Is it Photoshop? An inmate uprising? One stretches for explanations when gazing upon the unthinkable.
In this case, we must accept the truth, now documented by several sources: last week, Microsoft really did celebrate the developer release of Windows Phone 7 by staging a mock funeral for iPhone and Blackberry. (No word on Android’s fate.)
Presumably, they used the hearse left over from the Kin launch earlier this year.
Photo: Trioculus (Flickr)
It should be noted that this wasn’t the first time someone pulled the ol’ funeral shtick out of the closet. Steve Jobs performed the same stunt in 2002 by putting his own beloved Mac OS 9 in an onstage coffin to celebrate the ascension of Mac OS X.
Think about that one for a moment. Steve was putting his own product in a coffin, simply to make a dramatic point. He wasn’t sticking Windows in a coffin to proclaim its doom. Sitting there with 3% of the market share, that would have made him look ridiculous. Microsoft, with a 0% market share for its all-new Window Phone 7, has no such qualms.
But I don’t mean to make this a story about Steve Jobs vs. Microsoft. It’s really just a story about intelligence vs. stupidity.
When the world is watching, and you’re playing catch-up with the big boys, you simply don’t go out and embarrass yourself. When you get all dressed up, you think twice about putting on the clown nose.
I’m not suggesting that Microsoft employees be locked in their offices. (Well, maybe one.) A new product launch is exactly the right time to celebrate all those months of hard work. People should be excited. Dreams of success should be dancing in their heads. If I worked at Microsoft, I’d be drinking the beer and partying with the rest of them.
It’s just that normally, a grown adult approves the celebration — and prevents employees of questionable taste from giving the whole company a black eye.
Fake funeral parades, giant phone models, costumes and hearses don’t just happen by themselves. Sometime, somewhere, a Microsoft manager looked at this brainless plan and said “sure, let’s have some fun” — instead of “you’re fired for even suggesting it.”
I can only imagine how the guys over in PR must feel. They must have steam coming out of their ears. Then again, this is Microsoft. It’s possible they were out there driving the hearse.
Tags: iphone funeral, ken segall, microsoft, microsoft funeral, windows phone 7
