Microsoft Australia is running a promotion for IE8 wherein you follow some clues sent via Twitter, and then visit certain sites to track down $10,000. The prize is on a webpage that "only Internet Explorer 8 can view," though, so the promotion site hilariously makes fun of the browser you're visiting with and encourages you to download IE8 instead.

"You'll never find it using boring Safari. (So get rid of it, or get lost.)"

Where to begin?

First, IE's incompatibility with other browsers is the bane of my and many others' existence, so it's a bit rich for them to act like it's some kind of feature. "Only IE8 can see these valuable web pages!" Fuck you.

Also, we can change our User-Agent string to mimic IE8, because we have advanced browsers. Ppbbbllttttt.

Ultimately, though, it's just lame and unfunny, like the Zune, or Bing. Stop trying to be funny and hip, Microsoft. It's just sad. Accept that you are a business software company, and then maybe focus on making good business software.

Oh, and the website in that ad - tengrandisburiedhere.com? It doesn't work.

49c3/1245279682-ie8-tengrand.jpgclick image for larger version