CPP customers get Windows 2000 RC1 after threatening Microsoft

Effective immediately, Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Program (CPP)customers in the United States and Canada can order Windows 2000Professional and Windows 2000 Server Release Candidate 1 (RC1) update CDs,free of charge. Microsoft is covering all product and shipping/handlingcharges to provide RC1 free to CPP customers. But this isn't an act ofgoodwill, oh no: After being threatened with legal action from CPPcustomers, the software giant has relented to avoid a public relationsnightmare.

This is the story, a WinInfo exclusive.

It was supposed to be the PR stunt of the year: Offer customers the chanceto buy the Windows 2000 Beta at $60 a pop and watch the world flock to itsdoors. Well, the world did flock to purchase the CPP, but unlike previousCPP experiments, this one went south almost immediately. In an effort toprove that the company listens to its customers, Microsoft set up apeer-to-peer newsgroup support server that gave CPP customers access toactual Microsoft personnel who work on the Windows 2000 team.

Big mistake.

It seems that an early version of Microsoft's CPP Web site stated thatcustomers purchasing the preview would receive "ongoing test versions" forthe duration of the beta. Microsoft representatives insisted this wasn'ttrue: only technical beta testers were going to be offered later builds.

Then it got ugly: CPP customers began forwarding URLs that promised futurebuilds, Web pages that had mysteriously changed wording after the CPP began.Testers that had printed out the page announcing the CPP noted that thepromise for future releases had been removed. Here's how the original pageread:

"Join the Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Program (CPP) and get the Windows2000 Server beta software. You'll receive ongoing test versions, startingwith Beta 3, and all the tools and information you need to install and learnabout this product."

Two weeks after the CPP started, that page was changed to read:

"If you don't already have Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2000 ProfessionalBeta 3 code, join the Windows 2000 CPP and you'll receive the tools andinformation you need to install and evaluate the beta."

When a Microsoft representative lamely explained that the original page hadbeen a "misprint," the already heated discussions headed even further south.

"Odd how [Windows 2000 technical beta testers] didn't pay a cent, but get to[download] updates [to Beta 3], and we who paid over $60 don't get squat...I'm just hoping this helps me get my foot in the door to be a 'official'beta tester (Odd how there has been no response fromMicrosoft in here?)," one angry CPP customer wrote.

"When I signed up for the program, it was advertised to include updatesevery 4 to 6 weeks until final release...I expect Microsoft tohonor their original solicitation," another tester added. "I paid $59.00 forbuilds every 4 to 6 weeks. Next week is the [week of July 4th] and I amexpecting my new build to arrive next week. As a Microsoft stockholder andcustomer, I don't want to hear any doubletalkabout reneging on the original deal."

And then it happened: A tester threatened legal action ("a contract is acontract") and Microsoft caved. Immediately.

"In order to ensure that Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Program customersachieve the greatest success in their evaluation, Microsoft is pleased toconfirm that Windows 2000 CPP customers will be provided access to updateswhen Windows 2000 reaches major milestones," a Microsoft representativeinformed the group as if it were a novel idea that had just occurred to thecompany.

Even this didn't stop the complaining, but as of today, those people who didjoin the CPP have what they want: Access to future builds, starting withRelease Candidate 1