A story has blown up in the blown up in the blogosphere today about Microsoft (along with AMD and Acer) sending bloggers free Acer Ferrari 1000 or 5000 laptops pre-installed with Windows Vista and Office 2007 to keep, no strings attached. The bloggers do not need to write anything about the system unless they want to, but these are bloggers we are talking about so of course most will brag about scoring some free gear (wouldn’t you?) Comments vary across blogs ranging from “you work hard, you deserve it!” to “you were given a bribe and must send it back or I will never read your blog again!” From one extreme to another, that’s for sure.

I’ll be honest now, I wouldn’t mind a PC for ‘nothin, let alone an absolute beast like the Ferrari 5000. I doubt I would write about the machine of Vista on here even if this was a tech blog. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has “rewarded” bloggers to push out info on it’s new products either. Magazines and newspapers will receive products in exchange for reviews (on loan for the majority of the time), but until recently we had never seen this been extended to bloggers. So what is all the fuss about?

First, the ethical dilemma. Personally, I do not see anything wrong with taking a free machine when offered. It’s pretty clear that Microsoft want people to talk about Vista, they know that people are turning to blogs for the news and opinions, so why not take advantage of it? Send out 100 machines with Vista to bloggers, and you should get 100 entries back about their experience with the OS. Even if ten per cent of the thoughts were positive, it may just influence readers enough to go out and buy a copy of Vista. By holding this promotional stunt, Microsoft gets an instant win.

Many have commented that if a blogger takes the PC, any views on Microsoft, AMD or Acer will be tainted by the fact that they received a free machine. After all, these people are not journalists writing proper reviews in magazines or web pages, they are just random people who may not even be reviewing Vista if it wasn’t for Microsoft being kind and sending out then a free copy (along with a free machine to make sure it runs to it’s fullest potential). Many of the bloggers sent machines have disclosed that they only received the machine because Microsoft contacted them and sent it out, some bloggers only revealing this after they received the machine. Since these bloggers are not journalists, it’s easy to think that they would be more tempted to go easy on Vista - after all why bite the hand that feeds you?

Any decent independent writer should have enough self-respect to write impartial words. A workmate of mine writes movie reviews for a film website, and as a result is sent free DVDs to review (which he keeps, may I add). Let’s say a major studio approached him to review a new film not out in cinemas, and offered to fly him up to Sydney for the weekend and put him up in a four star hotel. Would I be worried that his review would be favourable since he got a free holiday, or that he would prefer the film over another where he didn’t get special treatment? Hell no, because he respects his readers enough to give the honest truth on the subject he is writing on, and only that subject.

The ones who can’t write these impartial words are not worth reading in the first place. I don’t have a lot of respect for the person who writes AV reviews in the midweek paper because it’s pretty obvious he gets a lot of free installed equipment in his home to review, ranging from high-end DVD recorders to DLP projectors to Dolby Digital set-ups. How can I tell? Because he gushes over every piece in each review, constantly telling me how great Item X is and how I should spend $5,000+ on it right now. But hey, there are plenty of reviews to read on products, and there are plenty of bloggers in the world so I don’t need to spend a long time finding a better one.

All in all, if you are a blogger who receives one of these gifts and cannot write an impartial review - don’t take it. You will only be doing your reputation no good, something which many have tarred to anyone receiving a free machine which I think is a bit undeserved. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival will be starting in April and I plan on contacting their offices to try and get some free tickets as I plan on writing about the festival for as many nights as it is held. Will I be disclosing which shows I got free tickets to? Right now I’m unsure. Personally, I believe that I can write a decent enough review to not warrant listing this information. A horrible show will be horrible and a great show will be great if you get in for free or not, and this will be the case as many bloggers sit down and write their entries about what Vista.