It's not astroturf unless the guy is being paid to do a campaign. I have seen things here and on Digg that can only be explained by active astroturf by the part of Microsoft - the active downmodding of comments, sometimes every comment in a given discussion or every comment in the downmoddable range, after posting something that paints Microsoft or its software in an unfavorable light.

It doesn't surprise me a bit.

(burn, karma, burn)