Windows 7: Whose idea was it really?
In many countries around the world, there are people who have come out and claimed Windows 7 as being their idea.
Microsoft chose to reveal in its new advertising that the operating system is one that came about because the people demanded it, because the people created it.
And in the process, they hope Windows becomes the people's brand rather than their injury-prone Elton brand.
Yet, as the week of the launch winds down and the hard graft of daily selling begins, it seems instructive to examine just a couple of nuances in the campaign.
Here are two spots, one from Australia and one from the U.S. Both feature individuals who claim that the Snap feature of Windows 7 was their idea.
In the U.S. version, we see Jack, who seems to be a slob. Baggy t-shirt, baggy jeans and, who knows, a baggie in one of the pockets.
Jack claims he had the idea for Snap in the shower. Jack wears his glasses in the shower.
Jack's wife is glumly tolerant and reveals that not only did Jack immediately inform Microsoft of his fine solution, but that he also had to tell his mother. Being American, it seems, means having issues.
By contrast, there's Kevin. Kevin is an Australian who claims that it was, in fact, he who invented the Snap feature.
Kevin is seated in a rather nice waterfront cafe. His shirt is pressed, his gaze determined. Kevin reveals that he got an early look at the streamlined Windows 7 and this forced him to cogitate to great depths.
Unlike Jack, who thinks naked in the shower, Kevin thinks topless on the beach. And the thought he had was "streamlinier." Yes, a new word to define just how much more streamlined Windows 7 is with the Snap feature.
Kevin is so convinced of his genius that he believes the product should have been called Windows Kevin.
So which of them do you believe? Was it Jack's idea? Or Kevin's?
Is Windows 7 the invention of a slobby chap whose first thought is to tell his mother how clever he is? Or is it the creation of the rather slick Kevin who believes not only that he is rather clever, but that the product should bear his name?
The Ordinary Joe or the Extraordinary Egotist? Which of those encapsulates Windows 7 best?
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
What?s strange about this ad campaign is that it states plainly that Windows 7 was ?created by all of us? but then goes about undermining that claim by showing us people whose suggestions appear to have been about as helpful as your run-of-the-mill focus group.
[CNET editor's note: Offensive language deleted.]
I agree with dadsgravy that MS usually collaborates with hardware and software vendors.
They kinda dropped the ball on vista ( though I like vista 64) but windows 7 .. was much more intensely collaborated with vendors - hardware, software, down to Intel as well.
Which is a far cry from something like apple, that want others to bend to them, and then take a slice out of their $, for the "'opportunity" to run with OSX.
$ for Apple? Yes, kind of like how the 99 one-time for App store access (hosting, advertising, signatures, payment processors) has been translated into a whole new beast by MS for their mobile developers: 99 PER app submission, PER version, PER device it is to run on. Nice one! LOL
The WHS team told us that it was a "Windows product decision". So Steve Ballmer says that only businesses should need the Pro version, but then MS cripples a very useful feature from the Home version.
So, the bottom line that that those commercials are a bunch of BS. MS is just trying to build good will since Vista has such a bad image.
Looks interesting... thanks for the tip.
Utter waste of time, money and energy (literally and figuratively). What's next... an advertising campaign for breathing air?
Jealous of what? As a shareholder I'm more than irked they're wasting money that could be better spent on improving product quality (or *gasp* even saved) instead of flushing hundreds of millions of dollars on the obviousness that Windows has the market cornered and will for decades to come, despite what the Linux dweebs and the brainwashed Mac minions would have you think. If it wouldn't be a DoJ investigation nightmare, Microsoft should just buy Apple and run it into the ground if they want to flush away huge bags of money for no good reason.
These tools are a boon to productivity. Being able to quickly and easily move windows out of the way (Aero Snap), maximize windows, see what windows I have open (Aero Peek), and get rid of all windows save for the most important (Aero Shake) helps out tremendously by saving time and keeping my workspace more organized.
Furthermore, you must take the Microsoft development teams for complete dolts: yes, there are keyboard shortcuts--why they're not in the videos is anyone's guess.
Win Key + left arrow = Snaps active window to left; Win Key + right arrow = Snaps active window to right; Win key + Up arrow = Maximizes only the active window; Win key + down arrow = Minimizes the active window to the taskbar. And they even made the hotkeys multiple monitor compatibile by adding the Shift key to the combo.
Win key + home = Clears all but the active window (Sort of like Aero Shake); Win key + space = all open windows become transparent so you can see the desktop (Aero Peek - Great with widgets!).
Just google search Windows 7 hotkeys.
"And lo, once thy words were said the light pierced through thy cloud of flaming, and Windows/Apple fanboys were able to see the light, and not be blinded by their ignorance in the dark. For lo, they were enlightened now! No longer did they have to quarrel with one another, for they now knew that they could accept their differences, because they knew, even in the end, that by improving upon themselves they will both achieve improvement in their OS. And as the Linux kingdom looked far into the distance upon the celebration for the Apple/Mac fanboys, they soon figured out that everyone, including themselves, could coincide peacefully. The OS war....had finally ended."....I wish. Yeah kinda tired and just had to throw something in like that, but you bring up a good point irperez.
Now all we need is like 800,000 more statements like that that instead of flaming left and right, and forums might just be a happier place for all of us.
But I could of sworn I've seen an ad like the US one today, except it was a different person, not the guy listed above. Must have a few different ones for each country then.
On another note, MS has never had a reasonable clue about tech advertising. Always making this form of non innovative white bread ads to go along with their no design lgo and product design. Except of course for a brief rip in the space time continuum where they went completely in the other direction when the richest man in the world and jerry senfoeld would go to rednecks houses for dinner - now they were classic.
I voted for Bush and he messed up.
Ive voted for Obama and he still doesn't do a good job.
Stop complaining!!!
i really dont care about the adds, write a constructive article about the product.
I find it hard to believe that there was more noise and buzz about "snap" than the above mentioned items.
it is an MS product. That might be safest way to run it.
in fact i recommend either installing a random linux over top of a clean wipe or just buying a Mac and getting it over with.
maybe someone could try sending in a nice general "make an OS that isn't a POS" comment to Microsoft and be in the ad for their next system in about 2015...
Libraies and homegroup don't make Win7, Win7. You're sadly mistaken if that's what you think.
I'm just enjoying their nakedness.
"In the U.S. version, we see Jack, who seems to be a slob. Baggy t-shirt, baggy jeans and, who knows, a baggie in one of the pockets."
Just bcause they guy is wearing comfortable clothes you assume he's a slob and might "have a baggie in his pocket".
And just because he actually takes time to talk to his mom you say Americans must have issues?
How about if I go you one further and say that, based on your article, I would assume you are a snob?
Okay so the baggie in his pocket might be gratuitous, but then I, along with 99% of the other readers of this article took it as a natural part of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the essay. But then I must be odd - I saw the ads as light and humorous presentations of the idea that Microsoft wants people to know that they are listening. It seems a lot of the commenters here took the ads too seriously. There are far too many humorless situations in life already without adding to it by getting upset over little things like this.
Pathetic. Keep treating your customers and viewers as children and morons, and we will continue to hate and despise you.
Have a nice day.
P.S.
Anyone who actually believes that either of these guys are trying to claim credit for "inventing" features in Win 7, needs to have their head examined. Anyone who believes that Microsoft actually listened to any of the feedback, also needs their head examined. The feature set was already set long before anyone outside of Redmond heard of Win 7. It always is. You don't really think they would accept ideas and potentially open themselves to liability for using someone elses idea without compensation do you? If you do, you need your head examined.
It never ceases to amaze me the load of crap people will swallow if it's sufficiently polished for them in advance.
- by CyberShepherd October 24, 2009 5:39 PM PDT
- Dumb ad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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