Microsoft reaches limit on Vista, Office giveaway

[L3thal Veteran]

I received an email stating the labs/webcasts I had completed and when I logged in, it told me I should be receiving it within 6-8 weeks after RTM.

Talking about RTM, didn't it RTM yesterday (the Pro edition)?

[Crazysah]

DAMN! Missed this. I would have watched it.

[nosracnoj]

I received an email stating the labs/webcasts I had completed and when I logged in, it told me I should be receiving it within 6-8 weeks after RTM.

"Congratulations! You?ve completed the number of Webcasts or vLabs required to receive a free, fully-licensed copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2007. Once we?ve confirmed that you meet the eligibility requirements stated in the offer details below we will ship your gift within 6-8 weeks of the release to manufacturing of Microsoft Office Professional 2007. While you?re waiting, why not check out additional Webcasts of vLabs to further your skills? "

is this the confimation you're talking about? it still says that they need to confirm eligibility....

[someguy03]

When Vista be "released for manufacturing" ? It says it won't be shipped out until after then

[+Warwagon MVC]

When Vista be "released for manufacturing" ? It says it won't be shipped out until after then

They said RTM and didn't it RTM 2 week ago

So if you only got 1 of the 2 then you don't have to pay any taxes on it?

Edited December 2, 2006 by warwagon

[nosracnoj]

So if you only got 1 of the 2 then you don't have to pay any taxes on it?

that's right.

[anguilla1980]

I did both and I'm more than happy to pay the sales tax on them. I've already watched about 5 webcasts for each of them. You should actually choose ones you want to learn from and not just fast-forward.

I'm not a software developer but I do allot of testing for my company for app compat for our clients before we suggest an upgrade for them. We are much too small to afford an MSDN account, maybe next year, and this was perfect! Now I can test anything I want before installing it and being screwed on something critical...

[Graimer]

well well. remember guys, those of you who was just gonna use it for personal reasons and not just to work-related stuff; media center ain't included(if im not totally wrong). the best for home users must be home premium or ultimate. got enough licenses personally so i don't care, but the office 2007 professional was kinda nice(for home-end users too).. even though microsoft used ..what.. 5-6billion dollars on creating vista, they still suprise me more and more by giving out multiple thousands copies of vista bizz and office and giving vista ultimate(which is 5 times the price of xp pro or something) to connect testers.

Go Microsoft, remember to revard testers and be generous.. we love it :D

[Southern Patriot]

I think some people here are getting confused about the tax issue with getting both Vista and Office. It is NOT sales tax you will be paying on them! You will have to file these on your income tax return, which is why Microsoft has you fill out a W-9 form. They will be sending you a form to file along with your income tax return. I'm not positive if they will be sending out the tax forms at the end of this year (when you qualified for the gifts) or next year (when most people will actually be getting them), so depending on how they look at it, you will either file them with your 2006 taxes or possibly your 2007 taxes. These will be considered "gift income", and taxed accordingly. If I'm not misreading the information HERE, then you won't be paying any taxes on this at all unless your TOTAL gift income for the year is over $12,000.

[xxdesmus]

^^ great info, thanks (Y) :yes:

[Prosidius]

If users want Ultimate they can do the anytime upgrade and it's cheaper that way. :)

[raskren]

It's sad a bunch of geeks took atvantage of this, keeping several small business people who really need to use it to test their software. Just glad the company I work for was big enough to get it from Microsoft through our Enterprise agreement. Hope the freeloaders enjoy it.

Cody

The offers were extended to everyone and "small business people" had the same opportunity as the "sad bunch of geeks".

Sounds like someone is jealous.

[neufuse Veteran]

I did both and I'm more than happy to pay the sales tax on them. I've already watched about 5 webcasts for each of them. You should actually choose ones you want to learn from and not just fast-forward.

I'm not a software developer but I do allot of testing for my company for app compat for our clients before we suggest an upgrade for them. We are much too small to afford an MSDN account, maybe next year, and this was perfect! Now I can test anything I want before installing it and being screwed on something critical...

it's not sales tax, its earned income tax because its a gift... thats at 25%... so it's more then sales tax

[Inplode]

Shipping Info Congratulations! You?ve completed the number of Webcasts required to receive a free, fully-licensed copy of Windows Vista Business. Once we?ve confirmed that you meet the eligibility requirements stated in the offer details below we will ship your gift within 6-8 weeks of the release to manufacturing of Windows Vista. While you?re waiting, why not check out additional Webcasts to further your skills?

got my email listing the webcast i watched as completed and logged in and see that

[Southern Patriot]

it's not sales tax, its earned income tax because its a gift... thats at 25%... so it's more then sales tax

Except, if you read my post above, gift taxes only start kicking in if you receive more than $12,000 in gifts during the tax year. I really doubt most people here (unless they just inherited an estate from a rich uncle or won the lottery, or something like that) are even going to have to pay a cent in taxes on this.

[Digitalx]

lucky vista by itself isn't being taxed i was worried now im good just need to wait for their site to see i've completed 4 and doing 5th soon and see that its done so i get confirm email.

[amrinders87]

I received an email stating the labs/webcasts I had completed and when I logged in, it told me I should be receiving it within 6-8 weeks after RTM.

Talking about RTM, didn't it RTM yesterday (the Pro edition)?

Oh ok, I got that too. Thanks. :)

[jwjw1]

you'll receive both after you 'sign' the W9 Form and send it back..which you will need your 'Employer' or your Tax Identification Number and SSN....also the person that started this Campaign stated on the Channel9 MSDN Blog that they should be shipped around the middle or end of January.

And quit getting all excited....Your not guaranteed to recieve anything.

[cyoung1616]

The offers were extended to everyone and "small business people" had the same opportunity as the "sad bunch of geeks".

Sounds like someone is jealous.

Not even close, my company has in it's possession Ultimate and Office. Being my boss and I install and test everything for our company we have 5 machines set up for testing. Having some issues with Eclipse and IE7 but other than that seems pretty cool. As for me I recieved Ultimate for being a beta tester and will install it to a seperate drive as soon as I get my RMA from Western Digital.

I just feel like several small business missed out because of people who don't deserve it.

Cody

[obsolete_power]

They were bound to reach a limit sometime...these aren;t exactly cheap software titles. Anyone would be nuts to ignore this gift. And sure enough, people are diving major to get these two!

[Digitalx]

even though its business edition this was aimed like they said at software developers and architects rather then actual small business

[xxdesmus]

I am sorry, but anyone who "missed out" on this or anyone whining about people getting this who shouldn't have...you know what? Enough with the whining.

Trust me, you had plenty of time to sign up for this. If you really cared you would have got it working. I worked my butt off reloading, refreshing, and dealing with time outs to get it working because it was important to me.

[dorimcheon]

I am sorry, but anyone who "missed out" on this or anyone whining about people getting this who shouldn't have...you know what? Enough with the whining.

Trust me, you had plenty of time to sign up for this. If you really cared you would have got it working. I worked my butt off reloading, refreshing, and dealing with time outs to get it working because it was important to me.

Me too. And I think I secured a copy of Vista and Office...

[Southern Patriot]

you'll receive both after you 'sign' the W9 Form and send it back..which you will need your 'Employer' or your Tax Identification Number and SSN....

First off, for most people, their Tax ID number IS their SSN, and that is all that you will need to supply on the W-9. The W-9 is only a the standard form used when a business needs your SSN for tax purposes (such as when you are recieving a large sum of money from them, or other valuable items). This is the same form you would fill out if you won a large prize on a radio station contest. Businesses use this form to get your SSN so they can report to the IRS that they transferred x amount of money or other compensation to you. The IRS will then expect you to report this as gift income on your taxes, as I explained earlier.

Want to see what it looks like? Here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

Pretty simple and straight forward.

also the person that started this Campaign stated on the Channel9 MSDN Blog that they should be shipped around the middle or end of January.

Which would be "6-8 weeks" from now, just as stated on the offer. It would possibly be a couple of weeks sooner, since it says 6-8 weeks from RTM, which was last month.

And quit getting all excited....Your not guaranteed to recieve anything.

If you signed up before the "sold out" banners went up, and met the requirements (US citizen, over 18, not employed by a Microsoft partner or MSDN subscriber or one yourself, and watched the required number of webcasts), then you will recieve the gifts. Where do you get this idea that you won't?

The Power Together Campaign consists of two (2) offers, the Windows Vista Business Offer and the Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Offer, and is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) 18 years of age or older. You are not eligible to receive these offers if you or your employer is a participant in the Microsoft Partner Program or the Microsoft Developer Network. To be eligible to receive Windows Vista Business, you must register at www.powertogether.com and participate in at least three (3) qualifying web casts and/or virtual lab sessions within 30 days of registration. To be eligible to receive Microsoft Office Professional 2007, you must register at www.powertogether.com and participate in at least three (3) qualifying web casts and/or virtual lab sessions within 30 days of registration. In order to register at www.powertogether.com, you may be asked to provide personal information including name, telephone, and address. All personal information gathered during registration will be subject to Microsoft?s privacy policy. Limit one gift per person per Offer. These offers are non-transferable. These offers expire on February 28, 2007, or while supplies last, and are not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient. If you are eligible for and register to receive both gifts, you must complete a W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) form prior to receipt of the second gift. Any gift returned as non-deliverable will not be re-sent. Please allow 6 - 8 weeks for shipment of your gift(s).

Edited December 3, 2006 by roadwarrior

[L3thal Veteran]

Nicely put, roadwarrior. You have to love the small print many people fail to read ;)