The Best Thing You Will Watch All Day -- Visual Studio Magazine

Desmond File

The Best Thing You Will Watch All Day

Microsoft has a long and storied history of creating mind-altering corporate videos. It runs the gamut, from the slick, minimalist tribute that is the Volkswagen-inspired "Da Da Da" spot, to the hopped-on-meth circus show that is Steve Ballmer's epic "Developers! Developers! Developers!" keynote rant.

So you can imagine my joy when I was at our RedmondReport.com news site, which pulls together Microsoft-related news from across the Web, and found this.

This leaked Windows Vista SP1 sales video could be the best thing I've seen since the Hillary4U&Me "fan-paign" video that became a YouTube hit this winter, or the "Hot! Hot! Hot!" promotional spot for Appalachian State University, which hit the tubes last fall. Scratch that -- this internal Vista sales video is even better.

I know a lot of folks will deride Microsoft for making such an ill-considered bit of derivative promotional media. Others may spend the rest of the afternoon washing their eyes out with bleach, hoping to wipe the memory of this thing from their brains (good luck with that).

But not me. Because I know that this is the stuff of Internet greatness. Twenty years ago, you had no shot at getting a terrifying glimpse inside Microsoft's promotional machinery. Today, you wish you could avert your eyes.

One thing I do know: I'm going to meet that BitLocker guy in my nightmares.

Is there a corporate YouTube classic that ranks as your worst ever? And by worst ever, I mean best ever. E-mail me at [email protected] and share the pain.

Posted by Michael Desmond on 04/17/2008

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