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Perhaps I am just old-fashioned, but I get much more out of this straightforward Windows 8 marketing video than I do from the Avant-garde Windows 7 video of 2009. What is your assessment of the competing video concepts?
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What video?
janitorman Updated - 31st May 2012
you need to place a link to the video for Windows 8 on here. All I get is "install missing plugin" and then "no suitable plugin found."
I'm using Firefox 13 with NoScript (but unblocking the flash objects did not help) on a Win XP machine. Maybe I'll try it on Linux and see if that works?
Is this video in Silverlight or something? Why not just post a Youtube link, like the video above for Win7? You're not going to get any comments if no one can view what you're trying to post.
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Silverlight
Mark W. Kaelin 31st May 2012
If there is a YouTube version of the video I will use it - only the Silverlight version is available from Microsoft.
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Pro
Only the "skin crawling" insult of a Windows 7 party video was there. Nothing on Windows 8 marketing.

I had forgotten how bad some marketing can be but that Windows 7 party foolishnss is right there at the bottom of the barrel.
The party idea was based on gaming parties for popular releases of video games, and it was an absolute fail for Win7. When they started casting actors of various ages and ethnic groups they should have known the idea was bad, but they kept trying and trying. They tried too hard.

The blog videos are much more useful, but the audio is poor and the presentation not very polished. I'm not saying the presenter has to wear a tie, but business casual would be appreciated. And can he wear a microphone please? Anything to reduce the rooms echo would be nice.

Maybe for Windows 9 we'll see a polished video that demonstrates features without insulting intelligence or fashion.
I hadn't ever watched the launch party videos. I managed to sit through it all, but wow, what a train wreck. This has it all. First, does this really look like a group of people that are excited enough about an OS release to host a party?? Maybe "socially awkward guy" on the left. How about grandma there? No, I don't think so. She might offer to feed you if you come over and fix her computer, though. That's close.

I would expect to see a group of young tech enthusiasts huddled around a coffee table covered in laptops, pizza boxes, and liters of Mountain Dew. Sorry to draw on a stereotype, but having been to computer-oriented get-togethers, that's more what they're like. This isn't Thanksgiving, it's reformat-and-install day, with fellow geeks. No one else is going to do this. No one. Everyone else you invite.. uh.. has "plans that day, sorry."

Also, it sounds like a homework assignment where they're trying to make it sound fun. "You don't *have* to do it this way, but you will need to plan your activities in advance..." Are they really getting excited over snapping windows to the sides of the screen? "Oh yeah I did the same thing!" Woo! What a hoot!

Seriously. Who let this out on the Internet? It's just embarrassing. How can a company the size of Microsoft not have a top-flight marketing dept / agency?

Then Windows 8 .... Well, alright, this is an OK blog post. Except not really a blog post. It should be, and let people run with it if they're intrigued, but I wonder if it's even enough for that. The copyright notice on the end is part of what really turns me off. That says to me, this isn't actually just a quick behind-the-scenes glimpse. That at least would be cool -- if it had more of a personal touch, like actual video of the team brainstorming ideas or testing features that may or may not be working right yet. "Whoops, back to the drawing board!" Charming, with a touch of voyeurism. Let's see what they tried that didn't work so well. A little bit of blooper reel.

Instead, this is half blog, half "there's an app for that" commercial. Which means it falls short on both, and is totally lacking in personality, despite the little half-grin and inspirational piano theme.

Maybe the Vista development cycle wiped out MS' marketing fund, and the result is the film class from the local community college stepping in and trying to run an ad campaign. There's nothing exciting, nothing recognizable or clever (ala, "Hi, I'm a Mac"), nothing people will talk about later -- except how painful it is to watch.

Last thing -- "It's gonna run on PCs, on tablets, on smart phones..." No. Nononono. "It *RUNS* on PCs, on tablets ...." No one cares about what you're "going" to do. Some day I'm going to be rich and live in ten-story treehouse. Look, the world is full of broken promises. Tell us what you've *done*.
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