Microsoft, in all their self-righteous hubris, have unleashed another weapon in their war against Google. We’re all familiar with the “Scroogled” campaign by now, a series of advertisements that take dead aim at what Microsoft considers Google’s data mining. In an attempt to scare us into their Windows sleeper hold, Microsoft is now presenting shirts. And hats. Even a mug!
Yup, Microsoft has unveiled a line of clothing and household items which continue the Scroogled onslaught, this time visually depicting Google as spies or spiders. One shirt over has a word cloud of all the synonyms for how Microsoft feels Google takes advantage of us. Another shows a black widow spider with a Chrome logo on its back, with a description of “Google’s the Spider. You’re the fly. You probably know what happens next.”
As luck would have it, we do know some things! We know that Google does no worse than any other company we share our data with. We also understand that the information we allow Google to view is then used to give us timely updates via Google Now. Also, we know all their services are free, a contrast to Microsoft’s pay-for-everything model. We also know that Android is a conduit for all the things Microsoft says Google does nefariously, and that Microsoft makes quite a bit of money from Android sales.
We also know that while the rest of the world was waking up to the mobile device revolution, Microsoft was fiddling with Vista. We know that the Surface tablets were terrible the first time around, and that their #1 hardware partner, Nokia, was working on Android devices to save their skin. We also know that this Scroogled campaign is really, really tiresome.
By now, everyone knows that Windows Phone market share is in the gutter, and that partners are slowly backing away. It’s also known that Android and iOS continue to thrive while Microsoft is left to pick up the Blackberry scraps. Finally, we know that $12 for a terrible T-Shirt is the real definition of Scroogled. So, Microsoft, what do you know?
VIA: SlashGear
They certainly have money to spare, manufacturing an inventory of merchandise that they’ll never move.
Just like the surface 🙂
I want a hat
As Steve Jobs famously said, Microsoft have no taste.