Received an email, purportedly from Microsoft's Windows Insider Program, asking if I'd take the time to fill out an online survey.

The survey questions border on 'phishy',

they even sent the email from their spoofy email.microsoftemail.com

Actually surprised with some of the survey questions, ie:

I feel most energized when I am: (Select one)

( ) making purposeful connections between people and/or resources

( ) creating structure in order to accomplish a goal

( ) crafting stories that inspire, inform, or persuade people

( ) collecting and/or organizing things that are beautiful, unique, or special

( ) sharing ideas and stories that influence, inform, or inspire my community

( ) coming up with new solutions or approaches to a problem

What is your gender?

( ) Decline to state

( ) Female

( ) Female to male transgender

( ) Male

( ) Male to female transgender

( ) Other, please specify: [ __________________________ ]

Yeah I thought it was a bit freaky. Presumably they have an algorithm to help them work out what the results mean.

Probably to help them pick the background photos.

Almost forgot to post my favorite section question.

So, how did you answer the following:

Please select the option(s) that best describe you: (Select up to 3)

( ) Being outdoors in nature is important to me

( ) I prefer to spend my free time at home rather than going out

( ) I like to travel

( ) I spend a great deal of time doing hobbies or personal projects

( ) The arts (music, theatre, dance, art) are an important part of my life

( ) I am a very creative person

( ) I frequently attend the activities my kids participate in

( ) I frequently attend the activities my family members participate in

( ) My religion is important to me and impacts the choices I make in my daily life

( ) I love learning new things

( ) I care a lot about my personal image

( ) I will NOT quit at something until I succeed

( ) It is important to me that my accomplishments are recognized by others

( ) Fitting in with others is important to me

( ) I have many different circles of friends with diverse backgrounds

( ) I put more effort than most people into maintaining relationships with my friends

( ) My friends would think of me as the leader of the group

So, what are the pigeonholes created by an algorithm with 17 questions with up to 3 answers?

Will they be able to deduce my hidden life secret?

Maybe it is just shit and SPAM, this is from internet... I ALWAYS google before I attend to such mystical messages addressed to me;

Glegolo

Question; When I first looked at it I thought it was from someone other than Microsoft.

Answer; it is.. look at the second image.. http : //pages.email.microsoftemail.com.. dunno if that is who the email is "from" or a result of clicking on a link.. anyway, site is not microsoft..

WHOIS information for microsoftemail.com :

[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[whois.verisign-grs.com]

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to »www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: MICROSOFTEMAIL.COM
Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
Referral URL: »www.melbourneit.com
Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS5.MSFT.NET
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 28-apr-2010
Creation Date: 25-jun-2005
Expiration Date: 25-jun-2011

Maybe it is just shit and SPAM, this is from internet... I ALWAYS google before I attend to such mystical messages addressed to me;

Glegolo

Question; When I first looked at it I thought it was from someone other than Microsoft.

Answer; it is.. look at the second image.. http : //pages.email.microsoftemail.com.. dunno if that is who the email is "from" or a result of clicking on a link.. anyway, site is not microsoft..

WHOIS information for microsoftemail.com :

[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]

[whois.verisign-grs.com]

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered

with many different competing registrars. Go to »www.internic.net

for detailed information.

Domain Name: MICROSOFTEMAIL.COM

Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE

Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com

Referral URL: »www.melbourneit.com

Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS5.MSFT.NET

Status: clientTransferProhibited

Updated Date: 28-apr-2010

Creation Date: 25-jun-2005

Expiration Date: 25-jun-2011

That record has an expiry date in 2011. Other whois searches show that microsoftemail.com does indeed belong to Microsoft.

In any case MSFT.NET are definitely Microsoft's name servers.

< snip >

Domain Name: MICROSOFTEMAIL.COM

Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE

Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com

Referral URL: »www.melbourneit.com

Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET

Name Server: NS5.MSFT.NET

Status: clientTransferProhibited

Updated Date: 28-apr-2010

Creation Date: 25-jun-2005

Expiration Date: 25-jun-2011

You're also showing the REGISTRAR and not the REGISTRANT.

Current WHOIS records shows the domain as belonging to Microsoft Corporation.

Yeah, but look at the MX records and you'll see it's not MS at all - and the company that hosts the email redirects to Salesforce.com

http://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx?action=mx%3aemail.microsoftemail.com&run=toolpage

Almost forgot to post my favorite section question.

So, how did you answer the following:

Please select the option(s) that best describe you: (Select up to 3)

( ) Being outdoors in nature is important to me

( ) I prefer to spend my free time at home rather than going out

( ) I like to travel

( ) I spend a great deal of time doing hobbies or personal projects

( ) The arts (music, theatre, dance, art) are an important part of my life

( ) I am a very creative person

( ) I frequently attend the activities my kids participate in

( ) I frequently attend the activities my family members participate in

( ) My religion is important to me and impacts the choices I make in my daily life

( ) I love learning new things

( ) I care a lot about my personal image

( ) I will NOT quit at something until I succeed

( ) It is important to me that my accomplishments are recognized by others

( ) Fitting in with others is important to me

( ) I have many different circles of friends with diverse backgrounds

( ) I put more effort than most people into maintaining relationships with my friends

( ) My friends would think of me as the leader of the group

So, what are the pigeonholes created by an algorithm with 17 questions with up to 3 answers?

Will they be able to deduce my hidden life secret?

Based on your answers, my best guess is they have classified you as a meglomaniac

So Microsoft outsource marketing surveys. Wow.

So Microsoft outsource marketing surveys. Wow.

Yeah, quite shocking there's not an Azure service for that

The link for the "survey" redirects to instant.ly (uSamp/Instantly™) who lists MS as one of their logo'd clients.

Still, why would they want a meglomaniac to fill in a survey?

You have delete button, just use it for this and anyting similar.

You have delete button, just use it for this and anyting similar.

Hitting delete or simply ignoring it would prevent me yet another opportunity to openly mock and make fun of Microsoft.

Where's the fun in that!