Ah, another Microsoft product launch, and another almost too good to be true giveaway. Simply visit http://www.powertogether.com/ , watch a few informative webcasts or do a few handy virtual lab training sessions, and hey presto, free copies of Vista and Office 2007.......
....Ah-ha, but check the smallprint, and you'll find that you need to live in North America to apply (US/Canada/US Military airbases are typically the only allowable entrants) , as clearly the rest of the world would regard free software as the equivalent of a slap in the face. It would be bad enough if this was a once off, but this is clearly a matter of policy, as the same happened for vs.net (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms789057.aspx ), and asp.net 2.0 (http://www.learn2asp.net/campaign.aspx) amongst others. This time I notice that even the Canadians have been banished ("and is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) "), I wonder if my favorite moose-loving Microsoftie can explain what the Canadian's have done lately to be be added to the freebie blacklist like us Europeans?