Microsoft pulls Vista from snooping offer

Yesterday, we told you about an offer wherein you could completely sacrifice your privacy for a free software bundle from Microsoft which included Windows Vista Ultimate and Office Ultimate '07, amongst others. Well, apparently the big M has decided to pull the offer of free software -- but still wants to track your digital footsteps and pry into your private dealings. Here's Redmond's official line to those inquiring about the discontinued offer: "Thank you for your interest in the feedback program. Due to high volume, we have reached our 'while supplies last' limit and have closed our free product incentive on 12/11/2007 at 2pm." Needless to say, they'd still love to have a look at your browser history, emails, IM logs, crash reports, and blood type.

[Thanks, Jerry]

[kastonie @ Dec 12th 2007 11:08AM]

man what if you signed up before 2pm yesterday, are you still getting it? man ill be pissed if im not gonna be able to get it now...

[Jon @ Dec 12th 2007 11:55AM]

It says they ran out , if you selected a item you will get it , i went for Office as i already have vista ult.

[feffrey @ Dec 12th 2007 11:55AM]

Yes if you got the email back from M$ giving u a link to finish up registering , and then finished and got the download link you are set. I just installed it today and put in my email that I used to register it and it has been working fine.
Of course, I put it on one of my spare computers that runs eve online 24/7 for me :)

[Xzavier @ Dec 12th 2007 12:08PM]

Ever hear of "Smash and Grab!" Microsoft just pulled an ultra fast one... maybe somebody at MS read what I posted yesterday on Engadget?


"Ya-know... I bet Microsoft wants everybody to install that app on their second computer...

Think about it. You go out and install the app on your second PC, you think that you out smarted Microsoft. Meanwhile Microsoft got us to do EXACTLY what they want us to do!

I wonder... just what does that small piece of software do??? "sniff, sniff"

Pretty sneak Microsoft... However I'll pass!"
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/11/snag-vista-ultimate-for-free-in-exchange-for-your-privacy/#comments

[Mark Richardson @ Dec 12th 2007 1:20PM]

@feffrey
No, just because you got the confirmation email doesn't mean you got in for the free software. I got one of them too and I didn't get in for the free software. The instructions stated that you would be asked during your initial survey which title you wanted to select. I wasn't offered that question.

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 12th 2007 5:25PM]

you've been had!

[Brodie @ Dec 12th 2007 11:08AM]

Drats... Big Billy G saw all our comments about how we were going to install this stuff on boxes we never use and then sell the legit software on criagslist. Foiled again!

[der00 @ Dec 12th 2007 11:09AM]

At least I got my Copy Vista and office 07 and all there looking at is a pos terminal.... :D

[Jonathan @ Dec 12th 2007 12:03PM]

No.. Engadget is just over a year late with this "news". They had this program going for beta testers, if that gives you any indication how old this news is.

Way to scoop it, Engadget!

[Jonathan @ Dec 12th 2007 12:05PM]

WTH, Engadget, the above Reply was supposed to be to the comment below this.

I see this happen alot, you guys need to fix this.

[durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr @ Dec 12th 2007 3:50PM]

of course engadget should magically read your mind as to where you meant to click...

[Jonathan @ Dec 12th 2007 4:35PM]

What are you talking about? I CLICKED on the comment below this one, but it decided to reply to this one instead. So, screw you.

I see this happen all the time in the comments here, and it NEEDS TO BE FIXED. Learn to read what I said before you reply, dumbass.

[durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr @ Dec 12th 2007 5:30PM]

for starters, you hurt my ass's feelings by calling it dumb, so please apologize
and second, you can see which response you are replying to... just look at the little "replying to der00 [Undo]"
so once again, congrats on being stubborn!

[UKNigel @ Dec 12th 2007 5:31PM]

Right...I bet Engadget is broken. That's a LOT more likely than you accidentally mis-clicking. ;)

[Jonathan @ Dec 13th 2007 2:52AM]

You know, I don't need to convince someone with the name "durrrrrrrrrrrr" (is that the correct amount of r's?) that there is clearly something wrong with Engadget's system.

I couldn't have clicked "Reply" to der00's comment **because it wasn't on my screen**

The comment below this was scrolled all the way to the TOP OF MY SCREEN, thank you.

Now, I don't need to prove myself to a kid named "durrrrrrrrr" so I'm going to go now. Bai bai!

[ethana2 @ Dec 19th 2007 3:31AM]

Lay off him; humans make mistakes. That's why modern forum systems have 'edit post' buttons.

[Todd @ Dec 12th 2007 11:12AM]

Ye old timey Bait and Switch! I am shocked!

[David Patino @ Dec 12th 2007 11:16AM]

Well that bites. I had just signed up this morning. Was going to install it on my laptop I just use for web browsing. Not now, that's for sure.

[J3KA @ Dec 12th 2007 11:17AM]

NOTHING'S FREE IN THIS WORLD!
Apple even charged $1.99 for AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler, so would MICROSOFT give away their bread and butter??

Whoever started this rumor needs to get a life.

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 12th 2007 11:27AM]

Surprisingly, Microsoft isn't like that. I got a free copy of Office 2007 Professional + Groove just for attending the opening party (4 hours or so). They even gave me free breakfast.

[Luigi193 @ Dec 12th 2007 11:53AM]

I swore that they were required by law charge for it:

"According to the editor, the fee stems from a law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which supposedly prohibits Apple from giving away an unadvertised new feature of an already sold product without enduring some onerous accounting measures.

"Because of the Act, the company believes that if it sells a product, then later adds a feature to that product, it can be held liable for improper accounting if it recognizes revenue from the product at the time of sale, given that it hasn’t finished delivering the product at that point,"


"

[Trent @ Dec 12th 2007 12:13PM]

Blaming Sar-ox for charging you was as real as your phone company charging you a "regulatory recovery fee". In essence you bought it, so they charged it.

[Brad @ Dec 12th 2007 2:02PM]

Sorry, but that's not how SarbOx works.

You can recognize revenue when you sell a product provided you have delivered the product in full. The original advertisement of the Airport Extreme did NOT include the features, hence revenue was properly recognized at the time the product was fully delivered.

If this were the case, how come Microsoft isn't getting nailed for adding DivX to the XBOX360? That certainly constitutes a material difference. There was no good reason to charge that, and if their accountants genuinely believe that you should think twice about investing in that company, since they clearly don't understand accounting.

[ethana2 @ Dec 19th 2007 3:48AM]

Nothing's free? Whoa.

So who wants to take on this question-- the BSD folks, the OpenSolaris folks, the penguins, or the Creative Commons artists?
Meh, I'll do it. Penguin representing:

'False.' More specifically,
for any real number a, lim a/x as x -> infinity = 0. While it could be said that this limit does not exist, we live in a quantum world, and errata soon overtakes the difference between a/x and 0, thus making exist, effectively and for all practical purposes.
I hope you feel enlightened.

[ethana2 @ Dec 19th 2007 3:58AM]

If anyone needs an explanation of that, [e-mail]
(or if you need anything else you think I might be able to do for you-- you know, whatever)

...okay, okay. I put my email everywhere so I can camp my inbox and murder spam rates on the gmail network in real time. That aside, feel free to contact me anyway ;)

[Anthony @ Dec 12th 2007 11:17AM]

I actually wouldn't mind them looking around @ what I do so I went & filled out the form. Never received an email. Then I thought it might be my out of US email address so I filled it out again w/ another & didn't receive anything there either.

Maybe MS doesn't plan to snoop or give free stuff- they just want email addresses for people who are willing to let them snoop for free stuff.

[Matt @ Dec 12th 2007 11:17AM]

Good thing they still let me sign up at 11 PM last night. Bastards.

[Kris @ Dec 12th 2007 11:20AM]

I don't know how M$ makes so much money with such a negative aura about it. Oh yeah, they're a monopoly with plenty of money to burn on astroturfing. We're going into a new market boys...Let's study the market leader, copy it to the limit of the law, and pay some writers on Wired to recommend our product over said market leader.

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 12th 2007 11:30AM]

You're funny. Microsoft makes so much money because their software is great. It's just here in techblogs and forums where it seems that MS has no future.

[Kris @ Dec 12th 2007 11:36AM]

I guess it's possible for you to genuinely have that position. You're welcome to it.

[fred @ Dec 12th 2007 11:46AM]

"I don't know how M$ makes so much money with such a negative aura about it."

It's only from Apple fanboys, 17 year olds, and people that use "$" in place of "S". 99% of the rest of humanity dont share your views.

[Samo @ Dec 12th 2007 12:01PM]

There's a couple of reasons why they still make lots of money:
1) Windows is an open platform, and works on any computer / Mac, that can meet its min. specs.
2) It was the FIRST one to open it's platform, whereas the main competitor OSX is closed, and the other main competitor is not user friendly.
3) It's User friendly enough.
4 points 1-3 = lots of sales.
4) They charge an arm and a leg for each license!

I guess the most important point is 4) then....

[Kris @ Dec 12th 2007 12:03PM]

Perhaps my observations are based on everyone I know or have ever heard talk about Microsoft. However, I know people might think differently. I also know that unsatisfied customers will complain five times as much as satisfied customers. I thought I acknowledged it by saying the previous poster is welcome to his opinion. When people start talking about "everyone", or "99% of humanity", however, they're usually trying to validate their own opinion. You have yours, I have mine. Just because you can bring "everyone" with you doesn't mean you're any more right than I am. Why don't you get some facts before you start talking in absolutes (close enough).

[BubbaGump @ Dec 14th 2007 3:18PM]

well,
lets see,

I am not an Apple fanboy,
I'm actually 18,
I'm to lazy to use the shift key to get the dollar sign over the s,
AND......

windows is crap,
it has its bugs and bs,
7 BSOD's in one week for no reasons at all,
on a fresh install as well,

but in todays technological world,
what doesnt have bugs,
linux has them,
apple has them,

but because windows is the top consumer OS,
what bugs there are,
are heard by the millions of people who experience them and complain about it,

if linux or apple were the widest used OS's,
people would complain about those on a wider scale

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 12th 2007 12:22PM]

"1) Windows is an open platform, and works on any computer / Mac, that can meet its min. specs."

Wait, What??

Open? Can you link me the source?

[Rocketboy @ Dec 12th 2007 12:40PM]

open platform != open source

[Kurtis @ Dec 12th 2007 12:47PM]

@Andir3.0

By "Open", Samo meant "not proprietary" (ie. you don't have to install Windows on a computer that Microsoft sells). So he got his terminology a little mixed up... you should be smart enough to know what he meant. He didn't explicitly say "Open Source" as you implied, and we all know better than that.

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 12th 2007 1:28PM]

It's not even that. You can't install (the same) Windows on a PowerPC Mac, or a phone. It's about as proprietary as it gets. Open means that at least the APIs are well documented and released to the public. As you can tell... this isn't the case either. Exchange/Active Directory/DirectX... all closed and very not "open".

And it your talking about hardware support... Windows doesn't work with hardware, hardware works with Windows, as the "Designed for Windows" logo marketing will tell you. You CANNOT use "Open" when you talk about Microsoft/Windows. It's like oil and water.

[Uziel @ Dec 12th 2007 11:21AM]

der00, you don't get any software until the 3 months are up.

I also want to know if we would still get the software if we signed up before 2pm yesterday and continue to participate.

[der00 @ Dec 12th 2007 2:34PM]

That's OK I singed up at 9am est Plus I'm getting Vista and Office 07

[sean @ Dec 12th 2007 11:22AM]

Settle down people.

I applied for it shortly after it was posted. I received my email confirmation early this morning, and had to complete a 15 minute survey, then was prompted to download the software. I'm at work rigth now, but I'm assuming after I install the software that they'll give me a link to download an image or ISO of windows?

I'll be trying it with my macbook pro - just install vista on bootcamp, and they'll never see anything I do since I only use windows for gaming.

[GearsofWar @ Dec 12th 2007 11:29AM]

"I'm at work rigth now, but I'm assuming after I install the software that they'll give me a link to download an image or ISO of windows?"

Well, I signed up early yesterday, got the requestor asking me to choose which software (Encarta FTW!! :p ), then did the 15 minute survey. At the end, I installed the spywa..the app, and no, they did not send me a link to the software. I'm assuming they don't send it til the 3 month period is finished, and I'm assuming they mail it, given that they asked for my address.

But this new news now concerns me, as I have no "proof" that I was one of the original 50,000 or so people who actually got in before the "incentive" was removed. (except for the time/date on the confirmation email)

[Dale @ Dec 12th 2007 11:40AM]

I think I got in before the deadline. To participate, I've installed the 120 day trial version of Windows XP Pro x64... little realising it's a bugger to get drivers for. Oh well, they'll see that I spend all of my time on Windows searching for 64-bit drivers for Apple hardware.

[r275delta @ Dec 12th 2007 11:42AM]

Presumably, if they gave you the choice to select your software package, then you made the cut.

If you try signing up now, you don't get to choose a "gift".

[Adam Daniel Benesh @ Dec 12th 2007 5:18PM]

same here I'm just curious if I'll still receive it. I got the confirmation mail some seconds after I applied, and I think they send u a package y wud they ask for an adress?

[Ryan @ Dec 12th 2007 11:22AM]

Well I was going to sign up tonight, but not anymore

[Sarah @ Dec 12th 2007 11:28AM]

I signed up right when Engadget posted the first thing about this yesterday. I got an email from Microsoft right away. I followed the link, filled out a survey, downloaded their little spying program, and then picked from a drop-down list the software title I wanted and entered my mailing address. That's the last I've heard of it. I tried to sign up again last night with a different computer and the free software offer was, of course, gone. So hopefully in 3 months Windows Vista Ultimate will be mailed to me. Although, being a Mac user, I doubt I'll do anything with it.

[Dan Z @ Dec 12th 2007 11:33AM]

I signed up on 10/31/07, but for some reason it never became popular on the interwebs until yesterday

And, seriously, they aren't going to take your horribly personal information. I have no problem running this on my main desktop which I use daily

[zebcarlson2007 @ Dec 12th 2007 11:34AM]

Yeah, if you signed up before that will you still get it. I never actually installed the software anyway. Neither do I intend to, so I probobly wouldnt have gotten vista anyway.

I didnt want the software interfering with my torrents. :)

[Josh @ Dec 12th 2007 11:40AM]

anyone know if that 2pm is EST or PST?

I signed up at 4:36pm EST