Either Microsoft’s sense of humor has gotten almost British in its sophistication and dryness, or this is the worst promotional video I’ve ever seen in my life. Yes, worse than their Songsmith video. I’m beginning to think Microsoft’s marketing department really is a thousand monkeys with a thousand high definition cameras. Or are we being punk’d?
This is seriously too surreal to comment on. But don’t let that stop you.
HA
this is great
oh my gosh…this is hilarious…I can’t believe it’s 6 minutes long!
A Sony Vaio… seriously M$? that’s just plain embarrassing.
I found this infomercial to be somewhat similar… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtpKjgwi4Sc :S
ha…and even that one is 5* compared to microsoft 2*
I would rather punch myself in the nuts than attend this party.
I would rather make sweet love to a barn animal… than attend this party.
I would rather have my anus probed by a hedgehog… than attend this party.
I would rather get a Brazilian… than attend this party.
wouldn’t we all, wouldn’t we all
This is awesome! I love how MSFT is striking back with their best. [note the sarcasm] :)
after watching this i don’t want to be a pc anymore :(
Hahahaha… Why not? You could be a black guy, a MG lookalike, a Grandmother or a MILF… options baby! options.
I heard Arrington was offering Techcrunch stock to anyone who hosts a win7 launch party and submits the video.
Hmmm…do I still qualify to host a party if I install Windows 7 on my Mac using Parallels?
Anyone know if the Windows 7 site helps with doing invitations (Evites are fine)?
Also, how many people do they recommend per machine?
Feedback is much appreciated.
You want to host one? What you do now is take your Mac, give it to someone who deserves it and buy a PC.
Too many white people in the commercial, they need an Asian.
“The party” wasn’t that popular, the asians decided it was super lame and didn’t come. MS tried their best at confirming a minimal set of politically correct individuals to attend. With 4 people they already got the white/black/young/old/man/woman covered. Way to go MS!
I started laughing about 2 minutes into the video. It was so painful to watch.
This feels like its been done by a group of 80yr old gradmas
Makes you wonder who thought this entire thing was a good idea. I wonder how the conversation went in that meeting.
And you’d figure marketers would have some idea of what is actually “cool” and what people would actually be into.
http://www.traderbots.com/stocks/Stock.aspx?symbol=msft
I cannot believe I watch all 6-minutes of that horrendous video. What was I thinking?
What’s with the “shaky” camera effect?
And that is quite an unlikely group of “friends”
I think they would be better off making separate videos that appeal to moms, tech people, older people etc.
The shaky video was to make it seem “real”… which their acting cancelled out in the first 20 seconds of the video.
Oh man. between the fake handheld effect and the clock switching all over the place… this DP and editor should be deported.
And It only took under 3 hours to wrap a 6 min short. And please deport the lightning technician as well.
Each one of these people lost their sole while shooting this commercial. Afterwards they all became strippers to get some respect back.
Does that mean they’ll be barefoot strippers?
That’s 2:30 of my life I’ll never get back. I had to stop it to prevent brain damage. Everybody involved in the making of this video should be fired on the spot.
Why??? It just keep getting better and better after 2:30… Hahahaha, I can’t believe this shit! Like KEv Cummins said: I would rather punch myself in the nuts than attend this party.
I got the acceptance email to host one of these “parties”. I clicked to play the first video and I was dumbfounded by how dumb I found it. I just couldn’t believe that someone put this together and thought that this would motivate.
Ditto on the invite to host. I think my goal now is to see if I can make my party cornier. :-)
the best part of the video is watching the clock change on the oven in the background. my guess is thta they took about 47 takes.
Hah, well spotted.
Poorly shot. Distracting camera moves. Amateurish lighting. What a mess…
Those are the best aspects of this video.
I totally agree!!!
Sadly.
This must be a joke. Really.
I’m watching this and I don’t even know what it is. Is this some sort of promo or something? Are we actually supposed to have a windows party?
looks like the start of a bad porno
Under these categories: Milf, Inter-racial, Lesbian, Grannies…
I dunno about the geek guy though, he might be the camera shutter.
nope I think they are called Twinks not shutters.
Saw this broke on valleywag earlier this morning and then followed by mashable, who gave credit to gawker media. Why no attribution to them Devin?
we are in our 40’s now
Windows 7 and tupperware, they’re the same thing anyways right?
I like the digital clock on the oven behind them. you can see how long it actually took, and the cuts interspersed.
and what is up with the shakyness and zoom in/out? Some kid playing with the video?
You’ve got to admire the actors in this, because they’ve got the most awful “Check out this cool feature!” script, and they’re giving it all to deliver it as naturally as possible. It’s not their fault it comes out so painfully awkward. Get the best talents in Hollywood, Broadway and the West End, and this will still feel like a stilted bit of marketing. The thing is supposed to be all friendly and Apple-ish, but it just seems like four random crazy people with *nothing* in common, besides a bizarre enthusiasm for a new OS.
MS seriously need to sack their entire advertising department, quickly. This kind of thing does not help sell copies.
(PS – My favourite bit: At 4:30 in the vid, the time on the cooker clock is 4:34… 8 seconds later, it’s 4:43…. and 6:06-6:08 (video time) the clock even goes backwards…
If you’re going to do take after take, and try to edit it to look like a one-take conversation, keep clocks out of shot or pay for an incredibly diligent continuity team!
The shakiness is clearly to cover the constant edits, from the *constant* corpsing by the actors, due to the *CONSTANTLY* dire script…)
Are you kidding me? Windows Marketing team is PURE GENIUS. This obviously isn’t ’serious’ but they made it just serious enough to make everything THINK its for real so that this shit would become an unstoppable internet meme. And they did it perfectly! Look at how much attention and advertising they have gotten from this!
But is there really “no such thing as bad publicity?”
I tend to think this and the others in the series just make Win7 look really really dull. Like I said, can’t see how this helps sell copies to anyone who wasn’t going to get it anyway. Anyone who was on the fence might be tempted to look into the other options, having watched this rubbish.
TOKEN BLACK DUDE LOL
Token black dude who contributes nothing and just smiles with his ridiculously fake white teeth while eyeing the electrical goods he wants to steal.
I am weirdly obsessed by this video, have watched it several times today.
I love the over dubbed voice of the ‘geek’ at the start at the mugging of the younger women.
I NEED another episode… this is sitcom material!
Wierd and awkward! Was Michael Bay really not available?
I’m now kind of relieved that I didn’t get picked to host one of the parties!
Oh hey look, its the token african american guy. lol.
Microsoft made a Windows 7 video that got on the front page of Techcrunch.
Is this just fake?
If it is not, then I dont have any comments other than “fire the SVP” and the team.
May be time for SteveB to go too.
Lame video. Such a great opportunity to build buzz and engage people wasted. How dull do you have to be to have to print notes for the party? Ugh!
The humor of Golden Girls + the authenticity of an orange clean infomercial = Marketing Genius.
Do people actually throw parties for operating systems?
I know their are launchparties for Mozilla Firefox and for Ubuntu. So that’s atleast 1 operating systems already.
But that is from people who feel passionate about their software. And it really is their software, because it’s open source, they might have really helped to create or spread the use of it.
Have a look at the spreadfirefox.com -site to see how people are passionate about software. I don’t think anyone has ever been passionate about Windows though.
Why on earth would anyone host a Windows 7 party?
That makes as much sense as putting a Mystery Spot bumper sticker on your car. Oh wait, my bad, genius!
mystery spot in santa cruz? But its fricken awesome. I mean I can stand sideways there. Now Im wishing I had the bumber sticker.
i…am…simply…speechless… (and embarassed for msft to be putting this out there!)
Pretty sure microsoft didn’t make that video. It looks like http://houseparty.com/ put the whole thing together. According to their site: “House Party is dedicated to creating and executing successful, high-impact, consumer activation campaigns for a diverse range of industries.”
They may have made it as a pitch… but there are a bunch.
“Yo, Dude. That Windows 7 houseparty was rockin’–see you next week at the Hunt’s Ketchup party!”
…If Microsoft did actually sponsor this: for shame; if not, I’d sue these people for defamation–this cannot be helpful.
Either this is as others have said, quite possibly the worst promotional video ever, or a stroke of genius, entirely designed and constructed to elicit a viral flurry of clever spoof/satire video responses. This may be the perfect time to see Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld re-unite along with a few of the former Seinfeld cast members to start the process. I can almost picture Bill and Jerry sitting in Jerry’s apartment eating churro’s, watching this clip (on jerry’s Mac). “Bill, what was the deal with that video? Just who did you leave in charge when you left?” which sets up a classic Kramer entry. You could easily squeeze out a Seinfeld reunion special; quite possibly spin-off another show devoted to nothing more than launching Windows 7 using parody and satire before anyone else has a chance to.
Hmmm I actually liked the video it was informative and conversational.
Oh… Bill & Melinda will be in NC tomorrow so I’ll squeeze in some of your comments if I get to give him my elevator pitch… LOL
perhaps google or apple made this video =)
Hey TechCrunch, instead of covering this in CrunchGear (which makes no sense since it is not a gadget or gear) why don’t you cover the announcement if the Courier? Its a device that shows promise and ingenuity by Microsoft. I would have assumed that you guys would be all over it, but I guess because it does not have an Apple logo on it, you won’t.
Here is the link in case you need it: http://thegadgets.net/tablets-and-other-types-of-pcs/microsoft-courier-a-booklet-pc/
you mean the Courier I wrote up yesterday?
My Bad! Information Overload! Now I feel worst than the Microsoft Video… :-(
you should probably cry yourself to sleep now
Naughty reader!
This might be the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen. Are Microsoft really expecting people to hold parties for the launch of a computer operating system?
This HAS to be some kind of elaborate joke.
I just failed to watch more than 30 seconds. It’s just too awkward. It’s just impossible to relate to. Real people don’t behave like this.
Microsoft, you can’t make us do this, it’s just silly.
They need to hire a kick-ass video editor to produce the versio for Poland.
(Google “techcrunch microsoft poland” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)
Microsoft would just edit out any minorities.
I’m really starting to lean towards the “punk’d” option. I know Microsoft such at marketing, but they cannot possibly be _this_ bad.
Remember the good old days when a release had drinking and hot chicks
This could have been the best horror movie ever…
It’s been made awesomely better by Cabel Sasser: http://www.cabel.name/2009/09/windows-7-party.html (via DaringFireball)
This cannot be real!
If it is… and Windows7 is as great an OS as this marketing campaign… I am even happier I switched to a MacBook Pro last month!
Where’s the beer!
lame lame lame lame ….
BRILLIANT marketing fellas.
Anything this BAD will get EVERYONE to watch it LOL
Viral Mktg techniques meet Microsoft…they’ve probably spent millions on studying exactly how a seemingly “poor” commercial will cause a ripple effect.
Once again…brilliant.
Exactly, “it’s the economy, stupid!” In this case the economy of attention. No “serious” attempt at PR would have gotten them so much of that precuios resource.
…except I spent the whole time watching the cooker clock change randomly, and wondering when the porn music would start – the only thing I learned was that it’s easy to install win7 (duh) and that there’s a help thingy. Which I can’t remember the name of. And won’t ever use.
I mean, if you’re going to do a “so bad it’s good” viral, why not include some unique selling points, rather than just have a bunch of retards talking about incredibly dull, everyday features, in an intensely awkward way? It doesn’t make me want to buy anything MS make, but it does make me want to laugh my arse off at them. Is that positive?
who is “launchparties” (youtube author)? this is beyond lame. did MS create this?
That was retarded!
This has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen… it is sooooo freaking horrible it just makes me laugh and laugh… my favorite part is almost exactly one minute in, one of the dudes says, make sure to load windows 7 first to a chuckle, and then they cut away, and insert a horribly overdubbed voice saying something about make sure to call customer service… great
Maybe this was some internal video for Microsoft employees telling them how to hold Tupperware Windows 7 Parties. This can’t be for public consumption. Unless it is a reverse psychology trick to release the worst promo video ever so that people are commenting on how bad their video is, thereby giving them extra exposure they would not get.
update: MS is having some “launch party” invite/contest thingy where people send in entries or something.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220100635
don’t know what the video is for tho. still…lame. stupid. wack. waste of 6 minutes.
6 minutes I will never see again. Truly bad.
This is why i continue to hate being a PC. i can hear the marketers now … “An OS launch party!? .. how can it fail?”
Wow, looks like Microsoft is aiming for the midnight to 3 am time spot on cable television, between KY Jelly and Collectors Coins.
Wow. Windows 7 Multi-Level Marketing. Complete with the $119.99 sign-up fee for this amazing products “opportunity”. Amway anyone?