Cloud Hosting Blog

Microsoft’s Stay At Home Servers campaign brought one brainwashing “book for kids” online (”Mommy, Why Is There a Server in the House?”) – that can be read at www.stayathomeserver.com or bought at Amazon. The user reviews at Amazon make me wonder: was Microsoft actually paying people to “like” this advertising crap disguised into a book for children?

I am perfectly aware that the book is actually not aimed at children, but at adult individuals who will actually buy a stay at home server, yet do you think that Microsoft considered seriously the possible implications of letting this book land in the hands of the children?

Under the slogan “Helping your child understand the stay at home server” the fictional author Tom O’Connor writes about your life in the office and basically teaches your children that when you are at work you are not working, but doing boring stuff. Don’t expect your child to be proud of your job after you give her this book! Probably Tom (or whoever he is) speaks for himself, but let’s see how he defines the office, shall we?

“The office is a boring place where big people go and do boring things.” – if you agree with Tom it’s probably time for you to look for another job and that fast, before your child gets the chance to read further and learn how the office transforms you into the big bad wolf.

“Offices are why big people get grumpy and say bad things.”

I suppose by now you are aware of Microsoft’s amazing “educational value” and you already added Tom O’Connor on your list of “top favorite authors for kids.” There are obvious things wrong with this promotional brochure sold at Amazon for $5.95 – I hope you are smarter than paying even a dime on that garbage. If the things Tom O’Connor writes about the value of your work in the office are not enough proof, go on read the rest of the book.

…and the special gift is a “stay at home server”…

Of course we could treat the book as a joke and laugh about it with our friends – which in our adult life is a normal reaction. But give the book to a child and see if she understands the joke. Because this clear Microsoft propaganda material is listed as an Amazon book, many people will be naive enough to buy it for their children. If you don’t see the danger of exposing children to such deviant, manipulative advertising materials, you have a serious problem yourself. This is not a cheeseburger, this is not a toy either – this “joke” reminds me too much of the propaganda techniques used by the communists to brainwash their subjects.

As an advertising technique the book idea was very smart – it triggered enough controversy to make people talk about it extensively. However, the technique doesn’t highlight the product’s real value – it almost makes me think that Microsoft released another low-quality product that will only be successful if the users are brainwashed into buying it.

If you enjoyed reading this, you should probably consider getting a dedicated stay-with-other-servers server from THC.