In the age of constant communication, of course, tech companies want to get in on the act and use social media to reach customers. There are good (being able to complain/problem solve) and bad aggressive marketing) to this. Microsoft's Windows social activity is mostly about promoting products. Recently, it seems someone in the Windows team hit publish on a post that gave Apple free publicity.
Reaching out to its 6.9 million followers, the Windows account posted a photo of the platform running on a Mac. Alongside the image, Microsoft offered the following information:
“Spring Cleaning? Check out these tips on how to clean and run your device safely and smoothly from Microsoft's Carmen Zlateff,” the tweet read.
There are a couple of signs that indicate the photo was an error. Firstly, Microsoft is in full tilt promoting Windows 11, while the platform does not run on M1 Mac machines. The device in the image was the iMac. In other words, Windows 11 does not run on that machine without a third party.
Spring Cleaning? Check out these tips on how to clean and run your device safely and smoothly from Microsoft's Carmen Zlateff, as reported in @Bustle: https://t.co/oxWEiYoKL2 pic.twitter.com/0MKoiYeBvL
— Windows (@Windows) March 31, 2022
Secondly, Microsoft's tweet was PC-specific, focusing on a link for keeping PCs safe. Thirdly, and perhaps most important… Microsoft swiftly removed the image and replaced it with a photo showing a Surface device (above).
Mistake
It seems obvious that one eager marketing rep within Windows pulled the trigger on a photo without checking. Perhaps it was an outsourced marketing firm. Either way, it was a blunder. Needless to say, the community quickly mocked Microsoft for the error, but even then it took the company hours to change the photo.
All good fun I say, an innocent mistake.
Tip of the day: After years of hefting a laptop around, you inevitably build up a menagerie of Wi-Fi networks. For the most part, they'll sit on your PC, hardly used, but at times a change in configuration can make it difficult to connect to a network your computer already remembers. At this point, it can be beneficial to make Windows forget a Wi-Fi network and delete its network profile.