I arrived at work today and as I was walking by a cubicle I found a gift from Microsoft

The basket included the following software:

• Windows^XP Professional with Service Pack 2
• Microsoft Digital Image Suite¹⁰
• Microsoft Money Premium 2005
• Plus! Superpack
• Office Professional 2003
• Encarta 2005 Deluxe

The basket also included the following books:

• Windows XP Inside Out
• Office XP Step by Step

Why don't other companies like IBM do things like this? For instance, the company I work for wanted replace our custom built employee portal and asked several companies for help testing their products. When the person in charge told Microsoft that they'd like to try Sharepoint, Microsoft said, "sure, we'll send out two people to help you set it up." However when IBM was approached we were told that it would take three months to setup Websphere Portal Server and cost us a million dollars! All we wanted was a proof of concept so that we could make an informed decision!

When we originally looked at Blackberrys we did not have coverage at the building were I worked. We said "give us coverage and we'll take a look at them", they said, "buy 400 and we'll give you coverage." We did not purchase any Blackberrys until years later, when we had coverage. If we had been given coverage in the first place without the requirement to purchase we most likely would have purchased earlier.

UPDATE: I found out that Microsoft gave the basket to us to give to the Red Cross as a raffle. Still very nice of them. I really believe that Microsoft has marketing to large corporations down. I think that the position is, if they give me products to try out and I like a product then I will recommend it to others and they will purchase the product. Over my lifetime in the company I work for I have received many products to test and of course I have only recommended products that I found to be usefull, after all it is my reputation on the line. If companies had never given or lent me products in the first place it may never have found a voice to promote them in the company.