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Microsoft Giving Away Vista Ultimate, With a Catch
Posted by
kdawson
on Tuesday December 11, @11:48PM
from the no-free-lunch dept.
from the no-free-lunch dept.
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."
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Microsoft Giving Away Vista Ultimate, With a Catch
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Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Cause let's be real.. it's Vista.. it certainly won't suck less...
Re:Free... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Informative)
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... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Informative)
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).
And yes, they will be the first against the wall when the revolution starts (apology mr adams).
Re:Free... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Free... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Free... (Score:5, Funny)
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!
Which is the catch? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Which is the catch? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Fine, let them monitor... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Which is the catch? (Score:5, Interesting)
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? (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Not accurate. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What happens if you STOP participating? (Score:5, Informative)
Webcam + Wood Maul (Score:5, Funny)
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. (Score:5, Funny)
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 (Score:5, Funny)
You misspelled "longing".
Be Helpful (Score:5, Funny)
No longer available (Score:5, Informative)
"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:No longer available (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminds me of an offer I got in jail (Score:5, Funny)
Honeypot (Score:5, Funny)
Hide your own habits... use a VM! (Score:5, Insightful)
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:
They're basically looking at everything you do. Here's my favorite bit from the whole thing:
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! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hide your own habits... use a VM! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Prior Art (Score:5, Insightful)
i don't see the issue (Score:5, Insightful)
Upon further digging (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Upon further digging (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
2girls1cup (Score:4, Funny)
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-
My thought process was as such... (Score:4, Funny)
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!