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Fishing for Ideas
FyreWyr writes "Whether Microsoft is searching for new ideas, or supporting inventors outright is up for grabs, but they're stabbing at it with $300,000 for 12 spanking ideas (that's $25k each). But as with everything Microsoft, the devil's in the details, or rather, the fine print. At first, you'd swear it was "Brought to you by VISA" - the logo is ubiquitous - but the very last statement in the contest rules reads: "The sponsor...is Microsoft ... VISA...have not sponsored or offered this contest in any way". They also retain a spectrum of rights, and responsibily suggest that you go out and patent really good ideas first. Okay, how much does that cost again? (see end of this article)."
At least MS is honest and tells you to go and patent your idea, or they'll steal it from you. An honest thief, one could say... ;)
How about security for Microsoft? Now there is an idea.
http://www.maximum-cars.com - My little hobbie.
Step 1: Give idea to Microsoft.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
Software with frickin' laser beams on its head
Write decent software!
'offer expires 1983'
Microsoft finally ran out of things to steal from Xerox Parc and Apple!
The sponsor...is Microsoft ... VISA...have not sponsored or offered this contest in any way
Not only that, it also states: "Puerto Rico... to... become the property of Microsoft Corporation"
I thought Microsoft was the source of all good ideas and they needed to protect their "Freedom to Innovate" from the wrath of the DOJ?
$300,000 for 12 spanking ideas
.NET Enterprise Servers
I suggest the following list all be spanked. I'll take the $300,000 thank you very much. (I know there are more than 12, just consider the rest freebies.) Actually, I think that a few of them be sent to bed without supper too, like Gates, Ballmer, Allchin, and Mundie.
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer
Jim Allchin, Group Vice President, Platforms
Orlando Ayala, Group Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Marketing & Services
Robbie Bach, Senior Vice President, Home & Entertainment Division/Chief Xbox Officer
Doug Burgum, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Business Solutions
David Cole, Senior Vice President, MSN and Personal Services Group
John Connors, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Jean-Phillipe Courtois, President, Microsoft Europe, Middle East, & Africa; Senior Vice President
Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice President, TV Division
Rick Devenuti, Corporate Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Operations and Technology Group
Ken DiPietro, Corporate Vice President, Human Resources
Richard Emerson, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development Strategy
Paul Flessner, Senior Vice President,
Bob Herbold, Executive Vice President
Kevin Johnson, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Americas
Pieter Knook, Corporate Vice President, Network Service Providers and Mobile Devices
Mich Mathews, Corporate Vice President, Marketing Division
Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, MSN Personal Services Business Group
Bob Muglia, Group Vice President, Enterprise Storage Division
Craig Mundie, Senior Vice President, Chief Technical Officer, Advanced Strategies and Policy
Jeff Raikes, Group Vice President, Productivity and Business Services
Rick Rashid, Senior Vice President, Research
Eric Rudder, Senior Vice President, Developer and Platform Evangelism
Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Office
Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Law and Corporate Affairs
Brian Valentine, Senior Vice President, Windows Division
David Vaskevitch, Senior Vice President, Chief Technical Officer, Business Platform
Hank Vigil, Corporate Vice President, Consumer Strategy and Partnerships
A successor to SMTP, that would require validation of senders and not just act as a spam hub.... o.. wait.. nevermind...
Sure wish ISPs would use it...
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
Here's my submission:
Wait for someone to have a great idea, then steal it.
Oh, wait, they already do that.
I submitted this idea... unfortunately it has to get past screeners before it goes public, but I thought I'd circumvent the process and post it here...
Idea #7141
Title - Exploting Creative Talent
Keywords - exploitation evil empire conniving deceitful
Essay - I propose to set up a contest to exploit the ideas of America's most creative college students by setting up a contest that seems to be supporting creativity and innovation. I will offer these students a sum of money that may be sizable to them but in the real world is chump change. I will get them to submit their ideas and in doing so yield all intellectual property rights to me. Then I can use their ideas to make myself multiple millions of dollars. And I'll make sure to bury this fact in contest rules so that it's not inherently obvious. It's a great idea because it saves me the expenses of actual research and development, despite its deceitful and conniving nature. It is the beginning of my evil empire.
What do you think. Do I deserve to win $25 g's?
-jag
http://starboard.flowtheory.net/