Free Office Pro 2007 and Office Groove 2007

[Blazemore]

Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

 

[straubs]

Went to the Milwaukee event yesterday. Neither my boss nor I were impressed with the venue or the software value. In his opinion, it was WAY lacking compared to other MS launches such as Server 2003, Exchange 2003, etc.

-First thing we noticed was the overflow parking lot was not plowed. There was literally 10" of snow in it and the lot was full. This lot was obviously going to be used given the size of the event. :roll:

-The speaker was just not very good. One Freudian slip when he said "anti-trust" instead of "anti-virus." That got a few laughs.

-One unplanned BSOD. It occurred inside a running Virtual PC image, so I don't expect things to be perfect, but then again it's THEIR Virtual PC software, THEIR OS, and THEIR emulated drivers, so it would still be fair to blame MS no matter where the problem occurred in that usage.

-Biggest issue was for 5+ years of development, there just wasn't anything spectacular IMO that would justify the huge upgrade costs (considering both time and money) to either Vista, Office, or Exchange. I think Exchange would possibly be worth it for a large company. I did like the imaging capabilities of Vista, and that again would possibly be worth it for a large company. I don't think the value is there for the small and mid-sized businesses. Of course they'll get it on a hardware refresh, but there's certainly no need to rush into it.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Blazemore
Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

I'm not even employeed right now, and I went. You don't have to have anything to do with the computer industry, you could bake cookies for a living and still be fine going. Chances are likely they won't even talk to you, the only time I was spoken to was before it began, and that's because I got there way too early. That was just the presenter guy walking around making conversation.

 

[Fiat1]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Blazemore
Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

I'm not even employeed right now, and I went. You don't have to have anything to do with the computer industry, you could bake cookies for a living and still be fine going. Chances are likely they won't even talk to you, the only time I was spoken to was before it began, and that's because I got there way too early. That was just the presenter guy walking around making conversation.

LOL

 

[Dei]

The version of Vista that was in my bag was the Pre-RTM version (build 5840). The copy does not list an expiration date anywhere, and there is no "Evaluation Copy" watermark on the desktop. So yeah, looks like a full version to me

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: Blazemore
Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

Are we now above average after we signed up?

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: Dei
The version of Vista that was in my bag was the Pre-RTM version (build 5840). The copy does not list an expiration date anywhere, and there is no "Evaluation Copy" watermark on the desktop. So yeah, looks like a full version to me

These are probably left over disks from the RC1 release. MS would rather give them out to lure us into buying Vista than having all these disks sitting somewhere in their warehouse.

 

[Solema]

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Blazemore]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Blazemore
Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

I'm not even employeed right now, and I went. You don't have to have anything to do with the computer industry, you could bake cookies for a living and still be fine going. Chances are likely they won't even talk to you, the only time I was spoken to was before it began, and that's because I got there way too early. That was just the presenter guy walking around making conversation.

I didn't see anything on the MS website said you couldn't go...just checking...were going to be in the area so why not.

Originally posted by: nlkccom

Originally posted by: Blazemore
Has any average person joined the event yet? I get asked enough of questions at the office to be IT tech. Signed up for Greensboro.

Are we now above average after we signed up?

After MS blows smoke everyone leaves above average

 

[Omniprezent]

Originally posted by: nlkccom

Originally posted by: Dei
The version of Vista that was in my bag was the Pre-RTM version (build 5840). The copy does not list an expiration date anywhere, and there is no "Evaluation Copy" watermark on the desktop. So yeah, looks like a full version to me

These are probably left over disks from the RC1 release. MS would rather give them out to lure us into buying Vista than having all these disks sitting somewhere in their warehouse.

Agreed. The keys for this version will expire sometime in March(not sure what month) I believe. So, you have until then.

 

[Solema]

Even if these copies didn't expire, if they are pre-RTM, I wouldn't want to use them full-time anyway.

 

[Dynamyck]

Build 5840 would be RC2, which is basically RTM without the Vista startup chimes.

I have RC2 on this machine and it's rock solid, (huge difference from RC1)

 

[WildHorse]

I went to the event at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

It was interesting. The cavernous main hall had around 50 exhibition booth, which is tiny compared to the big trade shows I'm accustomed to. Lots of staff to help, lots of computers to hands-on play with new MS apps.

The presentation sessions (really sales demos) I caught were good. The speakers were polished and knowledgeable, and imaged onto big screens.

Funny highlight: after lunch (I only ate the fresh apple, saved the cookie for you! :cookie in the "Microsoft Dynamics: Business Applications for the People Ready Business" (sic) pitch, the presenter, on stage in front of maybe 500 in the audience, couldn't get a MS command to work. He retried & retried over & over, while onscreen, & ended up blaming it on java script. And he's an expert, so what about the rest of us?

For the $12 parking fee, I got lunch, a frisbee, a T-shirt, a pen, and MS Office Professional 2007 and Office 2007 Groove, which are now installed and working perfectly. The main thing I got was a look ahead to new stuff.

One big impression I got was how strongly Microsoft is tying everything together into their empire of OS & applications. MS sure spent the bucks on staging the day!

 

[Spineshank]

I must have missed something but there was no Vista disc inside my bag.

 

[WildHorse]

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
I must have missed something but there was no Vista disc inside my bag.

You know how it is at trade shows. They give you a bag & you walk around collecting literature & some handouts, while you learn whatever you can, squeezed into the time.

If Vista was offered at the LA event I didn't see it, but in such a big crowd you can't see everything. I didn't hear anybody there talking about any Vista giveaway. There were lots of computers to play with that had Vista. To me it just looks like a lot of eye candy changes over XP, not so special, but maybe I'm too skeptical?

I wouldn't buy Vista except maybe eventually for its DirectX 10, maybe the only good thing about it. Or if it becomes necessary for some reason for interoperability with our clients' requirements. Maybe next it'll be Suse Linux for me.

They gave us keys to activate downloads of Microsoft Office Professional + Groove 2007, but not for Vista. Resistance is futile?

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: scott

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
I must have missed something but there was no Vista disc inside my bag.

You know how it is at trade shows. They give you a bag & you walk around collecting literature & some handouts, while you learn whatever you can, squeezed into the time.

If Vista was offered at the LA event I didn't see it, but in such a big crowd you can't see everything. I didn't hear anybody there talking about any Vista giveaway. There were lots of computers to play with that had Vista. To me it just looks like a lot of eye candy changes over XP, not so special, but maybe I'm too skeptical?

I wouldn't buy Vista except maybe eventually for its DirectX 10, maybe the only good thing about it. Or if it becomes necessary for some reason for interoperability with our clients' requirements. Maybe next it'll be Suse Linux for me.

They gave us keys to activate downloads of Microsoft Office Professional + Groove 2007, but not for Vista. Resistance is futile?

Seems like some people who went to the LA event didn't get Vista in the bag. I wonder did MS only put the disk in some of the bags and not others. I was there and I got a Vista disk in the bag. And by the look of the disk cover, I think it looks more like one of those advertisment disk than anything else. Maybe that would cause people to overlooked the disk and threw it away. Again, for those who didn't get one, it's only a pre-RTM version, not the release version, so you didn't miss much.

I think the $12 parking fee is ridiculous, and I parked in the same parking lot 2 days later for a Lakers game on Sunday, another $12 parking. Just crazy!

But like scott said, for $12, got free breakfast, CRAPPY lunch, office & groove 2007, t-shirt, MS pen, other goodies, and paid work day (thanks to my manager!), I even won a MS Zune from a drawing, I can't complain!

 

[nlkccom]

Just curious, did anyone here register at the event location instead of at the web site?

A friend of mine wants to go to the event next month, but the event is already full. However, when I was in the LA event, there was a line of people who haven't registered. I just want to know whether my friend can just go to the event and register onsite to get in.

 

[eruss]

Originally posted by: nlkccom
Just curious, did anyone here register at the event location instead of at the web site?

A friend of mine wants to go to the event next month, but the event is already full. However, when I was in the LA event, there was a line of people who haven't registered. I just want to know whether my friend can just go to the event and register onsite to get in.

There were people that tried. They were put on a "waiting list" in case enough people didn't show up. I don't know if they were successful, but maybe a worker will have pity and give them the bag & Office 2007 anyway.

 

[SEAL62505]

I went to the 1/2 half of the Minneapolis show today (at lunch you got your Office/Groove cd). There was a Vista disc in my bad. How do you know what build it is?
Does anybody know if you can install Office on more than one computer? The reason I ask is because I would love to test it out on a VM now, and then install on my box if it works well (after I upgrade to vista).

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Seems like some people who went to the LA event didn't get Vista in the bag. I wonder did MS only put the disk in some of the bags and not others. I was there and I got a Vista disk in the bag. And by the look of the disk cover, I think it looks more like one of those advertisment disk than anything else. Maybe that would cause people to overlooked the disk and threw it away. Again, for those who didn't get one, it's only a pre-RTM version, not the release version, so you didn't miss much.

I think the $12 parking fee is ridiculous, and I parked in the same parking lot 2 days later for a Lakers game on Sunday, another $12 parking. Just crazy!

But like scott said, for $12, got free breakfast, CRAPPY lunch, office & groove 2007, t-shirt, MS pen, other goodies, and paid work day (thanks to my manager!), I even won a MS Zune from a drawing, I can't complain!

I guess it depends on whether or not you said you were a government employee or not. One person I spoke to who was a government employee didn't even get a bag. But she did get the Office and Groove keys.

Yeah, $12 was a bit excessive for parking, but I'll just write it off on my '07 taxes.

The lunch wasn't too bad.... a sandwich, fruit, salad, and a cookie, plus a drink. I ended up getting a second lunch to take home. They had so many lunch packs left over, I just thought why not.

Overall, it was worth my time.

 

[PawNtheSandman]

I registered for the Public Sector IT Track (IT Pro was full)
I am a government employee. My registration paper has my government agency listed as my employer.

Any way I can still get the free items? Do they just not give the gift bag to any government employees or what? I'm not sitting through this if I will get shut out.

 

[Blazemore]

I still don't fully understand the gov "gift" part either. Seems to me if you are employed by some state (public education), local, or federal and go there on your own time and not paid from employer, then it seems you would be just another consumer.

 

[PawNtheSandman]

Well I'm going on my day off.

the Public Sector session is from 8-12.
I signed up as an individual for the IT Executive track without any Government info but that is from 1-5. So I'm trying to figure out which one I should go to.

 

[Blazemore]

Just got off the phone with our HRD. They said it would be fine to go long as you are there not representing your employer in anyway and taking your own time off etc.

I would go in the morning, MS did state the CD's are limited.

 

[Pretty Cool]

I have been reading elsewhere about the Vista that was included in the bag of goodies. The DVD itself is Pre-RTM. If you install it, it does not expire. Well that is a fine and dandy, but who wants a beta? Well, it seems as though the key they issued is good for Vista Ultimate RTM!!!. Other users have run the winver command and there is no mention of any expiration. So, forget the DVD that was bundled. Keep the key and enter that into any Vista DVD. Now that I think about it, I should have bribed people for their Vista previews.