This is supposedly an MS-produced parody of it's marketing efforts. It's very old now (I think it uses a 1st gen iPod?) but is still worth a laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k

Thankfully MS have learnt a lot of lessons since.

A few days ago, a Microsoft employee who has worked on Windows 7 and 8 said on a Reddit AMA:

"There is no doubt that we have catching up to do. We even do funny ads acknowledging how bad we were: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD9FAOPBiDk "

They still know they're not perfect but they seem to think they're good enough already. I hope one day they learn to do things right.

This: http://karaokewebstandard.org/ (from the video) is actually pretty funny.

I wonder if anyone has thought of starting a Github repo of a JS library that follows the pattern defined on the Karaoke Web Standards site? Could be a fun project. Using the plethora of HTML5 API's available, I wonder if you could get close to a working karaoke prototype using HTML5 audio and video API's?

Except that the ad is not funny but lame.

Hah, as a designer I enjoyed that more than I was expecting... It does raise a lot of questions of methodology and bureaucracy.

The Microsoft you speak of is the one that existed a decade ago. It has changed significantly in recent years. Its the one leading the design with skeumorphic layouts. Has some of the coolest products out there. They may not be financial success, but very well designed.

Skeumorphic? I'm not sure the metro-UI tiles have any real-world counterpart.

EDIT: In fact, Andrew Kim himself makes the point for me: http://bit.ly/VfSQ7T

I guess you meant it the other way around: "Its the one leading the design with minimal layouts." E.g. Metro UI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph thats what Apple is famous for, e.g. with their calendar app.

i was at microsoft at the time, and i can confirm this was done inside microsoft by one of it's marketing teams.

i don't remember which team now, but it was shown at one of the company meetings.

I don't get why you're down on this they way you are. You're may be right in your assumptions or maybe he likes this kind of environment and will love it. Who knows.

The "moral" of the story though is the fact that he was proactive enough to do something with his spare time. He wanted to attract attention to his skills and it worked. I hear / read every day about computer science graduates who are still working at a dead end job. Maybe if they were proactive and designed something new or redesigned something old in their spare time (like many of us on HN do with our side/weekend projects), they would get more attention and a better job.

From my point of view, this will be a great learning experience for him. He may or may not like it, but bottom line is that he'll learn a lot about himself and will be a better professional for it.

It's funny how many stories here on HN are about a little kid that succeeded in life with his little startup, how someone's will made a difference, etc.

And when some designer actually does some good work, gets noticed and a company actually does the right thing and hires him. And he is very happy about. Even then, the most upvoted comment here is from someone expecting the guy to be "bitter and jaded as the rest of us".

Truly HN can't be biased.

Jaded? Yes, but possibly not in the way you think.

Compare:

"I know that many people were looking forward to seeing it so I’m sorry to say that it’ll have to be tucked away for now."

With another jaded designer:

http://worrydream.com/#!/Apple

I never understood how people can do work for a company then be upset that that work becomes to the company and not them.

The guy seems to be complaining that he can't show Apple's IP on his website? Come on.

I don't think he is complaining as much as sad.

No doubt Apple's patented everything he came up with from every possible angle and will use those patents to sue anyone that actually releases innovative UIs into the ground, too.

Is it just me or do they seem a lot like the new Microsoft?

Hey, he also believes that the moon is science fiction. It'll be good for him.

Organizational chart metaphor is priceless.

As long as Ballmer is at the helm with minimal understanding of technology, design, and dev relations I concur that he'll just be a cog in the giant machine that's just been moving forward due to it's past momentum with deceleration.

Great designers can always make a difference.

I sure hope he can affect change. MS is a big company and Xbox does not affect Windows or Office.

Except that Metro thing...

All companies are screwed up in their own way. If they can reboot the good parts of the old culture (hacker oriented but where building a business and design has an equal seat at the table) at Microsoft, it has a serious chance to make a big comeback.

Can't speak for any of the others, but the Google chart is dead-on (at least, it was when I was there - the top three are Larry, Eric, then Sergey over there making flying cars or god knows what else).