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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.
What will I be able to throw at the Mac/Linux users who show up?
Rubber tubing, gas, saw, gloves, cuffs, razor wire, hatchet, gladys and my mitts.
waking up hung over, going over to your computer, pushing the mouse to wake the monitor and realizing you got so drunk at the party you attended last night that you installed Windows on your own computer.
Monstar L
They should have at least thrown in a couple grams of blow.
The signature edition of Windows 7 Ultimate is worth it. Mine should arrive today actually. It is a great excuse to have a party, get some friends to come over, and have a few drinks. I basically won over $300 of software... the fact that they threw in Napkins and Tote Bags are silly but I certainly won't complain about it!!
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.
Be a sport and raffle it off as a door prize or auction it off, and give proceeds, less your real costs for providing food and drinks, to a charity. Does the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation accept donations?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
It is a great excuse to have a party
No, it really isn't.
"Hey, it's Friday!" is a great excuse to have a party.
"Hey, MS sent me marketing crap, let's have a party!" is a great excuse to dress your dogs up in sweaters, because they're the only friends you'll ever have.
If you promise to hold a party but don't you receive two copies as punishment.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
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.
Honestly, following this marketing effort from MSFT is a bit like watching Nascar. I couldn't care less about the drivers or the cars but damn....there are some fine wipeouts to see.
/. work in corp environments and as much as we detest marketing-droids, at the end of the day, we realize their usefulness on some level.
It boggles the mind how something like this got out of the door. Seriously. Many of us here on
I don't see that anywhere in this effort. It is so laughably bad, that I almost can't believe it's real. Puzzles? Cards? A party for an operating system? WTF is going on here? Is this serious? Or am I being punk'd? Where's Ashton?
Windows 7 isn't a seven year old girl. It's the village retard given a new shirt and some fresh napkins to clean up the snot and drool.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I received my package yesterday and it had everything mentioned in the article plus balloons, streamers, and a few more goodies. Sounds like their package wasn't complete.
The way we're going to do it is I'll install a temp copy of 7 on my laptop, show a few things I know, and then let my guests play with it. We're also hosting a BBQ, playing some GH, RB, Wii Sports, and just plain chilling out.
I'm still undecided on whether to raffle off the single goodies (e.g. playing cards) or do some kind of trivia game: what kind of car was BG driving when he got hauled for the infamous mugshot?
After everyone's gone home I'll simply put my production hard drive back in the laptop and start using with my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. :)
All in all, it should be a good time just getting together and hanging out.
It could have been worse. They could have included copies of Windows for the guests, too.
Perhaps balloons and streamers will come in the first Party Service Pack.
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
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