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Microsoft Is Paying Brazilian Users In Skype Credit To Switch to Bing

Posted by timothy on from the what's-your-value-proposition dept.

New submitter perplexing.reader (2241844) writes "Microsoft is paying Brazilian users US$2 in Skype vouchers to set Bing as their default search engine and MSN as their default home page. Translated from the site: 'Make MSN your homepage and Bing your default search engine and earn up to 60 minutes of calls to mobiles and landlines in Skype.' ... The Rules: 'After receiving the voucher, this should be used until July 31, 2014. Once on Skype, the credits do not expire. The minutes are based on a rate of $ 0.023 per minute, but the number of minutes may vary depending on the destination of the call and the number of calls you make. The current value of the voucher is $2.00. [One claimed], the voucher will appear in your Skype account." (For those outside Brazil, the page brings up a message that translates to "Sorry, this promotion is not available for your country.")

90 comments

  1. So... by jez9999 · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... you set your default to Bing, use your Skype vouchers, then set your default back again?

    --
    == Jez ==
    Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    1. Re:So... by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Informative

      I got a better idea, set it as default on IE and just keep trucking with the other browser...

      only way they would know would be for them to do something(too specific surveillance) to sue them up....

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:So... by ledow · · Score: 4, Informative

      Are you kidding?

      Every time I've ever used Bing to find something, unless it's quite literally things like the frontpage of some project that I search the name of, I can never find it. I can even narrow it down, deliberately AIMING for the page that I know exists and the keywords on that page, and exact phrases that appear there.

      On Google, bang, first hits. On Bing, you can scroll pages and anything you hit that's relevant appears to be mostly by accident.

      Honestly, the most popular search on Bing must be "google.com" or "Firefox" (when people first set up their IE-only computers with Bing as default).

    3. Re:So... by lucm · · Score: 0

      Are you kidding?

      Every time I've ever used Bing to find something, unless it's quite literally things like the frontpage of some project that I search the name of, I can never find it.

      It happens sometimes but Bing has improved a lot lately. The "search within" feature is interesting. Try to search for Slashdot on both engines you will see the difference.

      Also Bing maps is immensely superior for proximity search, and with the business name / location split it's more convenient than Google maps, especially when the business name contains a different city name (like Chicago Joe's).

      Google is hell-bent on making a magic textbox that "does everything" but that forces people to use additional keywords like "near" or "loc", which basically transforms the "single textbox" in a poorly implemented command-line. This is bad UX, plain and simple.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    4. Re:So... by holostarr · · Score: 1

      You cant blame Microsoft for trying though. Google has had years to collect and analyse search data to tweak their algorithm, for Microsoft that's hard to do if nobody is using their search. I believe part of their strategy is to get people to switch over even if for a short period of time so they can accumulate data and ultimately improve their ranking.

    5. Re:So... by markdavis · · Score: 1

      Not that it affects me (since I am in USA, use Linux, and would never use Bing) but I would love to know:

      1) How MS knows you actually switched anything in your browser, unless they built in spyware to watch what you are doing.

      2) If this applies to browsers other than IE.

      3) If it applies to platforms other than MS-Windows.

      4) As others said, what prevents you from immediately just switching back?

      5) Are they really THAT desperate to have people use their search engine/home page?? (Although I guess it really isn't going to cost MS anything to "pay" for this promotion).

    6. Re:So... by omtinez · · Score: 1

      The most popular search is indeed "google". By a lot

    7. Re:So... by lucm · · Score: 1

      Thanks. Your attempt at astroturfing is the best laugh I've had today.

      Using "astroturfing" in this context is not only a weak insult, it is also a contribution to the bastardization of the word, which is unfortunate because like parents who claim that their kid is a victim of cyber-bullying because nobody "Liked" a link he posted on Facebook you are making it a little more difficult to discuss actual occurrences of an undesirable behavior.

      When you think that a person has a bias regarding a specific technology or company, please use the proper term, such as "fanboi" or "mvp".

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    8. Re:So... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      Could it just be a cheap way to ferret out unlicensed copies of Windows...?

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    9. Re:So... by swillden · · Score: 1

      Google is hell-bent on making a magic textbox that "does everything" but that forces people to use additional keywords like "near" or "loc", which basically transforms the "single textbox" in a poorly implemented command-line. This is bad UX, plain and simple.

      You're arguing that the command line is a bad UI? On slashdot? Well, I suppose you did say it's a "poorly implemented" command line, though not what's poor about it. I have my complaints about what Google has been doing to the search engine over the last few years, but they're about removing command line-ish features, not adding them.

      I will grant that the bing "search within" box is a little friendlier than "site:slashdot.org". I prefer the latter because it's quicker, and because it fits the normal workflow better. How often do you think "I want to search for X and I saw a post about X on slashdot, so I'll search for slashdot?". I tend to think "I want to search for X". Then after getting search results which aren't getting me what I want I think "I think I saw that on slashdot", so I append "site:slashdot.org" to my query. It's much more natural. Or, for those who aren't savvy enough to use the "site:" argument, they can actually just append "slashdot" to their query and Google will generally figure it out and give them what they want.

      (Disclaimer: I work for Google, though not on search.)

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    10. Re:So... by swillden · · Score: 1

      The most popular search is indeed "google". By a lot

      Cite?

      I found an article from July 2012 that said the top three search terms were "google", "goggle", and "googlle", but Bing's more recent press releases seem all to have just listed top queries by category (e.g. top queries for athletes, etc.), without providing any information about overall top search queries.

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    11. Re:So... by marcosdumay · · Score: 2

      In a Linux computer the button continues there, but there is a warning bellow it telling that the campaign only applies to Windows computers. When I click the button, it tries to download .exe file, Igot tempted to run it on Wine and see what it does, but setting a VM and etc is too much work :)

      There is probably something in the .exe to tell them if you switch back. But I doubt they reclaim the credit, as that would break consumer laws.

      --
      Rethinking email
    12. Re:So... by lucm · · Score: 2

      Google is hell-bent on making a magic textbox that "does everything" but that forces people to use additional keywords like "near" or "loc", which basically transforms the "single textbox" in a poorly implemented command-line. This is bad UX, plain and simple.

      You're arguing that the command line is a bad UI? On slashdot?

      No, I'm saying that the Google search box is a bad UI. That's not the same thing.

      To get that single textbox you force people to filter their query with keywords that have nothing to do with the topic they are interested into: "loc", "site", "near", etc. That's the equivalent of putting a single buzzer on a multi-tenant building and forcing visitors to buzz multiple times following an arbitrary pattern to reach a specific tenant because the architect believe a single buzzer is prettier.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    13. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's what I thought too, but you have to download a tool that changes your home page and search engine in IE, Chrome, and Firefox simultaneously. Now I'm not sure if I want to let it screw with my Chrome and Firefox settings...

    14. Re:So... by swillden · · Score: 1

      All command lines include multiple components, including directives as well as key values. The only other option is to have a mixed UI, where some elements are entered on the command line and others are added via some other interface.

      That's how command lines work, and it's both effective and usable.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    15. Re:So... by matria · · Score: 1

      But...but...Bing Translate has Klingon!

    16. Re:So... by markdavis · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info

    17. Re:So... by goarilla · · Score: 1

      Google is hell-bent on making a magic textbox that "does everything" but that forces people to use additional keywords like "near" or "loc", which basically transforms the "single textbox" in a poorly implemented command-line. This is bad UX, plain and simple.

      What's wrong with keywords ? For me it works very well, while Bing seems like a modern incarnation of Altavista.

    18. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol u mad bro?

    19. Re: So... by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      Whining about "Google shills" on Slashdot and portraying M$hill as the underdog on an article about M$hill doing scummy things to gain users (which is basically the entire story of how they gained market share anywhere, FUD and bribes).

      Stay classy Anon.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    20. Re:So... by lucm · · Score: 1

      Bing seems like a modern incarnation of Altavista

      Altavista is now powered by Bing so the loop is complete!

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    21. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I found an article from July 2012 that said the top three search terms were "google", "goggle", and "googlle", but Bing's more recent press releases seem all to have just listed top queries by category (e.g. top queries for athletes, etc.), without providing any information about overall top search queries.

      The fact that they avoid telling you what the real top search is tells a lot. People driving too slow cause a significant number of accidents. It's #1 or #2 depending on how you divide things up, but you won't hear that anymore. They've switch to talking about fatalities. Or they'll say "improper speed" so that you just assume it's too fast.

    22. Re:So... by swillden · · Score: 1

      I'm not asking for a citation because I don't believe it, I'm asking for a citation because I'm biased towards believing it, and I always try to counter confirmation bias.

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    23. Re:So... by roscocoltran · · Score: 1

      This is exactly because of this kind of method that I've switched to full linux (except for games). We are hostages of computer superpowers who fights for our default settings. The money is in the defaults settings. The "by default.... but you can turn it off in the options" is a teller that you are getting screwed at this very moment, the facebook favorite method.

    24. Re:So... by Mondor · · Score: 1

      Try to search for "opensuse" in both Bing and Google.

      Question: how many _websites_ you see in results on the first page? Count them.

    25. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tried, as you suggested, to search for "Slashdot" in both Bing and Google.

      Bing returned 10 results, 9 of them were leading to slashdot.org and one - to Wikipedia. Basically, duplicates.
      Google returned 20 results from 17 websites.

      "Improved a lot lately" is an old and not funny joke about Bing. I heard it for quite a few years. I am not saying Bing is a bad search engine. Just useless.

  2. Probably cheaper than advertising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know for my web site that we spent about $4/new user with Google AdSense. Paying customers might seem like a desperate move, but it does make financial sense.

  3. For a company... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...that uses "marketing" to drive "sales" this is truly a bold move. I'm flummoxed.

  4. If you can't persuade, bribe. by TigerPlish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is how elections are won, too.

    --
    The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    1. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by kruach+aum · · Score: 1

      read elections as electrons, and briefly had a mental image of me giving my best gal a pile of electrons after performing a feat of strength at a fun fair.

    2. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean like when I download Firefox, Google is the default search engine, and mysteriously Google also ends up paying tens of millions of dollars per year to the Mozilla foundation?

      Or when I download [insert half a thousand products here] and there is a default-selected option somewhere along the install wizard to download Chrome? which is why whenever I look at someone's PC, I notice they have Chrome installed, and I ask them, "Do you want that?" and they say, "Oh, I didn't put that there,.. I don't use it."

      This approach to marketing is fairly new for Microsoft. Its competitors have been doing it since forever.

    3. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by kruach+aum · · Score: 1

      Do you not see the difference between bundling a product with a different product and promising monetary rewards in exchange for a user using a product? Because that is what is being compared here.

    4. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow dat was funnayier than a Carlos Mencia bit!

    5. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i have zero love for ms but what they're doing is bold in the sense that it's honest. normally companies aren't so direct about how they pay for new customers, whether through sponsorship deals or targeted advertising. why not just pay the customer directly?

    6. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by kruach+aum · · Score: 1

      That's just plain rude.

    7. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, one is paying a third party to show bias in order to win new custom, while the other is just paying the new customer directly.

      As a customer, and as someone who likes honest dealing, I know which one I'd prefer.

    8. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do see the difference. The bundling stuff is evil; trying to trick you into installing Ask toolbars, Open Office, and other garbage. This on the other hand is fine. If I go out of my way to accept their offer, I get some money. None of this "click the defaults and end up with foistware" garbage. So definitely a better deal here.

    9. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by hubie · · Score: 1

      You don't get money, you get Skype money. That's as good as Itchy and Scratchy Money if you don't use Skype.

    10. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by s.petry · · Score: 1

      I can't think of anything that's not funnier than a Carlos Mencia bit...

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    11. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This approach to marketing is fairly new for Microsoft.

      No. Microsoft has been using this approach for a very long time. They were convinced back in 2001 for things similar to this.

    12. Re:If you can't persuade, bribe. by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      It's entirely possible that Skype money is of value to people in Brazil who quite likely use Skype a lot. In 2005, for example, Brazil was actually the country with the greatest number of Skype users. If that's still the case, then it's probably quite a good bribe to them.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  5. Or, you know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just subscribe to any VOIP service, will be far cheaper.

    1. Re:Or, you know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or make one yourself... http://www.asterisk.org/

    2. Re:Or, you know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how are you going to terminate calls to the PSTN?

  6. Oh sweet sweet revenge! by Volanin · · Score: 4, Funny

    After years of "this [game/service/promotion] is not available for your country" trying to listen to Pandora, to watch Hulu and to download some Xbox Live games, now it's my turn to be delighted seeing this crushing bitterness bite your souls, dear Americans! Who needs Full HD videos and customised Internet Radio when I can call my grandma for FREE? I love you Bing!

    --
    If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
    If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
    1. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by lucm · · Score: 1

      If your grandma lives in the USA, you could use screen sharing to watch Hulu during those 2 free hours per month. Or you could ask her to point her webcam towards the tv screen and watch high-quality American tv (like Keeping Up With the Kardashians) live, as long as she does not change the channel.

      For some reason you don't want her to know what you are watching? No problem, here is what you could do

      1) ask her to setup Dial-Up networking on her Windows XP machine
      2) use dial-up over Skype to access her internet connection
      3) gain access to US online services in the comfort of your non-NSA surveilled residence

      With those 2 hours of free Skype per month, on dial-up you could probably buffer the first 3 or 4 minutes of a HD tv show episode. FOR FREE!

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    2. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by Stardner · · Score: 0

      You had me until #3. ;)

    3. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by tepples · · Score: 1

      Since when does Skype's voice codec pass phone modem signals? And since when can one do anything that is both useful and geoblocked at phone modem data rates?

      But seriously, let me boil your post down into something similar that will actually work: Have your grandma install a VPN app.

    4. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by lucm · · Score: 1

      since when can one do anything that is both useful and geoblocked at phone modem data rates?

      1973

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    5. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grandmas who love their grandchildren don't install apps, they set up sshd with port forwarding for them.

    6. Re:Oh sweet sweet revenge! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm guessing tepples would call sshd an "app" in this sense.

  7. smart by zr · · Score: 1

    (eom)

  8. Not just Brazil by wjcofkc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For quite awhile now, Microsoft has had programs that pay people to use Bing. This even true in the United States. It's a rather sad and pathetic move. Kind of like saying, "Our search in engine is so substandard compared to the competition we have to pay people to use it." Past all that, can anyone tell me if this practice is in any way anti-competitive or legally questionable? Or is it like swiping a CVS card.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:Not just Brazil by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

      For quite awhile now, OSS has given their programs away for free to people to use them. This even true in the United States. It's a rather sad and pathetic move. Kind of like saying, "Our programs are substandard compared to the competition we have to give it away for people to use it.

      I do understand Microsoft, however. Once a company is seen as the #1 in something, it's very hard to tell people to try other options.

      I am, however, delighted by the irony.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    2. Re:Not just Brazil by dmomo · · Score: 2

      I remember when Google was starting out in 98 or so. They were paying people to use their search engine too. I made a small amount of money using them instead of Yahoo, Alta Vista, or Lycos. Substandard has little to do with it. It's hard to make people switch out of what they're used to.

    3. Re:Not just Brazil by dhalsim2 · · Score: 1

      I switched for the cash. I don't consider it pathetic at all. The quality of the web results are on par with Google. Image results seem to be slightly behind, but for the $8/month I make, to me it was clearly worth it.

    4. Re:Not just Brazil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      rip, bing cashback, you are missed.

  9. There are two features in Bing that are great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) Bing translate is a lot better than Google translate, especially when translating Asian languages to English.

    2) Bing maps has birds eye view, see the building up close from multiple low attitude angles.

    But as a search engine it is severely lacking, they index only the most popular pages and don't update as frequent as Google. Sometimes that is a good thing, if content is gone and Google already updated their cache you can still find it cached on Bing.

    1. Re:There are two features in Bing that are great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? AFAIK Facebook uses Bing for translation and in my experience the translations for mandarin to english are usually worse than Google's.

      Google's search on the other hand has got worse over the past few years to the point it's not really better than Bing search. Currently they both seem equally crap for many of the searches I do.

  10. Bing may suck by Stardner · · Score: 0

    But Google's overwhelming market share may mean a degradation of service over the years. If only there were good alternatives that one didn't have to pay people to use!

  11. In Soviet Russian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Search Engine pays you! -- stoops

  12. Did you ever notice... by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Funny

    That Bing doesn't have a "I'm Feeling Lucky" button? It's because your using Bing!</Sam Kinison>

  13. No way! by dafradu · · Score: 3

    No way i'm installing "Skype voucher.exe" on my PC. Can anyone tell me what the file REALLY do? Original download link: http://g.msn.com/Skype/123

    1. Re:No way! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Install it in a virtual machine?

  14. Nothing is Free.... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    It's a rather sad and pathetic move...

    Sure, whatever you say.

    But providing incentives to use a particular product is neither new nor exclusive to Microsoft. If you don't think Google, Apple, and every single other major company, within or outside the USA doesn't do this, you are deluding yourself with Microsoft Hate Group Think.

    Seriously, you think "free" services on Google are really "free"?

    Do you use *ANY* service or product that is ostensibly "free", but provided by a company that is not non-profit? That you are being paid to use it. Perhaps not is cold hard cash, but none the less, for-profit companies do not give anything away for "free".

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Nothing is Free.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think every single slashdot user is grasping the basic Google business idea. What puzzles us is the Bing business idea.

    2. Re:Nothing is Free.... by slickwillie · · Score: 1

      Then there is the Surface business plan: Sell below cost but make it up in volume.

    3. Re:Nothing is Free.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You couldn't pay me enough to use Slashdot Beta... or could you?

  15. That's a lot of money!!! by dubbayu_d_40 · · Score: 1

    Wait, how many is a brazilian again?

  16. Seems like a desperate move. by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

    This seems to me like a desperate move to suck people into their net.

    Both Bing and MSN sucks so badly that I get a rash from it. To me Bing is the brand of a carburetor (often on mopeds and other small engines), but it is also locally a defamatory statement.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    1. Re:Seems like a desperate move. by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      To me, Bing always reminds me of Ned Ryerson.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  17. Microsoft is Dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fixed the title for you.

  18. One brazillion by tepples · · Score: 1

    I define a brazillion as an amount equal to however many there are of something in Brazil. For example, a brazillion people is 200 million, but a brazillion soldiers is however big Brazil's army is. A brazillion dollars is 900 billion USD (based on real M2 at current exchange rate between reais and USD), but a brazillion dollars per year is Brazil's GDP.

  19. Now they're paying people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It figures, Microshit, would have to resort to paying people to use their POS services.

  20. That much? by MaksimS · · Score: 1

    Good God, I had no idea Bing has that many users!

  21. bing free skype credit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Free #skype credit offered to #brazil users by bing and msn
    #Bing #msn #SkypeCredit http://wp.me/p4tyVl-sK

  22. Gmail by twocows · · Score: 1

    Just a reminder that calls within the US are free through Gmail's voice and video plugin thing (which doesn't work with 64-bit browsers because reasons). I don't even bother with a cell, since I'm already at a computer most of the day anyway.