A bit of a storm is brewing in the blogosphere today as it was revealed that a number of prominent technology bloggers have received free Acer Ferrari laptops (either the Ferrari 1000 or the 5000) courtesy of Microsoft, AMD and Acer (via PR agency Edelman). At the heart of this issue are a few questions: Should the bloggers have disclosed the “gift” or not? Will these generous gifts compromise the bloggers’ integrity as they post about their experiences with Vista? Should they keep the gifts.
As far as I’m concerned, disclosure is always good. As for whether a gift (especially a more than $2000 laptop) can sway the opinion of the blog you are reading, you will have to decide for yourselves. If you’ve been reading a particular blog for a while, you should already have a sense of how trustworthy that blog is.
Before you ask, no Ferrari laptop showed up at Gadgetorama headquarters!