No, we are not making this up. Microsoft employees really did dance at a mock iPhone funeral held to commemorate the launch of Windows Phone 7. Click here to watch the shocking video. Warning: Really bad dancing alert.
Yes, as Tom Warren of NeoWin reports, workers toiling away under the tutelage of the Balmy Balmer dressed up in bizarre costumes and modded company cars to include Windows Phone branding.
Giant BlackBerry and iPhone hearses were also spotted amongst the throngs of people clogging Microsoft’s Redmond spacious campus, along with signs proclaiming that Windows Phone 7 would “bury” the iPhone and Blackberry.
You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I’m guessing this video is worth even more.
In all seriousness, what kind of company holds a fake funeral/costume party to motivate employees and mark the launch of a major mobile platform?
Yeah, maybe Steve Jobs is a bit of a dictator, but at least the man leads a professional corporation and manufactures products that actually work (well most of the time, anyway, ahem iPhone 4).
And sure, Google may do wacky things like name Android versions after yummy food (Eclair, Honeycomb, Gingerbread, etc) but they would never permit something as bizarre as a phony funeral with really bad dancing to be held on their pristine Mountain View campus.
Now, I don’t know for certain, but I would also have a hard time imagining Intel, Nvidia or AMD employees parading around in sackcloth, ashes and baboon costumes to celebrate Fermi, Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer.
Clearly, real companies (not monoliths) with genuine products – rather than functional vaporware – don’t need a good funeral, wedding, costume party, dance recital or political rally to motivate their employees and “intimidate” the competition.
No, they let the products speak for themselves. Obviously, Windows Phone 7 doesn’t have all that much to say.
