Replies: 4 comments
For me, the most interesting thing is that Microsoft sees the value of manipulating perceptions of people. This is isn't about cheating as much as it is about money. This is about marketing warfare.
Pop Quiz: How often does Microsoft do this kind of thing and not get caught?
Posted by John S. Rhodes @ 01/11/2002 12:30 AM EST
Online polls are a waste. They're at best a gimmick. A long while
back, Indians all over the world were getting forwarded messages asking them to vote for Gandhi for Time's man of the century. Apparently, Hitler was ahead of Gandhi. This "movement" certainly worked well in pushing Gandhi's position much higher.
But why bitch about Microsoft alone? If a company is featured in some online poll, you can bet your arse that the company CEO or other honcho will send out a mail to all employees asking them to vote for that company. It's part of corporate pride. It happens everywhere, John.
When I managed www.ciol.com the boss came up with the brilliant (not!) idea of putting up a poll asking "what operating system do you use?". Guess what? More than 2/3 of the votes were for Linux, and I know for a fact that that is totally untrue.
Seriously, the ease with with which online polls can be manipulated makes me dismiss their credibility.
(and if all that's not enough, who's to say that the votes you're seeing are authentic? What if I, as a webmaster, deliberately manipulate the results to get more traffic?)
I rest my case.
Posted by MadMan @ 01/11/2002 04:45 AM EST
Sure web polls are unscientific and can be manipulated. That's why they're fun. I love polls that have only two responses, but the response totals don't equal 100%. Culture jamming at its most obscure!
Posted by Jack Dangling Chad Schonchin @ 01/11/2002 01:36 PM EST
Agreed. This is about Marketing. The perception in the mind of the consumer is the most important thing. No amount of product development, TV Commercials, etc can overcome that.
Posted by Don M @ 01/12/2002 03:09 PM EST