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"I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

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Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#51

Post by alvarosm »

All Microsoft contests are like that, just promotional. They choose the winner according to what they think will look better for Microsoft itself.

I participated in the Imagine Cup a few years ago when I was finishing college and our project was technically light-years ahead of the others. We got only the 3rd place. Two ridiculous web app-like gimmicks were 1st and 2nd. Oh and the guy in 5th place clearly deserved the 2nd place.

Even though I knew what it would be like beforehand, I have to admit I didn't anticipate getting screwed so badly. Our project was so cool there was no way it couldn't win, right? apparently not, Microsoft has no shame. It left a bitter aftertaste. On the other hand, I liked the 3rd place prize better than the 1st prize :)

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#52

Post by TomGullen »

alvarosm wrote: post #51

All Microsoft contests are like that, just promotional. They choose the winner according to what they think will look better for Microsoft itself. I participated in the Imagine Cup a few years ago when I was finishing college and our project was technically light-years ahead of the others. We got only the 3rd place. Two ridiculous web app-like gimmicks were 1st and 2nd. Oh and the guy in 5th place clearly deserved th…

How can we possibly sympathise with this? The OP is about a definitive injustice, no one could possibly comment on your case

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#53

Post by jcromartie »

rbanffy wrote: post #49

Actually, a much more realistic image of that specific Microsoft Store is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/112837958187789332975/alb...

I was confused as to why there was a picture of an Apple Store with the article... I always forget that there is such a thing as a Microsoft Store.

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#54

Post by onemoreact »

ugh wrote: post #43
stfu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. The idea is just asking for trouble - there will always be at least some dude who feels that he was treaded unfairly and reallies up the internets. Plus I am not sure how important the "speed" factor for most users really is. There are the fuzzy Apples, the Androids of freedom, the business berrys, but I am not sure if speed is an adequate positioning.

Emphasizing speed misses qualities people actually love about Windows Phone 7 by miles. Only someone who is disconnected from or unfamiliar with the product will come up with stuff like that. There is the stark and fresh design that (independently of whatever merits it might have) makes other mobile operating systems look old. There is the cohesiveness of the experience that even makes iOS look like it doesn’t know w…

Can you be more specific? I found Windows Phone 7 to be terrible as in worse than Android, iPhone, and Blackberry bad. The tile interface falls down vary quickly and the app store is a ghost town.

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#55

Post by sp332 »

stfu wrote: post #24
Lewisham wrote: post #20

Microsoft has a knack for choosing (and approving) the most boneheaded PR stints in the business... do they pay companies for this nonsense or do they just come up with it themselves? In a nutshell, the campaign is "Watch us humiliate you and the phone you are spending a lot of your hard-earned money on." Why would anyone think that making consumers feel bad is going to lead them to having the warm, fuzzy feelings ne…

Absolutely. The idea is just asking for trouble - there will always be at least some dude who feels that he was treaded unfairly and reallies up the internets. Plus I am not sure how important the "speed" factor for most users really is. There are the fuzzy Apples, the Androids of freedom, the business berrys, but I am not sure if speed is an adequate positioning.

The "speed" idea came from an older ad campaign which kindof made more sense. It basically said "get off your phone and spend more time with the people around you." So having a quick phone was positioned as a way to be more engaged in life.

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#56

Post by ilamont »

bobbles wrote: post #32

This reddit discussion has many people coming forward that 'won' and then didn't get anything for it: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rdgtz/i_won_the_... There is also a post by someone that 'tied' and then went to win on the next turn, even though their own terms of the contest state that in the event of a tie, the customer wins.

Here's one example:

TL;DR They were throttling their wifi and when I beat them with LTE they didn't pay up saying it has to be one the first try.

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rdgtz/i_won_the_...

Another one:

I too took on the challenge. Which was to post a message to facebook and email the same message to myself as well. Microsoft phone has a me tile, that posts to social media through windows live. Which is connected to your other social media networks such as Facebook, twitter and linked in. However, it does not email you. The guy argued that posting a status to windows live did the same thing. It does not, and therefore I lost.

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rdgtz/i_won_the_...

But a few said they were able to win a gift certificate, like this person:

The first challenge was to find a five star restaurant in the area. I used my voice feature to search Google and yelled got it. Right when I said got it the employee was naming a restaurant and said we tied...So the second one was find a movie time for a movie playing in the theater at Tysons Corner. I used my voice to text feature again to search Google and found a time. This time there were like 3 other employees around and one of them said, "Dude, he got it." The manager eventually came out with my $100 gift card. They have it all set up on their phone to just click a button and the answer pops up. For some reason, the movie application took longer to load then normal which is why I won.

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rdgtz/i_won_the_...

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#57

Post by Yhippa »

onemoreact wrote: post #54
ugh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Emphasizing speed misses qualities people actually love about Windows Phone 7 by miles. Only someone who is disconnected from or unfamiliar with the product will come up with stuff like that. There is the stark and fresh design that (independently of whatever merits it might have) makes other mobile operating systems look old. There is the cohesiveness of the experience that even makes iOS look like it doesn’t know w…

Can you be more specific? I found Windows Phone 7 to be terrible as in worse than Android, iPhone, and Blackberry bad. The tile interface falls down vary quickly and the app store is a ghost town.

How is WP7 worse than the others? How does the tile interface "fall down"?

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#58

Post by talmand »

Seems to me the MS employee was cheating to begin with by choosing a task the phone was already configured for that is not a normal use. The guy even realized this at that moment when he felt he won out of pure luck. The challenge might as well have been "let's see who can display a logo of a Microsoft product on the screen first".

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#59

Post by forgotAgain »

Lewisham wrote: post #20

Microsoft has a knack for choosing (and approving) the most boneheaded PR stints in the business... do they pay companies for this nonsense or do they just come up with it themselves? In a nutshell, the campaign is "Watch us humiliate you and the phone you are spending a lot of your hard-earned money on." Why would anyone think that making consumers feel bad is going to lead them to having the warm, fuzzy feelings ne…

Agreed and understandable. For years Microsoft has had to sell product upgrades that weren't needed by most users. There wasn't much new to show so all they've had has been gimmicks, fud, and bs. It's in their marketing DNA at this point.

Re: "I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost 'Just Because'"

#60

Post by alvarosm »

TomGullen wrote: post #52
alvarosm wrote: post #51

All Microsoft contests are like that, just promotional. They choose the winner according to what they think will look better for Microsoft itself. I participated in the Imagine Cup a few years ago when I was finishing college and our project was technically light-years ahead of the others. We got only the 3rd place. Two ridiculous web app-like gimmicks were 1st and 2nd. Oh and the guy in 5th place clearly deserved th…

How can we possibly sympathise with this? The OP is about a definitive injustice, no one could possibly comment on your case

¿? I don't want you to sympathise or comment on my case, why would I?. I'm just saying that's how any Microsoft contest works, they use people and when things don't turn out the exact way Microsoft wants they screw them.

My point is this is not an isolated case, it's Microsoft policy.

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