Your next TV courtesy Microsoft .NET alerts?

I’ve been thinking about getting a new TV. I’m really a movie guy and watching letterboxed content on my 27″ screen is a little painful. But my options for getting a bigger TV were:

  1. A larger conventional or rear projection TV, which are a good value but won’t fit in our built in entertainment center;
  2. A front projection unit (like a computer projector), which is also a relatively good value (80″ screen, anyone?) but which requires a totally dark room for best fidelity;
  3. A plasma TV, which has the right form factor but which is way too costly for me right now

Then I noticed on Microsoft.com’s home page a link that said something about a plasma television set (the link is down now). Curious, I followed the link to find a sweepstakes: “Sign up for alerts and win cool prizes.” Including, coincidentally, the 42″ Panasonic plasma TV I was looking at. Unfortunately I’m, for various reasons, not eligible to play…