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Hey qniknam, I just throught of something, you went ot the launch party, right? If you did, and you got that coupon to get a free copy of Office 2003, maybe they just bunched the two together and that's why you got the full version and no one else seems to have. That looks like the only likely answer as to why you did, and others who did a ton of bug reporting and sitting on the phone with tech support, didn't.

:angry: :no: :angry: :no:

Every single beta I have been in I got a free full version:

All Windows Since 95 except sever versions.

All Office since Office 2000

MapPoint 2002

MSN 8 to current including free time

Direct X (Get the full SDK CD)

:angry: :no: :angry: :no: :angry: :no: :angry: :no:

I'm a 5xxxx tester. A newbie if you will. But I tried hard to get as many useful bug reports in as I possibly could. Ok, so I wasn't putting in 20+ a week. Perhaps numbers like that comes with the experience of an old hat like some here clearly are :p

But I think that I contributed some useful, productive and fruitful bugs that helped in my own small way in making the release just that tiny bit better. I think that I can say that from the feedback I got from the beta team too.

With 2000 SP4 I was beta tester of the week once, and was most surprised when an express shipped 'self raising' calculator arrived directly from Redmond. At the end of the program we all got certificates and a letter thanking us for our efforts. Now, the SP beta was much more personal than the Office one was, simply because of the numbers of testers involved in the Office beta. But the letter and certificate was nice, would be nice from the Office team as well.

Like a lot of people here, I can't afford to purchase Office 2003, I'm not going to warez it either. I'm still using Office 2000. I wasn't expecting to get a full version, and so obviously am not disapointed that Office Professional hasn't landed on my door step.

Still haven't had anything land on my door setp though :( :cry:

I didn't even know testers got gifts when I signed up for the office beta. I think that radio looks pretty cool, and I would use it a whole lot on my long walks to university every day. But is it something Microsoft manufactured? If so, is it possible it has the SPOT technology or whatever it's called? And if it's not made by MS, can somebody tell me the brand so I can do a little bit of reading about it...I love freebies.

And as for not getting office 2k3 for free...I might be wrong, but for my beta 2 refresh copy of OneNote when I installed it the other day it said some file was from the pre-release version and downloaded the latest version of the file. Maybe that made me get a full copy. Who knows, I'll wait until the 30th.

Their beta 2 release was fairly stable anyhow, so don't be all cranky - we all got a good 6 months usage out of a great suite.

I would have been quite satisfied if MS just sent out a coupon fo a certain amount of money off for when you purchase the full product, or perhaps a trial copy of the final product to see if the hard work of some paid off.

Couldnt give a rats ass about gifts, but if MS is going to do it they could at least do something that would be more related to the product at hand.

I dont know, Im not ****ed bout not getting anything, but I am ****ed that if MS is going to give a gift out that they do it so half assed. For god sakes give us a free trial copy to see how the hard work of the testers evolved from beta 1 to final. God knows I cant afford to go out and purchase the full version at this time

They should at least do what they have done in the Windows betas in the past and let us download the ISO's for the software and go to a secure site to get a Key that is assaigned to us via our beta ID's.

I think it was a mistake to ship the full retail version of Professional and Frontpage last time. The upgrade versions should be more than adequate. Next time I think at beta start they need to sort out 2 things: Who has Broadband and who owns a previous version of office. This way they can do ISO downloads for the broadbanders (2 Sites Full and Upgrade) and Mail the CD's to those who don't (Full or Upgrade).

Microsoft MVP get a Full Version + Office 2003 jacket & More. Those who went to the launch are getting the full version.

Before MS shut down the last two newsgroups some of the beta tester send email to office beta team asking if the tester will get full version and they were told NO BETA TESTER will get the full version

all the people being upset over that supposed radio just show their freeloader mentalities. and dont give me a "i've been testers for years" muppet show. you're an official beta tester, be thankful for that. fine, i don't get a full copy of o2k3, so what? no big deal, though it seems to be one for a bunch of you.

heck i am happy enough with the beta disc's and all the beta testing materials that i have gotten from them. I still have yet to get a gift in the mail like the rest of you (i did beta 1, 2, refresh) Well only time will tell. Thank you MS for letting me help you with your products. and that is what we all should say

heck i am happy enough with the beta disc's and all the beta testing materials that i have gotten from them. I still have yet to get a gift in the mail like the rest of you (i did beta 1, 2, refresh) Well only time will tell. Thank you MS for letting me help you with your products. and that is what we all should say

lol

And this is why MS is having problems find quality beta testers.

I have been beta testing since 1988 for MS, and when I started they threw stuff at us, everything they could find, new code, t-shirts, toys, and made it more then worth our time, then they start charging us for the shirts, it wasn't to bad, (39.95 for a Golf type shirt), but change was in the wind. Now we are luckily to get 180 day eval copies, and a lot of we need better beta reports.

I talk some of the beta guys/gals at MS regularly and they say the new managers are the ones that made the changes, that the 'glory' of having MS beta ID is more valuable then getting final code for testing. To bad they have not put one to one together yet. I not saying it would solve all the problems, but it was nice to get some compensation for all the hard work you would put in. I can remember the days of targeting XXX number of bugs a day, or finding XXX problems a day, now if they happen, and it's during my 'beta time' i will file a report, otherwise, skip and move on. MS is only hurting them selves even more. Adding to this even more is the point is you don't hear anything about the beta tester law suit against MS and several other company's violating labor laws.

Is it to much to ask that beta testers going to do the work they get paid for it? MS still has professional Beta testers, that are full paid and get the products, some are just asking for minor compensation for they work.

I guess MS will only learn after they do what IBM did to it's beta testers.

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