Hey I stopped short of saying this is why I hate marketers…

How many more Microsoft sites will open without RSS? Sigh.

Sigh, Microsoft opens another cool but lame site. Cool cause it’s for digital photographers. Lame cause it doesn’t have an RSS feed. After Gnomedex these kinds of lame sites will look even lamer! When will Microsoft’s marketing departments get the memo? EVERY site MUST have RSS from now on. Got it? No? Pay attention to Dean Hachamovitch’s keynote at Gnomedex, OK? He runs the IE team.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Gee, anyone would think Scoble was trying to drop hints that the IE team are announcing something to do with RSS at Gnomedex.  For all Scoble’s talk of how blogs are a conversation that let you see more transparently into an organization he sure spends a lot of time massaging his posts to fit the marketing message he wants to push.  It’s probably too harsh to say it’s deceptive advertising because that normally means the message they’re delivering is deceptive, rather than just the way they deliver it.  I just get really annoyed when companies try to play the friendly, upfront, honest card while they’ve marked the deck and have carefully selected which cards to keep up their sleeve.

Wouldn’t it have just been easier to put out a post that says “Hey, listen out for a cool message from the IE team on RSS in the Gnomedex keynote”?  I’ve tried to resist joining the crowds of people criticizing Scoble for just being a Microsoft shill but it’s getting harder and harder as each post seems to reach new levels of “I’m towing the company line but pretending not to”.

And don’t even get me started about the “conversation” Scoble’s having with his son which just so neatly advertises Microsoft’s music initiatives and tries to steer people away from using the iPod.  No mention of what his son’s looking for in a music player, just a torrent of reasons the iPod is crap.  Maybe it is for his son, but maybe it’s not – there are good and bad points to all MP3 players and in a lot of cases the iPod family has the best fit for the requirements and not just because it’s cool.  Heck, the prime requirement for most tweens is coolness.  Couldn’t let that interfere with the marketing message though could we?  Oops, I got started.