Microsoft Giving Away Vista Ultimate, With a Catch

Opinari writes "In case you haven't heard, Microsoft is giving away copies of Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit or 64-bit DVD), Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, Microsoft Money Plus Premium, Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008, or Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 — you can choose any one. The caveat is that you have to let them monitor your use of the program."

Free...

[crazyjeremy]

Free as in Linux? No, free as in Microsoft!

Re:Free...

[squidinkcalligraphy]

Free as in beer? No, free as in an NSA wiretap!

Re:Free...

[davester666]

The catch...you have to use Vista..

Re:Free...

[Mistlefoot]

I didn't read all the details but it does imply XP as well as Vista...

To quote from the second page towards registration:

"Choose the program(s) you would like to join
Automated feedback program (Windows Vista and Windows XP only)"

and further on in the uninstallation instructions.....

"Windows XP Instructions:

      1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Change or Remove Programs.
      2. Select Windows Feedback Panel, and then click Remove.
"

Re:Free...

[name*censored*]

without someone holding a gun to their head ;)

Are you taking volunteers? If so, sign me up!

Re:Free...

[michrech]

You didn't read the page very well. You don't *have* to run the spyware. It's an option. Using it, according to the site, will possibly shrink the amount of surveys (that you can skip, "if you don't have the time") that you will be asked to fill out.

Right here [microsoft.com] shows what must be done. You can sign up for either, or both, of the programs (for those to lazy to read the page, the two programs available are the "spyware" and the surveys -- I opted just for the surveys).

Here is the text about the survey feedback program:

When you join the survey feedback program, you'll be invited to take a survey on a regular schedule. If the survey arrives at a time where you are busy, you can skip that one and take the next one instead. You will not receive more than one survey every two weeks.

Hell, I signed up for it. I have access to a computer I can install it on for 3 months that can just sit in a corner idle (whether I decide to use the "feedback program" or not).

Well, to be honest, as a computer retailer, this thing had me thinking at first, but reading the fine print (you have to run the spyware on your box for 3 months, then get a free toy) showed some downsides, like americans only, and a complete inability to exploit it for fun and... yeah profit :) (its not a bad word, really)

And yes, they will be the first against the wall when the revolution starts (apology mr adams).

Re:Free...

[nem75]

The catch...you have to use Vista..

Nah. You could just not use it and let them monitor that.

Re:Free...

[bigdavesmith]

The catch...you have to use Vista..

Yeah, I've already given them my feedback by not downloading it. Even for free.

Re:Free...

[SL Baur]

Free as in Microsoft ...

What are the system requirements?
The only requirements are that your home PC is running the Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system, and that you have an Internet connection. That's it!

I guess I don't qualify :( and I so wanted to dance in the streets burning Linux and Mac OS X cds celebrating my new freedom while I was installing a real OS on my MacBook Pro ...

Re:Free...

[Goldberg's Pants]

You sank my battleship.

*sees kids, addresses them*

[BitterAndDrunk]

Or cocaine!

Re:

[Wiseman1024]

This is starting to look like a horror movie. They'll give you the OS for free, so long as you accept to be monitorized by the Dictatorsh- Chur- Magister- Corporation can control what you do. They want to see you happily consuming products from them and other corporations, and of course, they work to the best interest of the mafiaa (who'd think a company that sells products should look for the people who's paying them?).

defectivebydesign.

Re:Free...

[plague3106]

Or you can take the option of just filling out an online survey.. but hey, why stop free bashing?

Re:

[plague3106]

Well, when I click Get Started, I'm given two check boxes. If you can provide a link that says you only get free software (I actually don't see that anywhere from the link submitted) if you do the automated survey, I'd be happy to check it out.

Re:

[sm62704]

This is starting to look like a horror movie

Starting? You haven't been using Microsoft products very long, have you?

-mcgrew [slashdot.org]

Re:

[peragrin]

actually I am thinking of installing a copy of windows to play one or two windows only games that i have been eyeing. this would work well. disable it so it can't connect to the Internet afterwards and let thme wonder what is going on.

Why they ask why can't the monitoring software work I will simply say that I don't let substandard software out on the internet, and go back to my Linux box.

Re:Free...

[Yewbert]

I was thinking,.... hmmm, dedicated box to run uTorrent sharing Linux distros,... Sure, let 'em watch.

Re:Free...

[encoderer]

You mean it will "suck fewer resources," right?

Cause let's be real.. it's Vista.. it certainly won't suck less...

Which is the catch?

[amccaf1]

The caveat is that you have to let them monitor your use of the program.

Wait, which is the catch: the fact that they will monitor your use, or the implication that you'll be using it?

Fine, let them monitor...

[vistic]

I'll freak MS out by doing nothing with ULTIMATE Office except try to open OpenOffice documents all day long.

Re:

[mrbluze]

Well, you have to at least admit that XP is still much better than Vista.

True. It's much easier to get for 'free' and chances are all kinds of people will be monitoring you, not just M$. ;)

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

No... I used XP for 5 years and now I have about 6 months using Vista. Vista is much better (neither have ever crashed/frozen on me).

Re:Which is the catch?

[Linker3000]

Glad you're not having hassles with Vista. I have just got Vista Business on a laptop at work, making a total of 3 Vista laptops in our organisation:

Laptop 1 is mine (for supporting Vista). Yesterday I installed Adobe Acrobat 8.1 - the installer told me approximate install time was 160 minutes and it was not lying. The other day I installed another app and the same thing happened - several hours elapsed while a single app was installing. When the machine comes out of standby, it occasionally will go slow for about 10 mins (I have 1.2GB RAM). The wifi switch/LED didn't work properly until a driver update was applied.

Laptop 2 is in marketing. The user is currently sitting in their car to be outside our wireless zone because she's trying to finish tidying a mailshot spreadsheet and the laptop keeps freezing. She was working OK on two other sites yesterday where there was no wireless so she's testing the theory that it's network-related. Her wifi switch won't turn off the adaptor reliably and it also works in reverse - when the LED is ON, the wifi is OFF and vice versa - even though the switch event handler puts on the screen 'wireless on' and 'wireless off' the right way round.

Laptop 3 has just been brought in because it stopped making RDP connections and I have just had to hack the registry.

I am totally neutral when it comes to Vista - I don't love it or hate it, but user experience in our office has been poor; there's too many 'rough edges' and annoying little habits - simple things like the power button options not including 'ask me what to do' and sometimes a USB mouse not being detected when plugged in etc. Overall, the support effort for just these 3 laptops is disproportionate compared to the 100-odd desktops, servers and other laptops (ranging from NT4 through 2000 to XP) we support.

Re:Which is the catch?

[pushf popf]

You guys are obviously morons. My copy of Vista works perfectly.

I picked up a brand new really fast Toshiba with a bunch of RAM, brought it home and it ran like crap, kept crashing and accused me of stealing something or other.

I did a little Googling and learned that the problem was bad drivers. You need to install this set of drivers named "Fedora". I popped in the "Fedora" disk, rebooted, answered a couple of questions (it must be really intelligent, since it didn't even want my Activation Key again), and everything worked great!

Tomorrow, I'm going to call Toshiba and find out why they didn't just ship this "Fedora" update automatically.

Re:Which is the catch?

[rolfwind]

I'm a big Linux fan... but I don't understand your reasoning here:

If Microsoft does not abandon Vista immediately and cut its losses; pretty soon it will have to abandon Windows AND Office entirely.

How can Vista prompt this? Granted, on low-end hardware, Vista is a dog that likes interrupting you with bullshit prompts. But Microsoft is still selling XP due to popular demand.

I would love to trumpet the impending arrival of Linux dominance but there is the reality that people and companies stick with what they know -- even if it's a PITA. MS would have to give them a major kick in the ass for them to see the hassle of moving from Windows as worth it. And I don't see even Vista doing that. At worst, companies and people will stick with XP.

Which from Microsoft's financial perspective isn't that bad.

Ummm... NO

[geekoid]

Either:
A) MS will make some drastic changes to boost Vista. Like remove DRM
or
B) MS will go back to XP and continue selling that until they try yet again at a new OS.

The failure Of Bob and ME didn't exactly stop them, and neither will the failure of Vista.

Consider how much money MS has sunk on Office for Vista, there may be a chance they just Give Vista away in order to maintain there desktop office monopoly. I don't have high hopes.

Now, I run Win2K because XP brings me exactly nothing. I just can't see payi

Re:

[Yetihehe]

Why not simply admit failure; accept that Vista was a crappy effort; and actually write a new OS capable of running on existing hardware; and existing software apps? The entire PC ecosystem has been broken by Vista

No, it wasn't broken by Vista, it just actually changed. Customers do not anymore want system which is more shiny, if they need to have better hardware. They all think current hardware should support anything without any hassle and if not, then it's programmers' fault.

Re:

[sm62704]

They all think current hardware should support anything without any hassle and if not, then it's programmers' fault.

And they're right. I built the PC under my desk at home five years ago, and it's still orders of magnatude more powerful than a supercomputer made when my last car (a 1988 Chevy) was built. I keep stuff for a long time; waste not, want not.

Trading your car or computer every couple of years when it's perfectly servicable is for rich idiots. If one can afford to waste money, one should give to c

Not accurate.

[Junta]

They want to monitor whatever you are currently using today, XP or Vista, and won't give the goods until after three months of watching your stuff.

Re:

[lionchild]

And what if you're not using XP or Vista currently? Are you just left out, or do they have a linux tool to monitor you?

I've got a machine still loaded with OS/2. And a nice little G4 with OS X 10.4.11.

Simple, you don't qualify...

[Junta]

They only want to spy on current users of their software, evidently. So you can get a free copy of Windows, but only if you are already running Windows. Guess they are not out to capture non-Windows users (they probably don't even fathom that concept).

Re:

[geekoid]

If some comes to your house and says:
I'll give you 300 bucks, and in exchange I'll sit in the living room to see how you use furniture, and oh, btw I'll leave anytime you ask me, and you accept the offer. They aren't SPYING. Monitoring, but not spying. Now if you ask them to leave, and the sneak into a closet and monitor you from there, then it's SPYING.
And considering Spying is unauthorized monitoring, You would be hard pressed to find any case where MS spies on you. Granted, thats a technicality, since th

More specifically...

[Junta]

Only recent MS OS customers. The last copy (i.e. only one I could install somewhere legally) of Windows that existed in this household was Windows 2000 (came on a system inherited from somewhere else). But, that would mean they were trying to market and have *new* customers, that's just crazy talk, companies don't want a larger customer base, no way...

Webcam + Wood Maul

[explosivejared]

The caveat is that you have to let them monitor your use of the program.

This is how I would go about this. I would get a free copy of vista. Then, I would set web cam up outside on the driveway. I would grab a wood maul and just go to town on the disc, and do my best to savor the thought of MS technicians staring on in horror.

They'd be pretty happy, I'd think.

[KingSkippus]

They're still going to count it as another person "using" Vista. I'm guessing they'd be pretty happy. I can see the marketing spin now. "Even a skeptic like Jared found that the Vista user experience was extremely satisfying."

Re:Webcam + Wood Maul

[Darby]

I would grab a wood maul and just go to town on the disc, and do my best to savor the thought of MS technicians staring on in horror.

You misspelled "longing".

Be Helpful

[Propaganda13]

I'd use it to read http://annoyances.org/ [annoyances.org]. I'd go around editing the registry and fixing common annoyances. Hopefully, Microsoft would realize what they need to fix.

No longer available

[beavis88]

At least not the free gift part. From an email received from Microsoft posted to hardwareanalysis.com forums:

"What happened to the free product option?

Thank you for your interest in the feedback program. Due to overwhelming response, the supply of gifts have been exhausted so we have closed our free product offer on 12/11/2007 at 2pm. Thanks to everyone that participated!"

Re:

[kaos07]

They must have only offered 3 copies because I can't see an 'overwhelming' response to get Vista, even if it is free.

Re:No longer available

[moondo]

This is probably something to do with sites like Slickdeals.net that caught on the deal earlier and maxed out the freebie. Just one of their threads [slickdeals.net] on this deal has over 47,000 views.

Bad because...

[RightSaidFred99]

Oh, wait - it's not. You're giving something (information to them) to get something (free OS). Nothing wrong with that.

Reminds me of an offer I got in jail

[unassimilatible]

"All the sex you want! But you're not going to like the catch."

I'm gonna fire up a bunch of VM's

[apparently]

and let "the program" monitor a nice stream of goatse.

Re:

[Kingrames]

Stream?

You're thinking of tubgirl.

*shivers*

Honeypot

[fractalVisionz]

I should set up a honeypot with their products. Hopefully when they are watching, they will get a virus or infected by a bot net.

Hide your own habits... use a VM!

[Z80xxc!]

Instead of letting them see every single thing you do on your computer for a whole 3 months (or longer... who knows what stays on your computer after installing the software), why not install Windows XP in a VM, install their crap, run it once or twice a week to "check your email" or whatever, and then after three months, collect your software? They only see what goes on in the VM, you get your free Vista and everyone's happy. Well, if using Vista can be considered as something that would make you happy.

Just to show how bad their monitoring actually is:

3. Additional data collection

The following list describes some examples of additional data collection our software performs:

• Windows settings and usage, such as the number of user accounts on the computer and the view settings for Control Panel (that is, if you use the default Category view or the Classic view to display Control Panel).
• Details about your computer hardware, such as processor type and speed (as well as the number of processors), system memory, video memory, and other hardware configuration information.
• File and folder information, such as the number of files and folders located in common places (for example, in Documents).
  * Which programs you open (for example, which application you use to read your e-mail).
  * Changes you make to your hardware or software.
  * Problems you encounter, such as application crashes.
  

They're basically looking at everything you do. Here's my favorite bit from the whole thing:

This sounds good, but I'm still concerned. Is this anything like the "spyware" I've heard about?
No, this is not spyware. You choose to participate in the Windows Feedback Program and you can easily withdraw from the Program at any time with no penalty whatsoever.

This sounds like spyware? Yeah, I'll say. But noooooooo, it's not at all harmful for your computer. Rigghhhtttt....

Re:Hide your own habits... use a VM!

[Kawahee]

They're basically looking at everything you do

Yes, they're looking at everything they do with Windows, not everything you do with your data.

Re:

[Hal_Porter]

As far as I know, if you collect any data that shows someone has committed a crime, you're obliged to tell the police. E.g. psychologists have to report criminal activity if they are told about it, despite doctor/patient confidentiality. Let's suppose they collect a bunch of data on file accesses, which showed you downloading from bittorrent. If it is analyzed by a machine, I guess you haven't told a Microsoft employee and Microsoft is in the clear. But what happens if they send the log to a real person and

Re:

[sqrt(2)]

As long as the data isn't personally identifiable there shouldn't be a real privacy concern. The problem is you have no way of knowing for sure if it is personal data or not. For example, the number of files and folders on your hard drive isn't really sensitive personal information, I wouldn't care if MS or anyone knew that, but the names of the files and folders would be a concern to me. Same with e-mail and user accounts. How many e-mails I get a day, how long I have Thunderbird open, those aren't privacy

Re:Hide your own habits... use a VM!

[Junta]

Cause for concern:

Will I be able to see what data I'm sharing with you?

Unfortunately, you will not be able to look at your specific data. We designed the Windows Feedback Program software specifically to avoid any interference with your work or how your computer functions. To do that, the data you are sharing is stored in a binary format (zeros and ones) rather than in text format. Storing the data in binary format makes it very small and easy to share with us, but difficult for you to translate and interpret.

Damn, stored in zeros and ones, nothing I can do, it's binary. There's no way they could let me know how to understand it. If only it were just zeros, or ones, or maybe some twos...

Re:

[sqrt(2)]

That is either shocking incompetence or hilarious parody. Did that really come from their privacy policy?

Re:

[x_MeRLiN_x]

http://wfp.microsoft.com/FAQ.aspx [microsoft.com] It's neither. It seems to me that they needed some sort of excuse to prevent users reading the data collected about them.

Re:

[mrscott]

I guess it depends on how you personally think of spyware. Me - if I opt in and tell Microsoft that it's ok for them to do this and I'm getting something in return - yep, that's probably not spyware in the malware sense.

And, if they're checking your hardware, they can probably tell very easily if it's running in a VM.

Interesting how you define "everything". I doubt they really care what I have in my Word files, what I have in my Excel spreadsheets, etc. They're looking for general usage patterns to ident

Prior Art

[madbawa]

They want us to let them monitor use of their program?? Don't they do that already???

i don't see the issue

[xubu_caapn]

I don't see the issue here. No question of privacy really, people can choose to do this or not, and it's openly the catch. Microsoft probably wants to watch people's use of it to see what people have trouble with and what they can improve..

Re:

[pushing-robot]

I only use Windows for tech support, the occasional Windows-only utility, and games. All my real work is done under Ubuntu or OS X. I'd take Microsoft up on their offer, if for no other reason than to - ugh - get more familiar with Vista.

Re:

[Technician]

don't see the issue here. No question of privacy really, people can choose to do this or not, and it's openly the catch. Microsoft probably wants to watch people's use of it to see what people have trouble with and what they can improve..

Funny thing is they may find people never use ebay, paypal, or online banking. (Would you log into any of these on a monitored computer?)

Upon further digging

[HadesInjustice]

Does the software impact the performance of my computer? "We have gone to great lengths to design the Windows Feedback Program software to limit the amount of computer resources it uses to collect data. You may see a minor change in performance when you first log in to Windows; however, this typically only occurs during the first few minutes after login while we are collecting basic configuration information." In my opinion, that translate to... "The print out of the code is so lengthy the printer ran out of ink, twice. The software will not severely hamper the performance of the computer (as compare to Vista that already used up ~500mb of RAM on idle, there isn't all that much performance left to hamper anyway). After you first log in, we are going to collect some basic information and make sure you have an authentic Windows OS. We might decide to sue you or disable your OS if we found it to be pirated."

Re:Upon further digging

[sqrt(2)]

Do people still not understand how Vista manages RAM? This is slashdot, of all places I'd expect the people here to understand pre-emptive caching. That 50% RAM usage isn't Vista, it's all kinds of stuff that you are constantly opening being kept in memory so that the next time you need it the program can open faster. It learns your habits and caches stuff it knows you frequently use. It's the reason why WMP11, firefox, or word opens nearly instantly when I click on it. You can even turn this feature off it bugs you so much, it's a service called superfetch.

There are legitimate reasons for disliking Vista, there's so many in fact that you don't need to be using this false one to pad your list of complaints. When you do, it weakens your argument and makes it look like you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

Re:Upon further digging

[HadesInjustice]

I am sorry if I am a chemical engineer and not a EE or CS major. But if what you said is true, then the RAM usage on a perfectly new computer with Vista shouldn't used up around 500mb of RAM either, but they are. Also, if it already cache the information, then how come every time I open Firefox or Winamp, I see a clear jump in my RAM memory? What I mean is...why is it that Vista sit at idle at around ~500mb, and the moment I open firefox (which I have been using on a daily basis for months), it jump to around 650-700mb? If it is already cached, shouldn't it stay relatively constant?

Re:

[SL Baur]

the moment I open firefox (which I have been using on a daily basis for months), it jump to around 650-700mb? If it is already cached, shouldn't it stay relatively constant?

Because it's not already cached and Firefox is well, kind of a pig. The caches only get filled and (re)used while your computer is booted, once it crashes (or you shut it down) and you reboot, everything has to be reloaded.


$ ps -uxaww | grep firefox
steve 1719 29.4 -25.8 1521604 542080 ?? Ss 3Dec07 4099:18.16 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -foreground


I've only had this instance of Firefox running a little more than a week - see the 3-December start date and it's taking 1.5

Re:

[Sax Maniac]

Not a bad questions, but it's pretty simple. The OS can only prefetch things that are the stable from session to session, like the program's bits on disk and loaded libraries. Any memory allocated by the program at runtime be cached, because that OS doesn't know what it's going to be.

An example.

Let's say I have a program that's a mere 50K on disk, but allocates 200MB of memory on startup, and fills it with data in from hardware - maybe a video capture. The O/S cannot cache the 200MB because it doesn't kn

Re:

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

This remains incorrect. The 500MB /is/ actual core system process memory usage. It can be greatly reduced by turning off extraneous processes. The additional memory used for superfetch - which I agree is a great thing to finally see Windows doing - is above and beyond that 500MB.

2girls1cup

[AikonMGB]

I would setup a dedicated box with XP on it that would just sit their with their spy software installed and 2girls1cup running on replay. Stuff it in the basement and forget about it for three months :D

Aikon-

Re:

[AresTheImpaler]

with their spy software installed and 2girls1cup running on replay

oh god.. I didnt need to see that.... why do I have to be so curious and google everything I don't know about :'(

My thought process was as such...

[definate]

Something FREE! That's good!

Vista Ultimate? That's bad!

Monitoring? That's bad!

Can I downgrade it to Windows XP Pro and get a free Windows XP Pro license that's legit? That'd be good! ...

Just seems you can't even give Vista away.

Re:My thought process was as such...

[nuggetman]

Take this OS, but beware, it contains monitoring software.
That's bad.
But it comes with a free legitimate license!
That's good!
The legitimate license also contains monitoring software.
That's bad.
But you get your choice of XP or Vista!
That's good!
There are no more copies of XP, only Vista. .....That's bad.
Can I go now?

Re:

[the_humeister]

It also contains potassium benzoate... that's bad...

Beta Tester anyone?

[terrible76]

Sounds like its not free, but a way to save money instead of paying someone to test the software bugs. Give it away and just don't call it Beta testing. I think its more complicated and business wise then just spyware.

comScore not good

[interiot]

Note that the site mentions that comScore is part of the Windows Feedback Program. ("Microsoft, comScore, and MarketTools employees are not eligible to participate.") Also note that comScore has in the past been involved in very pernicious man-in-the-middle HTTPS attacks [stanford.edu] that have allowed them to sniff bank passwords (and everything else, of course) by installing a special certificate in end-user's browsers. If it were me, I wouldn't install any executables that may have been authored by comScore until the

Alright, so they're watching you.

[Zorque]

At least it's completely voluntary and you make ~$400 off of it. Why are people getting upset that Microsoft is paying you for providing them with information? It's not like it's mandatory for Windows users.

While I agree...

[Junta]

That putting this up as a program isn't horrible so long as it is totally voluntary and glaringly obvious (though saying 'it's not spyware' in a faq answer is kind of disingenuous') However, saying you make ~$400 off of it is not a good characterization. First off, $400 is the MSRP of Vista Ultimate retail box, without upgrade. If you can participate in this program, first you'd likely be qualified for the upgrade cost. Secondly, OEM pricing is an option if not intending to 'upgrade' your current system

We can now officially say

[SeaFox]

...that Vista is so bad Microsoft had to give it away to get people to use it.

Make it productive.

[rantingkitten]

Why not install this on a couple VMs (or actual machines sitting around) and then install all kinds of free software on it? Let them chew on the fact that so many people, straight away after installing, go get Firefox and Open Office and GIMP and VLC and Thunderbird and Pidgin.. and never bother using IE or Office or whatever else. Make sure they also see all the useless services you disable and how quickly you can shut off UAC.

Impossible to unsubscribe

[FliesLikeABrick]

I tried to sign up so that I could run my free XP in a virtual machine with this spy software of theirs and see exactly what kind of stuff it reports. I didn't realize they were out of "gifts" and completed their survey before realizing this. I went through the survey and answered their questions honestly, saying that I use Linux and never use Windows anymore. 5 minutes later, I wanted to remove myself from their database for this so that I don't get e-mails in the future related to it when I have no involvement with it whatsoever... being that they had no more software to give out and all.

I looked on their FAQ page and found conflicting information. Two separate sections saying to send a blank e-mail to two different e-mail addresses with 'remove' in the subject. I e-mailed both, and what did I get in return?

I did that. What did I get back? Two NDRs for separate reasons:

: host maila.microsoft.com[131.107.115.212] said: 550
        5.7.1 (in reply to end of DATA command)

-- and --

: host maila.microsoft.com[131.107.115.212] said: 550
        5.1.1 User unknown (in reply to RCPT TO command)

Good one MS, you never cease to amaze me!

Re:

[FliesLikeABrick]

Er, that second one should be
: host mailc.microsoft.com[205.248.106.32] said: 550
        5.7.1 (in reply to end of DATA command)

Re:

[FliesLikeABrick]

Ok, even though I submit this as plaintext it parses things between brackets as html tags. For the bounces, see http://scarecrow.puttynuts.com/~ryan/ms-what-a-surprise.txt [puttynuts.com]

A fair look from a Microsoft-neutral observer

[Asmor]

Glad to see that you guys don't let facts get in the way of a good MS bash.

Anyways, just in the in case there's anyone actually curious about this and not just interested in kneejerk reactions about poorly-written, inflammatory summary.

I've actually RTFA (and a page linked off of it) and here's something the summary completely neglects to mention:

The automated data collection is one of two different options you can pick; the other is to be asked to fill out a survey not more often than once every two weeks. It sounds like you can pick either option.

Now, that all said, there's also one more big thing: They're giving away FREE copies of EXPENSIVE software* which many people NEED** or WANT with a perfectly reasonable caveat. They're being open and honest, and they're providing both a manual and an automatic method of data collection. The latter is particularly appealing to many, because it basically means they can just forget about it. Those who are worried about their privacy can take the surveys.

Disclaimer: I am a fanboy of many things, including Xbox 360, but not Microsoft in general. I like Windows XP and hate most everything that MS has put out which isn't an OS (i.e. office, internet explorer, etc). I'll definitely not be participating simply because I'm not interested in any of the offerings.

*Expensive for a typical end user, I don't care how much your company paid for its graphics design software
**Again, typical end user who doesn't know what OpenOffice is and just wants to be able to open their files at work without thinking about converting file types.

Re:

[jkrise]

Now, that all said, there's also one more big thing: They're giving away FREE copies of EXPENSIVE software* which many people NEED** or WANT with a perfectly reasonable caveat. They're being open and honest, and they're providing both a manual and an automatic method of data collection. The latter is particularly appealing to many, because it basically means they can just forget about it. Those who are worried about their privacy can take the surveys.

More EXPENSIVE does not automatically mean MORE COVET

Re:

[Asmor]

I don't know why I'm bothering to reply to you, since it's obvious you didn't read a damn word I said except for the capitalized ones.

You're right that being expensive does not equate to being desired or necessary, and I never said it did.

All I said was that many people do need or want Microsoft software, and the expense of that software is thus a salient point to make.

Also, as mentioned, they are offering you options, and you're not required to use their monitoring software to participate.

Now, if you'd lik

Re:

[MrNougat]

The automated data collection is one of two different options you can pick; the other is to be asked to fill out a survey not more often than once every two weeks. It sounds like you can pick either option.

Wrong. You have to fill out a 15 minute questionnaire up front, then download and install the software.

Just wait 90 days...

[GeneralEmergency]

...and after only 3,283 people sign up, we'll finally have the proof that...

...Microsoft can't -- give -- Vista away.

Geez... Such Cynical People

[Comatose51]

I can't believe all the cynical responses from Slashdot readers. Why would you doubt the sincerity and generosity of the company found by the man who will donate $100 to an orphanage each time I forward his email to someone?

The Catch

[popo]

"The caveat is that you have to let them monitor your use of the program"

So they'll monitor my activities when I sell it on eBay?

Under Wine....

[themacks]

Out of morbid curiosity I had to know, and it installed just fine. Thankfully it uninstalled just fine too.

I wonder what kind of "useful" data Wine reports...

Free as in beer?

[hyades1]

"The caveat is that you have to let them monitor your use of the program."

So how does this make the free copy any different than the one you pay for? Just askin'.

Tomorrow's headline...

[aeSentinel]

...Satan is giving away free money. The caveat is that you have to give him your soul.

I wish I noticed who posted this story

[geekoid]

That way I would have known it was a MS shill trying to get people to go through the setup tool and not realizing that MS stopped giving anything away 6.5 hours BEFORE this was posted.

Your Rights Online?

[Tim C]

So what, I shouldn't have the right to voluntarily enter in to this sort of an agreement with a company? They shouldn't have the right to invite people to do so?

Help me out here guys, I'm trying to see what right is involved.

No free software

[john_p_peach]

The agreement that you read says the M$ will provide all the software for free. However, after you find out

What happened to the free product option? Thank you for your interest in the feedback program. Due to overwhelming response, the supply of gifts has been exhausted so we have closed our free product offer on 12/11/2007 at 2pm Pacific Time. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Surprise surprise microsoft is being misleading. Also, the FAQ says that in order to opt-out you just send a message to [e-mail] but when you do the message bounces with

I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out. : 205.248.106.30 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 User unknown Giving up on 205.248.106.30.

So you cannot ever get out of the programme after you find out that microsoft was screwed you.

This information includes, but is not limited to

[bakreule]

I was interested in it, just because I believe that MS collects information on me anyway when I use Windows, so why not get a free copy?

From the privacy statement fineprint, they say what information they are collecting.

"This information includes, but is not limited to:"

Then they give a list of "harmless" things such as driver types, hardware, errors encountered. But where is the "not limited to" list? Can't find it on the site. They really don't want you to know what they are collecting.

And, of course, Office has its own set of things, which you helpfully have to look for yourself:

To display the privacy statement for Office 2003, please search for "Privacy Statement" in Office 2003 online help.

Plus, the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program has its own set of things it collects.

Very Big Brother. Then again, most of my information is already out there floating around... Might be nice to have a free copy of Vista.....

Re:This information includes, but is not limited t

[plierhead]

I'm no MS fanboy but hey, lets not get all emotional. If your company was putting out a similar offer for your own software your lawyers would be damn sure too to put "not limited to" after the list of data being collected. Its a standard legal phrase that you use unless you actually a) do have the complete, exhaustive list of what will be collected, and b) you are utterly confidnt that if someone changes what is collected that you will hear about it and get to change the terms of use.

Good idea

[unoengborg]

This will give Microsoft valuable information that will help them develop better software in the future. The quesiton is how many users are prepared to trust them enough to allow this. But as it is comleatly volentary I see no problem in doing so, other than that they may get some biased results as people that value privacy and security most likely will not participate. However, personally, I wourld like to be paid a little more than just with some free software to do this kind of testing for Microsoft.

I would actually like to see open source projects such as Gnome and KDE to do a similar thing (As long as it is volentary). Knowing how the users use their is essential to create good usable systems, and very few usability tests are performed on software in the FOSS world, so something like this would probably be even more beneficial to these kind of projects. I would also think that more people would be prepared to volontear this kind information to e.g. the KDE or Gnome team than they would to big evil Microsoft. After all very few Gnome or KDE users would worry about that a big evil company might discover unlicenced software on their systems.

Microsoft is no longer giving Vista away...

[Swift Kick]

From an email just received (2:05AM 12/12/07):

What happened to the free product option?

Thank you for your interest in the feedback program. Due to overwhelming response, the supply of gifts has been exhausted so we have closed our free product offer on 12/11/2007 at 2pm Pacific Time. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Don't Give a Flyin'

[stewbacca]

As someone who cares not one bit about my "privacy", I'd love to see more of these types of deals. The only thing that makes me wary when dealing with "privacy" is I prefer not to be spammed for the rest of my life. I could, however, give a flyin' f*&k if anyone is monitoring what I do on my computer. If you are monitoring me, be prepared to be bored to tears.

So when this doesn't work...

[aldousd666]

We'll be able to point, laugh, and say that "Microsoft can't even GIVE Vista away." I'm not a microsoft hater either, but vista is a colossal foobar. I work in an IT shop, and I've had to have it installed because I'm required to be one version ahead of deployment whenever possible, and I've hated every bleeding minute of Vista Enterprise. I even had to change settings to get it to hit our NAS shares, which are essentially samba shares on a huge redhat fronted storage device. (Incidentally XP hadn't any issues out of the box with it.)

Re:What happens if you STOP participating?

[R4nneko]

From the FAQ: If I decide to stop participating, how do I opt out? Your participation is entirely voluntary, so you may withdraw from the program at any time, with no consequence. If you decide to withdraw from the program, send us an e-mail at [e-mail] with the word "remove" in the subject line, and we will take care of it. You should also uninstall our software. It then gives instructions to uninstall the software. And also, you don't get the software until you have participated for a certain amount of time.

I presume..

[Junta]

They won't send the product to you. They only send you the 'prize' after they are satisfied, after three months of monitoring on whatever you are doing.

Re:

[servognome]

Who wants to be an American? Why is my feedback any less important then an Americans feedback?

Depends on the scope of their marketing analysis. If they are looking into the habits of users in the U.S. market and/or selling the data they collect to companies interested in American users, then yes your feedback would be less important.

Re:Tactic to gain more ground?

[tknd]

It's not a tactic to gain ground. It is a strategy commonly used to gain survey information. It is exactly like how you will often see a survey that says, "Get a chance at winning an ipod after completing this survey" kind of deals.

Why would Microsoft need to conduct a survey that requires generating statistics on how you use your computer? Simple, it is to determine usability statistics. That type of data can then be used to influence the design of the user interface.

For example if the data shows that for a particular window in say the control panel, the most user's mouse movement is dramatically higher than with some other window, that means that the window with high mouse movement is a candidate for reorganization. That is because the longer you take to move your mouse, the less efficient you are.

You can also see what functions your users are using the most and what functions they rarely use. So say you have a toolbar with 10 buttons and out of those 10 buttons only 2 are used by almost everyone while the other 8 are rarely touched. This suggests that you may want to make those 2 functions that are used always to be more accessible either with a hotkey or by making those specific buttons bigger so they are easier to click and you may want to evaluate if the other 8 buttons are even worth having there. Likewise if you see people always using the menu functions rather than using the toolbar buttns you may want to investigate why this is or consider labeling the buttons.

Big software companies including Microsoft typically conduct in-person usability tests. But these types of tests can only go so far. That's probably why they are turning to these larger usability tests so they can get more general data about the greater population rather than a small set of people they can get into their labs.

For the uninformed in-person usability tests work as follows: You have a piece of software that you want to evaluate the usability of. To test how usable it is, you come up with a list of tasks for the user to do, like say open their email software and write a hello email to their buddy, or say deleting files named "a", "b", and "c". After you have the tasks you want your user to perform, you people unrelated to the project with varying degrees of knowledge about computers and your software to perform each task. As they attemp the task, your objective is to observer--that is you don't tell them anything even if they are obviously having issues getting the task completed or even if they ask you a question about how to do it. You simply tell them what they're supposed to do and watch, and if they look at you and give up, you say "that's fine" and just note that they were not able to complete the task.

The results of usability testing are pretty amazing for first time usability observers even for some very simple tasks with common software and gadgets. You will also recognize that there are lots of moments where people just sit there and do nothing, times when they keep repeating actions, and times when they keep clicking on something because they think it does something but it doesn't. Some really simple tasks also will show many users all with different ways of accomplishing it. For example if you delete a file how many ways are there to delete it? Well one way is to drag the file to the recycle bin. Another way is to click on it and hit the delete key. Another way is to right-click it and use the context menu delete option. And yet another way is to first open your trash bin and then drag the file to the opened trash bin. All of these ways are valid and I'm willing to bet there will be even a few more ways of deleting files that you'd never have thought of (besides the rm command).

The nice thing about in-person usability testing (as I just described) is that you can ask questions and probe for information about what the person is thinking while they're doing the task. Normally you ask them to think out loud so you can get an idea of what's going on in their mind.