Monday, February 26, 2007

What's wrong with my marketing slogan?

When Bill Gates was in Rumania, he had to listen to a speech explaining how pirated copies of Windows and other pirated software are turning the Rumanian economy around. Gates was polite, he did not remark on all this, despite Microsoft’s herculean efforts to force everyone to pay for Windows.

Now here’s my idea. Microsoft should have an ad campaign like this: “Use our fine software if you can afford it. Otherwise, use Linux.” The point of my campaign is that Microsoft REALLY doesn’t want you to pirate Windows. (Windows XP is available in many countries for $1, I’ve heard.) So obviously they should steer us paupers to Linux instead.

Somehow, I think I’ve just proved the converse. Microsoft hopes to keep pirated copies of their products to a minimum, but they’d much rather we use their product illegally, than join the Linux revolution.

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