The double standard on Apple's behavior

When I dared criticize Apple's own version of the WGA fiasco yesterday, I was swamped with criticism that I was picking on poor old Apple.  Some like Dave.Leigh defended Apple's actions as "normal" while others like mvora writes:

Contrary to your claims to "call out companies" when they do wrong, you don't have a single blog entry about Microsoft's intrusive WGA program.

Considering the fact that Microsoft has received a MASSIVE beating on ZDNet and just about every other technology publication and that there has been virtually no coverage on Apple's behavior, there is absolutely nothing left for me to say on Microsoft WGA and it's only right that someone makes a single blog entry covering Apple.  A quick search on "Microsoft WGA" on news.zdnet.com came up with the following results for news stories and blogs:

ZDNet news items on Microsoft WGA fiasco:

• Microsoft faces second WGA lawsuit July 5, 2006
• Putting privacy first at Microsoft June 28, 2006
• Microsoft: Here's how to halt WGA alerts June 27, 2006
• Microsoft to publish its privacy rules June 23, 2006
• Fighting Microsoft's piracy check June 20, 2006
• Microsoft draws fire for stealth test program June 13, 2006
• Microsoft to ease up on piracy check-ins June 9, 2006
• Microsoft's antipiracy tool phones home daily June 7, 2006
• Counting the cost of counterfeiting May 22, 2006
• Microsoft piracy check comes calling April 24, 2006

ZDNet blog items on Microsoft WGA fiasco:

• Second lawsuit over WGA and Microsoft pulling WGA Suzi Turner - July 6, 2006
• WGA 'spyware' lawsuits against Microsoft probably meritless David Berlind - July 5, 2006
• No WGA "kill switch," says Microsoft Ed Bott - June 30, 2006
• User suing Microsoft over WGA notification, calling it spyware Suzi Turner - June 28, 2006
• Microsoft backs off on WGA "phone home" - sort of Marc Orchant - June 28, 2006
• With WGA, is Microsoft forcing Windows users to install and test pre-release software? David Berlind - June 9, 2006
• Microsoft's not-so-generous Windows deal Ed Bott - July 7, 2006
• MS: 20% of WGA failures not caused by pirated keys Ed Bott - July 3, 2006
• IE7 gets closer to its official debut Ed Bott - June 29, 2006
• The WGA fiasco continues Ed Bott - June 28, 2006
• Is Microsoft about to release a Windows "kill switch"? Ed Bott - June 27, 2006
• How to disable WGA notification Suzi Turner - June 21, 2006
• Microsoft presses the Stupid button Ed Bott - June 12, 2006
• Does Microsoft's new WGA disclosure fall short? David Berlind - June 9, 2006
• MS anti-piracy tools phone home, raising consent, disclosure and security questions David Berlind - June 8, 2006
• Hackers working hard to circumvent Microsoft's anti-piracy tech David Berlind - June 1, 2006
• MS Office to use Genuine Validation Marc Orchant - April 25, 2006
• Licensing double standards John Carroll - July 29, 2005
• WGA side-effect aims at Linux Dana Blankenhorn - February 23, 2005

Now this certainly doesn't look like Apple is being unfairly picked because of a single blog posting criticizing their strange and unauthorized every-8-hour phone-home behavior.  Of course I'm not saying that Microsoft doesn't deserve to be criticized, just that we need to hold all companies equally accountable when they do something dumb or bad.

Still, reader barsteward is still unsatisfied and is accusing me of being "too scared to do a MS bashing" and that I'm sucking up to Microsoft for a job.  Well I can say with certainty that I am enjoying my role here at TechRepublic and ZDNet and that I am not looking for alternative employment.  I also haven't done a very good job of "sucking up to Microsoft" since I've criticized Microsoft plenty in the past not to mention the fact that listing all of these negative stories probably doesn't go over very well with Microsoft PR.  So either I'm telling the truth that I treat Microsoft like everyone else or I'm the world's most incompetent shill ever.  Here are a few examples of my criticism on Microsoft:

• Zero-day Word Exploit still needs patch - workaround weak
• Microsoft DEP kills Microsoft LiveMeeting
• Why can't Microsoft just patch everything?
• Has Linux patching surpassed Mac and Windows?

So barsteward, are you going to suggest that these four blog entries are bought and paid for by Microsoft?  Perhaps you think they would look good on a resume that I can submit to Microsoft?

Something that I have noticed is that whenever I do criticize Microsoft, I don't get an army of apologists bashing me that I'm wrong in doing so and why Microsoft doesn't deserve the criticism.  I certainly don't have people demanding that I make an obligatory bashing of Microsoft's competitors to put Microsoft's bashing in the right context otherwise known as "spin control".  So long as Apple's users insist on apologizing and rationalizing Apple's mistakes rather than hold them accountable, Apple will continue to behave in this manner.