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Microsoft Hopes Prizes Will Attract New Searchers

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the scratch-and-win dept.

BertieBaggio writes "Remember the long-running e-mail hoax that had Bill Gates testing an "e-mail tracing program" and offering to pay recipients big bucks if they passed his test e-mail along to all their friends? Well, the offer is true, sort of. Microsoft wants you to use its search engine, and it's got $1 million worth of prizes up for grabs for those who nibble at the offer. Following Yahoo's recent consideration of offering prizes to searchers, is this another tactic to lure users away from Google with candy and other shiny things?"

13 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Not gonna get me again by MyLongNickName · · Score: 3, Funny

    I ain't falling for this again. I've sent in about 20 of those damn e-mails and haven't got a thing from Bill.

    You can fool me once, twice, heck.... even 20 times. But twenty-one? Heck no! I'm not as dumb as I look (and my mommy tells me I look pretty dumb).

    Now, I have to get back to my e-mail and find out what funny, amazing thing will happen when I forward this e-mail to 18 of my closest friends... I only have 5 minutes to do it.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    1. Re:Not gonna get me again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, could you forward that to me?

      Man, what a sweet deal. What, with the Nigerian bank deal I'm working on, the AOL giveaway, and now this, I'm going to clean up.

    2. Re:Not gonna get me again by toddbu · · Score: 4, Funny
      I've sent in about 20 of those damn e-mails and haven't got a thing from Bill.

      I did. All I had to do was send a check for $199.95 for shipping/handling and I got a free copy of Windows XP.

      --
      If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
  2. iTunes Contest by JFlex · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apple is doing something similar with the iTunes Music Store Billion Song Countdown, and I don't think they giving away prizes to try and lure users away from Napster.

    1. Re:iTunes Contest by toddbu · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe Microsoft should give away free downloads on iTunes. ;-)

      --
      If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
  3. Have you heard about Microsoft's search engine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's so useful they have to pay you to use it.

  4. Oh ya! by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 4, Funny

    No details on how this works but can turn loose a perl/lwp script and let it run all night and wake up a winner! Something tells me they have thought of this angle.

  5. You know you product sucks when... by penguinboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    you have to bribe people to use it instead of the competition.

  6. Plato's Cave... by PipeIsArt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google isn't the only search engine?!?!?

    --
    I find that although many people are liberal in beliefs, they are conservative in actions.
  7. I had a go by dilby · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I didn't win :(

    --
    This post patent pending.
  8. Not like Google doesn't have that either by martinultima · · Score: 3, Funny

    OK, I've exaggerated a little bit since this isn't a Google-sponsored thing, but Blingo provides prizes for using them as your search engine (and the search engine is of course run through Google).

    Now if you'll excuse me, I've just gotten the facts and need to convert my server that I've been running on Linux the past year or so for absolutely nothing to Windows Server 2003, since it's less expensive in the long run ;-)

    --
    Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
  9. Just another web-browsing prize for the pile by johnnyk427 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I dont know what the big deal is. I win stuff while browsing the web all the time! IPods, ring tones, xbox 360's. Often to claim the prize I will need to guess my favorite color (which I never get wrong) or verify that the following box is indeed flashing (which it has always been). I am also frequently the millionth viewer of a webpage, making my time spent online even more lucrative. You're probably astounded by my good luck and find it hard to believe, but it's true!

  10. Re:What is the quality of MSN's search like? by etelerro · · Score: 2, Funny

    However, MSN isn't advertising anywhere near as aggressively as Google is.

    Oh, wait. I think you forgot to disable Adblock..