After yesterday’s post about the vomit inducing Microsoft advert, I couldn’t help but mention that other piece of (evil) marketing genius from Redmond for Internet Explorer 8 that has hit the press today.

If you download Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft will donate eight meals to the “Feeding America” campaign.

Internet news sites are already awash with commentary regarding Microsoft’s “download IE 8 or a child starves” approach, with a saddening number of responses from some Internet malcontents that Americans don’t need any additional feeding. For once, I’m not going to add grist to the mill of sarcasm. Somewhere, there is either a pretty bad person or a pretty good person behind this and, although the effort may seem a little misguided and will probably be viewed as at least a misfire if not a total backfire …, it is still an easy way to give a little something to charity.

So, here’s the plan

1. Go to http://www.browserforthebetter.com
2. Click the big “download” button
3. Pick an operating system. Doesn’t matter which one.
4. When the option to download the file comes up, download it.
5. You should be presented with a page confirming that 8 meals have been donated
6. Wait for the download to finish and then delete the downloaded file

Microsoft only require you to download Internet Explorer 8 for them to donate the eight meals. They don’t say that you have to install it.

Only complete downloads of Windows® Internet Explorer® 8 through browserforthebetter.com from June 8, 2009 through August 8, 2009 qualify for the charitable donation to Feeding America®. Microsoft® is donating $1.15 per download to Feeding America® up to a maximum of $1,000,000. Meals are used for illustrative purposes only. Meal conversion is effective until June 30th, 2010.

My only concern with my master plan is that the definition of a “complete” download involves installing the product and downloading more files in the process; the download is only 18Mb, which seems remarkably slim for a Microsoft application.

Still, I got to the thank you screen, I think that means my work is done.

So, what are you waiting for? Download (but feel no complusion to install) Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 today!

Just when I think the world isn’t getting any worse, Microsoft pop up and deliver something so truly misguided that it is brilliant.

YouTube – O M G I G P Internet Explorer 8.

Pop quiz … “What Worse?”

1: That multi-billion dollar multi-national mega-corporation Microsoft is resorting to the “Internet Explorer will hide your porn” argument to try and shift IE8

or

2: They are using Dean Cain, who used to be Superman, to do it?

I leave it to your own soul to decide.

What a pleasure to see that, on the day that HP unveil their stunning beautiful netbook interface for Ubuntu, we get to see Microsoft’s Chief Engineers admit “We messed up” and Windows 7 is deemed less secure than Vista.

Geordie LaForge these guys aint.

Viva la open source.

A handy description of how to fix being given the wrong key by your sys admin