Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2001/07/23/buy_windows_xp_and_grapple/

Buy Windows XP and grapple women's breasts

Don't panic, we've found another link

By Kieren McCarthy

Posted in Bootnotes, 23rd July 2001 14:44 GMT

Updated again It's a situation nearly all of us have been in - trying to get a woman's bra off to sample the delights contained within. It's hard to put a time on it but any more than five seconds fumbling puts you into the embarrassment zone.

Of course by the time you've left university, you should have mastered this - and for true bra students, the stylish one-hand flick.

So who is trying to make us relearn the technique all over again? Who else but Microsoft, master of the "if it ain't broke, we'll make you buy a fix for it".

Promising you "The unexpected Experience", the Beast of Redmond's new Swiss ad for the operating system features an attractive young lady and her boyfriend getting it on in a living room somewhere. All's going fine, she whips her top off and the young man tries to relieve her of her patriarchal symbol of oppression (the bra).

Nothing doing. Twisting twisting and nothing. Then an information menu pops up on her back. "Hilfe holen, Anleitung drucken, Gleich offnen, Abbrechen". We've no idea what they mean, but running his finger down her back he goes for the third choice. Tap.

And he's faced with a password query. The woman smirks (why?) and the Microsoft logo comes up on the screen.

All very amusing and Microsoft has obviously awoken to the fact that sex sells but what the hell does it mean? Security? Fun? Sex? Or has Microsoft extended its belief that no one ought to do anything enjoyable without first asking it? Is it an MS techie fight-back - we don't get it so nor will you? Or is the company saying that if anyone is going to screw you, it going to be Bill and his buddies?

No doubt, you will want to see the ad, so go here and click on the pic to download.

Of course what the ad doesn't show you is that the man finds a hole in the bra, presses it and every other bit of clothing falls off, pants an all.

Update

Seems that Microsoft has pulled the ad off its Web site. Don't know why. Not even happy with free publicity. Perhaps it has pulled it because the goblins in Redmond got in touch asking why it was an Mpeg file instead of Windows Media Player.

Several readers were delighted to find the ad running automatically on QuickTime. Oh, and thank you to the approximately 200 people that emailed what the menu means. In this order: Help, Print Instructions, Open Immediately and Cancel.

New Link

Don't panic though. Microsoft may have pulled the ad but we've found another copy on Ad Critic. Go here to check it out.

[Thanks to Jon Head for the heads-up on this one.] ®

Related Link

MS stops you having sex