Microsoft has sparked a major debate in the blogosphere after the company gave away laptops and Windows Media Desktop systems running Windows Vista to several dozen bloggers. 

Critics were quick to dismiss the handouts as a bribe. Microsoft labelled the computers, which retail at $1,900 to $2,300, as "review PCs", but told recipients that they could keep the machines.

"Sending them a 30-day trial of Vista to evaluate is one thing. Sending them a very expensive laptop preloaded with Vista is quite another," a 'Professor Unix' commented on Slashdot.

"It would be like record labels sending journalists a free 80GB iPod and stereo speakers with every new song they're promoting."

Some of the recipients, including blogger and technology journalist Ed Bott, were quick to point out that the promotion is the only way for them legally to obtain the final version of Windows Vista.

Bott admitted to having received an Acer Ferrari 5000 last Wednesday, but said that he would return it to Microsoft after he had tested the device.

"But that is my personal decision, and it is based on my personal code of ethics which says I do not accept gifts," he said.

Robert Scoble, a former Microsoft employee who rose to fame by spearheading the company's blogging initiative, applauded the Vista handout but advised bloggers to disclose whether they received a free notebook. 

"Did you sell your soul and you disclosed that? Fine. Now it's up to the readers to decide whether anything you say is worth listening to. But you are ethical," he said. 

A spokeswoman for Microsoft's public relations firm that coordinated the programme said that the laptops were part of ongoing efforts to reach out to bloggers.

Microsoft was "primarily interested in receiving feedback from the bloggers" , and did not expect any editorial exposure.

"Should the [blogger] write about it, we would ask that they disclose that the laptop came from Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to be very transparent and open about this," she told vnunet.com.