I know there are lots of Apple/iPhone lovers in the world, and an abundance of haters out there too. But isn’t this taking it a bit far?

Microsoft Germany has officially requested that reporters not operate or even speak about Apple products during its company events. (Wow, touchy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but despite the PC/Mac cold war, I don’t think Microsoft has ever made this kind of demand before.) Here’s what happened: While at a media event in Deutschland, a journo got chastised by Microsoft PR when he gushed about his iPhone’s performance:

“While at a Windows Mobile 6.5 demonstration in Munich, Germany, a journalist was warned by a Microsoft spokesman not to mention or use Apple products…since it was a Microsoft event. The journalist had previously told everyone that he had never owned an easier to use cell phone than the iPhone.”

This comes from a German blog called Handelsblatt. The Google translation of it, though not exactly spot-on, is way more hilarious:

"The offense: The journalist had dared to talk during dinner to mention that he had never seen a possessed so easy to use phone like its iPhone. Und das auf der Vorstellung des Windows Betriebssystems Mobile 6.5. And on the idea of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. "The emotion surprised me," says a PR consultant was present at that time. "It shows that the nerves are raw."

9to5Mac ran the item with the following photo, taken of journalists covering a Microsoft event in Seattle.

Talk about an unintended Mactastic burn to Redmond. Among the holdouts is Sascha Segan from PC Mag (second from the right) using an itty bitty little netbook. Then again, who knows if it’s a Hackintosh.

Via: 9to5Mac, Handelsblatt, CrunchGear