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Instant Messaging Giveaway
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft is planning on giving away $1000/hr randomly to users of the new MSN messenger. They are going to send instant messages to the winners. I can just see it now, 'You've won $1000 in the MSN Messenger giveaway, just go this website and enter your SS# and credit card info for verification.'" Where's Ed McMahon with the big check when you need him?
Big deal, Bill Gates has been paying me $200 for every email I send for years...
It says specifically only MSN client software. I guess I won't be winning.
RMS is giving out handjobs to all GNU/linux users.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Till the Liberian banks pay off
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
And who's going to believe it? With Vmyths gone, I can't check it out anymore.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Though, somewhat suspiciously, I haven't yet been paid that $5 for every person I forwarded it to...
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
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Therefore 1% of slashdotters will care.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
'You've won $1000 in the MSN Messenger giveaway, just go this website and enter your SS# and credit card info for verification.'
Fusking spam again! *delete*
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Do I have to use their client? Or will Trillian still suffice? ;)
.... Oh shit... now I get it... [ Frantically uninstalls MSN from system ]
Seriously though, what the hell is with giving away money for using their network? I mean they already get to keep ANY and ALL IP that is transmitted over MSN Messenger, why would they need to get people to use their servers instead of
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
To qualify, people must fill out contest entries and upgrade to MSN Messenger 6.0. They also must be logged in to the service and agree to use only Microsoft's Quality products for the rest of their natural lifetime. Any use of non-autorized "Open Source Software" will result in an immediate fine of $100,000.
Most giveaways are explicitly required to have rules that allow people to be eligible to win without purchasing a product. If such a rule applies to this contest, they'll have to have a way for people to enter without purchasing Windows, won't they?
The requested URL
... is better with the butterfly. Who knew? ;)
would the AIM text read "you've got cash!"?
ed
It's sad actually -- that this is Microsoft's "biggest giveaway" to date. Why don't they at least do something SERIOUS like take a mere 1/2 billion and give away $1,000 to 1,000 people (a cool 1 million weekly)...and run THAT promotion for the next 9.61 years.
Yeah -- they have THAT MUCH money and STILL Windows is what it is.
I've always claimed that I wouldn't use Microsoft products if you paid me. This changes nothing.
But seriously, wouldn't this normally set off red flags in the antitrust department (if it wasn't gutted)? Paying people to use your product as a method of moving into a new market sounds a little dicey coming from someone like Microsoft. Normally I'd have nothing against this kind of gimmick, but it seems rather sleazy compared to Microsoft's normal tactic of assaulting me with MSN ads and breaking competing products.
I swear it's true! Microsoft (Bill Gates, actually) has already paid me just to send email! And last year I won a free trip to Disney just by looking at their website!
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
This story should have been submitted with the 'foot' icon! I would have to have gone crazy to do all of the following:
1) Use Microsoft Messenger
2) Trust an anonymous source IM'ing me with a "You just won $1000! Please go to http://www.microsoft.messenger.winner.com/ to claim it! (We must have all your info to claim the prize, btw)"
3) Actually follow said spam message to the site (We all know that just clicking on a malicious website and letting ActiveX controls and other such nonsense run in the background in IE is BEGGING for a complete computer hijacking)
Oh wait, Microsoft must be testing out a new business plan:
10 Spam
20 Collect more email addresses
30 Spam some more!
40 ?
50 GOTO 40
60 Profit!
... we're SICKIN TIRED of all these "... in soviet russia.." jokes!
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
If you're worried about your monopoly, just pay people to use your service. I mean, COME ON!
Also, it is my understanding that random contests such as this must be open to EVERYONE (i.e. the 'no purcase necessary' that you always hear). Does this qualify as being open to everyone? Not everyone owns a computer ...
Drug dealer gives away free samples at street corner. News at 11.
there's no place like ~
...is any indication it will more likely say:
"U have just won! 2 claim your prize forward this message 2 *everyone* in your contact list!
This is 4 real, no joke. If u don't do this MSN will stop being free!!"
Music wants to be free.
The site is here http://www4.msnmessenger-download.com/fastcash/def ault.aspx
In America we are imprisoned by our fear of them.
That makes sense. Run a contest during business hours to encourage people to chat with each other instead of... getting work done. The majority of the winners will be housewives, stay-at-home-for-the-summer kids, and whoever else can run the software through their firewalls...
Sorry...The promotion applies only to MSN users, not aolers
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
So all I have to do to win the Microsoft Lottery is sell my soul? Sign me up!! "There's no such thing as a soul. It's just something they made up to scare kids, like the boogieman or Michael Jackson"
In Germany a company cannot hold up a lottery where only users of it's product can participate.
So if for example Coca-Cola puts some random numbers on the inside of their bottles and makes some kind of lottery of it, it must provide the same winnning chance to people who just call in though they haven't bougth the product (and not obtained a number).
So Microsoft would need to provide the same chance for getting the bucks to everyone who's using another IM as well.
Don't know how it's handled in other countries, but I think it's like that in many European countries.
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Well... This is all in MS strategy: why spam when someone else can spam for you instead?
Of Code And Men
If Microsoft will actually do this, I predict there'll be tons of "forward to ten people and get a reward" spam... Who would risk it /not/ being a hoax?
Sounds like a trial run of a marketing/publicity stunt. Next thing you know, they're selling IM "pop-up ads" to companies in blocks. It'll be the next "feature" of IM. When rolled out, everyone's permission setting, buried somewhere deep in the settings, will be "I want IM ads." Then, when enough people get completely annoyed by it and complain, Microsoft will "apologize" but only after seeing how long they can stretch it out...all the while raking in cash.
IM "spam" is going to be the next big headache...and of course, the knee-jerk reaction will be to pass more laws.
"Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither!"
I've always said it, Microsoft would have to pay me before I used their crap. Now it looks like they've finally caved.
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
such comments would have gotten you shot you insensitive clod!
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
After the best buy MSN computer giveaways, and the whole thing with the pricing on the x-box, i was cynically oberving that it wasn't enough to just develop the product for free like with MSIE, Microsoft had to actually essentially pay people to continue using their product.
Now Microsoft is literally paying people to continue using their product.
Well.. it's a good solution to the chicken and egg problem, and I guess that's been MS's mindset all along. Users are something you can buy; you spend money to get users, and then once you have them locked in, you can charge whatever you like from them.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Let's see... 8% interest on Microsoft's $49 billion in cash works out to be $430,000 per hour. And that's just interest on savings. Take into account $2 billion/quarter profits, and that's another $913,000/hour. They could afford to give away $1000 every 3 seconds and still be profitable!
Why run a contest at all? Just buy every non-MSN instant messager user (78 million people) for $11 cash/month... and still be profitable!
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
The user must first decypher an inkblot image which is also sent as an instant message.
I would like to announce that I am giving away $1000 to the first 10 slashdotters who reply to this post. In your reply, please include your credit card number and social security number for verification.
Disclaimer for idiots: This is a joke. Go to http://goatse.cx for the real giveaway.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
The MS deal has to be possible, because Visa did a promo where random cardusers would win, and every transaction counted as an entry. I'm guessing if you read the fine print there's a mail-in entry address. Of course, those probably go to /dev/null, but have fun proving it.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
No more forged documents required, all they need now is a web form for people to enter their Credit Card and Social Security numbers, then bill them.
Blindly running for the dollars, how many victims will check first whether this is hosted at the genuine Microsoft cash-claiming site (if any)?
Apparently similar schemes do work for some phony mortgage counsellers, so I'm afraid they are likely to spread even worse if any such lottery really ever comes into existence.
BTW, the software requirements could mean the DoJ (or at least the Massachussetts Attorney General) might be interested anyway...
A purchase is necessary to win.. you need a copy of MS Windows. Wouldn't this constitute an illegal lottery.
If you go to msn.com, click on "MSN Messenger - New!" on the left column, click on one of the download links and you'll see the ad. BTW, here's the rules. .
The SSN and CC# number comment was meant as a joke. You know, Joe Luser enters the contest (or is told he was automaticly entered), gets an IM from a scammer telling him "just this information please and we'll send you the money". Later he realizes all he got was the wrong end of a plunger.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
MS started paying dividends on shares of stock this year. I think it was $0.16 per share (thought I might be wrong).
"You can now flame me, I am full of love,"
Can pitch out thousands to some numb-nuts but for the faithful investors, they get to kiss Bill's arse.
Yeah, seriously. After all, owning MSFT over the past ten years is just a *huge*, *huge* mistake. Er, well, mistake if what you're trying to accomplish is to not make any money.
So, ivestors should be cheesed off if their company has a contest that, (are you ready for the shock of this?) gives away prizes? If they give away $1,000 an hour, for a *month*, it'll cost them a bit more than half a million. Compared to conventional advertising, and the number of users this might bring in?
Yes, indeed. It looks like owning MSFT will continue to be a huge mistake. I weep for those poor investors.
Because anyone else using MSN outside of the U.S. must be a terrorist, and MS does not support terrorists...
Probably too dificult (legally speaking) to do a contest truly for the internet (i.e., globally), but it sucks nevertheless.
Probably redundant, but this is another scheme at getting U.S. addresses for junk mailing and many other evil marketing stuff.
Signatures are supposed to be funny?
In other news, the RIAA has said it plans on randomly sueing a user every hour that's logged into the Kazaa network for $1,000. To enter the contest, just be sure your not using Kazaa and you can increase your odds of keeping your $1,000.
Life is not for the lazy.
Microsoft software pays you!
:)
Sorry, couldn't resist
Last.fm - join the social music revolution
i wonder what sort of screen names are going to skipped ... 'hotnhornybitch@msn.com' doesnt sound like a valid winner to me.
members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
Looks like yet another case of Microsoft abusing their monopoly position to dump money into a new market.
IE.
XBox.
MSN Messenger.
All these products, Microsoft offers below marginal cost (or in this case, gives away money for a free product) by subsidizing the new product with money gained from a monopoly.
Open and shut case, slam dunk, etc, etc.
MORTAR COMBAT!
Is that supposed to pay me back for the time I wasted with them? Not to mention the costs of Win3.1, Win95, NT4, Wind98, Visual Studio 6, and a year's source code when a certain M$ filesystem fell apart mid-project.
I can see those stupid XP popup bubbles going for days with "You might be a winner, click here to find out!" and "If this is annoying, you've won!"
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
They actually resort to *paying* people to use thier IM client?? Maybe they're testing out that new exploit...
Billg2003: CONGRATULATIONS YOU JUST WON MONEYS IN THE AMOUNT OF ONE THOUSAND (1,000) US DOLLARS
Rod981973: OMFG r u serious??? Wait...is this a trick?
Billg2003: NO LOOK ON CNN WHAT IS YOUR ACCOUNT#
Rod981973: WOW kewl!! Deposit it in my checking, it's #...
Well, MS no longer considers MS stock options to be a reward for their employees. If I owned MS stock, I'd be doing some serious thinking on the subject.
Well, this could be because of the slight tilt of the job market in the employers favor, but that's just a guess. Has anyone else noticed this? =p
Lord, I'm a smartass. Sigh. Sorry about that. =)
But I bet that 99% of the 'you're a winner' IMs will not be from microsoft, but rather spammers. I remember after Iwon.com setup there 'win every time you search' thing just about half the popups out there said 'you're a winner! click here to claim your prize'
I think a good number of pople will get these things and just assume they are some kind of spam...
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I knew there was a reason to upgrade!
Well, this could be because of the slight tilt of the job market in the employers favor, but that's just a guess.
Well, I'm working for a company that has traditionally rewarded its employees with stock options that vest in four years. Due to the recent market, past options are underwater and likely to stay there, and employees don't have any feeling of "reward". Granting stock instead of stock options is an admission that there is no short-term hope of stock price increase IMHO.
Every other day I get MSN spam telling me I won something... so what's news?
Great.
Another contest available only to US citizens.
Guess they want make sure noone uses MSN for
_______________TERROR_______________
While installing MSN 6 it gives me a check box with the blurb "Set my home page to msn(recommended)"
why recommended? does it improve the performance of MSN Messenger if my home page is msn.com? or does it make IE load faster?
"When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
The $1,000 giveaway is actually not in cash but in Microsoft software (makes it look like a settlement rather than a prize, doesn't it?). So basically, you get to win half of a piece of software that's going to waste half of your life learning how to work around its flaws.
Granting stock instead of stock options is an admission that there is no short-term hope of stock price increase IMHO
You can look at it in a different way. A stock option only has value if the stock goes up. Right now, the economy is in the shitter (but starting to look up), and stocks are at low prices. Giving options now will cost more money later when the economy picks up full-swing and stock prices improve.
From that point of view, a company giving stock rather than stock options probably believes that their stock will at least double. If the stock price does not double, then option is worth less than the stock grant. But if the stock price at least doubles, then the option is worth more than the grant.