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Microsoft Idle

Is Oprah Cheating On Her Microsoft Love? 215

theodp writes "In what would be akin to General Petraeus pledging fidelity to his wife from the Gmail account he shared with his lover, Oprah has professed her endless love for the Microsoft Surface from an iPad. Microsoft's Surface tablet is one of Oprah's 'Favorite Things' of 2012, but an eagle-eyed observer at ZAPP noticed that a tweet from Oprah last night ('Gotta say love that SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts.') apparently originated from Twitter for iPad. Betcha Steve Ballmer has a shiny new Surface for the Oprah staffer or intern who fesses up to Tweeting on her boss's behalf!"
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Is Oprah Cheating On Her Microsoft Love?

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:12AM (#42038761)

    This should really come as no surprise to anyone, as there are basically no apps available for WM8. At least M$ had the foresight to deploy their compatibility layer iOS Bridge Application (tm) allowing users to seamlessly use well-written apps from the Apple App Store on their shiny new non-Apple devices.

  • Browser (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:13AM (#42038765)

    I wonder if she used Opera?

  • zaPP? (Score:4, Funny)

    by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:14AM (#42038767) Homepage

    zaGG.

    I know P and G are nearly identical, but this is still has to be one of the most stuggid, poddamn tygos ever.

  • EPIC (Score:2, Insightful)

    by xming ( 133344 )
    Fail.
    • by arth1 ( 260657 )

      EPIC Fail.

      It may be a failure, but what makes it epic? Where's the epos? Are there tales of how Oprah has travelled around the world conquering microhaters, only to fall on her sword this way during the home run?

      • Well, Oprah does give out free stuff like the people in the studio had just survived an epic voyage.

      • Re:EPIC (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sumdumass ( 711423 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @10:40AM (#42040805) Journal

        The epic part would be where it appears Oprah's open and honest endorsement of a product appears to simply be a shill for something she couldn't even be bothered to use while shilling for it.

        Oprah seems to have this cult following (less now that she isn't on regular TV) that trusts her words in ways that would make Paul Harvey appear like a used car salesman and they seem to do whatever she tells them. That is why Oprah's endorsement in and of itself is newsworthy- let alone why this seeming deceit is.

        • by arth1 ( 260657 )

          The epic part would be where it appears Oprah's open and honest endorsement of a product appears to simply be a shill for something she couldn't even be bothered to use while shilling for it.

          That's not epic. Epic doesn't mean "incredible", "noteworthy" or "big" - it requires a long story behind it. That's what makes something epic.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:16AM (#42038785)

    Who gives a fuck??

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:18AM (#42038791)

    I think it's time to forget about her and her radical opinions about things. If endorsing surface wasn't enough, wait until you hear what other things she's endorsed...

    • She's nothing more than a cheap shill, whoring her opinion out to the lowest bidder.

      Yes. I said lowest.

  • Intresting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nssy ( 1530925 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:24AM (#42038815)
    Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters
    • Re:Intresting (Score:5, Interesting)

      by 1s44c ( 552956 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @09:53AM (#42040055)

      Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters

      The news is the Microsoft astroturfing trolls that have so flooded slashdot are not just on slashdot, they are everywhere. They include TV personalities that the unwashed masses idealize.

      Anyone that watches Oprah will believe anything, even that Microsoft products are worth buying.

      • The news is the Microsoft astroturfing trolls that have so flooded slashdot are not just on slashdot, they are everywhere.
        Anyone that watches Oprah will believe anything, even that Microsoft products are worth buying.

        Microsoft tends to spend its time and money in places where the grown-ups hang out.

        The shortest answer is ''It's a digital notebook,'' but that just leads to the question, ''And why would I want a digital notebook?'' The better answer is that it's a powerful, versatile tool for organizing just about anything. It's the application you turn to for jotting down to-do lists, capturing notes during a presentation, or recording the random ideas that run through your head so you can refer to them later after your brain has erased all traces of the original thought. You can store, organize, and search text, audio, video, photos, and handwriting.

        OneNote has been one of my favorite applications since Microsoft began bundling it with Microsoft Office. I like that it syncs my data through SkyDrive so my notes and information are available from just about anywhere. Microsoft has also developed native apps for the iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone, and Android devices--making OneNote one of the most accessible, cross-platform tools Microsoft has.

        My single favorite feature of the new OneNote, though, is unique to OneNote MX--the Metro-ized app version of OneNote designed for Windows 8. Tapping the radial menu button opens a circle containing different formatting options. On some options an arrow is available that lets you dive deeper and access more options. At any point, you can click the back arrow in the center of the radial menu to go back to the previous menu.

        The radial menu is brilliant. It is an innovative approach to working with information on a touchscreen mobile device, and I hope the radial menu is also a staple of the Office apps that come with Windows 8 RT, and/or that Microsoft extends the radial menu concept to the rest of the Office suite soon.

        Microsoft OneNote MX Has a Secret Weapon [pcworld.com]

        Are Radial Menus The Future Of Office? [readwrite.com]

    • 14,800,000 people just received the order to "Buy a SURFACE" from their witch-queen.

      14.8 of those people then went on to hear and understood and care that it was a shoddy astroturf.

      Now, how many Americans choose to use Linux on the desktop? If it's fewer than 15 million, then I guess they don't really matter, right?

      The crib notes are that we're engaged in a battle to save the general purpose computing device for nerds of the future. Every time someone chooses to buy a locked down, walled garden devi

  • Who gives a fuck? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Why is this even here? Is this Gawker? People Magazine? I don't give a flying fuck what Oprah is doing and this doesn't even remotely have anything to do with technology or nerds. You might as well be posting articles about what kind of phone Justin Bieber was spotted using last night. Nobody gives a fuck.

    http://gawker.com/178280/the-mystery-of-non+blogger-theodp

    • Re:Who gives a fuck? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by somersault ( 912633 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:33AM (#42038855) Homepage Journal

      It's just a funny story. Chill. It's hilarious that even people being paid by MS to promote their products don't use them.

      • by miknix ( 1047580 )

        If this is indeed true, then in my opinion it only reflects the desperate situation Microsoft is in..

        • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @09:18AM (#42039561)

          If this is indeed true, then in my opinion it only reflects the desperate situation Microsoft is in..

          Desperate ain't even the word for it. Fucking scared shitless is more like it. Here, let me paint this iPad shaped picture for you. The WinRT Surface is the epitome of pointless me-too shite. For all the supposed "innovation" in the UI, all one has to do is take two steps back and really look at the situation for what it is. The Surface and the entire Windows on ARM initiative is a desperate attempt to copy the iPad and in true cargo cult fashion, MS thinks if they lock the app store down just so, and get just this many content partners then they can through sheer will somehow ape the iPad formula and *hand wave* beat Apple at their own game. Ha! What they're forgetting is the iPad is not just another competitive device from any old company. The iPad, when you look at it from the typical consumer perspective, is fucking fantastic. It has hundreds of thousands of apps, it's relatively cheap, it has a jaw dropping high-res screen (you know, that thing you'll be looking at when you use it), it has an interface that, again assuming the consumer role, is sublime in its simplicity.

          Basically, the iPad is ridiculously better than the Surface in practically every way that matters to the market. The entry level price is cheaper, it has tons more apps, it has an interface that is not nearly as confusing, and on and on. Basically, the iPad is what people expect a tablet to be. Android through sheer virtue of looking and acting so much like iOS is acceptable to many people as well. Trying to pawn off WinRT as a legitimate alternative to the general consumer is laughable in its current state. And the back and forth desktop/metro mode is pure comedy. The thing is a joke. And an expensive one at that. The days of divine providence where if you were using a consumer device that could be confused with a computer, Windows as OS was a given, are quite simply over. MS know Windows and by extension Office are the keys to the kingdom and tablet by tablet and smartphone by smartphone, that providence is being revoked. Yeah, they scared.

    • by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:40AM (#42038891) Homepage

      It's imporant news to the multitude of paid MS shills operating on Slashdot.
      Since they make up a significant portion of first-posters, Slashdot should cater to their needs too.

      • by 91degrees ( 207121 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:53AM (#42039327) Journal
        I'm a paid Microsoft Shill. Honestly, it's excellent money. We just spend all day posting to Slashdot. Clearly this is well worth it to Microsoft, because just a few well worded comments will make the notoriously Microsoft-hostile Slashdot readers suddenly change their minds, and immediately decide that they're going to use an inferior product.
  • Or she will unleash the bees.

    http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/7044/oprahbees.gif [imageshack.us]

  • Paid off or what? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pointyhat ( 2649443 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:56AM (#42038975)

    In the UK at least, they've been paying for various celebrity trolls to say "OMG WINPHONE8 IS TEH WIN" all over advertising. I assume this is the same forces at work trying to undermine the intelligence of the masses.

    A more realistic assessment is walking into my local Currys/PC World shop (like a UK version of Best Buy which is less interesting) and watching the various people milling around. One guy was buying a Samsung Smart TV, another guy a dryer, some woman was buying a USB internet dongle and asking if it worked on her MacBook and another guy was buying a Galaxy Tab and some overpriced HDMI cables.

    Windows 8 love? Absolutely sod all. No one gives a flying fuck.

    Now I could be considered to be a Microsoft shill. I work for a well known Gold Partner in the UK, are a certified Microsoft software dev, have used every MS OS from DOS5 and know their shit inside out, but fuck me no one cares about them any more, me included. I'm even jumping ship with my vested and historically expensive interest in them and leveraging the 15 years of Linux experience I've picked up on the side.

    • Re:Paid off or what? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:20AM (#42039103)

      In the UK at least, they've been paying for various celebrity trolls to say "OMG WINPHONE8 IS TEH WIN" all over advertising. [...] A more realistic assessment is walking into my local Currys/PC World shop [...] Windows 8 love? Absolutely sod all. No one gives a flying fuck.

      Much the same over here in the US. Just like with the Zune, MS are shoveling piles of marketing dollars pimping a product that quite simply due to vastly superior choices already on the market, nobody wants. Nobody gave a shit about windows phone 7 when they could just get an iPhone or Android and it's probably pretty safe to say the same fate awaits windows phone 8. Metro is a disaster, that while blog pundits wax ecstatic over it, the man on the street just isn't impressed. I have an HD7 windows phone and I just don't like the damned thing. Something about it. Maybe the tiles are too "flippy" or it's too restricted but I vastly prefer my Nexus S over it and that's where my sim card stays. Windows 8 sucks ass too. It's only saving grace is what appears to be slightly better performance than 7, but you know what? I don't give a fuck. My computer is badass and a few percent here and there doesn't mean shit when I have to put up with the hideous Metro screen and ridiculous gestures everywhere. I think many people will agree.

      Basically, MS has finally found itself in a highly competitive market and, guess what, the ersatz bully is floundering. Badly. Imagine that.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )

        Metro isn't a disaster. Sorry you can't be bothered to learn it, but it's the best OS they have released, ever.

        I can say 'Ever' because I have used them all.

        I was a huge Android fanboy. After what I just went through? I will be looking at a windows phone for my next phone.
        At least keeping it current won't be a stupid cluster fuck.

        "and that's where my sim card stays.
        you seem to miss the point of having a sim card.

        Slightly better? no, massively better. Win 8 added 20 fps to my games.

        As much as I enjoy the wor

    • by Inda ( 580031 )
      If James Kimberley Corden dances to dubstep with his W8 phone, I want one.

      Wait, no, that's not right. I want to get pissed on Christmas day and ruin it for everyone.

      Easy mistake to make, ay?
    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      No, the are people leveraging the undermined intelligence of the masses.
      For people actual undermining it, look at anyone cutting schools, and saying things like 'Balance' and 'controversy' when there is neither.

  • Cheating on Surface!
  • by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:17AM (#42039089)

    "Oprah, this sucks."

    "Jay Leno's relatives all are getting new cars for Christmas!"

  • by wonkey_monkey ( 2592601 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:22AM (#42039125) Homepage

    In what would be akin to General Petraeus pledging fidelity to his wife from the Gmail account he shared with his lover

    Yeesh.

    Betcha

    is not a word.

    ...who fesses up to Tweeting on her boss's behalf!

    "His" is the gender non-specific pronoun.

    • I'm being unfair. All of the above is forgiven since the submitter actually wrote their own submission (or at least went to the effort of not copy-pasting from either of the linked articles).
    • When your comment came up abbreviated for me it didn't show me the quotes so I saw:

      Yeesh. is not a word.

      Which made me think, "that is correct, yeesh is not a word, what other tidbits of grammar wisdom will this poster share with me?"

      You've let me down. :(

  • by Spottywot ( 1910658 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:32AM (#42039193)
    If she really did buy 13 Surface tablets, all we need to do is check for a spike in the sales figures.
  • by 1s44c ( 552956 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @09:14AM (#42039509)

    These are the people who go public proclaiming love for MS products, people who are paid to, people who don't use the stuff themselves.

  • No surprise at all (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wjwlsn ( 94460 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @09:44AM (#42039963) Journal

    I actually saw much of Oprah's 2012 "Favorite Things" show, including the ridiculous hour long leadup showing how Oprah picks the stuff to give away. Watching this wasn't entirely by choice, as I happened to be sitting on the sofa working on my laptop while my wife and daughter were watching. (I must say though, the actual giveaways are priceless... from the over-the-top OMG OMG OMG craziness when it's something good, to the valiantly concealed "Meh!" when it sucks.)

    Anyway, Oprah didn't actually choose the Surface. It was selected by one of her producers (probably after prodding by Microsoft) and shown to Oprah for a grand total of about 2 minutes. Why did she then choose it? Probably because of the kickstand and the magnetic keyboard attachment.

    • Anyway, Oprah didn't actually choose the Surface. It was selected by one of her producers (probably after prodding by Microsoft) and shown to Oprah for a grand total of about 2 minutes. Why did she then choose it? Probably because of the kickstand and the magnetic keyboard attachment.

      Or perhaps simply because tablets are cool and no one offered a truckload of iPads to their production company.

  • Is who are these morons who suddenly find a product desirable just because a daytime TV host has been paid very large sums of money to say they are.
    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      The same morons who didn't get their children vaccinated becasue they heard lies about vaccines on the Oprah show.

  • At this rate, it's only a matter of time until Microsoft does a liquidation sale on this product to get rid of excess inventory.

    Has anyone been able to hack this tablet and get Android on it yet? If so, I might pick one up when a liquidator like Woot starts selling excess Microsoft Surface inventory as "refurbished" for around $189,

  • On /.
    How the hell is anything about Oprah news for nerds? And no, "news" about what tablet she may, or may not, use is not "stuff that matters". Millions of people use various different tablets. Which one Oprah uses means dick.
    Jesus wept.
    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      Becasue Slashdot has shed the last of it's Nerd pretense and now is just another media site spiraling around the drain?

      • I like to think of Slashdot as a sort of pop-culture twitter feed now. Granted, tweets can have up to 140 characters of original content in them, which is where the analogy falls down.
  • OWN is doing bad so she needs the funds from M$ to say Microsoft is a GOOD BUY.

  • who is responsible for the deaths a disease of many children.
    You read that right: Children are dead becasue of her.

  • When you pay people off for promotional material, create a manual of operation that includes a self-destructing secrecy clause and a 30-day refund policy if the operational guidelines aren't met.

    LOL!

  • So what your'e saying is Oprah was paid off my MS to endorse their product, even though she doesn't prefer it? I'm shocked! Shocked! Well, not that shocked.
  • Her iOS loving assistant tweeted for her? Or she uses multiple devices? Or one of a number of explanations that don't involve her being a shill? Or maybe she is? No one here has enough data to say, not that that is anything new on /., but at least theoretically this is a group of people who should know better...

  • Hello everyone! The new Microsoft Surface is wonderful! It's one of My Favorite Things(tm)! Everyone should buy one!

    Your friend;
    Oprah

    -Sent from my iPad

  • Definition of SECRETARY

    1

    : one employed to handle correspondence and manage routine and detail work for a superior

    secretary [merriam-webster.com]

    Definition of SLASHDOT

    1

    Fox News For Nerds

  • ... she had to because Twitter are becoming complete assholes and the only decent Metro Twitter app no longer works because it hit its limit. [windowsobserver.com]

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