Microsoft training manual teaches Best Buy employees to troll Mac users

[haiggy]

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne..._term=Main Account&utm_campaign=microblogging

After our coverage from yesterday regarding Microsoft training material for Best Buy employees that not only makes Linux look bad, but is also full of inaccuracies, one of our faithful readers wrote in and said he could show us that Redmond was doing the same thing for Apple. "My account says I work at Best Buy, but the site is available for any retail employee whose company sells Microsoft products," he told us. The format is the same: Redmond isn't just saying that Windows has more software or games available than Mac does, but the software giant is actually going as far as teaching employees that there are certain statements about Macs that need to be labeled as myths.

There was an amusing and ironic twist, though. He was using a Mac, and the Microsoft-created website he was accessing wasn't playing so nice with Firefox. Nevertheless, despite a lot of random whitespace, the message is quite clear: a Windows 7 PC beats a Mac just as badly as a Windows 7 netbook beats a Linux netbook. Again, we have 11 screenshots to show you, and again you have to wonder how Microsoft can get away with these types of "training materials."

 

[thegoldenmackid]

The Linux one was hilarious...

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The Linux one was hilarious...

But, for the average consumer shopping at Best Buy, true.

 

[maflynn]

You just got to wonder in this day and age, that MS continues to try to play these games.

As it stands, I used Ubuntu whenever I'm not in OSX and find it a more stable, virus free OS then windows ever could wish to be.

The sad thing is, that folks look up to the best buy people as experts and believe me they're anything but. I've heard them talk before and their lack of grasp of the most basic computing terms and subjects is amazing. Not to completely dis BB because I've really heard some off the wall comments on what's ram, and storage at an apple store. Stupid is an equal opportunity feature

 

[polaris20]

There are a few members here who MS could recruit. They've already got the trolling down pat.

 

[jmann]

LOLZ at the the slideshow. How ignorant. That's exactly why you don't go to worst buy.

 

[Flybye]

I am so going to Best Buy this weekend to test this out.
On a side note, Apple training material is no where near this negative on the PCs.

 

[Melrose]

Bloody typical.

So, they have a bad corporate/product/brand image, and rather than looking inward to fix the problem, they go on the attack, figuring it's not a problem at all but everyone out there is wrong.

Good thing I don't go to Best Buy anyway. The salespeeps are so snippy and rude..

 

[neiltc13]

It's good training material - I see nothing which is inaccurate here. Remember, the aim is to train people to sell the stock they have, so if they have to tell them that a competitor's products are worse for them (which they are if they match these slides) then so be it.

The more people who realise just how much of a rip off Apple's Mobile Me service is the better - there is no reason for anyone to be paying money for anything like this when the same is available elsewhere for absolutely nothing. Oh yeah, and Windows Live Writer lets you edit documents, iWork.com only lets you view them.

 

[NT1440]

The more people who realise just how much of a rip off Apple's Mobile Me service is the better - there is no reason for anyone to be paying money for anything like this when the same is available elsewhere for absolutely nothing.

Sure there is, its called CHOICE. If I choose to have all my calenders synced up, have my idisk, locate my iphone, etc for a fee that I accept, then yes there is a reason.

 

[tdgrn]

One thing that I didn't see in this article was that this training is for a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate ...

 

[djellison]

Sorry - where is this 'trolling'. Everything in those slides is either true or at least half true. There's no gratuitous misinformation there as there is in the I'm a Mac/ I'm a PC adverts which are at best, intentionally misleading.

Where is the trolling, exactly?

 

[three]

I'm going to take in my MacBook Air to Best Buy next week and see what they say.