Four of Microsoft’s Windows 8 ads leak online (with video)

TechIT has posted a series of Windows 8 ads from Microsoft that have not yet aired on television:

• “Meet Windows 8”

• “Work Hard, Play Hard”

• “Make it Yours”

• “All about Apps”

53 Comments

    1. Nevermind that! Did you notice the Macbook and iMac used in the first Ad. Oh I know they were not real Macbook or iMac, but it’s the image that these guys try to give that really stinks.

      Notice also the Steve Jobs looking guy they use in the second video. For a moment I thought it was Steve Jobs.

    2. The ‘Apple Spice Cake’ was featured in vid #1 as well. Thanks for pointing out the MacBook Air and iMac clones Paul. The fake iMac is in #2 as well. Obviously MS marketing dunderheads can’t communicate without references to Apple, their R&D department – – Except for the Metro GUI! MS get credit for that horror all on their very own. 😆

  1. Well just pardon me all over the place for saying this (caveat: I’ve been using Macs since 1984, have Macs at home, and iPhone, and was the first at a medical equipment manufacturer to bring a Mac to work and get to actually keep it), but these ads make Windows 8 on a tablet look really cool. I hope the experience isn’t as swell as the ad makes it look.

    1. Been using Macs longer than that and don’t plan on changing. But I’m with you these commercials look fine. The tile thing looks pretty nice. So it’s windows, big deal. I’m sure the fanboys will figure out something wrong with it because it’s not a Mac. And I’m sure they’ll sell millions. There are a lot more windows users then Mac users. And that won’t change for a long time. This may not be an iPad but it will sell. All the more reason for Apple to not make mistakes. There is competition out there. It doesn’t have to be as good because for a lot of people close is good enough. Besides it’s not that the iPad will be so much better going forward as a device, it’s the operating system and the ecosystem that matters to me.

      1. It might get people to take a look, but purchase, not a chance. This is justy another MS oh we made one too only ours is just barely functional (in true MS style). Too many alternatives for this “me too” crap to be very effective .

        And even if they do take a closer look ,what they will find?Contrary to what is shown in the video what they will encounter is a half baked very confusing interface hung on an unfinished platform that is now badly splintered and devoid of even a handful useful (forget about revolutionary) apps.

        1. Maybe the fact that the Mac was INTRODUCED in 1984. Not sure how you were using Macs prior to then, unless you are Jef Raskin’s ghost. You have proven that you are full of shit.

      2. I have a friend who’s a hard-core Winblows fan (I chalk up his insanity to the copious amounts of acid he did in high school and college). He absolutely hates Windows 8 and seriously fears a mass exodus to OS X. The best possible scenario for MS is everyone staying on 7 while they reverse course and come out with Windoze 9 – AKA Windoze 7 Redux.

    2. “I hope the experience isn’t as swell as the ad makes it look.”

      It isn’t. I’ve had the “privilege” of testing with a pre-prod Windows 8 tablet, and it is a horrible experience. The lack of visual cues for some of the functions makes it very frustrating. Unlike the first time I picked up an iOS device, I found myself having to figure out how to do some rather basic things.

      Overall though, this is the best effort by Microsoft in a long time – AND they didn’t just copy Apple – they actually tried some new things. Some of which work, and some that don’t.

  2. Well, the last ad “all about apps” should give you an idea of what the experience is going to be like. And it’s going to be a disaster. Did you see how many steps (taps & drags) just to email a picture to someone? Wow. Like my mom will EVER remember that!

    1. Better hope mom remembers all those off-screen gestures for Microsoft’s invisible command bars too.

      And what’s with that crazy start screen? Why is it always blinking and changing when it’s just sitting there? Does Microsoft really think people want icons that are constantly scrolling/flashing/blinking/changing on their own for no reason at all?

      Maybe this would be fine for a mall kiosk…but a home or work computer? No way.

      1. Yeah – those live tiles suck as I saw an email message pop up but then it changed to a different message – no time to see what the first message was – annoying. I like that they say make the home screen your own when they all look the same..

      2. Yes, the off-screen gestures are frustrating. This is what I was alluding to above when I mentioned the lack of visual cues. I’m not sure who thought this was a good way to implement some of these features.

  3. The ads have way too much text (just like the interface), are much too complicated, are repetitive (it’s hard to tell one ad from another), there’s no humor… These will quickly be forgotten.

  4. Nothing Skeuomorphic here. Heh.

    Microsoft is taking a chance on doing something new and edgy with user interface design. Looks good. We will see if people completely reject it, closing their minds like stodgy old vaults or if they give it a shot.

    1. Looks good. And for people like us, it would probably work.

      But for the average joe consumer, their OS is a utility. Thie computer is an appliance. It’s like General Motors just asked millions of people to throw away everything they know about driving a car: “Breaks and steering wheels are soooo last century. Trust us, you’ll love it!”

      People hated Vista in part because it was slow and buggy, but most normal people I know (people who don’t read MDN or even Wired) hated it just because it was different.

    2. I don’t think that is fair, metro is poorly thought through (regardless of whether you find it disturbing visually or not) poorly implemented, rushed and very, very unfinished.
      People who reject it may be doing so not simply because it’s different. They may be doing so because it is unpredictable, unintuitive, and unfinished.
      I have used it and it is nearly unworkable, unintuitive and universally frustrating. It -is- bizaro iOS (and in that way, perhaps a fitting tribute to Ballmer’s Microsoft)

  5. Anyone notice how all the laptops look just like a MacBook Air? And I even saw one desktop that looked just like an iMac.

    I guess imitation really is the highest form of flattery. 🙂

  6. It looks good in a commercial … But … Like old windows it begs the questions :

    Is it stable ?
    Will I get updates EVERY day to install?
    Viruses?
    Easy to hack?
    How fast is it really?
    Apps? Really ?

    I hope for MS’s sake it is for real … The enemy of my enemy is my friend… And the enemy is Android…. MS should at least be applauded for an original effort …..this time .

  7. Very slick for the uninitiated. If your not aware of the Mac OSX or iOS GUI, this ad will look pretty slick and cool. Thats as far as it goes. Users who migrate from Windows are so stupid. They can’t leave the platform no matter how idiotic the evolution of MS OS and Apps frustrate them. Office and Ribbon is completely stupid. Sure it guaranteed IT/CIO support, but the evolution of the apps interface was dumb. Now we have the OS. I can’t wait to see the frustration from Windows users migrating to this POS. Oh it will guarantee IT/CIO support and management… I guess thats the whole idea for this stupid POS from MS.

  8. Ads look promising. But will it blend. I think that if it is a smooth as the ads portray it to be, Apple will finally have competition that will only make it better. I know that some say that the competition is within apples DNA to make it’s own products better, but I don’t buy it. Maybe with a visionary like Jobs to guide it and will better products, but not with this current makeup. Would anybody say that Cook is a visionary, maybe a distribution genius but who is leading the inovation or has the power to see their vision come to reality like Jobs could. It seems like what Apple needs is another Dictator/Visionary/Genius. Apple I am confident will continue to pave the way and make amazing products, I just wonder it they have as clear a vision as to where the puck will be years down the line. I love Apple and will always be an Apple Fanboy.

  9. lol I must be witnessing opposite world given some of the comments above. Where did people see how this looks good?

    Look Aid NY1: “Beautiful UI”

    really? I mean, really?? It looks like a jumbled mess of colorful rectangles.

    Theolonious Mac & Disposable Identity: “Looks good”

    where? I don’t see any good in this. How does it look good to you?

    Greg L: “but these ads make Windows 8 on a tablet look really cool”

    No it doesn’t. I swear you must be Steve Ballmer astroturfing message boards.

  10. It sort of looks like Flipboard—which is a great app for news but I’m not sure I’d want that as a starting point for my OS. I give credit to them for not ripping off iOS ala Android/Samsung but the innovations here seem in the typical “why would anyone ever want this feature” vein as most Microsoft products. “Run two apps on the screen at the same time! Uhh, when do I ever need to do that?” “Use a picture as a password! Hooray! Wait, what??”

  11. It looks colorful but the fact is no one is going to really use this weird hybrid system. I feel bad for Microsoft developers: I’m sure a lot of them are top-notch and have been aching to get rid of the old legacy Windows hodgepodge mess and do something new and innovative. But instead all they can do is build this colorful window dressing on top of the old hodgepodge mess, and the result is this weird hybrid system no one will want to use. (Notice the ads only show the window dressing, not the Windows underneath.)

    My prediction is that once this is launched, most of those who switch will ask for a way to turn off the window dressing so they can actually get their work done.

  12. Tried the public Beta via VM Ware Fusion on my Mac Pro. I wasn’t impressed.

    The great mystery of Microsoft is that they hire truckloads of very well educated and intelligent people and produce very little that looks like it was produced by well educated, intelligent people.

    If I were at Dell or H-P I would be working very hard on dressing up a version of LINUX, because this shit isn’t going to get it.

  13. Some new things here, but mostly an echo chamber of Apple with a new look.

    Tiles: Echo chamber of icons on the original iPhone in 2007,

    Customize Tile order: Again, echo chamber of the iPhone.

    Search: Echo chamber of OSX Tiger and later the iPhone and iPad. But I do like the category specific Search if I interpreted that correctly.

    Apps sides by side is interesting. Wondering how many you can have open at the same time and what you need to do to return to Tiles.

    Curious how the file directory will work.

    The changing Tiles may be great for a digital highway billboard, just not sure if they will be useful or constantly pester users like an annoying child while draining your battery.

    Applaud Microsoft for moving in a different direction. Adoption? Usefulness? IT juggernaut redux? Time will tell.

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