SAN FRANCISCO: Laptops that Microsoft sent free to authors of popular weblogs had the ‘blogosphere’ abuzz on Friday with controversy regarding the propriety of the gifts.

In recent weeks Microsoft and chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices have sent Acer Ferrari laptop computers to a total of 90 bloggers so they could put the new Vista operating system through its paces, according to the US software giant.

Recipients ranged from authors of technology-oriented blogs to those focused on topics such as photography or video in which Vista features could be seen as assets.

Word of the gifts spread after Christmas on Monday, triggering debate about the ethical obligations of the bloggers as well as Microsoft’s motives.

By Friday, the opening web page of Amit Argawal’s blog Digital Inspiration listed 15 laptop recipients and what they were going to do with the gifts.

The decisions ranged from keeping or returning the laptops to auctioning them off and donating the money to charity.

“Honestly, I’m not really the right person to do a proper review of Windows Vista and at this point, it is still unclear why I was even selected to receive it,” Scott Beale wrote in his photography-focused Laughing Squid weblog.

“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate being included, but now I think it’s time to move on. I’ll purchase the Windows Vista upgrade when it comes out as I had originally planned on doing.” Beale said in his blog that he was auctioning his laptop on eBay and would give the proceeds to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit legal group dedicated to Internet rights.

Argawal wrote that he planned to keep the laptop sent to him.

The laptops were sent with “no strings attached”, Microsoft said, adding that bloggers were free to do what they wished with them and under no obligation to write reviews about Vista.

Microsoft suggested bloggers adhere to the traditional news media standard of disclosing the gifts to readers in order to assure “transparency”. “Microsoft believes in the power of bloggers and has been engaged with this community for quite some time for the launch of Windows Vista,” the Redmond, Washington, company said in a statement.

—AFP