Comments on: Microsoft 1, blogosphere 0

When is a video so bad that it's actually good? An uber-lame Microsoft internal video making the rounds turns out to have been a spoof.

[arthill]

I'm surprised anybody doesn't recognize this as a spoof. As pointed out by everyone it's incredibly badly done. Even beyond that the messages are simply ones that Microsoft would never put in a serious video, internal or otherwise. "Our ecosystem rocks", c'mon

[The_Decider]

Everything MS does is badly done.

By that criteria, Vista is a spoof on Operating Systems

[weedhacker]

"C'mon" is right... anybody who can't imagine Ballmer up on a stage bellowing out "Our ecosystem rocks!" simply isn't trying. We've all squirmed in our seats when he rushed out on stage, and you know it.

[Drew1022]

Alright, finally an excellent alternative video for Rick Rolling ... now we can what ... Vista Roll people?

[HeartBurnKid]

No, this is real, and no doubt the folks who made it genuinely thought it'd be a cool and funny thing to show to their sales team. When they say "spoof" they mean that they're spoofing Springsteen, not that they're spoofing lame corporate vids, and they think they're very, very clever for it. Trust me, I see stuff like this from my personal corporate overlords all the time.

[TxemiC]

Are you sure this is not a viral marketing campaign from Apple?

http://tech-talk.biz/2008/04/17/vista-sp1-video-is-this-a-viral-marketing-campaign-from-apple/

[The_Decider]

Everything MS does is badly done. Saying that because it is so badly done makes it an obvious spoof is laughable.

By that criteria, Vista is a spoof on Operating Systems

[sadchild]

two words....

damage

control

[rickhan]

Classic MS internal spoof. I've seen many others much better done, but this is definitely done to tweak Microsofties, not for public consumption.
They spend multi millions on real ads, which are really polished and boring.
If you really can't tell the difference, then you need a life.

[TGallag69]

Yea, the video was dumb but I've seen WORSE from people on YouTube.

[keith.r.benedict]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the marketing and audio/video guys don't do much software development. Which, conveniently, leaves them free to put together silly videos.

[Lemon5]

lol, i thought it was real. LOL. I feel foolish

[AnotherJames154]

I work in marketing communications for technology companies, and I am also a Brit with a finely tuned sense for satire and irony.

It is difficult to believe that this was created as a serious tool to motivate Microsoft sales staff, spoof or not. From a marketing communications perspective it is a very stupid move to deliberately make a "bad" promotional video for a product that has been universally derided. It would be a stupid thing to do even if it was obvious that it was meant as a spoof, it is worse in this case because people's opinion of Microsoft is so low that they have taken it seriously. Furthermore, if it was intended as a spoof it isn't even funny - it makes people cringe rather than laugh.

So I disagree with "Microsoft 1, blogosphere 0". This is an embarrassing home goal for Microsoft and a communications disaster, at a time that they need as much positive coverage about Vista as possible.

[DarkHawke]

Is it a spoof? Is it serious? WHO CARES?!? For as staid a company as Microsoft has become to knock out something this cheesy, goofy and just flat-out fun, that just plain ol' ROCKS!!! It's almost a throwback to the kind of egoless fun that computer companies used to have (though ironically never Microsoft) back in the good ol' days of 8 & 16 bit computing, long before Windows took over and computing became more commodity and less fun! I say, rock on wit yo bad selves, Bruce and the VSB! Looking forward to your next video! ;)

[viewrcorp]

Pure genius ! It got their own people laughing and not taking themselves so seriously.
What a boost to morale. Then there is all the Free Chatter.
Good for MS. Nice to see a little genius and spoof the chatterers.

--- Karl Lingenfelder

[Peter in MN]

You have got to me kidding me. The video was total musicvideomercial for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. Having Microsoft do your computor security is like having the government do your taxes-a big mistake.

[dark_angel_1016]

This video was produced internally by the Windows Client Consumer PR group - trust me, the people that conceived this marketing video sold it as hip, fresh and funny. They could've just let it all flame out, but trying to spin a spoof as "just a spoof," is a major PR faux pas, and only reinforces how out of touch the MS marketing team really is. As a comedy video, it does succeed on one level; it has kept Mr. Springsteen and legal team laughing all weekend long.