem to need it. Maybe the
chromebook hasn't found a market yet, but I think it's the most practical
computer I've owned. I think I would prefer a Macbook Air but the price is 4+
times the one for a Chromebook, which might well be worth it but I don't have
the money for now :P.

------
vanadium
Cringeworthy, and about a year and a half too late to even seize on pop-
culture relevance.

------
mattchamb
I am generally positive towards Microsoft, but this scroogled crap just makes
me cringe.

------
Samuel_Michon
I find it interesting that Microsoft claims in this clip that a laptop isn’t a
laptop if it doesn’t run Apple iTunes.

Personally, I can’t stand iTunes on Windows, but hey, clearly Microsoft knows
what consumers want.

------
ISL
-1 for the Pawn Stars folks. That's a real bummer.

~~~
T0m_Paine
Best I can do is -.75. I'm not trying to beat you up I think it's a really
fair deal. In recent years the market has taken a major hit and -.75 is really
the best I can do.

------
glimmung
Can't help chuckling as I happily read this on an HP Chromebook 11 because I'm
taking a break after the Windows machine died during Windows update.

At least I have a machine to work on while I spend the next six hours
reinstalling and patching Windows.

------
joelrunyon
Serious question - do you need a google+ account for a chromebook?

------
RachelF
Perhaps they can use the money to buy acting lessons

------
skc
They are very tacky, the same way I felt about Apples "Im a PC" ads.

------
Killah911
how is this getting upvoted? A stupid ad, made to look like it's not an ad,
WTF? This needs to get off HN and find its home on Fark or something.

------
malkia
Hello Microsoft... From Acer C710 Chromebook....

------
timpattinson
But can it play Battletoads?

------
mgback
Tacky, much?

