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Inside the Windows 7 Launch Party Pack
Barence writes to tell us that it seems Microsoft has been grinding away in the corporate world for so long, they have forgotten what "fun" means. PC Pro managed to get their hands on one of the "party packs," and it seems woefully inadequate. Nowhere did we see a pin-the-chair on the Ballmer game, giveaways that you might actually use, or even a few balloons or streamers. Instead, the only reason to get a party pack seems to be the free copy of Windows Ultimate Signature edition, which doesn't do much for your party guests (unless you burn them all copies I guess, but we would never condone that). All-in-all, it seems that Microsoft should have gone to the nearest dorm room and asked for some pointers on how to have a good party.
You have balloons, streamers, a deck of cards, and a puzzle. It's like they want you to throw a lame children's birthday party. I really have to wonder how this got through without anyone noticing how terrible it is. And the goodies you're supposed to give to guests? Two of them are cards for antivirus software. I guess that's being responsible, but pointing out ways to fix your software's faults is still a funny way to market a new product.
There is just no punch
That video reminded me of women planning a Tuperware party. Truly unforgivable...
If they'd given out, say, 10 copies of Windows 7, 10 copies of a game that uses Windows 7 in some useful way, and a 10-port LAN hub, at least you could have a LAN party.
Install Kubuntu and just tell them it's 7.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Is-it-Windows-7-or-KDE-4-/0,139023769,339294810,00.htm
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
It seems like everyone had expectations that the party pack would be free copies of Windows 7, free food, free decorations, free ...
Are you seeing a pattern? I guess people thought that the Launch Party was a time where Microsoft could give away lots of free stuff. I'm not sure that's the point.
I still think it failed and was pretty bad marketing, but I don't think the point of the party pack was to give away free copies of their software that they want people to buy. And I wasn't expecting them to give you brownies.
Oh well. The summary writer had a pretty obvious slant/bias. Pin-the-chair-on-Ballmer game? Right...
The only way a Windows Launch Party Pack would be fun is if it included a large quantity of alcohol.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
5 digits... This is such a sad day for me.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Download any Linux distribution and get thousands of dollars worth of software for free, throw a party and hand out copies so your friends get thousands of dollars worth of software too. $300 only if someone willing to pay that.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Wait? No Condoms?
If you're actually throwing a Windows 7 party, you aren't going to have any use for condoms.
Just remember, there are more Mac users who have Windows installed on their machines than Windows users who have OSX installed on theirs.
You are welcome on my lawn.
almost everyone I know has a game console and having never heard of something doesn't mean a thing but maybe how naive one is.
FYI, marketing does not make something good, only familiar.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
touche. This does bring up a problem Linux has and Windows doesn't have. Most likely, when you run into a problem on Linux, you've not run across it before and so it's new and may take some time to find a solution. Once it's fixed, you're not likely to run into it again. Now, on Windows, you are very likely to run across the same problems over and over again so after a short time you feel like you're really getting to know Windows. This also makes people look like super stars and guru's when the neophytes go looking for help to fix the same stuff.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Well maybe there are at least some interesting debugging symbols? You know they don't strip stuff, how else could an OS that comes with hardly any software applications save for a media player and word process that does not even spell check need to ship on a dvd.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html