Free Laptop with Vista: Microsoft accused of bribery

Attention readers! The year 2007 is born with a Microsoft related controversy over freebie laptops given to Microsoft bloggers. It’s yet to be explained that what the aim of Microsoft was to send a costly, around $2,200, Acer Ferrari laptops to the blogger community. But the news exploded all over the world and many anti and pro Microsoft experts are putting forward their differed opinions.

Some of the blog posts already pointed out that the Microsoft move had caused some concern over bribery. A New York Times story by Maria Aspan opined that “the gifts generated controversy as well as good will, as many in that community accused Microsoft of bribery and their peers of unethical behavior.”

Some bloggers took this move as gesture of market promotion. Interestingly the Acer Ferrari laptops are preloaded with the new version of Vista Ultimate and Office 2007. Vista Ultimate, the top of the Vista line, is expected to sell for $399 full retail, with an upgrade price of $259. According to 18-year old Long Zheng, an Australian blogger, the free laptops aren’t gifts, but review units to help bloggers become familiar with Vista.

According to another report, The Ferrari 5000 came to Long Zheng, with an AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core 2GHz CPU, 2GB of DDR2-667 RAM, AMD-ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics, and a 15.4-inch widescreen LCD. It also has a 160GB SATA drive, HD-DVD reader and burner, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The system would cost approximately $2,299.

Many feels that the recipient have options to keep the computer, return it, or donate it to a charity. Interestingly a Microsoft employee sent an e-mail message to some of the recipients, asking them to return or give away the machines when they were finished evaluating Vista. Surely Microsoft is working hard to convince the move was aimed to promote Vista and other products. No such things bribery or some thing like that.