It’s one thing to design a marketing campaign around attacking one of your competitors’ business practice (personally I don’t think that’s a great idea in itself), yet another to launch a range of merchandise advertising that campaign.
Does it make me think badly of Google? Nope, along with what I believe is the vast majority of Google customers/users, I know the downside of using their products. Its a value judgement I make every time I use them – is it worth giving away a degree of privacy to get these tools for free (or at very low cost in the case of our paid Apps subscriptions)?
Does it make me think badly of Microsoft? Absolutely. It seems to me to be a cheap shot from a company that is desperately short of its own innovation and fighting for its life.
As Steve Jobs once said… ‘The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste.’ This effort shows that more clearly than ever.