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News & ArtsThursday, October 15, 2009
Politics / City / Tech Ain't Too Proud to Bing, Part Two
Posted by David Schmader on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 10:54 AM
The day before yesterday I announced my plan to show my gratitude to Microsoft—which recently donated $100,000 to the campaign to approve Referendum 71—by switching to Microsoft's splashy new search engine Bing for ten days.
The ten-day stipulation is kind of arbitrary—if Bing's a significant improvement on my old standby Google, I most likely won't notice when the ten days are up. So far my Bing adventures have been sleek and lovely. I especially appreciate the e-z "preview" action of its image search. The only thing I miss about Google is the name. "Googling" is an easy-to-understand activity. "Binging" reads like something you do before "Purging."
Yesterday, Slog tipper Ben alerted me to this TechFlash.com item, which essentially just recounts the basics of my Slog post, but has since brought some interesting feedback from TechFlash.com commenters:
I will now be changing from Bing to Yahoo. Microsoft is crazy to get involved in social issues. They can do whatever they want within their company, but they should stay out of this stuff.
If they want to play in the political arena..then so be it. I will not use Bing, and will start to move away from Microsoft products. My stance is sell your product not your agenda. Companies need to stay away from politics because you can't please everyone!
Why they are focusing on pushing a controvertial social agenda rather than making better products is beyond me, but polls continue to show that the vast majority of americans are in favor of traditional marriage, so Microsoft is in the minority here.
These types of comments show exactly why what Microsoft did is so important. Referendum 71 isn't just some random political cause: Microsoft is based in Washington State, and if opponents of Ref. 71 succeed in stripping the state's same-sex couples of near-equal rights, a whole bunch of Microsoft's workforce will be among those hurt. So suck it, TechFlash haters.
1
Odd that companies should "stay away from politics", but churches are encouraged to jump right in....
3
Microsoft and Yahoo just entered an agreement where Yahoo would be using Bing for their search engine for the next ten years, so have fun with that search engine change, commenter-person.
4
@2: Me and the cat voted last weekend and, well, you've been elected President of Adorableness. Majority rules, sorry.
She's been installed as Secretary of Friskies and Assistant Secretary of Whiskas.
She's been installed as Secretary of Friskies and Assistant Secretary of Whiskas.
5
Chances are these hateful people are typing their "I won't use homo-loving Microsoft Bing!" on their Windows PCs. Silly, silly bigots.
6
Oh, for sure no politics and business.
AND, shut down that fucking gay day at Disney ...
Sorry right wing, your game got no wings.
All blather and no kick - Mocrosoft could not hire without good anti bias rules in place. It is a modern concept not rooted in stale biblical crap.
Go Microsoft. (Daddy Gates gave $25,000. as well, so don't hire his law firm, K and L Gates, dimwit right wingers)
AND, shut down that fucking gay day at Disney ...
Sorry right wing, your game got no wings.
All blather and no kick - Mocrosoft could not hire without good anti bias rules in place. It is a modern concept not rooted in stale biblical crap.
Go Microsoft. (Daddy Gates gave $25,000. as well, so don't hire his law firm, K and L Gates, dimwit right wingers)
8
"politics" is business. Microsoft wants to be able to hire the best and the brightest. And some of them are gay. And some of them have spouses.
Bing is actually pretty good too. I still use Google as a verb (like Xerox) though...
Bing is actually pretty good too. I still use Google as a verb (like Xerox) though...
9
These people may be tech-savvy, but when it comes to the real world they're complete idiots.
Regardless of the specific question of whether Marriage Equality is a political or social issue (IMO it's both), corporations are so heavily entrenched into the political sphere already - and have been since the dreadful SCOTUS decision back in the late 1800's that gave corporations essentially the equivalent rights of citizens - that it would be ludicrous at this point to suddenly insist they refrain from engaging in political activity.
(I'm not saying such restraint would necessarily be a BAD thing, but I do think it's unrealistic.)
My question for these commentors would be: if, instead of donating to the pro-71 campaign, MSFT had donated to the anti-71 campaign, would they still object to the company "getting involved in politics"? I'm guessing the answer would be "not in the least", which of course would make them complete hypocrites.
Regardless of the specific question of whether Marriage Equality is a political or social issue (IMO it's both), corporations are so heavily entrenched into the political sphere already - and have been since the dreadful SCOTUS decision back in the late 1800's that gave corporations essentially the equivalent rights of citizens - that it would be ludicrous at this point to suddenly insist they refrain from engaging in political activity.
(I'm not saying such restraint would necessarily be a BAD thing, but I do think it's unrealistic.)
My question for these commentors would be: if, instead of donating to the pro-71 campaign, MSFT had donated to the anti-71 campaign, would they still object to the company "getting involved in politics"? I'm guessing the answer would be "not in the least", which of course would make them complete hypocrites.
11
These people are just unhappy that they're too dumb to work at Microsoft...After all, bigotry is a form of fear, and thus, stupidity.
12
if this person only knew that 'to bing' actually means for people dressed in clown costumes to have sex he probably wouldn't have used it to begin with.
13
@5
I'd bet dollars to donuts they use some form of Linux, probably something more obscure like Gentoo or Yellow Dog. The real wingnuts love to compile all their own kernel(s) and software.
I'd bet dollars to donuts they use some form of Linux, probably something more obscure like Gentoo or Yellow Dog. The real wingnuts love to compile all their own kernel(s) and software.
14
Schmader... Let's win on Ref 71 before we celebrate. It's really not that big a deal for billionaires to kick down a few bucks.
15
14: If you think switching search engines counts as celebrating, I'm glad we don't spend New Years Eve together.
16
@2: rigtht on. I get tired of this being called "politics" and "controversial". There's nothing wrong with companies supporting what is the right thing. Social justice. 100 years ago blacks marrying whites was "controversial". Blacks serving in the military was "controversial" and 90% of the public was against it. Today, if Microsoft or some other company bought advertisements supporting interracial marriage or desegregated military, would it be "controversial"? 100 years from now there will be nothing controversial about supporting loving adults who want enter into any legal relationship they wish. It's a shame US Steel or Standard Oil didn't have the guts to support what was the right thing to do by people 100 years ago. But thankfully, some companies do have the guts to support what's right today.
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