Microsoft Bows 'IdeaWins'

NEW YORK Microsoft launched its “IdeaWins” contest for the best small business concept in New York’s Time Square today.

Supporting the launch of Microsoft Office Express Accounting 2007 software, the Times Square event kicked off the “Ultimate Challenge” van tour, which will stop in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago and Atlanta, to collect consumer ideas.

The campaign, created by StrawberryFrog here, began in late October when 2,000 copies of the software were dropped by parachute over what the agency calls “an average American town,” Willow Springs, Ill.