Microsoft's conference marketing, part 3

Over the weekend I wrote about a major Microsoft marketing/sponsorship gaffe -- a cheesy, crass, embarrassing commercial that took place on the main stage during the Saturday morning welcome session. If you look over the comments to that post, you'll see I'm not the only one who was cringing.

Then, via Kevin O'Keefe, I learned that Microsoft took a softer, lower-key approach to marketing at Gnomedex, a tech conference held just a few weeks ago and amply sponsored by Microsoft. In a July 3 posting, Gnomedex founder Chris Pirillo praised Microsoft for rewriting the rules of conference sponsorship:

Pirillo wrote: "Microsoft (as this year’s diamond sponsor) did not have any scheduled time on stage. By this action, they have set the bar incredibly high for conferences the world over. No longer need conference coordinators be pressured by pay-for-play politics -- and no longer need top conference sponsors fall victim to the misconception that speaking time is implied."

Given that moment of shining progress, why did Microsoft backslide so suddenly into a heavy-handed, off-target sales pitch?

I suspect there are several reasons...