HuffPo's Apple Love Strikes Again

I've written at length in the past -- both here and on the Huffington Post -- about the strange bias that the Huffington Post has for Apple and against Microsoft.  I even had a half-hour conversation with their then-Tech Editor about it.  But they may have hit a new low today.

Not only did they take what is close to a non-story and turn into a very long article – but bizarrely, given that they almost never write about Microsoft on their home page, they put this article on the home page! 

“What Microsoft Doesn’t Want You to Know About Their Tablets.”

And what horrible thing doesn’t the company want you to know??  The best way to describe it is what happily shows up on the first User Comment –

“You mean this time around Microsoft has a better balance between production and demand? Man that sure was a long story to point out that they screwed up with too much supply last time and are a touch on the short side this time around.”

I mean seriously, the Huffington Post finally puts something about Microsoft on the homepage, and it’s THIS?? 

The actual title of the article, once you click through, is “The Truth About Microsoft’s Sold-Out Surfaces.”  And that “truth” and the article’s point (other than to shred Microsoft) is that Microsoft made fewer units of the tablet this year, which is why there is a supply shortage.

The article, which you can read here, spends its near-entirety trashing the first incarnation of the Surface tablets (which isn’t even entirely or remotely true), which is year-old news.  And talks about how small sales are compared to the iPad – after just one year in existence, when of course they'd be tiny by comparison.  Further, it doesn’t mention the oversupply problem last year which led to the company obviously being smarter this time around but try to make is sound oh-so devious.  (Apple has hand under-supply problems with their devices, as well.)  And the article waits until the very, very end to quote just one customer (which is always sort of silly), who says really nice things about the new Surface tablet.  And ignores the generally positive reviews the new devices have gotten.

Pathetic.

Actually, it's even more head-shaking in another way, and Microsoft only has itself to blame.  A month ago I contacted Microsoft tried to get a Surface to review for my "The Writers Workbench" column, and the company gave me a run-around and ultimately wouldn’t send one out.  They said to check back later, like February.  Four months after the product release and long after the Christmas buying season.  (And even then, who knows?)  But to throw me a bone, they said that I could check with the tech guy at Huffington Post who they sent a couple to, since maybe he'd have a spare.  That guy, Tim Stenovec -- he was the one who wrote this article!

Microsoft has been a bit wary about sending out review units of the Surface, because a lot of journalists have been gunning for them, and the company likely wants to control the narrative a bit more.  As readers of these pages know, I’ve written extensively that I’m a big fan of Windows tablets.  I've played around with the Surface and was impressed.  And me they ignore, but this is who they send tablets to.  Sigh.  Just freaking sigh.  Well, I'll keep trying...