From: "Geo." 

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in
message news:4597ea8e{at}w3.nls.net...

> The giveaway, which started last week, has sparked a debate among tech
> bloggers as to the motive for handing out the top-of-the-line Acer Ferrari
> laptops, valued at more than $2,200. While some called it a bribe, others
> believed it was OK to receive the expensive gift, as long as the blogger
> disclosed receiving it.

Microsoft used to send me MSDN universal for free, never affected my
opinion of them or their products but it did give me a good legal way to
try all their stuff. I think it's a great idea. The bad thing is there is
no variety in the systems they are using (I'm assuming they all got the
same setup) so you don't get a feel for much range of hardware issues.

> "Microsoft sent out machines loaded with Windows Vista to bloggers to
> encourage them to experience the product and to solicit their valuable
> feedback,

Heh, invite them here if they want help working out some of the kinks.
Seriously, I would love to have a bunch of folks all testing Vista to
compare results with, help each other work around issues and such. Give
them all a chance to give vista a real workout before reporting on their
findings.

Geo.

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