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Buy Microsoft, it's your patriotic duty

it-director.com — That seemed to be the message at the London launch of Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 on 30 November 2006. Gordon Frazer, Microsoft ’s UK managing director, devoted most his opening speech to a gallimaufry of statistics and quotations intended to show that buying these new offerings would somehow make Britain more competitive.

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  • anonymoustroll, on 10/12/2007, -8/+25My company duties require me to save money first... the country comes second or maybe a distant third.
    • toppgun, on 10/12/2007, -33/+20how about this priority

      1. human race, modern civilization, planet earth
      2. country
      3. community
      4. friends and family
      5. self

      if by keeping your job you benefit your nations economy then it is up there at 2. if your job does not benefit your nations/communities economy your job is at 4/5

      buying Microsoft is not patriotic for anyone, its just marketing.
    • stoanhart, on 10/12/2007, -17/+30More like:

      1. human race, modern civilization, planet earth
      2. self
      3. friends and family
      2. country
      3. community
    • MacGeekGuy, on 10/12/2007, -17/+6Why on earth is this person getting dugg down for having their priorities straight? That makes no sense. Has consumerism really gotten that out of control? I don't care what company it is, Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Betty Crocker, it doesn't matter. Topgun's priorities sound pretty spot on if you ask me.
    • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -10/+53Screw that.

      1. Self
      2. Women and Children. Mostly the Women.
      3. My laptop

      wait... 3, then 2.
      4.National pride
      5. Twinkies.
      6. My worst enemy
      7. Buying Vista.
    • redxii, on 10/12/2007, -18/+7Well if you buy Windows then the B & M Gates Foundation gets more money. You don't need to buy a "red" copy of XP or Vista. Shame on the companies (Apple, etc) that require that you buy a special color.
    • ClayDragon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7@toppgun

      It's a little off-topic, but I think you cannot generalize what's important. There are some situations where you should first think of yourself, while in other situations it's probably more moral to think "bigger" (eg. entire humanity). I do not consider myself an egoist, but very often it's absolutely ridiculous and stupid to do "everything for the fatherland".
    • CanceledCzech, on 10/12/2007, -15/+7How about this?

      1. Self
      2. Self
      3. Money
      4. Human Race
      5. Family (maybe)
    • goat2, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1 i like Stoanhart's list.
    • simondotcalvin, on 10/12/2007, -11/+8this is possibly the dumbest conversation I have ever seen on digg.
    • Nohbudy, on 10/12/2007, -11/+11I am apparently a good citizen.
      1. Buy Vista
      2. Download IE7 on all my computers, and computers for work.
      3. Throw away all my current computers, so i can replace them with "Vista Ready"
      4. Replace my copies of OpenOffice.org with Office 2007
      5. Buy a Microsoft T-shirt!
      6. Self

    • digismack, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14You all forgot...

      7. ...
      8. Profit!!!!
    • NoSalt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1#1 = Underpants
      #2 = _ _ _ _ _ _
      #3 = Profit

      Any questions???
  • RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14This reminds me of the phrase "Lie back and think of England."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie_back_and_think_of_England
    • bettermentflux, on 10/12/2007, -11/+49Bend over and think of Ballmer.
    • stephenv, on 10/12/2007, -19/+0Warez XP and wank on the Brits.
    • barrettg, on 10/12/2007, -15/+3Brits Rock ! Pirate Vista !
    • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13It would only be the same if that advice were being given to girls about to sleep with American GIs.

      Since when was buying American good for the British economy?
    • CanceledCzech, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7Ha, reminds me of 1984; Anti-Sex League.
  • minorripper, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Microsoft is so 90's...
  • Casedot, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10nice use of the word "gallimaufry "
    *golf clap*
    • crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5Only reason I came in here was to say exactly what casedot said.

      *For the rest of the week, my goal is to work 'gallimaufry' into a conversation.
    • naio21, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1WTF are you talking about???
    • oxyrubber, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7@naio21
      It would help to read the article summary and the article before commenting/responding...
  • Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -15/+22If you're not supporting Microsoft, you're supporting the terrorists.
    • sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Now watch this drive.... *slam*
    • freff, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Bill Gates has been listening to Sean Hannity on the radio. Poor guy.
    • KamikazeeDriver, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"If you're not supporting Microsoft, you're supporting the terrorists."

      HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAH

      that made my day!
      lovely sarcasm
    • JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'd rather support al-CIAda.
  • atozand1to10, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5I'd rather be a terrorist.
  • inkubux, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5Never
  • mrFREEZE, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Alright boys, we're shutting this one down.
  • digitalrift, on 10/12/2007, -17/+6buy linux.. oh, wait that's already free.
    you don't free linux, linux free YOU
    • Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Sadly, most people don't know this.

      I recently showed someone (an outspoken Vista supporter) a YouTube video of Beryl+AIGLX running on a Linux desktop and the reaction I got was:

      "I want that! How much does it cost?"

      P.S. Why is digitalrift getting Dugg down for a blatant fact?
    • naio21, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3Being a communist is being non-patriotic. Said that, screw Linux!
  • DigiRaven, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5ok lets just for the heck of it hate microsoft AGAIN and AGAIN. as usual. If you hate it don't use it.
  • Jwoey, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Damn is anyone going to say anything that isn't stupid on this thread?

    *waits for first comment to be, "guess not"*
  • RandallBe, on 10/12/2007, -17/+111st off Microsoft is a Mafia, so you want to support a mafia? they have killed to get what they want and they will kill again. The more you buy ms products the more you kill. Think of a little girls daddy dead because of you. Want to be patriotic support a open source project.
    • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2Id rather suppose M$ then gay imac mafia, or hacker Linux community. I think M$ would be the lesser of 3 evils
    • RandallBe, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13I see Microsoft brainwashed you already. either that or you are a sheep
    • macewan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5@bgbs, are you retarded or just trying to make a joke?
  • kylesellers, on 10/12/2007, -24/+19Buy Apple, it's your intellectual duty.
  • secretivecoward, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Support Linux!
  • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -14/+8There is more to life than hating Microsoft, Christians, and Bush.
    • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19Yes, but I'm content with that for now.
    • Otto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17No, he's correct. There's also hating the RIAA.
    • maidix, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Dude... like WHAT?
    • positron, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3"Dude... like WHAT?"
      Holy crap... Shaggy from Scooby Doo is alive, and well, and commenting on digg!
  • dvfreelancer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12Next MSFT marketing tactic:

    Buy exchange server or we'll drown this puppy!

    It's almost that bad now. If you're a big enough customer you might even get a dose of strong arm from the monkey dancing, chair throwing CEO himself. The author was right, it reeks of desperation.
    • Otto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Every time you install Linux, Ballmer kills a kitten.
  • iNoles, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3oh man, the world is doesn't need another Microsoft FUD.

    i did mark as lame.
  • Budman21901, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5I suggest everyone buy Vista. It keeps my secondary cash rolling in. If people change to Linux there will be nothing for me to fix. I run Linux, but do as i say, and not as i do!
    • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0yeah cause they will use the FORUMS to fix their linux boxes. They dont need you.
  • Complexium, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Hah! Couldn't care less - I live in Norway and I don't care about what Microsoft says about my duty to do any thing. Several places in my country, i.e. schools and governmental places have immigrated to the open source world of Linux.
  • cresswga, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5For a minute I was impressed that a digg user had used the word 'gallimaufry' in their description.

    Then I found out it was just pasted from the article.
  • rstevens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Reward the entrepreneur. Use Linux--secure, easy and fun!
    • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0There is nothing to Linux which M$ doesnt already have. Some idiots are simply trying to be cool and think they are an independent civilazation if they use linux. I used Linux, ran Linux, found that it sucked, and switched back to what is MORE PRODUCTIVE at the moment.

      Those who use linux are neither businessmen, nor creative marketers, they are simply basement operatives in their mommys house.
    • MonkeyMCSE, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@bgbs
      Then you apparently don;t work in the IT field. More and more companies are implementing some form of linux anymore. In a months span I've replaced Windows file servers with linux and BSD server and quite a few of my clients. The internal web servers are being pushed to linux/apache for a few, and alot of older secretarial PC's are being replaced with linux machines to do basic word processing and billing. Just because you are blind doesn't mean business doesn't use it, but thats right YOU don't have business sense. Business is about spending as little money as possible to get profit in, if thats windows so be it, but if a company can use linux in a situation where they no longer need to purchase a new PC, now windows license, etc, thats good business sense, if it gets the job done. You should learn that not everything revolves around MS, you might grow up and open your eyes to new possibilities. Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it DOES work for millions of others.

      Stay closed minded and keep inhaling the MS PR smoke, one day you'll end up living in mommies basement too, comes with a complete lack of business intelligence you show in your posts.
  • rstevens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Buy Microsoft Software and a portion of all sales go towards the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Then again, you could save your money and use Linux, then donate to your favorite charity and get a tax rebate!
    • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1no one is going to buy M$, everybody will by new 64bit PC that will have M$ installed on it.
  • bias, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1are you guys really that fxxking stupid? this is called "Marketing", of course they have to say those stuff. do you expect they tell you that their product can't help your busines in anyway?

    you fanboys are retarded.
  • Pelapp, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Please someone help me out!
    Since this is about Microsoft Windows, then I hate Microsoft right ? But if its news about PS3, then I love Microsoft (XBOX 360)
    Wauw. This is really confusing! Am I getting it right ?
    • bgbs, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2You dont understand, the war is between GAY imac Mafia, Hacker Lunitix community, and M$ Christians.

    • MonkeyMCSE, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1@bgbs
      scratch that, after reading down after the reply to you, it will go on deaf ears, you're simply an idiot through and through.
    • freff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@Pelapp
      Personally, I'm wary and suspicious of Microsoft. I actively hate Sony.

      At least that's where I've drawn the line in the sand for my buying habits.
    • truck87bp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1sorry, wrong digg.
  • Stonekeeper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2liar
  • nufoto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Wow sounds desperate! The hunger for money and power! Say anything just to keep the empire alive! Whats next Ubuntu CD burning iMac Smashing? Burn the Evil witch's!

    Long live the WGA!!! For God and Country!
  • daxsymbiont, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1duty to keep a destructive(for every other company) monopoly.

    riiight.
  • miker71, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This is all I have to say

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqH2XrteqRc

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrwnJDQy0ic
  • Azur2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Microsoft wont be the first to mix nationalism with PR; "Buy American!" was a highly successful PR campaign for, I think, GM?, and "Buy British!" is a current and quite successful PR campaign from the UK National Farmers Association.

  • bshock, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2So if "buying Microsoft" is patriotic for British citizens, does that mean that it's treasonous for U.S. citizens?
  • Budman21901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I was just at my local Beer store i frequent every wednsday picking up a six pack. They had some guy working on the registers there with "Business solutions" printed on his shirt. There looked to be a old 486 on the floor, waiting to be taken out. I told the PC guy if you would have used Linux, you wouldn't have these problems. He looked at me and laughed. I said why you laughing, if not a OS problem. He said its a simple program issue. I ask him if "Business Solutions" wrote the program, and he said yes. I said then which is it? A program issue, or a OS issue? I ask if it's a program issue then why is the old system on the floor to be taken out? Are you upgrading? He wouldn't answer. I ask are you charging for this upgrade? I was escorted out of the store upon his request..
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