Microsoft Store “Spontaneously” Erupts in Synchronized Clapping
There are so many thing here that require an ass whupping I just don’t know where to begin:
• Why is there even such a thing as a Microsoft Store?
• Is this an example of their innovation?
• Why is the staff being forced to clap rhythmically — did they all do something wrong? Is this how they get punished?
• What is with the tonnage? Is there a free Cinnabon store next door? They seem to average 260+.
Look, I am not an Apple fanboy (though this is being written on a MacBook Pro and I hate to be just be a Mister Softee hater, but damn if this isn’t some bizarre combination of Lame X 10 and hysterical.
What was wrong with having a insanely profitable, widely reviled monopoly? Don’t go getting all warm and fuzzy on us — you are supposed to just mint money.
Instead, you have given the world a new formula for Humor: Microsoft + Attempts to be Hip = Comedy Gold!
>
November 19th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
By proclamation, everyone must weigh more than Steve Ballmer
November 19th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
is it possible that it was a flash mob?
November 19th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
ahh…nevermind…
November 19th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
it’s like Johnny Rockets meets the Apple store… F U barry! i want those 4 1/2 minutes of my life back!
it looks like they got some shoppers involved… the dancing spread… like a VIRUS.. just like in Windows!
November 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
They must be celebrating Snow Leopard, the new iMac (sweet mouse) or Google Chrome’s new OS.
Pathetic, Microsoft can’t even copy an Apple Store.
Everyone should watch “The Pirates of Silicone Valley” (it is on NetFlix).
November 19th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Jesus. That was horrible. Like a visual metaphor for the Great Reflation. Just sad, really.
Whatever marketing genius at MS is still pretending it’s still 2006 or whatever should be taken out and flogged. I mean, REALLY?!
November 19th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I loved the guy in the white jacket who entered the store and then immediately did a u-turn and walked out.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
What a horrible way to get the clap.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
What’s the force quit command on Windows?
And why does this go on so long? And never find a beat? And create more befuddlement than joy?
November 19th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
“What’s the force quit command on Windows?”
If it is a laptop – raise it over your head and smash it on the ground.
If yah got a desktop just cut the cord, the electrocution will be more pleasant then running Windows.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:31 am
You’re all missing the point, which is to try to give shoppers a welcoming, fun experience shopping for Microsoft products. Failing that, a warm, fuzzy feeling about the company. This kind of thing can almost wipe away years of negative experiences using Windows and thinking of Microsoft as a monopoly that you must bear (if only for Microsoft’s target market, which happens to be the majority of computer users). Even if you thought it was awkward, dopey, weird, or stupid, it’s better for them to be seen as those but as really trying hard to be fun and nice. It’s certainly better for their brand than to be thought of as cold, calculating, and evil.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:12 am
The same people who brought us the Windows 7 introduction by pseudoTupperware Party with Stepford people acting like droids in bubbles. Who the hell does MS’s PR, advertising. Are they that bad with all their clients? Or is it that MS is such a ‘we know better than you’? I have never seen anything close to good PR or advertising from MS; most of their tv stuff stumps me: What audience are they talking to? What the f… are they talking about?
It all comes down to this: When you foist your product on end-users by forcing pc manufacturers to ship with it no-one gets any choice. So you don’t have to advertise when you are a monopoly. Also, when you are a monopoly you don’t have to keep up with the market. For those who remember when Ma Bell owned the farm, you know what I mean. In those days AT&T and her Bell kids never advertised. What for?
MS promo sucks because they started nerdy-Bill Gates still can’t keep his shirttails tucked in-and became the employed masses living 1984-like in that great walled city: Redmond. Cut off, cultish, crazy, cloney. Those dancing Microsoftees seem as enthusiastic as zombies. Keep up the good work Microsoft.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:14 am
What’s next -
The Goldman Sachs Store : “where you can play with their money that use to be yours”
November 20th, 2009 at 7:44 am
It all boils down to this:
Good artists copy.
Great artists steal.
Job’s was a great artist who was handed the GUI on a silver platter from Xerox who thought a mouse was a rodent. In Pirates of Silicone Valley in response to Job’s telling him “We’re better” Gates said, “It doesn’t matter.”
IMO, the Google Chrome OS will be soon be eating MS’s breakfast lunch and dinner, serious users will buy Macs, the rest of the sheeple will migrate to cloud based computing.
Stateless for the stateless.
We are, by and large comprised of a nation of idiots, we have elected 530 fools and allow morons like Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, Romer et al to enslave us and our children in taxes.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:22 am
As for the people who do not understand what these fools are doing have never worked for a big company in a retail setting ( what you is normal) as for all the rest of you who think MS is bad and are using a APPLE just keep spending twice as much money and getting half as much. Oh that right it must be I’m not COOL enough !
November 20th, 2009 at 11:48 am
This makes me wonder why Major Hasan couldn’t have been stationed in this store instead of Fort Hood.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
The term made famous by Jon Stewart: “Comically Inept” applies elegantly here.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
timpog: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Just because they are trying something new/counter-intuitieve does not mean it won’t end in disaster.
November 20th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
“Just because they are trying something new/counter-intuitieve does not mean it won’t end in disaster.”
Like Me and Vista?
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:36 am
When these people get home and their kids ask them why they have to go to university or trade school…….oh boy are they going to get slapped!
Is this the MSFT retail version of the blue screen of death?
It makes you look at it and say, “How do I shut this thing off?” The only problem is there is no plug to pull so it is actually WORSE! I can’t believe it MSFT has actually come up with something worse than the blue screen of death
@arthur.i Says:November 20th, 2009 at 4:14 am
The Goldman Sachs Store : “where you can play with their money that use to be yours”
Ahhh, NO! You can’t play with the money! You can pay to look at it through bullet proof glass windows and if you even think of touching it our armed guards will shoot you dead with their AK-47s. Your family will then be sent the cleanup bill. A duplicate will then be sent to Treasury
Play with the money? No wonder you lost it….loser
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
That is the saddest thing that I have ever seen.
FAIL.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
it goes on forever…
November 25th, 2009 at 5:03 am
COULD THE BLACK EYED PEAS PLEASE GET THIS TAKEN DOWN
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE………………………………………..
i love that song
come get me out of the corner and wipe the tears from my eyes in a few hours
The horror, the horror……………
November 25th, 2009 at 5:09 am
My god I just watched more of it..
All I can think is….. What a perfect time to walk right out the door with about 7k in gear while the whole staff is DANCING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!