People hoping to jump on the Windows Vista bandwagon without paying a cent of hard-earned cash jumped for joy when Microsoft offered free software in exchange for the occasional survey and three months of observation. As of December 11th, anyone who was signing up for the program got a nasty surprise: no more free software. Microsoft is of course welcoming more test subjects to be monitored. However, Microsoft will not be giving these subjects anything in return for their time and privacy, except a marginally better product in a few years.

Anyone who signed up after the cut-off date date and time under the idea they were getting a free piece of software worth $400USD or more MSRP will be sorely disappointed. There is no word as to whether or not Microsoft plans on honoring the people who signed up before the cut-off.