And in other Microsoft news (are these the cleanest segues you've ever seen, or what?), there's been a little doubt cast on the veracity of Microsoft's new print ads. We're talking about the new campaign Microsoft is planning to try and gain the support of the American public in its continuing antitrust struggles. The focus is, of course, not on the right to crush your competition via currently illegal means, but rather on the "right to innovate." The interesting thing is, if the La Times (via ABC News) is to be believed, these print ads contain "opinion pieces and letters to the editor" that were generated entirely by Microsoft's PR department, but they're passed off as pieces written by outside supporters of the company.

You've undoubtedly seen sleazy ad campaigns with a similar strategy in the past-- we're thinking of the print ads that are laid out to look like a real article in the magazine or newspaper in which they appear, and are written in an "articly" style, spouting the virtues of the product being sold as if an impartial third-party were writing an unbiased review. (Of course, there's always the teeny-weeny print at the bottom of the page which states that the piece is a "paid commercial advertisement.") But if Microsoft was really planning a similar strategy, what does that say about their current estimation of public opinion? Seems like a desperate move. Furthermore, look at the list of states in which this campaign was supposed to be run-- Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin-- and compare it to the list of states preparing antitrust action against Microsoft. Notice any overlap? Don't that just put the "dink" in "co-inky-dink?"

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft denies the claims made by the LA Times. But we may never know, given that Microsoft would never be stupid enough to continue with such a strategy after this news got out-- a Microsoft spokesman states that "the idea of paid faux testimonials won't happen." Pity-- it'd be interesting to see what Microsoft considers to be believable human testimonials. Especially when we've seen what they consider to be a believable user interface...