Ambassadors of Ill Will

I probably ought to close out the month with a blog post. Unfortunately, it won't be good news. Microsoft recently made some unwelcome changes to its Xbox Support Twitter page, replacing its paid staff with "ambassadors" who get rewards in exchange for offering assistance to customers. 

I've used Xbox Support in the past, and in my opinion it was a leap ahead of other customer service oriented Twitter accounts, responding quickly with helpful advice for all my Xbox-related issues and concerns. However, now that the work has been passed onto scabs, I can't guarantee it will stay that way. Even if Xbox Support maintains the level of quality it's had for over five years, the fact remains that this is real work that demands real pay. You can't pay rent with free copies of Halo Reach, and you can't get groceries with a three month subscription to Xbox Game Pass.

It's dirty pool, and an uncomfortable reminder of the way Microsoft was doing business back in the 1990s. Case in point: when Microsoft needed an internet browser to compete with Netscape, they asked a company called Spyglass to do the work for them in exchange for a percentage of each sale. Instead of selling the browser, then called Internet Explorer, Microsoft gave it away with copies of Windows, and Spyglass received far less compensation for its work than it deserved.

I hoped Microsoft had moved beyond this corporate skulduggery, but no dice. A message to Bill Gates, in the extremely unlikely chance you're reading this: you can't build mosquito nets in Africa, then turn a blind eye while your company exploits its workforce with schemes like the Xbox Ambassador program. You can't chase bad karma with good and have it all even out... throwing money at vanity projects doesn't change the fact that you're still doing terrible things to people. We all know you've got the money, so pay your employees.