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Microsofties love freebies, a lot

Ina Fried Former Staff writer, CNET News
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Ina Fried

All geeks love a good freebie. Heck, our industry could practically keep the squishy ball industry in business singlehanded.

But the folks in Redmond really love a good giveaway. As a thank you for attending a Microsoft research open house, workers got a light-up key fob. But some at TechFest weren't content with just one of the handouts.

Apparently knowing this would be the case, Microsoft required workers to swipe their badge to get the goodie. To further discourage repeats, the badge scanner buzzed whenever someone tried to get a second handout.

Even that measure was only partially effective--and not enough to stop the loud buzz from going off every few minutes.