Emails have been sent to winners (UK Developer Launch)
I'm very pleased to announce that we have now sent the emails to the winners of the UK developer online launch competition, 1000 Windows Vista and 1000 Microsoft Office.
Please make sure you check your junk mail box too just in case! The subject line will read "Yes, you have won a copy of xxx" where "xxx" is either "Microsoft Office 2007 Professional" or "Windows Vista" (it's the Ultimate edition).
And for clarity, we're only sending emails to the winners, not to everybody who took part.
If you receive an email, well done! And we'll be shipping the product as soon as we can.
If you haven't received an email give it a little while, it may be on its way. But if it doesn't arrive within, say, 48 hours it probably means you have not won a copy.
It's been great fun (well, at times) and we're all glad that so many people are going to get the products. Thanks again to all readers of this blog for your patience, feedback and interest.
Comments
Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Got it - Got it - jumps up and down whahahahha Thanks!. Cheers Ian for your feedback!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Got mine. Many thanks - good luck everyone. Ian: Thanks for keeping us all informed. Bet it was a nightmare - but it's very much appreciated!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Got mine!!! Again Ian and the team thanks, it's refreshing to have been kept in the loop (and win). ;P Now... Time to do some development! Thanks again, ChristopherAnonymous
February 26, 2007
WOOHOO! One of those emails is now gracing my inbox! Thanks for keeping us up to date Ian.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
The correct answers, if you're interested are: Windows Vista: Experian Microsoft Office: K2 and Meridio But you all knew that!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Gottcha...gr8 feeling. Cheers Ian. BTW, can I change my shipping address?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Yay got mine :) Thanks Ian for keeping us all up to date. If only other companies would follow suit!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Uttam - please send me an email and I'll make sure it gets updatedAnonymous
February 26, 2007
I won office and Vista :D Back to normal(ish) life now Ian, I bet your pleased about that ? Thank you for such a great launch event, I really enjoyed the presentations. I bet they will start hassling you for the signed stuff now lol.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Humn. I entered both, and got both correct answers, but only got a vista email =[Anonymous
February 26, 2007
oliver - give it a bit of time, they are sent separately, it may still be on the wayAnonymous
February 26, 2007
thanks for all the updates Ian =) can I just check, are there separate emails for vista & office or would they both be confirmed in the same email? thanks again!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Great prize guys. Ive been beta testing Office 2007 for months so im really pleased to have won. Thank you MS!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Is it possible to see a list of the winners?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Got both mails 26 minutes ago. Can't wait to show it to my friends. Thanks for the constant updates Ian; you've been a great sport. I'm back in Pakistan on a bi-semester break but will be going back to university in September. Can I forward my Pakistan address to you please? Thanks again!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I entered with the correct answer within the hour. But then I was accidentally entered again. Does this mean I'm disqualified?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Congratulations guys!!! Unfortunetely i did not...:( Thanks Ian for your support.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Thanks Ian for the updates. I have one concern though. I entered and my brother entered as well. I got Vista e-mail and I know I got Office question wrong. But I'm sure he got both right, and he hasn't received any e-mails, and he only entered a few minutes after me. I would have thought he would have got Office since this was just after the competition opened. Maybe you could state about when the 1000 entries were reached for each competition, it would be helpful for those waiting for e-mails. ThanksAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Any chance you could say exactly when you got 1000 correct answers for each question. I answered them very quickly and I haven't received any emails.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
just read your most recent reply, never mind about the separate emails thing! Haha! (i do hope i win vista as well)..Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you !!! I'll be back for the next launches in a couple (or so..!) years time!!! Kind regards, and many thanks for all your hard work.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Fantastic! Do we know when they might be shipped - you know someone was going to ask :-) Should we just wait until you post another blog entry? Once again many thanks for keeping us all informedAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Yay got mine....First thing i've ever one...And i couldn't be happier...... Ian is it possible to do the same as Uttam.... I can feel sharks getting ready to circle the company mail starting from the 12th....Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Great stuff. Thanks Ian, I know it's been a bit of a ride.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Woooo! Just wanted to say thanks - for both the presentations and the copy of Vista! WillAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Entering for vista within the first 7 minutes of the contest didn't seem to be fast enough. Oh well, at least there are no more ridiculous excuses and bad estimates to read.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Happy days - I've won a Vista Ultimate. I guess it makes up for MS only shipping Business Edition as part of Action Pack :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Hey, Shocking stuff, apparently I've won a copy of Office! I dare say this is the first thing I've ever won eh? Lovely. But yeah, just the token message of thanks from down here at Hull university, thanks for the opportunity, and obviously the prize :) The slides were interesting, so it wasn't really a toil to try and win etc, and hey, WPF is now my new favourite toy, good work guys.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I'm probably being thick (sorry!), but can someone point me in the direction of the email address that I'd need to send an email to if I want my shipping address for this changed? Many thanks. I'm rather surprised to have won!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I sent and email to volaunch address within first 15mins of entering competion, and I have no email from microsoft :(Anonymous
February 26, 2007
another winner here jumps up and down like a maniac i really wanted to get vista i even downloaded xp transformation packs to make my machine look like the real thing -lol im so sad...... first time ive ever won anything as well thanks to everyone involved with the competition :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Just checked my inbox to find the golden email awaiting me - fantastic :D Thanks very much Microsoft :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Well done to everyone who did win. It appears adhering to the T&Cs of the competition and entering in time wasn't sufficient to win. Oh well.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Serves me right for not reading. I may still be in with a chance ... fingers crossed for me and everyone else.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Got mine - got my old address for shiping. Can I update my address for shipping?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Awwwww I'm in the same position as one guy on the next blog, a friend got emails but I haven't? I know you aren't obliged to enter into any correspondence, but :/// A friend of mine entered after me (around 5.40pm on day give or take a few minutes), exactly the same (correct) answers to both... So, are emails still being sent out? I had confirmation of entry, but my friend received his emails at 6.08pm and 6.06pm today and nothing here. I've checked our mail services for spam etc (Messagelabs) but nothing there. Feeling ill with a cold and hoping this would have brightened my day :( I'll give it 48 hours like you suggest, but perhaps there's some way that you could confirm? Is it because I have IT Director rather than Developer in the job title in my profile (although I've done more development this year than anything else!) ? Have any emails bounced? Sorry just trying to proactively diagnose what could have happened given the timings etc. Anyway, if it's just a technical glitch (had a few of those with the downloads :) ) and I do have emails on the way, then my sincerest apologies but just seems weird. KAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Hi, I entered the comp a couple of hours after it opened. Answered both the questions correctly and haven't received an email for either vista or office. thats not fair :( Ian - could you look into this for me please. MarkAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Got my email - thanks Ian! It'll arrive just in time as my RC1 will be expiring soon! Thanks again.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Excellent, won Vista! Been running the beta and CTP versions for a while - great OS, and better looking than Mac! Awesome, thanks!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I got all the answers wrong because my cat knocked my arm and then stood on the enter key. Please e-mail me personally and tell me if I have still won. I'd also like to have my prize delivered by hand, preferably next Tuesday though I guess Wednesday would be OK if you could deliver it to my Great Aunt's instead. Please also ensure that it is packed in a brown envelope, not a white one. C'mon guys! Give the man a break!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
great thanks won vista first time i've won anything thanks guysAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Hey, i just got my email! thanks! just want to know are they going to be the upgrade editions or the complete full version?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
How many are going to get lost in the post!? Are they being sent out via UPS or something where we have to sign for them!? Cheers, and thank you!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Wow, got a copy of Ultimate. Very nice, thankyou. (shame I already bought 2 copies, but still, got plenty of machines to install on!) Congrats to all... This has certainly made my week! Many thanks, Rich.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Has anybody who applied through one of the alternate routes won anything?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Woot! I got my Vista email as well! XD I wonder if i'll get the Office one as well, as i got the questions right? :S I hope so... Btw, What type of Vista Ultimate is it? E.g., OEM, Upgrade, Retail? Cheer'sAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Wow, entered at almost exactly the same time as Darius (slightly earlier, about 10 minutes after the competition opened) and someone else from Hull with the same (correct) answers after a mammoth event sessions watching session, but no emails as of yet! :( I've got my fingers crossed that they turn up and they're just delayed. Am really disappointed!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
wow! I won Vista!! thankyou for such a great weekend! My friend also signed up but he hasnt logged into his account for 30days and has lost all his email. How does he know if he has won? Thank You! :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
WOW Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Great Thanks for the event and the productAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Many thanks, rcvd Office Pro 2007. I was being greedy and hoped to rcv Vista, but nothing yet. Great prize nonetheless!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Whaaeey! I won, Great, thanks a lot, I haven't upgraded since office 2000 and it was getting a bit long in the tooth. Thanks so much. Trouble is once i've used it I'll hate all the older versions at work and have to upgrade all of them (ooh the expense of it all). You've made my day. Merry Christmas to you too :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Hey, I got an email I have won Office Pro. Thanks Ianm and the MS team. I never got to use the Beta so I am very excited and can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on it. As usual MS ran a great promotion with even greater prizes. Thanks again guys.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Yippee! Office 2007 for me! Ian, I watched the Vista presentations all day and answered correctly within 3 minutes of the competition being posted. Why no e-mail for Vista please? Apart from that thanks very much!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Hi Ian, I notice in my Microsoft Profile that I've elected not to receive email contact from Microsoft. Does this mean that I wouldn't have received a winning email, or would the email(s) have been sent regardless of this? Cheers.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
That's weird, I entered and didn't recieve anything and my friend who I told to enter about 20 minutes later won a copy. Was this random or was it truly the first 1000 entries?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Having missed out on registration for this event i spent Sat 20th watching the keynote and presentations from Mike Taulty, Daniel Moth etc. I entered the competition for both office and vista (and correctly answered the questions on the saturday). I went to work on the monday and advised some of my colleagues of the competition, a number of them emailed microsoft and entered the competition via email. Unfortuantely (for me), 2 of my colleagues (who enetered via email) won copies of office 2007 (and are eternally grateful to me, but not grateful enough to give me they're copy!!) where as i missed out on both and won nothing !!! :-(Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I entered at 5:45 with the correct answer for Vista and didn't win :-(... you must have had to be very quick or their is a mistake someware :-( jon@hibbins.comAnonymous
February 26, 2007
My colleagues entered via email, but that was on Monday 22nd Jan, and they won Office.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Congratulations to the winners - you're very lucky! Thank you also to Ian for your updates, they were most appreciated - hopefully things'll calm down now! hehe! I didn't win anything, despite taking the day off to watch the videos and entering soon after the competition opened, oh well never mind, there are far better things in life than software! I think that I'll definitely wait until the first service pack comes out for both titles before I upgrade :o)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Dear Ian, I am disappointed with the way this "Competition" was launched. Everywhere in the official page and the T&Cs, it was mentioned the "first 1000" with the valid answers would receive a free license of a given software. Now I would like MS to explain to us why are my coworkers getting the winning emails when they entered the competition hours after I did, with the exact same answers? If the competition was not really for the first 1000 but a random pick, then you are liable for false advertising.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I am one of the people who entered at around 5.45 with the correct answers, and have not received an email. I can't remember if I opted to not receive email correspondence from MS But to not send an email informing you of winning because of the opt-out is like not sending you the actual prize itself because you have opted out of postal correspondence.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
- does not explain why coworkers receive the emails but not me (and no, it is not a mail server problem on my side)
- is irrelevant. People who entered via post and won, would have entered the competition several days after I did, since the competition was on a Friday evening. And I'm pretty sure that I did not opt out from 6) And no, your post didn't really help :) The way the competition was supposedly run and the way it turned out is contradictory.
Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Heh not just me then, I've a co-worker here who entered after I did (working a late one on a 360 title) he already received a mail informing him he won vista, and he filled in the info several hours after I, at least the presentations were good so it wasn't all a waste of time. Being as we're on the same internal network I find it hard to beleive his time stamps were before mine, but oh well, looking forward to more .net presentation at least.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Could people check their contact preferences via https://profile.microsoft.com (choose the "my contact preferences" option). If you have "do not contact" set under the email from Microsoft option it seems that we would not have sent you an email even if you were a winner due to data protection rules. Note that if you were a winner and didn't receive an email because of this you will still be shipped the product when we have it. That is, the email was for information only it doesn't affect anything else. Of course, you won't know that you're a winner in that case...until you receive the product.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
only won a copy of vista- I want a copy of office too!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Ah, I just checked mine and had mine set to do not contact (for that perticular account) so I guess if I did win and it gets lost in the post I'll never know :D Thanks for the heads up Ian.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
What time did you need to enter by to win Vista?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Presumably changing our preferences now won't make any difference? Oh well, it'll be a nice surprise if/when it comes in the post :)Anonymous
February 26, 2007
In reply to Jon Baldwin, no I haven't and I entered before the competition question was released but after the competiton opened according to the terms and conditions. Surely that makes me in the first 1000?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
I checked my preverences and I did indeed have do not contact checked, I have now changed this to allow, did I win ??.. jon@hibbins.comAnonymous
February 26, 2007
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February 26, 2007
Thanks, it seems like my preferences had 'do not contact' selected... Also the Shipping address had the wrong postcode... I've updated both of these. Could you please confirm that the address update would take effect? It does seem odd that you adhered to the 'do not email' section for announcing the results of the winners (assuming that everyone that entered DO want to receive these emails, but perhaps not other unrelated emails)? Did it not flag up as a bit weird that there would have been 1,000 winners of each but not a corresponding number of emails being sent out? Perhaps another email despatch ignoring the 'do not email' preference for THIS time only would help out people and put minds at rest... I'm sure existing emailed winners wouldn't mind receiving a 2nd email! Regards, Keith.Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Hi Ian, You mentioned above if you didn't have the emails from microsoft checked then I wouldn't receive one. Is this under the "My Microsoft Communications" section? And did: "Microsoft may use the e-mail address I have provided above to contact me regarding important security, product, and event information." Have to be checked? As mine wasn't... perhaps there is still hope? Thanks MarkAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Mine was set to "Do not contact" too. I agree with keith, would be nice if you could send out another email. Regards, BenAnonymous
February 26, 2007
Ah, my profile said not to contact me by. I responded with the correct answer within about 12 minutes, am I in with a shot still?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
It sounds as though quite a few winners have been caught in the ‘do not email’ preference trap. I think I’m one of them. Here’s a suggestion to mitigate the effect of that:
- Have a new top-level entry in Ian’s blog that advises people to set the preference if they want to receive winner emails. Assume that most people who are expecting emails will be visitors to Ian’s blog and will act on that advice by, say, Friday. A new top-level entry is desirable (as opposed to the post in this thread) to maximise the number of people who see it.
- Send out a winner notification ‘B email’ to all winners on Friday that contains new competition information (for example, what to do if the proposed shipping address is wrong). That way, anyone caught in the ‘do not email’ preference trap can get themselves out of it by the end of the week. An alternative would be to send out the original winner notification email to just the list of winners that were filtered out originally (assuming that the list exists in a stand-alone state). That list would also have to respect the ‘do not email’ preference but a lot more would get through if the email was held until Friday, after people had read Ian’s blog.
Anonymous
February 26, 2007
NNNNNNNNNNNoooooooooooooooooo Just checked my profile and it was set to "do not contact". Will now have to wait some more. There is still hope fingers crossed :) Ian: Thanks again for all of the updates. It’s been great to be kept in the loop. NickAnonymous
February 26, 2007
I have just recieved my Email so there is hope out there yet!Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Is there a winners list so that everyone can see if they are on the list?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Max Me too for Vista. And for Office I sent my email many many DAYS before the competition closed. What could possibly have gone wrong?Anonymous
February 26, 2007
Could you please tell if Vista or Office CD's would be a recorded mail (so someone needs to sign) and if the CD's are Full or just Upgrade Versions. Thanks!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
My understanding is that they are going via first class post. However I can definitely confirm that they are the full versions, not upgrade.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
It seems that I had fallen into that trap too. I have now updated my profile to allow microosft to contact me via e-mail. Is there any chance that I can get the E-Mail Ian. (If i've won of course ;)!) If I give you my E-Mail address, is there any chance I can get one ? Thanks, LilGenius.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
I have asked the question if we can resend, not sure whether there are issues with doing so. I'll post a top-level blog entry if we're able to do it.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
It would be great if you could resend. I have altered my profile to allow emails.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Yeah, I had my preferences set to Not Receive Emails. Could they be resent? I really need to know whether I have won or not, before i go out and buy vista.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
So I read the blog, noted the lack of email and was like :( Then I read the comment about delivery preferences, checked mine and saw it was set to 'do not contact' and now I'm like :| heh, I'll change the prefs incase a resend is possible, if not I guess I'll be waiting until it doesn't turn up to know if I've won or not ;) Cheers for the updated info Ian :)Anonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
Great, I received my email confirming I have won Office. A very pleasant surprise. Thanks for keeping us posted. "You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time."Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Hi Ian, How about creating a page that allows users to look up if they were winners or not. (ie simple databse containg 2 columns- Vista and Office- 1000 entries in each. Query the db, if success- well done you have won. If not- sorry you have not been successful. Voila. Should take less than an hour. (My account was set to not receive) Surely there can be no issues to this simple solution.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Well it looks like I've won a copy of Office but not a copy of Vista (which would be far more useful). Anyone want to swap?Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Wow, there's a lot of people still not too happy with this competition. I don't envy Iain at all, having to go through all these impatient comments and such. If you understand that there is a 48 hour window to receive your e-mail, please be patient, there is no need to say that you will wait. If you asked for vista and don't have the e-mail, give up. If you asked for office, you might still have a chance, sit tight and if you don't hear anything after 48 hours, also give up. Perhaps instead of comments pleading for a copy, we should all thank Iain for putting up with such impatience and probing comments when he's clearly not at fault, yet he's put in a mountain load of work. Thankyou very much Iain. I hope you go away from this with a better understanding of the risks of helping people ;)Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Im really rather happy at having won a copy of Vista, but I'm also rather surprised that I have received no email about Office. I sent in both (correct) answers at the same time, and did it before roughly 5.45 on the day of the competition. Looking at what was written in a previous blog post: "We've had many (many!) thousands of entries, and I can confirm that we're past the 1000 mark for Windows Vista winners. However for Microsoft Office we have not quite reached the thousand yet - we're close, but not quite there." So If I entered both at the same time, and won Vista, I should - by default, also have won a copy of Office. I have to say though, thanks to Microsoft for running the competition and events in the first placeAnonymous
February 27, 2007
I emailed as per the T&Cs, both of my entries at 5:49 on the day of opening, no email as of yet. Fingers crossed still...Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Doh! Just discovered I had the "Do Not Contact" option set for everything. Have changed it now. Hope that is why I haven't received an email so far :( Hope the emails get sent again!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
Another one here who had Do Not Contact set in his Microsoft profile - fingers crossed that you do resend the emails, or maybe I'll just get a nice surprise next month!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Yeah. Same here. I entered for both office and vista, and got both correct. If the office one filled up after the vista one, and I got vista, then why don't I have an office email also. Pretty weirrd. List of winners?Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Recieved my email, Office 2007 is on its way..well in a few weeks anyway. Thanks alot to everyone that was involved with the competition!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
I'm pretty sure the competition was for ONE not both. Those that attended the physical launch only received one. If you selected the "both" option when filling out the answers, that meant that you didn't have a preference and you will be shipped which ever was left. The T&C said that you could only enter for one item. If you repeated the entry, one for vista and one for office, I'd say you were in breach of the T&C, so you might want to hush up about that.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Gwar3k1 said "The T&C said that you could only enter for one item. If you repeated the entry, one for vista and one for office, I'd say you were in breach of the T&C, so you might want to hush up about that." No it did not ! You obviously did not read them ! There was the option to enter either or both if you wanted.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
I think a list of winners would be a really good idea, so people can see if they won or not. Arent you legally supposed to do this anyway????Anonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
Hi Sorry for bothering you again and again but can you clarify something for us lucky winners: Is the "Vista Ultima Version" Microsoft giving away the one that has the 32-bit and 64-bit versions on it? Or just the 32 bit OS? oem? Im confused... :-D ... We work here with 64-bit machines .... it would be such a waste if it was only the 32 bit version (I also though vista only had 32 bit OEM versions and just 32&64bit boxed ones). Ohh Well Many Thanks. ps. All comments are welcome.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
@Alastair, if you can provide me a link to the T&C for the competition, I will believe you, but I remember the "one product only" rule with 95% certainty.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
ian ive got a question that i hope you could answer if i installed these on my current computer then decided to upgrade to a new pc in a year or two would i still be able to install them on that one? hope this doesnt get drowned by all the people moaningAnonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
Thanks Ian for the updates. I hope you can find some solution to notify those who opted out of e-mails. @Alastair: Of course its not Ian's fault, but it wasn't exactly made clear when entering that opting out of the emails would include the winning e-mails. @Gwar3k1: They were separate competitions with separate T&Cs (on the same page). Both means just that - entering both competitions.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Unfortunately the T&C's have gone now since the competition has finished :( However Ian said repeatedly in many of his posts that you could win both and enter both at even at separate times. I personally only entered the Vista question first time and then entered the Office one at a different time. As long as there was only one entry for each competition then there should not have been a problem. The people who attended had a choice of Vista or Office not both, however you could win both by entering the competition. :)Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Received my email Vista on way.really pleased but..kinda hoped for office....got new computer with vista prem on and that would do me fine for now...so Ben Thompson if you read this and still want a swap..let me know..and we can sort something...Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Word from the man himself. My apologies.Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Hi, Could you please resend the emails as me and jasen are going mad as we had disabled email contact preference in our passport profile and hence why we didnt receive the email confirmation! Many thanks MohammedAnonymous
February 27, 2007
Does anyone remember what the possible answers to the questions were?Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Perhaps if you've checked my entry, you could let me know how I didn't comply with the T&Cs?Anonymous
February 27, 2007
Many thanks for the Comp... I was a lucky winner of Vista, though not so lucky for Office... I cannot remember if I answered the question correctly :) In the case I did not win office, I would be happy to swap my Ultimate with Someone who does not want Office Prof. Thanks Again... Contact details to be provided if this is possible...Anonymous
February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
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February 27, 2007
I got my email and getting vista...was delighted to win but would also have loved to get office...never pleased fully eh...lol...Ben Thompson if you still want to swap...might be an idea...Anonymous
February 28, 2007
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February 28, 2007
Stop going on at Ian If you won you won if you didnt then you didnt simple. Thanks for the updates. AdamAnonymous
February 28, 2007
Of all the competitions that I have entered, (by internet or post) this one has been the most open. Microsoft (i.e. Ian) has given so much help and feedback throughout the duration of the whole competition. We have received a heads up about the "plural" answers to the Office question; we have been directed to carefully read the T&Cs concerning the alternative entry methods. We are now been guided to correct delivery details, and we have had an opportunity to air grievances about failures to win etc. I have never seen such feedback throughout a competition before. Normally its enter and sit back to see if a prize appears! The interaction on this competition should set the trend! Thanks, Ian. ... now, how do I swap my Office prize for Vista Ultimate? Afterall, I'm quite happy with my Office 2003!Anonymous
February 28, 2007
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February 28, 2007
People who entered the competition and opted out of e-mails need some sort of notification. I have now changed the setting on my profile but I still have no e-mail. What will happen to people like me?Anonymous
February 28, 2007
I am still working on getting a list of winners published, I'll let you know when I know more.Anonymous
February 28, 2007
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February 28, 2007
I thoroughly agree with Adam. It was great of Microsoft to offer these prizes - after all, they didn't have to. If you didn't win, then surely you lost nothing (it's not like you had to pay to enter).Anonymous
March 01, 2007
>> I am still working on getting a list of winners published; I'll let you know when I know more. I don’t think that is such a good idea. On the face of it, you’ll be able to satisfy the people who expected to receive a winner’s email but didn’t, because of their email preference. The drawback is that you might run into privacy issues. There is also the possibility of confusion with entrants having the same name, where one won and the other one didn’t win. The only people who seem to be put out are the ones who had ‘do not contact’ set when the winning emails were sent. I suggest that it would be better to retry sending the original email to the list of winners that were excluded because of that email preference. If people affected have changed their email preference then those emails would get through next time. If your email administrators want to be really helpful then they could ‘rinse and repeat’ that process periodically, up until when the prizes are delivered, by which time the email is redundant. I’d also like to re-iterate the thanks to you Ian for trying to make our ‘competition experience’ as good as possible. It’s a pity that your colleagues in email administration let you down by not warning you beforehand about the ‘do not contact’ issue. If they had then you could have alerted us all via your blog and we’d all have received the winning emails that we were expecting.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
I am in the same position as Max.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Come on guys give Ianm a break! He's bent over backwards to help people do what? To try and get their hands on approx £500,000 total retail value of software goodies courtesy of Microsoft. He's probably wishing he hadn't bothered with some of the inane postings he's had to field! Ianm - perhaps you'll get your reward in another life!Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Thanks for the messages of support....always appreciated! Actually I think we'll all be glad once the software prizes are shipped and we can all move on with the rest of our lives. Mike - I agree with your concerns and we're getting the lawyers to advise on the privacy issues (if there are any). Jon and Max - drop me an emailAnonymous
March 01, 2007
Will the winners be recieving full retail copies of Vista and Office or are they OEM? Many thanksAnonymous
March 01, 2007
I won Vista!! Woohoo!! Just wanted to say thanks to Ian and to whoever at MS who was generous enough to offer so many prizes!Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Received my notification for Vista! Appears I may have guessed the wrong answer for Office! Yay, can't wait for the DVD to arrive Thanks everyoneAnonymous
March 01, 2007
Hi Ian What a thankless task you have been given. I was lucky enough to win Vista, but even if I hadn't, I hope that I would have realised that this being a competition it involves winners & losers so if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same... Time to get over it people. Thanks Ian (& BillG, apologies to RK)Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Peter with all due respect, most people here are annoyed about the fact that because of the email being sent selectively based on an option, they have no idea if they have won or lost. Not because they have actually lost.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Yes i got my email through for office !! anyone fancy swapping it for a copy of windows vista ?Anonymous
March 01, 2007
Yes i got my email through for office !! anyone fancy swapping it for a copy of windows vista ?Anonymous
March 01, 2007
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March 01, 2007
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March 01, 2007
I wished for Vista, but I won office... mmmm, but it still free, so no compliant, thanks guys.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
sonns1 said: Received my email Vista on way.really pleased but..kinda hoped for office....got new computer with vista prem on and that would do me fine for now...so Ben Thompson if you read this and still want a swap..let me know..and we can sort something... Please get in touch via matt21884145@Aol.com if you wanan swap MattAnonymous
March 01, 2007
Matt did you get your office swapped...see my posts above...Anonymous
March 01, 2007
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March 01, 2007
Fantastic! Really pleasently surprised to get an email saying I have won a copy of vista. Just wanted to check my address is correct. In the mail it only says my road and postcode, the building is not listed. Is this because it has been missed off in error? Just want to make sure i get my copy. Thankyou ThankyouAnonymous
March 01, 2007
David - please send me an email with your full address. General comment: I feel the need to check in and check out with you folks at the moment....so be aware I'm off air again from now until Monday, so no comments will appear on the blog. I'll provide further updates next week, hope you all have a good weekend.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
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March 01, 2007
It seems like the comments are an even mix from both winners and whiners. I'm glad to be a winner, but I'm certainly not whining that I didn't win office - my own fault for a) not reading the question properly and b) rushing to get my entry in before the hordes of others. I can quite understand why most competitions include 'Correspondence will not be entered into' and 'the judges decision is final' in the rules.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
I have managed a swap for when it arrives dude plenty of people wanting to swap tho so keep trying good luck mattAnonymous
March 01, 2007
Thanks to Ian and the MS team who organised and ran this launch event. I'm really impressed by what you've achieved, and am more inspired to start hacking away at my new vista (when I get it) with my copy of Visual Studio 2005, which is an awesome IDE indeed. Keep up the great work, and I hope you run more competitions for developers like this one in the future.Anonymous
March 01, 2007
I entered very early too without any emailAnonymous
March 02, 2007
Ian, can you confirm something for me regarding the T&Cs (I'm not complaining, just want to understand). :) Someone enters both competitions, Vista and Office, and got the Vista question correct and was one of the first 1000 valid entries, but got the Office question wrong. If he later realised this and changed his Office answer (making no changes to the Vista answer), would him re-submitting his entry either a.) invalidate his entry as he'd entered more than once, or b.) change the timestamp on his Vista entry too? ThanksAnonymous
March 02, 2007
I just checked my settings and email was set to do not contact :( could you check for me please - i entered at 5.45 also. davidoff86 [at] live.com thanksAnonymous
March 03, 2007
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March 04, 2007
Ian, Many thanks for the email, and an even bigger thanks to you and Microsoft. Office 2007. Yay can't waitAnonymous
March 04, 2007
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March 04, 2007
Thanks for organising this Ian, I know with some of the comments it may seem like people are a bit ungrateful but we do appreciate your work. I've not seen a competition organised with so much feedback before. Many thanks and keep up the good work!Anonymous
March 04, 2007
Thanks Ian C, appreciatedAnonymous
March 04, 2007
Very pleased to receive my email. Many thanks to Ian and Microsoft.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
well only a week to go now! lests hope and see what comes.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
AdamD - just FYI, the last time I had info on the shipping date I was told "current estimate is for shipping to commence week commencing 12th March". As a person practised to reading between lines there are three things that occur to me when hearing this:
- We haven't committed to this, it's just a best estimate at the moment. If I get any kind of confirmation I'll let you know but the date may change. Just offering this as fair warning
- "Week commencing" could mean any time that week. Again I don't have any more info than that but if I was a betting man I wouldn't bet on the 12th
- Even if it does happen during that week, the actual vagaries of posting date vs delivery date etc could bump the actual delivery to you into the following week. Of course, we’re all very keen to get these to you absolutely asap so don’t form the view that people are sitting around letting time drift by :-) If I've missed a couple of questions from further up the 170 comments on this blog posting let me know and I'll answer if I can (small disclaimer: I can't always respond to all questions).
Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Is there any news about the winners list, or re-sending emails to the winners?Anonymous
March 05, 2007
I've been out of the office for a couple of days, trying to find out the state of play. Will update when I have news either way.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Thanks for that ian. Thats what i mean. A week to go before the sipping week.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Hi Ian, Any chance you could answer my question (posted Saturday) regarding resubmission of entries. The question originates around whether changing an answer for one question (Office) but not changing an answer for the other (Vista) and whether doing so would: a.) void both entries (even the one you never changed), b.) void just the one you changed, c.) accept the change and update the timestamp for the changed answer d.) accept the change and update the timestamp for both answers, even though one hasn't actually changed I'm just wondering where people stand as if you had your email prefences set to 'no contact' and did the above, you have no idea whether you're eligable or not. Just after what the official decision was, rather than complaining about it. Afterall - referee's decision is final and all that. ;)Anonymous
March 05, 2007
David - I'm not able to comment on this unfortunately because to do so would be to be an interpretation of the terms and conditions. However we will be posting the T&Cs back up so that you can take a look yourself. Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult even if it may appear that way...Anonymous
March 05, 2007
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March 05, 2007
Don't think you've answered this, it maybe that you don't know but I'll ask again. Will we recieve retail boxed copies of the software? many thanksAnonymous
March 05, 2007
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March 05, 2007
Hinesh - it will be boxed but it will be a specially branded pack for launch Aliahmed - I have asked the 32/64 bit question but have not had an answer...so I actually don't know. I may be getting a sample, if so I'll let you know.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
To all you people who want to know if they've won before they otherwise go out and purchase Office/Vista: Office - download the fully working time-limited trial version from the MS Office site. Then if you do win, when you get your prize just enter the product key to "convert" it to the non-trial version, if you don't win, go out and buy it and do the same. Vista - if you've got access to a Vista DVD (friend's, work etc), install this, don't enter a product key or activate it and select "Ultimate Edition" for the install type. Then when you win, you can activate it with the product code, or if you're not a winner, buy it and do the same. And yes, this is totally legitimate.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Quick question about the shipping address for the winning copies - the one it had for me in the e-mail notification wasn't quite right, so I corrected it in my profile. Will they be using the current address in your profile, or the one that was there when they announced the winners? Thanks!Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Ralph - please send me the correct address and I'll make sure the relevant team gets it.Anonymous
March 05, 2007
Well I won a copy of Office and I am very happy. I must say though that even if I didn't hear anything I would not be making such a big fuss about it. Thanks to Microsoft for organising the competition and I hope all the whinging will not put you off running other competitions in the future. I am looking forward to receiving my copy of Office (as long as it arrives before my trial version runs out at the end of March. Many thanks againAnonymous
March 05, 2007
Are you going to resend emails to all of the people who are in the dark because of their profile options or not?Anonymous
March 05, 2007
As for whether we'll get Vista x64 or Vista x86 or even both, I reckon it will just be x86 - I can't see MS sending both, as that would involve sending 2 licences, 50% of which would appear on e-bay the next day. And if they just sent x64, lots of people wouldn't even be able to run it. So my money's on it being just the x86 version, though I'll be glad if I'm proved wrong!Anonymous
March 06, 2007
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March 06, 2007
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March 06, 2007
Ok folks, I'm out of office again until Thursday (it's the day job, rather than my competition/blog job). So as usual comments on the blog will be suspended until then. I live in hope that I'll have positive news re posting the prizes and publishing the winner list by then, but don't hold me to that....Anonymous
March 06, 2007
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March 08, 2007
As long as it's not OEM then I don't care what packaging it arrives in :)Anonymous
March 12, 2007
is it not very risky to be sending it by first class mail ???Anonymous
April 17, 2007
Does anyone want to swap there copy of Vista for my Office which arrived yesterday. Email me at markbrown83@ecosse.net or click my name above. Thanks MarkAnonymous
May 11, 2007
I am also wanting to swap my copy of Office I won for Vista. Just found out I can get Office through home user program, so the Office I won is just sitting here. If any one has any info please email me at: killaspeed@yahoo.com Thanks