So it appears that Microsoft has given up on trying to compete with Firefox on a simple feature for feature basis, and instead has opted to go for bribery in an effort to get people to download IE8.
The online treasure hunt to win $10,000 using IE8 isn’t necessarily a bad marketing idea. Hell, I’d probably download IE8 and have a go if I thought I had a chance of winning (if I were a PC user, that is, seeing as how MS doesn’t have an IE version for Macs). But instead of actually prmoting the benefits of IE8, they’ve instead decided to insult Firefox users in an effort to get them to make the switch:
“We’ve buried $10,000 somewhere on the Internet and if you’re the first one to find it, you get to keep it.
But you’ll never find it using old Firefox. (So get rid of it, or get lost).
Get lost, Microsoft? I think those words seem like a rather appropriate response to your competition.
[Microsoft – Thanks Aaron!]
noisymime
June 18, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Seems like changing the user agent in Firefox is enough to trick it. Now, if only I can win…
Report Permalinkdaniel
June 18, 2009 at 2:42 PM
The funny thing is – if you go to the site in IE7 or IE6 it tells you to ditch them as well. If this gets those remaining IE6 users to upgrade then it will make a lot of web developers very happy. But most of them don’t due to working in government or not having legal versions of windows. So I’ve heard.
Report PermalinkIndefinite Implosion
June 18, 2009 at 2:57 PM
It also does the same kinda thing with “tarnished” chrome, probably opera too, but I don’t have that installed…
Report PermalinkTim
June 18, 2009 at 3:37 PM
So does that mean that IE8 has some proprietary (i.e. NOT web standards) elements to it if people can’t use Chrome or Firefox???
Report PermalinkJason Tan
June 23, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Active X I’d guess would be the big difference that would allow you to see the clues/whatever.
That way they can remain completely standards compliant and still exclude non MS users.
Report PermalinkJC
June 18, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Wow… instead of just getting on board the Apple Web Kit train which left the station years ago, they are resorting to bribes.
Every web designer knows… develop on Firefox(web standard) and then you hack the IE bugs out.
Microsoft has not been an innovator since the introduction of MS Word. Really.
Report PermalinkSam
June 18, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Firefox – old Firefox
Chrome – tarnished Chrome
Safari – boring Safari
Opera – that browser
(I’m guessing it doesn’t check for Opera properly)
Report Permalinkb
June 18, 2009 at 4:01 PM
For added fun, you can make Firefox look like IE 8 as follows:
In firefox URL bar, type about:config and hit enter
Right click in the page that displays and select New -> String
… Read more
For the Preference Name, enter “general.useragent.override” (without quotes)
For the String Value, enter this:
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Now you can find Microsoft’s $10,000 without even switching to IE 8. :-D
Report PermalinkJohn Smith
June 18, 2009 at 8:11 PM
The hidden webpage is on a new bing subdomain, I think they did this so people wouldn’t be able to find it using google, lol. 10g’s here i come.
Report PermalinkJames
June 18, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Gizmodo stop hating on Microsoft!!
Free money during a recession is not such a bad thing! I Google was doing this you would be praising thier marketing initiative!!
Lets be objective for sec.
Report PermalinkKif
June 19, 2009 at 7:38 AM
Uh James… not that I give a crap about marketing, as I’m immune to advertising, it’s the fact that, what should be a well respected and behaved company, is telling anyone using it’s competitor’s products to “get lost”. I’ve nothing against Microsoft, I use a lot of their products, but I just prefer Firefox for my browsing. Microsoft telling me to get lost is really just going to make me think about finding alternatives to their other programs. They’re like a 4 year old throwing a tanty. It’s pretty sad, really.
Report PermalinkJordan
June 18, 2009 at 10:05 PM
*Sets his FF to pretend to be IE8 and hunts*
Report PermalinkJack Prosser
June 20, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Just use the IE tab add-on for Firefox. Silly microsoft
Report PermalinkDaniel
July 6, 2009 at 4:25 PM
They changed the website, it no longer references “old Firefox” any more.
Report Permalinka
July 10, 2009 at 12:39 AM
http://browserforthebetter.com/
Report PermalinkChris Sgro
October 13, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Wait, so people still use IE on their home computers??
Report Permalink