Internal Microsoft Vista Video is as Painful as Videos Get

Adam Frucci — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:27:55 EDT

You've gotta wonder how, in a company the size of Microsoft, there's not a single person who has the balls to step up and say "Hey, you know what? This Vista music video we're making for the sales department, complete with a cheesy Bruce Springsteen impersonator and horrible music, damages the dignity of not only everyone involved in its production, but everyone who watches it." Seriously, how did this little slice of cringe-inducing embarrassment ever get made? What year is this? I need to lie down. I'm sorry. Check the video after the jump. UPDATE: The video is an internal spoof, an insider confirms. First: Good for them saving their sense of style and decency and humor. Second: Could they please not spend the money staging fake concerts and really good spoof videos and keep the SP patch works coming? We kid because we love XP!

[NeoWin via CrunchGear]

30 Apparent Reasons You Launched Your Startup

Nick Douglas — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:26:04 EDT

NICK DOUGLAS — 1. World of Warcraft account now expensable
2. College dropout programmer buddy needed a job
3. Bought a domain with lots of x's in it
4. Wanted to get in Fast Company
5. Dad had nothing else to invest in
6. If all else fails, you get to keep the chairs
7. Developing a taste for beef ramen
8. Found hot venue for a launch party

9. While coding drunk, accidentally mashed up two apps
10. Addicted to drinking Bawls
11. "Oh yeah? Well I'll start my own Google!"
12. Friend of Michael Arrington; TechCrunch running out of companies to cover
13. Got starry-eyed browsing LinkedIn
14. Wanted to live in the Y-Combinator apartments next to Justin.tv
15. Shares all vested and nowhere to go
16. Had funny t-shirt slogan
17. Career as journalist not as lucrative as Comm professor led you to believe
18. Slovenly lifestyle suddenly trendy if you're at a startup
19. Kickass band name from high school now a kickass company name
20. Mom called to see if you got a job; panicked; made up a business
21. Wanted to join Yahoo without the tedious application process
22. New office came with primary color scheme; only other option was starting a kindergarten
23. Designer friend had a client-rejected logo
24. Own a Mac
25. Made a killing on your last company; this is more fun than spending it all on a yacht
26. Nothing else to do in Palo Alto
27. Still on parents' insurance policy
28. Look good in person, wanted to look good on paper
29. "I have to fix our servers" is good way to get out of dates
30. Started as a joke; don't realize it still is

Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag, Blogebrity, and Look Shiny. He's working on a startup.

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Internal Microsoft Vista Video is as Painful as Videos Get

30 Apparent Reasons You Launched Your Startup