a simple question

[Guest]

As a big time beta tester of many thing (games,programs and such )Iwas
woundering in microsoft is going to give the beta testers a free version of
vista when it releases to public.Yes I no all about the disclamer and stuff
but if you think of it they got us the public doing what they should be doing
on there own.With some of us we spend hrs daily putting the program through
the ringer and report any bugs we find so they can fix it .so wouldnt it be
fair that we at least get a free copy when it comes out .I have been a beta
tester for many things since 1997 and at the end most if not all of the
testers get a copy of what they where testing .I am not trying to start a
argument but dont you think thats a fair deal for all of the work we do and
chances we take with are computers that the program wont kill or damage your
testing unit???

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

All beta testing is voluntary, if you expect compensation then you are doing
it for the wrong reason. A company that allows outside testers is giving you
a free preview of the product in exchange for your feedback. When the test
groups were small and confined years ago, a free copy was a nice bonus, but
that was yesterday. Todays betas are huge undertakings with thousands of
people involved. I don't expect that Microsoft will be giving away a free
copy of Vista to any technical beta tester (and certainly not the public)
any more than I expected Symantec to give away a copy of NIS2007 when I
tested that (not that I would have taken it even if offered).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Beck]

As a big time beta tester of many thing (games,programs and such )Iwas
woundering in microsoft is going to give the beta testers a free version
of
vista when it releases to public.Yes I no all about the disclamer and
stuff
but if you think of it they got us the public doing what they should be
doing
on there own.With some of us we spend hrs daily putting the program
through
the ringer and report any bugs we find so they can fix it .so wouldnt it
be
fair that we at least get a free copy when it comes out .I have been a
beta
tester for many things since 1997 and at the end most if not all of the
testers get a copy of what they where testing .I am not trying to start a
argument but dont you think thats a fair deal for all of the work we do
and
chances we take with are computers that the program wont kill or damage
your
testing unit???

I doubt very much they would give free copies out.
What would be nice is if we got a rebate from the retail version. Like a
certain percentage off whatever version we wanted.

 

[Alias~-]

I doubt very much they would give free copies out.
What would be nice is if we got a rebate from the retail version. Like
a certain percentage off whatever version we wanted.

MS sure has a good scam going here, thousands of testers working for
them for free. The least they should do is give you a free copy of
HastaLaVista.

Alias

 

[Robert Firth]

Assuming there are 2 million CPP participants (more, isn't there?), if
Microsoft gave each member of the CPP a copy of Vista Ultimate they would
lose 2,000,000 X $400 (full editions) or 2,000,000 X $250 (upgrade). That is
between $0.5 to $0.8 BILLION in operating systems they would be giving away
for free.

30,000 technical beta participants X $250 or X $400 is only $7.5 milion to
$12 million in operating systems.

Obviously they wouldn't have to give away the ultimate edition, but if they
didn't people would still complain.

Robert Firth
http://www.winvistainfo.org

 

[Alias~-]

Assuming there are 2 million CPP participants (more, isn't there?), if
Microsoft gave each member of the CPP a copy of Vista Ultimate they
would lose 2,000,000 X $400 (full editions) or 2,000,000 X $250
(upgrade). That is between $0.5 to $0.8 BILLION in operating systems
they would be giving away for free.

versus how much the beta testing would cost without the free work force
would be the real loss/gain figure and I bet that one would be "gain"
for MS even if they gave a Super Deeluxe Boxed Ultimate virtually signed
by Bill Himself.

Alias