Microsoft News Tracker

The Crispin Porter + Bogusky advertising and PR campaign to make Microsoft seem cool has really hit rock bottom. Their latest brainwave is the release of a line of retro Microsoft t-shirts:

Microsoft is going from marketing computer programs to making clothes, with a new line of graphic tees dubbed "Softwear by Microsoft."

"Softwear," instead of software. Get it?

It’s no surprise that Crispin Porter & Bogusky—the agency Microsoft is relying on to make it cool—had a hand in the line of urban geek shirts expected to hit select stores on December 15. Crispin conceived of the collection, the branding and many of the designs, as well as all the marketing materials, an agency representative said.

Nice of them to take the blame although Microsoft still paid for it.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant once again called upon a celebrity spokesperson to help it gain some street cred, this time, in the form of rapper Common. He contributed designs to the collection, reminiscent of the 80s, a time when he and Microsoft both came of age.

With due respect to the entrepreneurial instincts of Mr. Common, I am hard pressed to discern exactly what he brings to the table.

The line features retro MS-DOS fonts and a Bill Gates mugshot tee. It launched this week with a bash in New York.

The mind boggles at what the "bash" could possibly have been like. Still, while the Bill Gates mugshot tee may get some buzz, the designs actually pictured in the article are incredibly boring.  Since CP+B are clearly lost on this Microsoft deal, I thought I would help them out with some designs of my own:

Now what computer knowledgeable person wouldn’t go for one of those?