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Microsoft Office Live Workspace  (Source: Microsoft)
$100,000, Xbox 360s and Zunes "Oh My!"

When it comes to beta testing, Microsoft rarely has any trouble getting enough people to use its software day-to-day and point out any glaring issues or bugs. In recent years, Microsoft received a tremendous response to test versions of its Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008 and Office 2007 software.

Testers weren't paid for their time but those who filled out at least one bug report for Vista did receive a free downloadable copy of Vista Ultimate.

Microsoft is now giving more than a few incentives to those that test its new Office Live Workspace online service. Microsoft is looking to do battle with the free Google Docs service which allows users to create, edit and share documents online.

Microsoft's alternative allows users to share Microsoft Office documents online, however, files can only be edited and created within offline versions of Office -- this puts Microsoft's solution at a huge disadvantage to Google Docs.

Despite this disadvantage, Microsoft is hoping that cash and prizes will entice users to try out the Office Live Workspace Beta. The grand prize for those that sign up for the service is $100,000 in cash. The software giant will also use the billions of dollars in revenue that it received from software sales last year to distribute over 30,000 prizes.

Prizes will include 300 Xbox 360 Elite game consoles, 500 Samsung BlackJack II smartphones, 200 30GB Zune MP3 players, 1,000 copies of Office Professional 2007 and 300 Ergonomic Desktop 7000 keyboards.

The sweepstakes is open now to anyone and will officially end in 66 days. It's free to sign up for the service so you have nothing to lose by joining – and you can score a few nice gifts if you’re lucky.

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Why not
By webdawg77 on 3/6/2008 1:41:22 PM , Rating: 2
I guess this is why I still keep a hotmail account. It doesn't hurt anything to enter :). Now I'll just have to remember to check the account every other day or so.




RE: Why not
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/6/2008 2:24:15 PM , Rating: 2
You just need a passport to do it. Mine is linked to a gmail account. I signed up, will give it a crack just for kicks. So far I like the way it ties into Office 2007.


RE: Why not
By webdawg77 on 3/6/2008 2:28:49 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I thought about that. But, you can't tell me that Microsoft won't be looking at the passports with gmail addresses and then throwing those out of the drawings ;).


RE: Why not
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/6/2008 4:11:39 PM , Rating: 2
Not necessarily. I've a long list of Microsoft certs attached to my passport, as well as a regular participant in many beta programs. so far they haven't thrown me to the curb but who knows :P


Ineligibility
By Adsman on 3/6/2008 4:27:03 PM , Rating: 2
It seems all those outside the US are Ineligible for any kind of prize.

I signed up two days ago and have been using the service to help plan an event so the possibility of winning a prize is secondary to me. It just seems a pity that Microsoft wouldn't prize the bug-spotting skills of those outside the US (see what I did there)

Anyway, no hard feelings the service itself is actually pretty good, hooks in really well with Office 2007 (which I am very happy using, despite years of using Office 2003), and is generally both prettier and easier to use that google docs IMHO.

Now if they could combine it with a decent online calendar app like Google Calendar I would likely be hooked.




RE: Ineligibility
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/6/2008 5:18:26 PM , Rating: 2
It has something to do with international laws rather than not valuing the international community.


RE: Ineligibility
By Adsman on 3/6/2008 6:02:48 PM , Rating: 3
Oh, thanks for that :)

I was taking a pretty open-minded stance on it. Seems also that there is a huge amount of hassle for many US companies to send items overseas, including the cost, so it is understandable.

Still a sweet deal for those who can get in on it.
Enjoy it!


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