Microsoft’s official @dotnet sent its first Mastodon post today.
Pay attention to the domain: dotnet.social.
Which means Microsoft is operating their own Mastodon community server.
@dotnet account was registered in November, but it became active today.
Clearly, Microsoft sees the Fediverse as core to marketing to developers. I wonder what other brands they’ll bring to the Fediverse as well.
Other people are noting that dotnet.social is not “officially” affiliated with Microsoft.
By why would Microsoft put the official @dotnet at dotnet.social if there’s no relationship?
Who are they trying to kid?
We see you, Microsoft 😉
@atomicpoet @dotnet @fediversenews Why would they not? They can migrate any time if they need to, but this makes it easier for their marketing crew. Most brand accounts are just accounts, not whole servers.
@LouisIngenthron @dotnet @fediversenews Look at when the account was created. Look at when the first message was sent.
Clearly, there’s been affiliation for a long time.
@atomicpoet @dotnet @fediversenews What does the account being created months ago have to do with whether or not they're affiliated? I don't see where you're making that leap. It makes sense they'd want to claim the name they'd eventually use early, even if they weren't prepared to commit to engaging yet. That doesn't mean they're affiliated with the server.
And that's on top of the fact that they've now expressly said they are not affiliated with it. 🤦♂️
@LouisIngenthron @dotnet @fediversenews Well, I don’t believe them.
You don’t think Microsoft’s lawyers will send a cease and desist if their intellectual property weren’t violated?
You think Microsoft wouldn’t park their official account there for 5 months if there weren’t some sort of relationship?
The reason it’s probably not “official” is because Microsoft likely doesn’t want blowback.
@atomicpoet @LouisIngenthron @dotnet @fediversenews Regarding the account, it was taken as soon as I created the server by someone. I asked the user to release it in the following days, which he accepted, and I have blocked it since to prevent squatting. Microsoft just contacted me to ask if they could use it yesterday. Simple story really! 😅
@styx31 @atomicpoet @dotnet Occam's Razor strikes again!
