How to cost microsoft money....

  • Thread starter Thread starter skylineGTR_guy
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skylineGTR_guy

skylineGTR_guy

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I found this on another site, freaking hillarious!

Microsoft has a form on their website that you can fill out to get a copy of Windows XP SP2 on CD at no charge (with free shipping by Purolator).

I ordered one.

Then, at the Order Confirmation screen, I clicked Back, then Refresh, then Retry (since the form had to be posted again). I did this 149 times.

I got 150 order-confirmation emails.

At this point, I figured the monkey sticking the labels on the envelopes would get really familiar with my name and start asking questions, or that they would get wise and send me a box of 150 of them.

So you can imagine my surprise when I get a call from Purolator saying "we have two huge bags of envelopes here for you, please come pick them up at the depot on Grant Timmins Drive".

So I go pick them up this afternoon, and the poor counterperson has to scan every single one of them. After they were all opened and put into one bag, here's what it looked like:
bag.jpg

envelope.jpg

stacks.jpg

cd.jpg


They were even nice enough to thank me for my order over and over again! Which is amusing, since considering the cost of the CD ($1), envelope ($1), and shipping by Purolator ($5 with a huge volume agreement?), this cost Microsoft...

Drum roll, please...

$1,050.

Does anyone dare me to put in 3,000 orders?

[ Note: If the images above aren't loading, check out http://www.alexburke.ca/sp2/ ]
 
Wow, Microsoft must be crushed.

The CD probably costs closer to 15 cents, the envelope probably 20 cents and the shipping probably a dollar.

No way did this cost Microsoft $1000.
 
cardude2004
You crook. You're terrible. There even shipped from Ontario, which cost them more. Don't you feel any guilt or anything??
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#1 it wasnt me
#2 the guy lives in canada
#3 its microsoft, its not like they are going to go bankrupt....
 
Who cares if they are rich, they were dishonest and were stealing from Microsoft. A crime is a crime, no matter how big it was. Would you like somebody ordering 100 free CD's from your company, rich or not, NO.
 
How is it stealing?

I think it's cool that this guy spent all this time doing this, though. I wish I could spread out 150 SP2 manuals on my desk like that.
 
I think it's freaking histaricle. But Klos is right, it's not really that much money. I would have more fun ordering them individually. Keep some poor shmuck employed fill out all the orders. Have one delivered to all your friends, and everyone in your neighborhood, and people you don't like, and any address you can think of. Just send in all the requests you have time for.
 
SP2 CD Order Form

Eventual error message:

We are unable to process your order at this time

Microsoft limits the quantity of Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD-ROMs that may be ordered by a single customer to 5 CD-ROMs. Please note that 1 CD can be installed on several computers running Windows XP, and can be shared with others. Accordingly, you may not order more than the 5 CD-ROMs limit.

If you are a business or other institution looking for multiple Service Pack 2 CDs to distribute, please contact your local Microsoft representative or account manager for more information.
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cardude2004
Who cares if they are rich, they were dishonest and were stealing from Microsoft. A crime is a crime, no matter how big it was. Would you like somebody ordering 100 free CD's from your company, rich or not, NO.
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you just said "steal" and "free cd's" in the same sentence....

Either way, the guy owns a computer hardware store and is giving them away to customers who need it.

:lol: @ LM
 
Just curious to those saying it's stealing. Bill Gates has more money than he could count in his remaining years on earth. He has a mansion that totals something like 18,000 square feet. That's 6-10 times the average home size. He has an indoor basketball court, olympic pool, and bowling alley. He also added 10,000 square feet to the house when his wife was expecting their second child. I doubt you can truly call it stealing, if he'll never notice. And, I do mean never.
 
I'd like to point out again that this is PENNIES. Even to a small company it would have little effect. And it's not stealing. They've got the system setup so that we can do this. It's intentional. Microsoft know that some locations need multiple disks. I have sixty five computers here that need the patch. Some places have thousands of computers. College campuses, major corporations, government facilities ... yeah you could do it with one disk, or even just downloading the stupid patch, but it's really nice to have a CD. And stamped CDs are so much nicer than burning your own. And having a stack of them makes it easy to say to anyone who asks "Yeah just swing by my office and pick one up".

There's no theft here. There's no damage to Microsoft. They've set it up like this on purpose.

Now, when the number of shipped SP2 CDs exceeds the number of Windows XP licenses ... I'll laugh my ass off.
 
I was gonna order a bunch but im too lazy to type everything over and over, I have 2 on the way. If i get realy bored ill see how many i can get :dopey:
 
I have 3 on the way. :D

All you have to do when you get to the confirmation page is hit back, click "OK" to resend the POST data, and you'll get another.
 
It is stealing because it's dishonesty. Nobody ever need 150+ XP SP2 CD's. Even if you are taking them from the richest person, in the world, even if the person is poor. It is stealing. It cost them money to manufacture the CD, box the CD, and ship the CD. They don't expect one person to order 150 of them, they expect you to order 1 CD per XP operating system you have in your home or business. Just think. If half the people in America, 150 million people, would order 150 of them and the total of cost of those 150 CD's was the $1000 dollars listed above. That would cost them $150000000000. They might be free CD's to you, but they have a cost to them to the company.
 
What do you mean? The CD's are free, and they are being used. It's like stealing ketchup packets--the packets cost someone money to make, but they are free, damnit!

Now software piracy, that's stealing. But this--no. If Microsoft wanted to stop it, they could just verify the CD key.
 
Actually, I guess you could say neither item was free. You payed for the ketchup packet as part of your meal. They say it was free but really they include the price of it in your meal, and Microsoft has to make up for everybody's overorder dumbness on their products, so they raise their prices, so the product isn't free. It is stealing because you took more than you ever needed, or would need.
 
It is not stealing, because it's perfectly legal. We paid for Windows XP, so now we can get our sp2 CDs.
 
I think the figure is grossly inflated, do you honestly thinka cd costs $1? try 5 cents and if microsoft really gave a rats ass about it, they would have only sent 1 or implemented a system to prevent it.
 
cardude2004
It is stealing because it's dishonesty. Nobody ever need 150+ XP SP2 CD's. Even if you are taking them from the richest person, in the world, even if the person is poor. It is stealing. It cost them money to manufacture the CD, box the CD, and ship the CD. They don't expect one person to order 150 of them, they expect you to order 1 CD per XP operating system you have in your home or business. Just think. If half the people in America, 150 million people, would order 150 of them and the total of cost of those 150 CD's was the $1000 dollars listed above. That would cost them $150000000000. They might be free CD's to you, but they have a cost to them to the company.
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Your logic is flawed. Stop making a fool of yourself.
 
Eh, the funny part is, it's the end time user that's paying for them.

Every one XP Cd they sell pays for many, many of these. Since the XP CDs cost just as little to make, the 150 CDs he 'stole' he most likely payed for himself.

The circle of life. :)
 
Burnout
Eh, the funny part is, it's the end time user that's paying for them.

Every one XP Cd they sell pays for many, many of these. Since the XP CDs cost just as little to make, the 150 CDs he 'stole' he most likely payed for himself.

The circle of life. :)
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Which is precisely why we should each request a minimum of 1000 CDs. I'm telling you, when it's reported on CNN that Microsoft has shipped more XP SP2 CDs than the number of XP licenses they've sold, the world will fall down on their knees, ball up in the fetal possition, and laugh until they can not breath.
 
LoudMusic
Which is precisely why we should each request a minimum of 1000 CDs. I'm telling you, when it's reported on CNN that Microsoft has shipped more XP SP2 CDs than the number of XP licenses they've sold, the world will fall down on their knees, ball up in the fetal possition, and laugh until they can not breath.
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If some programer wants to make a nice little program that will request 1000Cds, I'm all for it. Otherwise, that'd take for farkin' ever!
 
You don't have to do it all at once. Just click "Back" and then "Submit" a few times periodically. You wouldn't want to strain your clicker finger (:
 

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