The “31 Days of the Dragon” promotion to give away 31 state-of-the-art HP entertainment notebook PCs is nearing an end with over 16 lucky winners already chosen and only 8 more chances left to win.
Today this site is kicking off its giveaway in a slightly more traditional and chaotic manner with a simple random prizedraw. That’s right, if you were too lazy to write a story, take a picture or make a movie, this is as simple as it gets. But there’s a twist.
The first part of the giveaway is easy. Head over to the giveaway registration mini-site and submit your full name and email in the form provided. One person is only eligible to submit one entry. If duplicates are detected, you will be automatically disqualified. But if you really want to increase your odds of winning, there is a legitimate way.
To obtain a bonus entry in the giveaway, you will need to be using Windows Vista. Why? Because Vista users gets almost no love and are even shunned for using the latest technology instead of its 7-years-old sibling. It’s a shame everyone’s being suckered into a hate campaign devised by media companies to sell more ads.
Without rambling on too much, the bonus entry involves users to voluntarily participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) of Windows Vista. No, this isn’t paid by Microsoft although I wished they did. I’m asking you to enable CEIP because it is really the easiest way for you as a general user to help Microsoft improve Windows (and other applications) without any work on your behalf. I for one have enabled CEIP on all of my PCs.
The data collected is entirely anonymous and secure. Some of the information they collect include performance and reliability metrics (ie. percent of time an application failed, average length of time it takes to complete an operation), usage (ie. number of notifications) and configuration (ie. most common processor speeds, distribution for screen resolution).
An example of an outcome from CEIP are improvements to User Account Control. “Vista used CEIP to track the real world UAC prompt frequency and the top reasons for UAC prompts. This data was used to make design changes that reduce UAC prompts in unnecessary scenarios.”
To claim your bonus entry, you will need to download a run a small 100KB application which verifies you have enabled CEIP. Special mention to Rafael Rivera for making this possible with an undocumented API call in Windows.
This site’s giveaway ends in seven days on the Sunday, June 1 and winner will be announced soon after. Good luck.
Update: The winner has been announced.
Comments for "HP HDX “Dragon” notebook giveaway starts today"
Kareem el Buckley
Alright, I’m in. But I don’t have Vista, so I just entered my name and email, is that all?
Long Zheng
@Kareem: That’s right. If you don’t have Vista, you will just get one entry in the giveaway. Maybe a good time to consider trying Vista?
Jonathan Merriweather
Note that you need to run CEIPVerify “As Administrator” for it not to crash if you have UAC enabled.
Long Zheng
@Jonanthan: Thanks for the heads up, will try to get it fixed now.
Alan Evison
Now I’m very happy that I bought Vista!
Good luck to everyone who enters, Vista or not.
Thanks for the chance at winning one of these beasts.
Roy Cheung
Dear World,
Everyone should stop hating on the Vista. IT DOES NOT SUCK! IT DOES NOT CRASH! IT DOES NOT GIVE YOU BSOD(blue screen of death)! I’ve had enough of this. even PCworld Magazine (i no longer read their magazines (they seem to be brainwashed by apple computers inc.)) is writing articles that imply vista sucks. WELL, IT DOESN’T! since i’ve installed Vista for about a year, i have not had one single BSOD, or system crash. It is also so easy to use that my grand parents understand and they even know how to use Vista to it’s full potential. People who say vista sucks mostly haven’t even used it themselves. Didn’t your parents teach to not spread rumors about something you don’t even know about, and NOT to pass rumors that other people started and have not been confirmed? How would you feel if people go around passing a rumor that’s not true about you? saying that you suck? Well, it’s not nice and sure as heck you won’t like it. So all that talk about how vista sucks, is a LIE. In some cases, vista does crash, but first, you need to know why. IT’S THE STUPID HARDWARE MANUFACTURES (research shows that Nvidia causes the most crashes on the Vista Operating system while Microsoft (Vista itself) is responsible for only 10%)! They failed to provide stable Drivers for Vista so everything would work together, instead, they whipped up something cheap, and sent it to everyone. So instead of hatting on the Vista. Hate the Manufactures. And in some cases, people say vista sucks because of hardware incapability, well, in some cases, it’s also the Manufacturer’s fault, but in others, it’s YOUR fault. You don’t install the latest OSX on a 5 years old mac, do you? NO, you don’t. Then you don’t go installing Vista on a 5 year old computer and expecting it to work. When technology is developed everyday, as it develops, it gets more sophisticated, it requires more power, more speed. Why do you think our Computer’s Processors (CPU) went from 300Mhz to 3.0Ghz? Well, it to make things faster. Vista uses that to provide you with a wonderful experience, now you say, But i’m going to play a game, and Vista is going to use all my computer’s resources and make it slow! Sad to tell you, No. it doesn’t. Vista would disable it’s resource demanding interface back to the Classic interface (think of the classic interface as XP, no cool glass effect) so your games can use the resources available on your computer and not slow down your games. and that my friend, is the WOW in Vista.
-Roy Cheung
Proud User of Windows Vista Ultimate x64.
Master Devwi
Cool, thanks for doing this! I just entered both the normal way and the bonus way. Thanks again!
Vipralion
I’ll have Vista if I win? Haha. If I could run Vista, I would, I assure you of that.
Anyway, I highly applaud your support of Vista and the sleek design on the mini-site!
Long Zheng
If anyone is having with the application crash using Internet Explorer, please do not “Run” the application. Save it first, then run it. This is a security zone issue with Internet Explorer.
Manan
I’m on Vista Ultimate without aero & the program says, sorry you are not eligible
Gerry
Entered, good luck to everyone..
Long Zheng
@Manan: Did you enable CEIP?
Nicko Darveniza
Love the footnotes you wrote, Long.
Kareem el Buckley
Thing is, my computer isn’t capable of running Vista, not that I’m holding anything against it.
marcpodi
i’m in!! mamat Long!!
Imran Hussain
yayy I’m in. make me win lady luck !!
Chakkaradeep
@long, the CEP check application if the system is behind proxy. I am behind my University Proxy network and the application fails saying me to “Scream Long Zheng”
, lol
Long Zheng
@Chakkaradeep: You won’t be able to do this at home or somewhere without a proxy? If not, I’ll approve you manually.
Brendan
I am also in, would be twice if this old thing could run vista lol
No matter, if I win then I could sample all the exotic fruits of the Vista tree.
*cross fingers*
Thanks Long and HP for a chance to win one of these awesomely huge laptops of doom ^_^
Manan
@Long: It was disabled, read the message and got that enabled, submitted my entry
Thank you.
Andrea Contino
Just completed the form
Cross fingers!
Matt Sharpe
Thanks Long. It’s nice to see that the vista hate backlash is growing. Yours is been one of the more interesting Dragon contests! Hope I win!
Matt
Nidonocu
Is this open to everyone in the world? In the UK here.
*enters now anyway just in case*
Long Zheng
@Nidonocu: Absolutely everyone everywhere.
Wouter Devinck
Thanks Long!
I’ve got a problem with the bonus: the app saids it couldn’t find my email address, although I have entered it on the mini site. Should I try entering it again? I’m afraid that will be counted as a duplicate entry.
Ps: The application saids that I’m eligible (CEIP is turned on :p) and it is running with administrator privileges.
Edootjuh
@Long :/ I entered the contest but when I want to submit the bonus entry I can’t because it says it can’t find an entry with my e-mail address.
Michael Hebb
Thanks Long! Also, just wanted to confirm what Wouter is experiencing, as I am getting the same error, even with administrator privileges.
Long Zheng
Sorry guys I just discovered a major problem with the database. It was only accepting the first couple hundred entries. Please submit your entry again just to make sure you’ve signed up. It will tell you if it exists or not.
Nidonocu
Also, is there a delay between my registration completing and being able to submit my Double chance from the checker app? I’m getting the following when I try to submit:
—————————
Bonus Entry Registration Message
—————————
Sorry, I couldn’t find an existing entry registered with this email address. Please verify your email address and re-submit.
—————————
OK
—————————
E-mail address is the same as the one used for posting this comment.
Long Zheng
@Wouter, Edootjuh, Michael, Nidonocu: Please resubmit your original entry.
Nicko Darveniza
Is that everybody resubmit? Or just the ones who have been having trouble? It won’t disqualify me will it?
Chakkaradeep
@longzheng, Thanks! I submitted my bonus entry by logging into my friends’ wireless network
Michael Hebb
Thanks again Long… It worked this time!
Long Zheng
If you have already done your Windows Vista verification and it works, no need to resubmit.
If you’re not sure if your entry has been received, resubmit using the same email and it will tell you if you have an entry or not. This will not disqualify you.
Nicko Darveniza
Oh right. Thanks for all the trouble you are going to with this.
Wouter Devinck
Ok, Long. Thanks! It worked.
I’m afraid I don’t stand a change in this contest… :p I hope your database is big enough!
Edootjuh
Thank you Long! It works now.
I wouldn’t be able to live without Vista and have had CEIP on since Beta2
Nidonocu
Thanks Long! Done and done!
Tom
the mini-site looks really nice ^^
Yert
@Long - I hate to be a naysayer, but what about people who have used Vista, loved it, but don’t have a computer running it right now? This isn’t as bad as the Windows Now site where you had to show a demonstration of Vista, but sheesh. Maybe people are trying to win it so they can have Vista (instead of buying it like the cheapscape I am)?
The FUD on Vista is the best (in terms of a campaigns of FUD, I’ve seen few match this). Those behind it (and they know who they are) have really done a nasty. Lucky for Microsoft there is a major campaign or relief coming this summer. Watch for it guys!
In any case, I love your site for the contest, it really puts the 31days official site to shame.
And I know it won’t affect my chances, but if I win the laptop, I’ll run CEIP just for you.
(Not really, I do bug reporting anyways. But its the thought that counts.)
Long Zheng
@Yert: I totally understand where you’re coming from which is why I give everyone the opportunity to have a chance in the giveaway instead of limiting it just to just Windows Vista users. If perhaps you use Vista computers at work, school or a friend’s place, you could very well run the verifier there.
Chakkaradeep
@Yert, I think as entering this competition is as simple as to just give your email address and get into the draw (unlike many rules & regulations posted by other websites who already have completed this competition), having a constraint like - you should be already using Vista - seems nothing wrong to me. When people are there spreading FUD on Vista, I really appreciate Long in taking steps to give importance to Vista users. Now people can say - “YaY! I use Vista
” (well, though this is a competition, its good, isn’t it ? 
)
Shan Gee
Done! Good luck to all in this “drawing”. Vista Home Premium has never let me down! For anyone that doesn’t know how to enable the Customer Experience Improvement Program, here’s how:
The CEIP control panel can be found within: Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Problem Reports and Solutions > Customer Experience Improvement Program (link in the bottom left corner)
Daniel Steiner
I entered, if I win im happy if not, congratulations to those who did
Yert
At least we can enter though. The Green Button isn’t allowing anyone to enter unless they were registered for the site well over a month ago. Talk about anti-reader.
Bretislav Koziel
Thanks for hosting the contest. Congratulations on your contest mini-site, by far the best and most attractive among all sites involved. I’ve just entered once (I can’t take the second option). Good luck to everyone who did too. I appreciate your sense of humour, Long Zheng. I think we were relatives in some of our previous lives.
Matt S.
I have been running Vista since it RTMed and have never looked back (WITHOUT a highend pc, HA..lol). And I have always turned CEIP on in every new install I’ve made. Windows as well as Office, I never saw a need to keep it off.
LONG LIVE MS WINDOWS VISTA!!!
Corrine
Long, you had me ROFL with this “Steven Sinofsky is ineligible to enter this competition.”
Barbara Baker
Well, I do have vista and it did download, but as soon as it was completed I got a notice that I was inelligible for the second entry…could someone explain, help?
Thanks so much, Barb
Matt S.
Did you turn CEIP on Barb?
anonymous
lol so u r now officially “sold” on Vista…nay..just kidding.
Andre Da Costa
Well, the CEIP app keeps crashing it said the following:
Sorry, something is broken internally. Scream at Long Zheng then try re-submitting your bonus entry again.
I have tried this 5 times so far and no luck. Also, I must mention, I had a bit of a problem downloading the application itself. When I refreshed the Mini-site page it said, sorry, our records indicate you are already in our database. I hope this does not disqualify me. The application just would not download.
Long Zheng
@Andre Da Costa: If it is crashing, make sure you save the application (on your desktop) first then run it, don’t run it directly. But if it’s giving you an error, are you behind a proxy or something that might stop the application from sending a HTTP request?
You’re not disqualified for refreshing the page.
Kenneth M
the only way i’ll be a vista user is if i win the dragon
crestind
The mini site is very well done.
Keff
This is so nice idea to promote Vista and turning on CEIP on lots of installs, if I were MS interface developer, I’d send you flowers and hire you into marketing team :)).
Well done!
Andre Da Costa
@ Long Zheng: UPDATE: Worked great, keep up the great work! Second best contest I have encountered so far.
James
This is heartwarming, people getting rewarded for sticking with Vista through thick and thin…
Hope I win! Because if I don’t… *Fistshake*
Zim
Well, I don’t like the Vista bonus idea because I can’t really use it in my computer, but well.. let’s try it!
Sushruta
Entered with the bonus entry.Thanks.I’m keeping my chance low/nill though.I always suck at random contests.Thanks for the opportunity.
Michael Mc
Finally, something for those of us that, like you said, are lazy.
Some of the things they’ve been asking you to do on these sites are just a bit crazy… not everyone has the time to write 31 different stories or whatever.
Thanks!
Jamie Jahnke
I like this contest. It’s simple and nondiscriminatory. It lets people discover your site and gives them the chance to win something great. The bonus entry appears very well thought out and the mini-site is spectacular.
After creating an entry for thegreenbutton.com’s contest only to see that the rules state that new members get turned away, this contest seems like welcome relief.
Justin Lee
“Steven Sinofsky is ineligible to enter this competition.”
Hahaha!! Good job.
Dentaku
Help Long…
It accepted my e-mail then I ran CEIPVerify.exe and it just tells me…
Bonus Entry Registration Message
“Sorry, I couldn’t find an existing entry registered with this email address.
Please verify your email address and re-submit”
I didn’t use the gmail address I use here on the forums so you won’t be able check it and see if my address is registerd unless I give it to you and I don’t want to give that address out here on the forums.
Orion
Will I be disqualified if my parents enter also (same IP address)?
Dentaku
Just to add to my previous post, the first step worked and the site stated that my entry was accepted so I’m assuming that part worked fine.
directimpact
Do you feel lucky punk!?
Getting users to install Vista snoopware is bit low init.?
Now I heard the bonus entry disqualifies you automacticaly( don’t ask where, I can’t remember now)
btw if MS hasn’t got a friggin clue yet on what it must do to improve things from what Vista was then I don’t think they’ll ever ‘get it’. Looking at supposed Win 7 progress so far I don’t think they got a clue yet.
Anyway good competition page Long at least you put the effort into making a nice enticing page most the other competition sites sucked ass including there rubbish competition requests for entry.
Rafael
@directimpact: The CEIP bits are baked into Windows Vista, whether you like it or not. Opting into the program enables the transmission, once a day, of little bits of information like how many times you crashed and how many times you saw a UAC prompt, if enabled. It’s hardly “snoop-ware”.
Matt S.
@Directimpact: Vista trolls like you don’t deserve this laptop.
Lakshitha
I just entered but i do not have vista because SriLanka does not sell original copies
Mohamed Al-Tantawi
Thanks a lot, I really like the Vista user’s bonus idea
suck it XP users! 
Yert
@Long - You should have the user agree to keep Vista on the Laptop until the next Windows OS, enable CEIP, and then to send an email to Steven Sinofsky. Better yet, lets have a diffrent contest where we all email Sinofsky asking him about Windows 7.
azz0r
*crosses fingers*
G.Smith
I’ll have to skip the bonus entry because I’m currently not running Vista.
directimpact
“The CEIP bits are baked into Windows Vista, whether you like it or not. Opting into the program enables the transmission, once a day, of little bits of information like how many times you crashed and how many times you saw a UAC prompt, if enabled. It’s hardly “snoop-ware”.
lol.. man see this is just another reason Vista blows.. this stupid OS is even trying to track how many times its pissed off a user.. no wonder it sucks in so many benchmarks what else is it wasting cpu cycles and hdd accessing doing… not only that most of the so called improvements to certain key areas of the OS.. like ooh I dunno the Explorer window are shit.. seriously dog shit improvement.. no wonder so many clued users don’t bother with vista.. its not really much an improvement at all in certain areas and its more at a disadvantage in the decent third party tools that don’t work on it and the developers who can’t be arsed to bother with vista somewhat stupid changes.. so another +1 suck for vista then.
“Vista trolls like you don’t deserve this laptop.”
wah wah waahh … more deserving pfff lol
so anyway if the competition run fair at all it will just be a random pick.. but you Vista noob-boys have a better chance, so good luck
PRCI
While a GMail address such as test+dragon@gmail.com works on the main page, the CEIP verifier does not accept it.
Because of that I had to add another entry without the +dragon on my email address - Please don’t disqualify me!
Albert
Yay, having CEIP already on made this so easy!
Good luck to all.
RL
Good Luck and may the best entry win.
Thanks for the opportunity, Long.
Brian
Oh my god, you did a very well designed minisite! better than someother full sites i’ve seen.
vasudev
Submitted both the entries.
Its a nice idea for the competition to make people aware about vista.
And I fully agree that people just are spreading hate against Vista, I am fed up of such things and I am also fighting against such campaigns by informing Truth about it.
Ely
Ok hopefully this will invite some people to finally give Vista is a chance, Great job Long, keep up the good work.
*Crossing Fingers*
Jamie Jahnke
The one thing I find annoying about vista is actually good for something: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146256/vistas_despised_u ac_nails_rootkits_tests_find.html.
rm20010
Let me guess: Advertising revenue was the reason you also threw in The Orange Box.
Nice of you to be that thoughtful.
Herman
My computer can’t run Vista, so please give this Dragon to me so I can use Vista
Long Zheng
@PRCI: Thanks for noticing the problem. I’ll correct it in the database so you won’t be disqualified. We’re trying to get it fixed in the application too.
RL
Long, I only have one question………….when are you going professional? With all of your amazing work, I keep expecting to find a post where you have been snapped up by Microsoft, Hp, Dell, ZDNET, etc. The subsite is awesome, the idea of improving Vista through having customers activate CEIP is unique as well. At some point, would love to hear why you support/report on MS so much. Is it the intrigue, positve experience, finding your niche, or something else? You have definitely started something with this website.
RL
OK, I lied. Had more than one question………………………….sigh…………………need to hire my own proofreader……………..
DanaG
I also got the “Something is internally broken. Scream at Long Zheng and then try again” error; this may be due to me booting my native Vista install under VirtualBox, with only 512MB of RAM given to it. I already had CEIP enabled, so I do qualify for the bonus entry.
ducky
“Vista users don’t get enough love” isn’t really a valid reason to punish people not using Vista, but okay.
Yert
@Long - RL just asked the same thing I’ve been asking for a while too; when do you “go Pro”? The quality of this site is really high, and the journalism must have Sinofsky shaking as you find every secret, job posting, patent post, announcement or wha’ver gets out in the opening. Wouldn’t the best way for them to get you to shut up (but keep talking) be to hire you?
Long Zheng
@Yert: They haven’t figured that out yet.
Uthaya
Hello,
Me & my brother use the same computer, does that mean one entry for us or can we post two entries?
Thanks
Long Zheng
@Uthaya: As long as your brother isn’t imaginary, then you can do two entries.
[deXter]
I would have joined the WCEIP program in Vista, if I had Vista.
I would have used Vista, if I had a Vista Capable computer.
I would have a Vista Capable computer, if I win this contest.
Will Kail
I have to say that i was surprised with Vista and that on the 2 computers i’ve tried it on (One Dell XPS 420) and one awful laptop
They both handled and ran it incredibly well.
Also the DX10 is very realistic!
Good luck to everyone!
Oscar
Hey Long,
If I disown you and never speak to you again, will I be able to qualify for this thing?
Shan Gee
Hello Long Zheng, you allowed Uthaya to do two entries using the same computer for his brother and himself. This confirms that we are allowed to enter more than one person per household as the contest rules don’t say that you can’t do that. I’ve entered my older sister, me, my mother, and my father. I’m holding off on entering anyone else. Can you confirm that I’m allowed to submit an entry for everyone in my family? Thanks!
Long Zheng
@Shan Gee: Family is okay if you use different names and email addresses for each.
Sushruta Bhattacharya