I recently got a strange Microsoft hate mail. It started with a reprint of CNET’s news.com article about Steve Ballmer cursing google (no news there), but then continued to claim Microsoft is the “self admitted world’s largest & greatest spammer”:

” I’m with one of the greatest, most hated institutional
“spammers” around. We are a spamhouse. Doesn’t matter
that we’re Microsoft. Our legitimate, unsolicited email
is still just spam. ”

- Mike Lyman
- MICROSOFT HEAD EMAIL ABUSE ADMINISTRATOR

ABOVE STATEMENT ARCHIVED & COMMENTED ON AT:

http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?S1=spam-l&X=-

1. Under Search for type: “We are a spamhaus.”
2. Under Search for type: “most hated institutional”

—– —- — — – -

” Businesses ought to be able to send unsolicited e-mail to
people even if they are unsure if they have a pre-existing
business relationship with them. ”

- Ryan Hamlin
- MICROSOFT CHIEF COUNSEL – August 22nd, 2005

ABOVE STATEMENT ARCHIVED & COMMENTED ON AT:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3384447a28,00.html

http://it.slashdot.org/it/05/08/22/1717258.shtml?tid=111&tid=109

The people who sent it, call themselves SPAMIS – “Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam.”

Then came another strange article, that claims that Expedia (owned by Microsoft) uses spyware for advertising.
This either means that large companies such as Microsoft think that unsolicited mail and spyware are just legitimate advertising avenues, or it may mean that people hate Microsoft so much they’ll go to great lengths to prove Bill Gates is the devil.

I must admit that both the article and the email are less than convincing; but on the other hand if it is true, this won’t be the first time a marketing person makes a stupid anti-privacy decision.