back to article Microsoft's TV product placement horror: CNN mistakes Surface tabs for iPAD stands

Last month Microsoft announced a partnership with CNN for its mid-term election night coverage, with Redmond providing tech for the news anchors to use. Unfortunately, the anchors used their shiny Surface tablet to prop up or hide their Apple iPads. CNN commentators using Microsoft @surface tablets as iPad stand. Facepalm. …

  1. Chad H.

    Before Microsoft Bought it, Danger made a device called the Sidekick that was a T-Mobile exclusive.

    Not only did they pay for regular promotion, but an entire episode of the Gilmore Girls was scripted around the daughter character convincing her dad to buy her one.

    Everything is for sale these days it seems...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Worst was the final season or two of Warehouse 13, where they sold out for product placement for some car (I think it was a Toyota or a Ford, shows how well spent that money was) with obnoxiously in your face advertising. It was almost like they ran an actual 30 second commercial with two of the main characters in the car owned by one of them discussing its features while they drove somewhere. I'm not sure how the actors kept a straight face trying to make that conversation part of the episode!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Same thing with a particular season on Fringe where the main characters would make a point of using and discussing various differentiating features of some particular vehicle. Cringe inducing. And I also can't remember which vehicle it was now.

        1. dan1980

          @AC

          It was a Ford. Personally, I didn't find the Ford product placement that intrusive. The only time it got 'in my face' was when they used some hands-free dialing feature, though I don't recall them actually discussing it.

          It's all about creating a real world without breaking the suspension of disbelief. TV shows/movies with made up brands or that purposefully obscure them look odd and you end up paying more attention to those items, which detracts from whatever is going on.

          But, of course, overly conspicuous placement is just as bad.

          The worst, of course, is having people actually describing features and referring to/discussing the product.

      2. John Tserkezis

        "Worst was the final season or two of Warehouse 13, where they sold out for product placement for some car (I think it was a Toyota..."

        It was of all cars, the bloody Prius.

        My favorite bit was how they used the "built-in" sat nav to navigate within the Warehouse. Under the iron roof.

        Then, they try to Evil Knevil style jump the Prius, with clear warnings you should not try this at home. Shame, that's pretty much all the car is good for. And remember everyone who downvotes for that comment needs a "Smug Alert!". If you don't know what I mean, look at South Park. If you don't know wha that is, the fact you drive a Prius is the least of your concerns, you need help.

        1. Sandtitz Silver badge

          Prius?

          "the fact you drive a Prius is the least of your concerns, you need help."

          Why? I'm not a Prius owner but I'm curious about this hate against hybrids and Prius in particular.

          I'm sure that there are cases where Prius makes much sence in economic terms in the long run.

          It's a nondescript Toyota that probably is well put together and not prone to failure.

          NB, South Park is sometimes fucking funny, I agree. And I hate product placement too.

          1. HMB

            Re: I'm curious about this hate against hybrids and Prius in particular.

            I think the Prius dislike comes from a few areas. There are those who say that the production of all the hybrid technology with the batteries in particular causes more problems than it solves. There are those that say that a modern, fun to drive diesel engine can produce less carbon emissions over it's life. There are those who point out the previous two points and point to the hypocrisy of it.

            For me personally, I don't hold much against them but they don't excite me at all, if you want a really revolutionary car with everything, look at the Tesla stuff. Can't wait for the car they target for everyone.

            It's worth noting that other hybrids are achieving a lot better potential environmental credentials (depending on how electricity is generated) simply by letting their users plug them in.

          2. Glen 1
            Gimp

            Re: product placement

            Bones has also done this with a Toyota Prius.

            A note about the power of marketing:

            I don't mind the people who weigh the pros and cons and decide a particular product is worth paying top dollar for, my issue is with the mindless 'oooh shiny' brigade.

            Thats where a lot of Apple hate comes from. Not that their products are bad (though pricey), but the shit eating grin on the face of the muggle who's bought the latest product on, or just after launch day. Especially if they upgraded from the only-incramentally-inferior previous model.

            It makes the people who choose Apple products for more logical reasons (such as work, percieved build quality, resale value) look bad. Some Samsung fans have been gulty of this as well in recent years.

            Horses for courses.

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Prius?

            > Why? I'm not a Prius owner but I'm curious about this hate against hybrids and Prius in particular.

            Mostly what HMB said above. I looked at the car years ago, and read on a review that the new version had improved fuel economy and could achieve just a tad over 5.5 litres per 100 km (this was a French review, I think). At that time, you could get 4.5 l/100km on a Diesel A3 (actual figure), 5.1 from a rather more spirited Seat Leon, and 5.5 from a BMW 530d, the first two of which are cars in the same class as the Prius in question, save that they're cheaper and achieve better mileage, which I thought was rather the point of an hybrid car.

            It may have got better in the last few years, but this car put me off hybrids forever, justifiably or not.

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Prius?

            If you want to save the environment you don't drive at all.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Prius?

              > If you want to save the environment you don't drive at all.

              Exactly. That's what I tell my chauffeur.

          5. badger31

            Re: Prius?

            <rant>

            Because so many people get all wet in the pants about the prius, as if they are saving the fucking planet. They are far worse for the environment to produce than most cars, due to their complexity; they are not well built, causing multiple deaths [http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/01/18/toyota-settles-first-hundreds-wrongful-death-suits-involving-unintended/] and at least one massive recall [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26148711]; and they are not even fuel economical when you get out of a thirty zone.

            OK, so battery powered cars are not yet ready for mainstream use, by quite a long way, but if you have an electrically driven car with a relatively small battery (mostly for accelerating and kinetic energy recovery) kept topped up by an efficient internal combustion engine (running at an RPM that is not directly tied to the speed of the car) you have the best of both worlds: maximum torque at 0 RMP, no clutch, regenerative breaking and the power density of petrol/diesel.

            The Prius marketing is all about its green credentials, and they are mostly bullshit. Every time I see a Prius, I assume the driver is more concerned about looking like they care about the environment than actually caring about the environment. Or they are an idiot. Or both.

            </rant>

            1. Tom Servo

              Re: Prius?

              Fox News? You're quoting Fox News as a non-partisan source on an environmental issue?

              Fuck it, I'm going to start quoting the Onion as a legit source then. Here you go:

              http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-three-stupid-dead-kids,290/

            2. picturethis
              Childcatcher

              Re: Prius?

              Do you own a Prius? I do... (it will be 4 years next month).

              I can't speak to all of the carbon bollox, I really don't care about that. What I do care about is "does the Prius do what it says it will do"? My answer is: yes it does.

              It gets 50+ MPG (that miles per gallon for you metric types).

              re: reliabilty, so far, no problems (complexity not-withstanding).

              re: only gets good mileage under 30 MPH (that's miles per hour for you metric types). that's complete bullshit. My daily commute is 32 miles ( 51.5 km) each way over rolling hills at 65 MPH almost the entire trip. I typically get 50.5 MPG (measured tank-to-tank fillup) for 9 months out of the year, the other 3 months I get less due the very cold temps during winter.

              I once worked at a company (before I owned the Prius) that was working on extending the Prius' pure electric range and an engineer started complaining about how it doesn't really use the battery that much and I told him: "I really don't care how the Prius gets its mileage numbers - as long as it does. There could be a hamster in the engine compartment, for all I care".

              FYI, the Prius' real-time fuel consumption display is overly optimistic by about 5%. To achieve a true 50 MPG, the gauge must be reading about 52.5 MPG (just in case you are ever riding in one and looking at it).

              re: Diesel: I would love to have the high MPG diesels here, but at the time (2010), they didn't pass EPA tests and weren't allowed into the country - also the winter's here make that a little bit tougher to deal with. The Prius was a reasonable alternative. My next vehicle: maybe a nice diesel.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        > I think it was a Toyota or a Ford, shows how well spent that money was

        It could have been both actually, as product placement is also "regionalised". E.g., the main character may be extolling the virtues of ACME on the North American run of the film, Ajax on the Australian version, and Notefijes in the Spanish dubbing.

      4. Chairo
        Happy

        they sold out for product placement for some car

        On the other hand I really liked the way they presented the BMW in "Tomorrow Never Dies". In the English version the car was talking in a "very German" female voice...

        And then there was Dr. Kaufman - "Believe me Mr Bond, I could shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effect." I watched it in a cinema in Glasgow together with some German friends and we nearly died laughing. (Incidentally some of us came from the area of Stuttgart).

        For some reason they left that out in the German version, however.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Different types of product placement

    Unlike Microsoft Apple NEVER pays for product placement. This was revealed in testimony during the Apple/Samsung trial last year (http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/technology/articles/Has-Apple-Fallen-Out-of-Favor/2/8/2013/id/47976) They make equipment available to those who want to use it in a TV show or movie, that's all.

    Microsoft is paying for placement, so CNN has to keep those Surfaces on the desk, but the on air personalities apparently don't want to use them. I guess their opinion rules the day based on what the pictures show. Ham fisted deals like this and Samsung and Blackberry's sponsorships that boomerang back on them when it turns out the paid celebrity shill uses an iPhone instead just make them look stupid.

    Since Apple isn't ever paying for stuff like this, the worst that happens is they provide some hardware to a movie producer but the scenes with the Mac or whatever end up on the cutting room floor. They don't pay celebrities to tweet "I love my new iPhone" so they don't have to worry about everyone laughing if it turns out it was tweeted from a Windows Phone!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

      So they didn't pay the BBC to put an ipad in the latest episode of Doctor Who ?

      ( Because Clara seems to be very fond of her surface tablet...)

      1. P. Lee

        Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

        Given the number of MS tablets and phones I see in the real world, whenever I see them on TV I automatically think, "product placement."

        I may be prejudiced, but I think the same if a shot lingers on a Dell logo too. I mean seriously, super-secret mega-bucks-funded spy agency and you're buying Dells?

        1. Shady

          Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

          I can't work out if you're being sarky or not. Of course every spy agency is going have stacks of Dells. What else are they going to use? Samsung chromebooks? Acer laptops? A 16 year-old kid might think Jack Bauer would look cool toting a twelve-pound Alienware gaming laptop, but a 13" Dell is more his style. The stacks of Dell hardware are probably the only realistic thing portrayed in programmes like 24.

          1. Suricou Raven

            Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

            I noticed the racks of Dell servers in the computer office in Numb3rs.

            I also noticed the distinct lack of the sound of a hundred cooling fans.

            It's also rather unusual for someone using a supercomputer to actually sit in the room with it as they work.

        2. Andrew 59
          Facepalm

          Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

          I remember many episodes of Chuck with a wall of Dell servers in the background of one of the sets.

          And apparently they LOVED their Toyota: http://youtu.be/6yobTscScgM

          1. Tom 38

            Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

            I remember many episodes of Chuck with a wall of Dell servers in the background of one of the sets.

            Chuck was mainly sponsored by Subway I think.

      2. Chad H.

        Re: Apple NEVER pays for product placement...

        >>>So they didn't pay the BBC to put an ipad in the latest episode of Doctor Who ?

        Although the character refers to it as an iPad, the interface clearly was not that of an iPad.

    2. ThomH

      Re: Different types of product placement

      Mostly correct, I'm sure, but if Apple never pays for "... celebrities to tweet 'I love my new iPhone'" then what was all that from the ghost of Joan Rivers?

    3. Lionel Baden

      Re: Different types of product placement

      Unlike Microsoft Apple NEVER pays for product placement.

      So you believe what some corporate shill is telling you ?

      I'm guessing you believe the new iphone is really that much better than the old one too.

      as the other poster said, how are you going to explain the gaff regarding Joan Rivers ?

  3. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Are you referring to "what backups" Sex and the S**tty episode?

    I do not quite see that episode as Apple product placement :)

  4. montyburns56
    FAIL

    Suburgatory

    Microsoft also paid for an entire episode of the US TV show Suburgatory which heavily featured the Surface Tablet. Ironically the show was just as successful as the tablet, so I guess it was a match made in heaven.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What did they expect?

    They make a me-too product whose differentiating features are obviously all designed by committee.

    Isn't there a famous saying about how something has to be twice as good to make people switch?

  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Windows

    It's cool.

    I recognize none of the shows except "Dr. Who" and that Oprah woman.

    I stopped watching TV after the OJ trial, looks like the correct decision.

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: It's cool.

      The last time I watched Dr Who it was in the time of Tom Baker and K9, I have never seen a single episode since.

      Also gave up TV in the last century, the advertising annoyed me and the news made me depressed. I presume that it has never changed.

      1. AndrueC Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: It's cool.

        Also gave up TV in the last century, the advertising annoyed me and the news made me depressed. I presume that it has never changed.

        Well one thing has changed. If you have a PVR and never watch anything live the adverts are rarely seen. Although I've noticed some channels recently getting sneaky with break graphics which in combination with the crappy FF that Sky boxes offer means it's harder to spot the end of the break.

    2. Havin_it
      Coat

      Re: It's cool.

      >I stopped watching TV after the OJ trial, looks like the correct decision.

      Think the Brown and Goldman families might disagree with you there ...

  7. stucs201

    Although they seem to like their iPads...

    ...I bet they miss the slide out cup-holders their old desktop PCs had.

  8. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    I actually bought a Surface 2 with Windows 8 RT

    It's hilariously near-useless. The best way I could describe it is as follows: imagine living in a house, a lovely house with exquisite woodwork and perfect carpet, but where the ceilings were only five feet from the floor. It's like that.

    Oh well, only 300 Canadian dollarettes. I do not regret the purchase, but I do regret Microsoft's design decision failures. They'd benefit from some adult supervision.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I actually bought a Surface 2 with Windows 8 RT

      Surface RT is great as a homework machine for the kids though - they can't secretly run games on it instead of getting on with typing stuff up in office.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hate product placement...

    ...it's so naff and clumsy, so I love it when it all goes wrong and the advertisers and marketers are shown up again and again as the stupid muppets we always knew them to be.

    And Microsoft do seem particularly blessed with marketing idiots and crap products no-one wants. Priceless!

    1. Steven Raith

      Re: I hate product placement...

      Product placement done right, or at least not offensively, can be quite good (and effective) - as I recall, Burn Notice had a bit of a thing for the Hyundai Genesis coupe thing (US market V8 coupe thingy - think of it as the UK market Hyundai Coupes bigger, louder brother) where they explained why having a good wodge of torque and rear wheel drive were useful in evasive driving.

      It was obvious product placement, but in context it wasn't out of place/clunky as the actual information can apply to any pokey RWD car.

      I suppose the litmus test is, would that line have been out of place had it been any other car and not the sponsored one, and does it break the suspension of disbelief etc?

      No, not really - it'd still work if it was a tuned early 90s Mustang or a used ex-police Crown Vic they were talking about. That said, it made me take notice of the Genesis, and I've since learned it's apparently not a bad wee motor at all - so the product placement did it's job, and didn't make me want to stab the telly.

      That's about the last time I saw product placement and didn't think 'gah' though.

      Steven R

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I hate product placement...

        > rear wheel drive were useful in evasive driving.

        RWD useful in evasive driving? It's been many years ago since I was put through an elementary evasive driving course but I can't really think how that could be an advantage, unless doing some fashionably cool drifting while evading the baddies counts.

        1. Steven Raith

          Re: I hate product placement...

          @AC Re evasive driving - if you're not drifing out of a j-turn with your LSD locking up to leave two thick black lines and I've run out of car stuff, then you're doing it wrong.

          It was on the tellybox, don't take it too seriously.

          ;-)

      2. Glenturret Single Malt

        Re: I hate product placement...

        My response to product placement is more usually along the lines of "Oh, look, they've got one of those things the same as we have/used to have" rather than "That looks good, I must get one for myself".

    2. MrRtd

      Re: I hate product placement...

      Good product placement is when it's done discreetly, practically subliminal. It should never be obvious.

    3. Suricou Raven

      Re: I hate product placement...

      When it's done right, you don't even notice. That's part of the appeal - if the audience doesn't realise they are being advertised to it can have a subconscious effect without triggering the 'This is advertising, it's all lies' conscious filter.

  10. tempemeaty
    Facepalm

    The images really are telling...

    When I saw the images of them using their iThings instead of the product placement Surface-Things I laughed for 5 minutes.

    I would love to see another company make a product which gives you the kind of experience that makes it hard to put down or stop using it. Why is Apple the only company that can even approach doing that?

    1. DryBones

      Re: The images really are telling...

      Because they're not massive wankers like MS and Samsung? I've no love for Apple, but I can't stand kruft.

      Looking forward to Android 5 on my Nexus 7.

  11. skeptical i
    Meh

    If MSFT spent 400 meeellion dollars building a better tablet

    instead of further enriching the NFL bozos (and now the CNN ones), they might have more luck shifting customers away from Apple and/or newbies to tablets generally. Focus groups and other customer research are not cheap, but 400 mill could likely round up some college students around a keg of beer (or kids around pizza, or geezers like me around double-espressos and donuts) for a discussion of what sucks about Surface, what does not, how could it be better, and so on.

    1. Christian Berger

      They probably know what's wrong with it...

      ...but in a real life company it doesn't matter. What only matters is the opinion of some top ranking internal personal.

      I mean imagine Microsoft would bring out something closer to what people wanted. Let's say a surface tablet which is just a laptop in tablet form, without any limitation on what operating system you could run on. People would either want to run Windows 7, some Linux or Android on them. None of those options is particularly attractive to Microsoft. Plus they probably wouldn't be able to shoehorn their app-store, which means a hope for constant stream of commissions, into it.

      In real life companies it is often not possible to do what's sensible.

      1. dogged

        Re: They probably know what's wrong with it...

        Only one of those options is any bloody use on a tablet, smartarse.

        Even then it fails as a productivity device because "productive Android" is right up there with "honest politician".

        Anyway, regarding the story, it might be hilarious if it were true, which it isn't. Nice red-top job, El Reg.

        1. Jess

          Re: it might be hilarious if it were true,

          Well they would say that wouldn't they?

          1. dogged

            Re: it might be hilarious if it were true,

            Well you would say that, wouldn't you?

    2. Beornfrith

      Re: If MSFT spent 400 meeellion dollars building a better tablet

      To be honest I think they'd be better off putting 400 million dollars toward subsidising the cost of the Surface Pro. Anecdotally at least there are a lot of people out there that want the Pro 2 or 3 but the cost is just too big a barrier. Take a hit with the profits but get them out in people's hands, make them visible instead of keeping them rotting in a warehouse.

      There is no use pumping out new designs if no one in the real world has seen them.

  12. TheProf
    Devil

    The Amazing Spider-Man 2

    You mean to tell it's not just Sony who make electronic goods?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

      James Sony Bond Sony films Sony are Sony also Sony full Sony of Sony Sony Sony product Sony placement. Sony.

      1. Wade Burchette

        Re: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

        You reminded me of this video:

        http://youtu.be/H53183mVc2o?t=12m56s

  13. Mark 85

    The perfect product and placement

    I'm not a fanboi but I am pleased to see that someone finally found a good use for the Surface. <dives for cover in the bunker>

  14. DesktopGuy

    Product placement or directors using kit for free

    The main reason you see so much Apple gear is in the realm of photography and audio/video production, Apple rule the roost.

    If your a director/photographer and need a prop, you will often use what's on hand like a MacBook Air, or iPhone/iPad because they are lying around everywhere on every set and photoshoot I have been involved in for the last 16 years.

    Apple don't need to pay for product placement, they simply need to provide the kit.

    The people doing the production will naturally gravitate towards using Apple gear because they use the stuff all day long anyway!

    In Australia, you don't see that much product placement, but it is growing - thanks in large part due to the awful "The Block" renovation show.

    Most directors I know are not interested in product placement - it devalues their art.

    They are of course happy to use something for free, but that really is not the same thing.

    On a side note, I manage IT for creatives - video, photography, advertising etc...

    100% of my clients use Apple desktops/laptop and around 95% use iPhones/iPads.

    Whilst Samsung might own the phone market, you would never know it if you deal with creatives all day!

  15. zen1

    OMG

    I don't know what this sad episode demonstrates: Do people think that little of the Surface; or are the folks at CNN that dumb? God that's funny!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: OMG

      It demonstrates that they can't even pay people to use them.

      I learned that the hard way (in fact, I was foolish enough to pay them). If it was any other company, I wouldn't have bothered.

  16. king of foo

    bing it

    I don't know what they were smoking when they came up with the name "bing" but I want some.

    I still find it ridiculous and it's even more absurd when you hear it coming out of someone's mouth.

    Bing makes me think "Bong"; maybe I'm right about the smoking...

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: bing it

      Could have been worse. "Bing him, Danno"

    2. Tringle

      Great . .

      Rumour has it that BING stands for Bing Is Not Google. They went for a 'B' at the beginning because it's like, you know, the first consonant.

      Yes, I know serious stuff. MS psychiatrists are on danger money.

      1. TwistUrCapBack

        Re: Great . .

        I always assumed that they were trying to come up with a "catchy" word that people would adopt as a generic term for searching the web ..

        As in "I'll just Google it" - they wanted people to start saying "I'll Bing it" ..

        They should have chosen a less shit word

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Great . .

          I always assumed that they were trying to come up with a "catchy" word that people would adopt as a generic term for searching the web ..

          As in "I'll just Google it" - they wanted people to start saying "I'll Bing it" ..

          They should have chosen a less shit word

          They picked the name Bing because they wanted to be before Yahoo! in the phone book

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MS product placement never works, because it always feels so forced and fake.

    Classic example series 1 of elementary they all use a nondescript phone that kinda looks like an iPhone, but without any branding. It works quite well for the odd camera shot of a text message or answering a phone and it is barely noticeable you never give it a second thought.

    Then in the second series something changes and a lot of the characters are now using Lumias and the Surface and it just feels unnatural and too unbelievable, but then I am British and we've resisted the urge for product placements for as long as we could hold out *sigh*. While it may make the show some money it could end up getting it cancelled if too many people switch off because they realise it is just one big advert. Here is a clip for Elementary classic example -

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsiXfW75598

    As for Parks and Recreation both Lumias and Windows 8 / Surface tablets have been creeping in a lot over the last two series to the point where they spend a lot of time focusing on their phones and there was even an episode built around one of the devices, which just reeked of marketing BS. No wonder that is finally being canned after the next series. Definitely ran out of ideas when it is essentially an MS advert with a comedy tacked on the end. Well the MS advert is the comedy, but another comedy tacked on the end

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      MS product placement never works, because it always feels so forced and fake

      Yes, and that's because people have to be forced/bribed to use them. There are hardly any to be seen out in the real world (hence the desperate placements).

      With Apple, people actually want to use them, and to be seen using them (not me however, I'm too geeky for Apple). MS just don't have that, never will, and the harder they strive for it - the further away they become.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    I LOVE PRODUCT PLACEMENT !

    When it's done subtly, there is no harm...take this for a wonderful example:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lgLYGBbDNs

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ghost of Ballmer

    You just couldn't make that up if you tried. You can only imagine Ballmer's projecting his gift for natural unintended satire beyond retirement.

    Worse apparently when you do have a script; the Hawaii 5-0 clip was simply painful to watch; I wonder how long before product placement finally renders all TV and film essentially unwatchable.

    1. dogged
      Stop

      Re: Ghost of Ballmer

      >You just couldn't make that up if you tried.

      No? Because somebody did.

      http://www.windowscentral.com/cnn-analyst-labels-ipad-controversy-false-and-idiotic

      Sorry fanbois.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ghost of Ballmer

        No? Because somebody did.

        http://www.windowscentral.com/cnn-analyst-labels-ipad-controversy-false-and-idiotic

        Sorry fanbois.

        He would say that wouldn't he when his paymasters are getting a nice wedge for using them, which in turn is paying some of his wages.

        If he turned around and said "I don't know why they put that POS there the garish colours give me eye strain and windows 8 > windows 10 WTF is that about?" I don't think his feet would touch the floor on the way out.... Damage limitation

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now that cheap practical W8 slabs are ten a penny...

    Will TV pundits keep iPads just for iMessage ?

    You might think you look cool with the iPad, but you really do end up being semi functional.

  21. Stretch

    So there you go, shitePads preferred by idiotic plastic retards. Seems to make perfect sense to me.

  22. James 132

    The Walking Dead had that suspiciously pristine Hyundai crossover for ages as well. I used to laugh whenever it was on screen; every other vehicle in the thing was a shitbox.

    You half expect a cast member to shut the door, nod in a satisfied fashion and opine "This is really nice."

  23. Sheep!

    I can't wait to hear Doctor Who cry:

    "To the Cloud!"

  24. Archivist

    As an Apple user...

    I hate the talking down of the Surface because it seems to be a very good piece of kit, and anything that competes with the iPad (and Air) has got to be good for all buyers. However I despair at Microsoft's ineptitude in this particular product placement: If the users are accustomed to using iPads, they'll carry on using them unless there is a compelling reason to change. Also I'd bet that Microsoft offered no assistance integrating the Surfaces to the IT infrastructure, nor was there time. I can just picture a crate of devices arriving, being hurriedly unpacked and PLACED.

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