Last night on our way to a birthday party at the Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar – Lisa and I stopped in at The Shops at Mission Viejo mall to kill some time. Traffic from San Diego was a little hectic so I figured that some time spend doing some retail therapy might do some good.
As we walked into the mall I was confronted with the early signs of Christmas and while the prospect of walking the mall with “deck the halls” at my back brought a grimace to my face but the little kids running by the well lit displays made me remember what the holidays are all about.
Walking down the main corridor of the mall I saw a huge white banner that read “Microsoft Store – Now Open”. I guess I have been disconnected from the platform for quite a while because I did not even realize that Microsoft had store but I have heard so many great things about Windows 7 I just had to check it out. I half expected the store to be a bland uninspiring cheap knockoff of an Apple Store, but WOW was I in for a surprise.
From the moment you first step through the door you can feel it, something is special, something is electric in the air. So many smiling faces, so many people engaged and fully committed to the experience and NO I am not just taking about the employees the nearly sixty shoppers in the store were having a riveting experience interacting with what is clearly the future.
Words really can’t do the experience justice so here are some videos that I created on my new Kodak ZI8 in 1080p mode.
Project Natal is the next level of user interaction with a computer. I had not even heard about it, I guess like so many other things Microsoft it looks to be game and life changing.
We have all seen the previews of the interactive table but I actually had the chance to “interact” with it. The table uses 3D bar codes to determine what object has been laid down. I tried taking a picture of the bar code with my phone and displaying the picture to see if I could clone it, but no luck there.
Mid way through our visit the entire store broke out into song. Now I have seen this gimmick before at Coldstone Creamery and I know how they have been criticized in the media for it, but here it did not seem forced nor contrived, I would honestly say that this was the staff letting go, having some fun and not taking the brand all to seriously.
I was absolutely floored by this experience, Microsoft has made a bold move to capture new market share. I ordered a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate edition – I have been a hard core Mac person for the past five years, I completely bypassed the Windows Vista experience but something is telling me that I am at a precipice looking directly into the future. Oh, and I just canceled my order for the 27inch iMac quad, I need a little time to think it over.
Its easy to see that Microsoft primarily is a software company committed to changing the world through technical innovation and that Apple is a hardware company that is changing the world through design innovations. They need each other to push the limits of their own visions.
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Wow, these are some harsh comments. Yikes.
So Brad, my question is, if you’re so into technology and marketing (as your tagline indicates), how on God’s green earth did you NOT know Microsoft was opening stores?
ummm…I’m a Mac.
XP to 7 with a fresh install.
observations:
what kind of classic microsoft vaporware is having a project natal video board in the store when its at least a year from launch?
also, i almost dont see the point of having the surface there. its like hes giving a sales pitch, but oh by the way you cant buy these and its $10,000+ if you could. are they (ms) just trying to prove they can have a good idea?
if there was any doubt the dancing was not spontaneous, they start clapping and taking position before the opening line of the song is even audible.
watch the girl in the green go from halfway back in the store to right in the front, and stand next to the best looking male employee. i wonder if someone told her to do that…
Really really lame. I left my real email to see how long it will take before I start getting M S marketng spam.
Sent from my iPhone
tbh
Dear Mr. Holt.
You have been subscribed to our mailing list. There is no need to double opt-in, we have disabled that feature just like virus protection in our OS.
We would like to offer you a coupon…
So what are you getting instead of that iMac 27″?
The whole thing is so obviously orchestrated. Watch the girl in green and listen carefully as she barks orders at the tanks who do their best to repeat the corporate disco moves. Watch them all look at her as they wish the ground would swallow them.
This is sad, sad, sad and the fake blogger thing, what were Microsoft thinking. Brad Slavin happens to be an anagram of ‘Viral and BS’
I’m so ashamed for those poor employees…
At least they could come up with an interesting dance routine!
It’s such a great music that makes you wanna jump and dance like crazy and what do they do? Clapping and walking around?
Pfffft!
This is just SAD
LOL, is this something new?
Reverse viral marketing?
Microsloth is so hopelessly burdened with bureaucrats, that idiotic ideas like the Microsoft store & this kind of retarded marketing happen.
They should just have released a video of Balmer naked covered in whipped cream, same effect.
OK. Right. Microsoft employees dancing in the aisles.
Look at the customers, some of them are ready to bolt.
Nothing funnier than fay guys wearing shirts too small for them dancing.
Nice try by MS trying to be the cool store in the mall. All this screams is you’re middle aged and want to attend the party run by the kid next door. It’s creepy.
Oh Brad Slavin, poor try from the PR flacks at MS.
You just don’t get it.
Cringeworthy.
“Big difference between the “moment overtaking” and “the mind letting go”. Never pay retail.”
OK, so in other words, even to a marketing dork like you, the MS retail store is an epic FAIL. Those dancing douchbags will be line dancing in the unemployment line in what, about a month from now?
“XP to 7 with a fresh install.”
Interesting. As you “have been a hard core Mac person for the past five years”, I would have expected that you would have needed a hardware upgrade from a POS 5 year old box to run Win7.
Seems somewhere along the way here you are being disingenuous, in addition to being a massive douchebag.
That 27″ iMac would probably run Windows 7 quite nicely.
I’m just sayin’
MS’s latest viral marketing is embarrassing. MS is trying to be the anti-cool (think about the recent remarks by MS execs on Apple’s cool-ness) and still won’t capture mindshare in a positive way. Sorry MS, to this generation, you guys are their father’s technology. I work with youth and young adults and see their tech lives daily. Check it out for yourselves,… they’ll gladly whip out a MacBook or iPod to show off their geek skills or boost their tech status. Those who do own Zunes keep it in their pockets and treat their Wintel laptops as something they tolerate. Their mindshare is important for many years to come, and they are less willing then the previous generation to put up with clunky, unfriendly user interfaces and mediocre design…. And this dance exercise is an example of MS becoming more clunky, clumsy, and irrelevant.
It is incredible how fat these MS-youngsters in the MS-shop are. MS should send them to a beauty farm before they get into contact with the public. This is disgusting.
After 5 years of Mac, you’re going back to the Registry? I’ll wait patiently for the 27″ iMac to show up in Apple’s refurb sales, but there’s no way I’ll volunteer for worms, viruses, and spyware, or go to DLL… well, you know.
Win7 is purty, but remember: Looks can be deceiving. Under the hood, it’s just NT 6.
Stick with your Mac UNIX box.
Haha. Wow. I am blown away by this. I am embarrassed for all involved – embarrassed for this Brad guy, embarrassed for the store employees and even embarrassed for Microsoft itself. “Pathetic” hardly begins to describe the feeling. The dance especially is interesting in that it embodies everything that Steve Jobs despises and everything that Steve Ballmer delights in. Again. Wow.
Haha! Check out brad-slavin.com now. Whoever that brad is reacted to your post! He doesn’t sound too happy about the whole thing.
Nah, I think you’re wrong Brad. It’s easy to see that Microsoft primarily is a software company committed to changing the world through manipulative advertisement campaigns and vapour ware.
Wake up! This isn’t 80s. “All publicity is good publicity” doesn’t work anymore. Because now, people talk back. Now, people have a voice of their own. And the message is pretty clear: Microsoft, you suck, and your cheap tricks doesn’t make it any better. How about some god damn honesty for once?
Haha, oh wow. You’ve managed not only to cause a shitstorm for yourself, but for someone with a similar URL who is completely unrelated. Your douchebaggery knows no bounds.
“Neither forced nor contrived”??? laughing my socks off
Pathetic
So even though you have been a die hard Mac boy for five years, you spend most of your time on the net promoting windows. My office window is less transparent than your marketing efforts.
As someone who uses Google now and again I wondered if you were the same Brad Slavin thats on all those Windows review and tech sites. I wonder how with all that expertise and windows knowledge you missed the Microsoft store thing….
Oh Brad, This was not a random nor spontaneous incident for you. We don’t believe that you “didn’t know Microsoft had a store”, and that you “completely bypassed the Vista experience.” Too bad for you that you’re not getting that iMac, and no matter what you say the MS retail store is still a “bland uninspiring cheap knockoff of an Apple Store.” Brad, shame on you for lyin’. Wait till your mom finds out about this.
You completely bypassed the Vista experience? That’s why your blog on 1/2/2007 say “Windows Vista has been in development for roughly five years and I have been actively involved as a beta tester for the last few months. If you are thinking about upgrading your existing PC running Windows XP to Windows Vista, it may not just be a matter of upgrading the software.”
You sir are a flat out LIAR. Enjoy recent stardom, it’ll last less than 15 minutes.
What really cool is watching the shoplifting at 2:40 and the screens of crashed computers that periodically show up.
How much is M$ paying you exactly? This reads like a brochure prepared in Redmond.
If you got paid, Brad, then good for you. Personally, I think the Microsoft Store dance was stupid and a turn off, but I understand that people need to make money to pay bills and eat, and if this is how you generate income, then all the power to you.
Apple engages in plenty of marketing hijinks, yet I highly doubt any of these complainers whine about these guerilla campaigns. I suspect most of these complaints come from Apple fan boys (of which I’m one) who have no qualms when their favorite exploiter of cheap, Asian labor engages in similar practices.
Sent from my iPhone
bradslavin.com, you sound like you’ve been paid to say everything you’ve said.
that’s what you sound like.
I believe you’ve been paid.
Hell, I know almost as little about you as you do about me, so I’ve no idea if you’re shilling here or not, but the whole thing is hurl-worthy (vid of corporate drones and tone of article). If you’re for real and have had an epiphany, then commiserations about your new god, I mean, any tech co/product is a p*ss poor object to fixate upon. OTOH if Win7 is actually an okay OS, at least it’s not all bad news. Took their time though didn’t they.
Oh, PATHETIC. Pure astroturf, without the least effort made to look credible. Really, this is so sad it’s not even fun to laugh at. I just feel… sorry for you, really sorry that you believe this can actually work.
Pathetic. The Microsoft Store, too. A pathetic rip-off. And the dancers. Ouch. Did I mention it’s all pathetic?
Crispin Porter are wanna be ad agency. Getting noticed solely on shock with no substance. Microsoft are bigger douches for wanting to use them! Man I hate MS. So much money and still nothing. All they do is copy and copy and try and try. I’m so sick of it. Oh, and Brad you’re an a**hole too.
@woz, re: “I would have expected that you would have needed a hardware upgrade from a POS 5 year old box to run Win7.”
Notsomuch. The hardware requirements for Win7 are much lower than for Vista, and it’s actually less resource intensive than WinXP in many ways. Sure, Aero demands a bit, but many, many XP comps of five years’ age are easily as advanced in hardware as the lil HP Mini 110 netbook my daughter is running Win7 on. Granted, Win7 with Aero disabled, but I’ve worked around the Starter Edition limitations for her (notably the fact that M$ disabled changing themes/desktop backgrounds in thr Starter edition, complete with a hashed background graphic that prevented replacement with a non-approved desktop background–*piffle* An easy workaround). On her mom’s 4-year-old Toshiba Satellite (that Toshiba said NOT to upgrade to Win7), and that BOTH Toshiba and the M$ Upgrade tool warned would not be able to run Aero, a fresh install of Win7 Premium went without a hitch, and she’s running the full Win7 Premium–including the Aero interface–more handily than XP ever ran on it, without the demands of Aero.
While I’m not a M$ fanboi (I run a mix of M$–including one old box with IBM PCDOS/Win 3.11, just for some old stuff–various Linux distros and PCBSD on my network, and eschewed the Vista debacle entirely), I see Win7 as easily as good as Ubuntu 9.04 and PCBSD 7.1,1 with some few advantages for people who want to do HTPC things. Which is why on my HTPC, I am running Win7 Ultimate with Linux Mint (built on Ubuntu 9.04) in a VM–so I can have my cake (the HTPC functions in Win7, where WMC just works) and eat it too (actually get work done in the Mint VM).
But the idea that Win7 won’t run, and run well, on “older” PCs is just silly. It all depends on the hardware. A 4-5 year old POS $300 computer, complete with POS monitor, from Walmart? Notsomuch. But a MOR computer from 4-5 years ago built to run WinXP well has a pretty good chance of making the grade fro a fresh install of Win7.
Oh, neat thing? M$ seems finally to have gotten the “files and settings transfer wizard” right in the updated Windows Easy Transfer. My wife had a fresh install of Win7… with all her files accessible and her desktop looking just like it did before the upgrade. And after a reinstallation of her apps (yes, that’s still necessary with a fresh install and WET), she could open Word and have her list of recently opened Word docs just as it had been before the fresh install of Win7.
Easy-peasy.
Oh, and anyone who wants to dump on ME as a shill for Me$$y$oft will get nothing from me but a well-deserved “ROFLKASTMAFO*
Macsmiley,
“Win7 is purty, but remember: Looks can be deceiving. Under the hood, it’s just NT 6.
Stick with your Mac UNIX box.”
Just an FYI. You can have all the benefits of a solid UNIX box with a great GUI (heck, you can even “skin” it like a Mac straightjacket if you wish) by just running PCBSD on any old cheap Intel box. Solid, reliable, secure, super “purty” and with tons of really great, free software–even runs Linux apps and with an easy-peasy WINE install, most Windows apps as well.
And every time I’ve put it on a box as a fresh install, it’s been about the slickest, easiest 15-minute install imaginable.
Why pay the Mac tax to get a good, solid, “purty” UNIX box? (Oh, and the box itself can be anything your creativity can imagine: I first installed PCBSD in a nice fine furniture-quality mahogany-veneered box. Who really needs over-priced hardware that’s sold in large part based on being “purty” when one can roll ones own so easily?)
Just sayin’.
that girl in the white shirt stole something 2:10-2:15 in the dancing vid. if you love microsoft so much, you probably should report it
Really, brad slavin–REALLY? Really.
Come on, Microsoft–you can do better than that…..right?
That dancing bit didn’t seem contrived or forced to you at all? Really? Were you high, perchance?
How much did Microsoft pay you? It couldn’t have been worth it.
This dance video was absolutely cringeworthy. It made me start thinking about getting a mac.
Did that girl steal something while dancing at 2:13?
he shit on MS LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHw77wCEA_0&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=CB2E2418DDECE97B
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