xfile said:
Hi,
Let me try this:
I think most people are disappointed because the emphasis was on the
"bug report" instead of the type of program, and MS should be
responsible for this mistake and confusion.
What emphasis? The private letter sent to the qualifying member of
the Technical Beta Program made it quite clear that the offer was only
to certain persons on a certain program.
This whole issue has been caused by persons who should have known
better shouting about a gift being given to them.
There was never a public Microsoft announcement about this gift nor
did there need to be - it had been communicated to the relevant
individuals in a private manner. So Microsoft are not responsible for
any mistakes or causing confusion as this gift was only offered to
person by a person mail.
Many people didn't know beta program or knew the difference between
the two (they might know now but it's too late), so they joined CPP
and did what they thought was right to help the company.
People joined the CPP - the Customer Preview Program to gain access to
pre-release builds of a product for trail and testing purposes. While
the software had the capability to report bugs that was never the
intention of that particular program, hence the reason that the CPP
did not get access to he private technical beta support newsgroups (as
CPP does not get any support) and why if you did report a bug you
received a message about you not being able to follow-up and engage on
this bug via Connect.
The CPP was clearly a Preview Program. Anyone who wanted to formally
Beta test the product would have understood this and would have also
been able to find the appropriate routes to apply to be invited to
partake in formal beta testing etc.
Now this announcement came out
NO - they was no formal Microsoft announcement - this was a private
e-mail to the qualifing particpants.
and the focus was on the "one bug report",
Again wrong - the actual wording in the e-mail was more detailed then
that.
so understandably, some are very disappointed, plus those who can
get the free copy have been putting extra heat on why CPP members
"should not" get a free copy.
Frankly those in the Technical Beta program should be expected to act
in a little more professional manner then putting heat on others - but
it is fair to allow them to try and explain the situation to those
that feel aggrieved about this matter.
Personally, I think this is solely a mismanaged PR event,
It is not a PR event - it was a private mail that had no reason to
stay anything but private. It is related to the Technical Beta
Program only and has nothing to do with the CPP or any other programm.
and although I have no interest in getting a free copy nor did I
file any bug report (I stopped doing this since the company started
treating users as potential thieves but this is another story), but
IMHO, it should give some kind of reward for thanking those who did
provide bug reports through CPP program.
Do you always expect something when you do voluntary work? Of course
not that is the point. If you chose to submit a bug under a preview
program where there has never been any inference that a reward would
be offered then you did so not expecting one.
Since they have so many marketing experts, it should be very easy
for them to figure out what kind of reward and based on what type of
criterions would be justified.
There you are agian - expecting a reward from a program that was a
preview and not a formal beta program.
If they can do that, it would help them to turn a bunch of unhappy
potential customers to happy customers and even help them to join
future beta programs. But it is the company's call.
However, I'd encourage people not to join CPP nor beta testing
programs (except downloading free released version for preview and
testing) unless this company and other LARGE companies provided
enough incentives for you to do so.
No - that is the point - you choose to participate on the
understanding that this is voluntary. Why do you expect "payment"?
There are many (more then can be accommodated on a technical beta
program) people out there who do want to work on betas, helping shape
technologies and gain early experience and gladly do it without any
expectation of gifts as they truly understand the value of the testing
they are doing for both the software vendor and themselves - that is
reward enough for many.
If you want to get paid for testing then get a job as an internal test
engineer in one of the development groups.
In the case of this company - please remember that it's the LARGEST
software company in the world with billions of dollars in cash and
countless talents and won't cut a dime off its selling price plus
all kinds of restrictions to using its products, why would any
reasonable consumer want to provide FREE labor and knowledge for
improving its products for its OWN benefits and profits?
Because they see the benefits to them as a customer of particpating in
a Tech Beta, TAP, JDP or other program
Just because it has said something nice to you - such as you're an
"enthusiast"? One should be smarter than that.
Consumer (enthusiast or not) should send them a clear message -
nothing is free and that includes the bug report for every
application installed in our system.
Indeed - your on a tech beta and report bugs and do lots of other work
and you get in return access to technology years before release to
allow you to develop your skills, your software products or your
companies ability to utilise these technologies for business benefit.
You want to know what's going on, you are going to pay for it.
Not at all.
If you don't ask our permission for sending system information back
to your home (that is WGA N or the calling-home feature), you're not
going to get our permission for sending bug reports to you. Go
ahead, develop your applications in the dark room and let other
vendors could catch up.
We are living in the market economy where it's the buyer makes the
call - don't be like a slave for the giant. Or at the end of the
day, they got nothing to loss and we got everything to loss.
Good luck.
