Microsoft Softwear "A new failure"

The Seinfeld adverts failed big. Try again. The “I’m a PC” adverts are an ever bigger failure, possibly because PC said at high speed sounds remarkably like “pissy”. Try again. I know, let’s sell clothing! Believe it or not, technology giant Microsoft is moving into fashion, if you can call it that. Wow, is Vista really that bad?

There’s only one company I hate more than Microsoft and that is Apple. I thought it might be because of its sheer size and power, but it can’t be that because Google is as big and I quite like that company. So it must be the products, or the nerdiness, or Bill Gates, or Vista, or any of the other annoying things I associate with Microsoft that causes the hatred.

Back in September, Microsoft hired Jerry Seinfeld for a new ad campaign. For the princely sum of $10 million, Seinfeld simply had to goof around with Bill Gates. But the ads were terrible and were soon dropped in favor of the Apple-baiting “I’m a PC” campaign. Those too are horrible, and annoy me more than if Microsoft simply didn’t advertise at all.

Now we have the latest effort by Microsoft to appear cool and trendy. In an effort to steal some of Apple’s young user base, Microsoft has teamed up with the rapper Common to design and sell a range of clothing. Cleverly titled Softwear, ITProPortal reports how the 80s-inspired Microsoft range includes t-shirts with “retro logos, classic photos and geek-chic iconography”.

The designs are mostly from the 1980s when Microsoft wasn’t the big evil conglomerate it is now. Vista wasn’t even a twinkle in Bill Gates eye, and Apple was hardly a force to be reckoned with. It seems as though the company is trying to recapture those glory days when no-one hated it, and clothing is clearly the way to do that.

Some of the designs are actually quite nice, but you still wouldn’t catch me walking around with Bill Gates face on my chest. The retro logos aren’t exactly going to do much for your street cred either.

The t-shirts are going on sale before Christmas from selected stores around the U.S. And at $15 a pop they are one Microsoft product that is neither overpriced or unfriendly to the competition. Microsoft Softwear is a nice, if not slightly bizarre, idea that will undoubtedly fail to live up to the hype. Very much like Vista, the Xbox 360 (RRoD anyone), and the Zune.