Don’t bring an Apple device to a Microsoft event, you might leave with a black eye.

It would be the day a tech company tells me what device I can or cannot use to cover their event. What is surely the manifestation of the remnant of yesteryear, a mid-level manager was sure to point out to journalists yesterday that Apple hardware was not going to be permitted in the media room, and that any mention of the device was reprehensible.

You know what’s even more reprehensible? A corporate entity thinking it can put an end to the awkwardness of Ballmer having a meltdown at some point in the future, by banning a competitors device from their media scrums. Talk about delusions of grandeur and narcissistic tendencies, and it seems like they are starting so show up between the cracks in the armor over at Microsoft. This is almost as bad as a filtered internet.

Hey, you want to go to South By SouthWest, you have to use a netbook made by Nokia. Oh, you want to go skiing in Whistler? Only Burton gear is allowed on the slopes. See how ridiculous that sounds? If I had money burning a hole in my bank account, I’d be paying every single one of those journalists to show up with an Apple product, just to see the management staff freak out. The tech press release, and song and dance that has become normal at these events is getting way out of hand.

Don’t tell people what tools they must use to get the job done; instead, create tools that help them get the job done. You might win back some switchers that way.

What would you do?  I’d totally show up with my Macbook Pro anyway, but that’s just me.

Article Via Cult of Mac

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.