Grammar Testing the Microsoft Office 2000 Offer Letter
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Introduction/Abstract

We at Spunion receive a lot of mail from Microsoft. So when we received this letter regarding Office 2000 and a $50 cash back offer, we were very excited. As soon as we got a copy, we decided to type out the special offer letter and test it for grammar, after all, it was a stunning example of elegant, concise prose. We tested it using Word 2000 (obviously), with grammar set on "casual" and then repeated it on "formal". The following results were gained from "casual", which we believe reflects the company's excellent consumer relations. For those interested, the formal readibility scores have been included in bold.

The Results
Counts
Words: 369
Characters: 1808
Paragraphs: 20
Sentences: 23
Averages
Sentences per Paragraph: 1.9
Words per Sentence: 14.9
Characters per Word: 4.7
Readibility
Passive Sentences: 0%
Flesch Reading Ease: 45.8/49
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 10.5/10

Interpretation

 According to Microsoft, a desirable Flesch Reading Ease score is between 60 and 70. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level reflects the Grade Level an average US student would need to be to understand the text. Microsoft suggests a score between 7 and 8. This letter is just a bit harder to understand than the suggested 'best range'. On a plus side, there are no passive sentences. So what does this mean? Didn't Senior Product Manager use Office 2000? Didn't he grammar check? Does he think grammar checking is a waste of time?

Conclusion

 What is obvious from these results is simply this: Microsoft respects the intelligence of its valued customers. They don't need to conform to the suggested grammar standards when the know the consumer base is really just as intelligent as a 10th grader in the United States of America. After all, they wrote the help file.

Unlike other companies, who crassly abuse their customers with hyped and commercialism, Microsoft is a company in touch with the computing community. Unlike Netscape or Bullfrog, Microsoft continually deliver software that people care about, that people want. And now, with these results, you know exactly how smart Microsoft knows its customer base to be.

Now that's a company.