Microsoft Tears Down the Walls for a Better View
For the past two weeks, millions of people have watched the series of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld television ads with the Windows logo at the end and wondered: “What’s next?”
Today, Microsoft answers that question with the next phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar Windows marketing effort designed to reconnect with consumers. And tonight, the Bill-and-Jerry “teaser” ads give way to a new series of television ads that celebrate the diversity and passion of consumers around the world who use Windows to stay in touch with the people, information and ideas that they care about.
The new ads are just a part of this major Windows marketing initiative, all designed around connecting with consumers in meaningful ways throughout their Windows experience – whether buying a PC, using a Windows Mobile device, or living life on the Web.
“Windows is truly the shared language of creativity and connection for more than one billion people,” says Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President, Online Services & Windows Business Group. “It’s a vibrant community of individuals who are passionate about how Windows helps them express their ideas and live life on their own terms. Starting today, we want to reflect the passion and excitement of this community in how we tell the story of the Windows brand.”
Tearing Down Walls
Microsoft signaled the next phase of the Windows brand campaign with full-page newspaper ads carrying the headline: “Windows vs. Walls”. The copy in the ads lays out the driving philosophy behind the new Windows marketing approach. Veghte says: “At the core, Windows is about enabling each one of us, as individuals, to live our lives without walls … I want to work when I want to work, I want to play when I want to play. I want to communicate and share with friends and family and co-workers.”
The “Life without Walls” tagline brings another key facet of the Windows brand to life: Windows connects people not only via the PC, but also via phones, devices, and the Web. The Windows platform of Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, and Windows Live were built to work together and to expand the Windows experience beyond the PC to the phone and the Web. The campaign will reflect this holistic, connected approach.
“On our journey to make sure that Windows enables a life without walls, we’ve taken a step back, reevaluated and tuned and tweaked our approach. So you’re seeing that in the advertising, in the products, in the experience at retail and on Windows.com,” notes Veghte.
Source- Microsoft Press Release
‘A Family Affair’ ad for Microsoft hits the web
Microsoft has released their latest advertisement featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. This one features the duo living with a suburban family to "better connect" to normal people. Only the first part of the commercial is being broadcast right now, but both part 1 and the yet to air part 2 are available in the links below, as well as a much longer version which views more like a small TV show.
The company says that the campaign will eventually "turn toward communicating specifically about Windows brand and the products that carry the Windows flag."
Good to hear, considering general opinion about the current $300 million dollar advertising blitz is the software giant is making "commercials about nothing."
Video: A Family Affair (full version) | Part 1 | Part 2
Source- Neowin
Microsoft Kicks off new Windows Campaign with Star Power
“This is the Conquistador,” explains Jerry Seinfeld, showing a befuddled Bill Gates a brown loafer. “They run very tight.”
After seeing the new ad from Microsoft, which debuted today, some may wonder what Jerry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates pick out a new pair of shoes has to do with software. The answer, in the classic Seinfeld sense of the word, is nothing. Nevertheless, the spot is the first and most visible sign of an ambitious effort by Microsoft’s Windows business to reconnect with consumers around the globe.
The new campaign will highlight how Windows has become an indispensible part of the lives of a billion people around the globe — not only on PCs but also now online and via mobile devices. It will illustrate how Windows integrates consumer experiences across PCs, online and on mobile phones through Windows Vista, Windows Live and Windows Mobile. Microsoft is working with retail partners and PC manufacturers to enhance the experience consumers have with Windows at every touch-point:
Source- Microsoft Press Release
Microsoft Research Asia Celebrates Ten Years of Collaboration
Microsoft Research (MSR) Asia hosted its 10th Anniversary Innovation Forum in Hong Kong on Aug. 12 to celebrate a decade of ground-breaking work alongside Asia’s burgeoning IT talents and academic communities.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates joined MSR Asia leaders and prominent members of Hong Kong’s educational institutions this week to highlight the innovative achievements China and Microsoft have shared over the past ten years, and to convey their vision for China’s leading role in global innovation.
Founded in 1998, MSR Asia began with a dozen employees and has since grown into a thriving lab of 350 full-time employees and as many interns. The organization conducts research work in more than 20 different fields, including natural user interface, multimedia, data-intensive computing and search and online advertising. MSR Asia’s headquarters are located in Beijing, China.
Source- Microsoft Press Release
Microsoft’s plans for post-Windows OS revealed
Microsoft is incubating a componentized non-Windows operating system known as Midori, which is being architected from the ground up to tackle challenges that Redmond has determined cannot be met by simply evolving its existing technology. SD Times has viewed internal Microsoft documents that outline Midori’s proposed design, which is Internet-centric and predicated on the prevalence of connected systems.
Midori is an offshoot of Microsoft Research’s Singularity operating system, the tools and libraries of which are completely managed code. Midori is designed to run directly on native hardware (x86, x64 and ARM), be hosted on the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor, or even be hosted by a Windows process.
According to published reports, Eric Rudder, senior vice president for technical strategy at Microsoft and an alumnus of Bill Gates’ technical staff, is heading up the effort. Rudder served as senior vice president of Microsoft’s Servers and Tools group until 2005. A Microsoft spokesperson refused comment.
Source: SD Times
Bill Gates granted first Einstein Award
Bill Gates has been awarded the first Einstein Award from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU).
“The Einstein Award represents the creation of a continuum of great minds and was inspired by the legacy of Albert Einstein, a founding father of our university who wrought a profound revolution in human understanding of our world,” said Professor Menachem Magidor, president of the Hebrew University.
“Bill Gates is a most worthy recipient. Like Einstein, he is a leader whose actions stem from the knowledge that human progress includes alleviating human suffering.”
Gates will be honoured at a gala dinner in New York in December. Proceeds will help to fund plant and animal science research at the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Israel.
Source: www.vnunet.com
Bill Gates last day at Microsoft
The founder and head of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company Bill Gates steps down on Friday. One of the richest men in the world, Gates will now work full time for his charitable organization The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The 52-year-old will continue to be chairman though, but will only retain a nominal role in the software empire. He is still is the biggest shareholder of the company and his 8.7 per cent stake in Microsoft is worth about 23 billion dollars.
Gates authored the personal computer revolution three decades ago when he founded Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen.
Microsoft released a commemorative video paying tribute to Bill’s service to the company, titled "Bill Gates: Looking back, Moving Ahead". It can be watched on the company’s website here.
Source: TechPowerUp
Innovation Fuels Passion in Next-Gen PC Design Competition
For industrial design student Avery Holleman, the inspiration for his award-winning entry in this year’s Microsoft-sponsored Next-Gen PC Design Competition struck late one evening as he chewed over prospective form factors for his design concept.
One person it struck a chord with was Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who knows a thing or two about business plans. In addition to being awarded first place by the Next-Gen PC Design Competition’s distinguished panel of expert judges, drawn from the ranks of leading international industrial designers, Holleman’s Napkin PC concept also earned the distinction of winning the Chairman’s Award, handpicked by Gates. Holleman received $20,000 in prize money for both accolades.
Now in its fourth year, the Next-Gen PC Design Competition, endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), throws down the gauntlet to budding industrial designers and seasoned professionals working in the field worldwide to apply their ingenuity, design prowess and creative flair and vision to the task of not merely give existing computing form factors a superficial makeover, but fundamentally rethinking the PC as we know it from the ground up.
For Microsoft, the competition affords an invaluable opportunity to identify fresh design talent and foster dialog and collaboration between design professionals and the PC industry – interaction that is increasingly important amid the emergence of user experience as a key driver of technology adoption.
This year’s competition issued an open call to entrants to dream up futuristic PC designs that give a new lease of life to people’s passions, such as travelling, music or photography. Contestants were challenged to come up with groundbreaking designs, not only featuring eye-catching aesthetics, but melding cutting-edge hardware with the latest software to empower people to follow their passions.
Source- Microsoft Press Release
