Pat Sidley
MICROSOFT boss Bill Gates needed a bit of help from the Salvation Army for his mega-launch of Windows 95 this week. His competitor, IBM, helped a bit too — although they would deny it.
Johannesburg commuters have been greeted all week by an army of unemployed men carrying signs saying: “It’s coming …” The run ended on Wednesday with “It’s coming … tomorrow”, and was followed by people in slightly more “yuppyish” mode carrying sandwich boards announcing the arrival of Windows 95, the computer programme Microsoft launched world-wide on Thursday.
The men were paid in the region of R100 each per day, and more than 100 people were hired according to a Microsoft’s spokesman.
Microsoft did not, however, make any form of donation or payment to the Salvation Army, although the people with placards were drawn from the ranks of those who need the Salvation Army’s help.
The first three days of signs looked like they may be advertising an end-of-world scenario — the type of people and their clothing helped this vision along. Thursday August 24, the day selected by Gates to launch the product, saw the army of unemployed somewhat differently turned out, and somewhat younger.
Midweek, IBM joined the campaign trying to piggy-back onto Microsoft with placards publicising its Warp programme. The consensus, however, was that they helped Windows along — not Warp.
It was part of a world-wide launch as each spot along the lines of longitude reached August 24 with a fanfare and pizzazz wherever a launch took place.
Windows wall: Microsoft used a graffiti wall in Johannesburg as part of the launch of Windows 95, but overnight graffitists took the opportunity to add to the campaign in support of another product