Microsoft Video: Your Digital Lifestyle ("Girl From Mars")
This video has been shown at internal Microsoft events a few times. It always draws a great response from the audience, followed by internal email aliases flooded for days with requests for a link or high bandwidth version. I finally found it on MSN Soapbox and YouTube (thanks to whoever posted it there). It shows a whole bunch of Microsoft consumer technologies working together in this average guy's "digital lifestyle". Most Microsoft products featured in this video, including Windows Mobile, Zune, XBOX 360, and Windows Media Center fall under the Entertainment & Devices (E&D) division, arguably the best division to work at within Microsoft (biased personal opinion). Come work here!
The soundtrack in this video is very catchy too, and I've seen just as many requests from people asking about the song and band. The song is called "Girl From Mars", and it is covered by a band named Magneta Lane. I'm not sure but they might have done some private/promotional work for Microsoft because I can't find the track associated with Magneta Lane anywhere else. The original song was released in 1995 by a band named Ash from their album named "1977". Watch the original Ash version on YouTube or check out the Wikipedia entry if you like the song.
-Mel Sampat
(update) p.s. I don't know where the green jacket is from. Banana Republic maybe?
Comments
Anonymous
March 02, 2008
The 70s version of the song is just as good :) And, you can grab it for free from the Zune Marketplace using your ZunePass!Anonymous
March 02, 2008
The album the song is from is called 1977, it's not from 1977! It was released in the mid-90s.Anonymous
March 02, 2008
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March 02, 2008
Unfortunate, I don't think this kind of life is attractive. The song is good though.Anonymous
March 02, 2008
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March 02, 2008
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March 03, 2008
ajwalker: Thanks for taking the time to write the long response! I think you're addressing 3 different things in your post:
- You can't relate to the scenarios in this video
- You wish our products would work better together
- Quality/Warranty issues with our products. Let me try and briefly respond to all 3.
- This isn't a commercial made for TV. This is one of hundreds of concept videos we make to illustrate "day in the life of" or a vision of how we expect things to work. We have plenty of other buttoned down corporate friendly, serious commercials that perhaps you can relate to better.
- Your point is well taken. Vista, Zune, XBOX, Windows Mobile - ideally they should all work beautifully together. We're working on improving it. Sometimes it takes a little time to get the strategy right, and iron out little things like DRM, backwards compatibility, industry partnerships etc. Thanks for your patience and loyalty.
- I can't speak for the XBOX team's quality issues, but I'm glad they did the right thing by extending the warranty. The ring of death thing was unfortunate, and hopefully we've improved our hardware design and manufacture processes because of it. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. -Mel Sampat
Anonymous
March 03, 2008
I have seen this video showed at Microsoft events but I don't think it's been available for public viewingAnonymous
March 03, 2008
I loved the music and the video. I am a late boomer and am still learning the ropes. I know my son and daughter are totally advanced in all this knowledge. I just don't understand the time involved when all this communication is going on. Doesn't anyone ever just stop and smell the roses? Or is that another new tech coming on soon. Keep up the good work microsft!! Another great aspect of M/S and the Tech World is the availability for the Deaf and hard of hearing World. you should find more avenues to cater to them also..like cc the videos etc.Anonymous
March 03, 2008
Melsam; Thanks for responding. I do realize this is only for internal consumption at Microsoft. I was simply pointing out NOT to think of releasing anything like this for the general public. ANd whereas I would like to have kept my response to Windows Mobile, the video touched on many Microsoft products which is why I ended up talking about three of them. I really like Windows Mobile and really hope everyone at Microsoft is working fast and furious to make it better. I do, however, wish it wasn't continually left behind. I don't think the powers that be are aware of the potential you have with Windows Mobile beyond corporate speak. And I know the company as a whole is distracted with other things. But, somebody has got to say the real battle is going to be on cell phones in the near future. That will be how many be access these "in the clouds" applications. Microsoft, as a company, should have it's utmost atttention focused on making sure WHATEVER people do on their mobile device, it should be done through Windows Mobile. And that means making it better to answer the critics and make it a more compelling choice. I'm already a Windows Mobile fan, I just wanted to share some of the things I've been thinking and noticing from an actual end user perspective that maybe, just maybe, someone will pay attention.Anonymous
March 07, 2008
OK, Where can I get this song from?Anonymous
March 12, 2008
Ash is a great Irish band, probaly the best I've ever seen live. 1977 was their first record, and I always guessed that it referred to the year most of them were born ;-)Anonymous
March 13, 2008
The video was entertaining, I very much like it, and the green sweater rocks. Long live Microsoft.Anonymous
March 13, 2008
Awesome video! Anyone know where I can get the background track?Anonymous
March 15, 2008
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March 21, 2008
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March 25, 2008
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March 28, 2008
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