Microsoft to push cool factor with retro-inspired clothing line

It's actually kind of amazing how much dough Microsoft has spent over the past little while in an attempt to polish its image in the minds of the general populace, and as if those "I'm proud to be a PC" and completely incomprehensible Gates / Seinfeld spots weren't enough, the Redmond-based outfit is about to roll out its own clothing line (dubbed "Softwear") this month. And no, we're not kidding. Not even a little. Microsoft has purchased the assistance of Crispin Porter & Bogusky in order to ensure the results are actually desirable, and it has also hired rapper Common as a spokesman. We can't definitively say the shirt you see above is as fly as Pharrell's Gizmondo Enzo tee, but we'd rock it. We'd rock it hard.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:29PM]

This makes the inner nerd in me weep with joy.

Must. Have.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:38PM]

Despite the shameless begging for attention from Microsoft I would totally throw that thing on.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:58PM]

I think there's a typo in this post headline.

Shouldn't it be "Microsoft to push tool factor?"

BTW, you'd think the automatic grammar check would point out that "cool" and "Microsoft" aren't grammatically correct when contained within the same sentence.

[Sam of the Sun Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:18PM]

In for a penny, in for a pound. Want.

[gp Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:26PM]

That's because DOS is the best operating system Microsoft ever did (and that's telling).

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:39PM]

What about this.
http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/06/blue-screen-of-death-t-shirt/

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:47PM]

Yeah. I'd be a bit embarrassed to wear a microsoft shirt. but damn that looks geeky good.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:55PM]

@Kris120890
I'm sorry, but I don't see any text in the picture :p more like damn big boobies ^_^ xD

[maveric101 Posted Dec 6th 2008 5:17PM]

i have no inner nerd. i'm all nerd.

[gp Posted Dec 6th 2008 5:29PM]

Sorry, you're right. Windows 1.0 was slightly better.

[Blacksheep Posted Dec 6th 2008 6:42PM]

Wow, I'd totally wear that also, such an awesome nerd shirt it's unbelievable.

[gp Posted Dec 6th 2008 6:59PM]

Oops... That wasn't even an OS. Back to DOS, then.

(Low-rank me if you are a MS-brainwashed zombie).

[KarlW Posted Dec 6th 2008 7:47PM]

Notice there's no women's version

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 8:46PM]

Firewall red?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 7th 2008 1:01AM]

actual website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/softwearbymicrosoft/default.aspx

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 7th 2008 1:43AM]

@giuliop

You do realize that Microsoft didn't even make DOS, right?

[JustEric Posted Dec 7th 2008 2:48PM]

@ giuliop: Just because Windows is too complicated for you doesn't make it a bad OS.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:30PM]

*Insert Blue Shirt of Death joke here*

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:45PM]

The back features the, um, blue silk-screen of death?

[Jrad Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:58PM]

I think the blue looks like just about the same color as the background of your "highest ranking"

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:09PM]

In that case, J-Rad, Engadget could sue Microsoft.

[Google Posted Dec 6th 2008 4:01PM]

Engadget should patent the color: #D8F0FB .

Damn you guys beat me to the BSOD jokes...

Blue Shirt Of Death

Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:31PM]

I'd buy it.

[smp Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:33PM]

I think you meant "dubbed 'Softwear'", not Software.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:40PM]

Darren Murph, didn't your mother ever tell you that spanking the monkey(Ballmer) would make you go blind?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:51PM]

I'd buy it too, the shirt is kind of cool but I don't know, might have been cooler if it wasn't made by Microsoft. Because it just feel like your parent trying to be hip when you were young...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:33PM]

wow, I like it. Lets hope they don't go crazy with the abstract shapes an concepts ala threadless. Simple designs like this are nicer.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:34PM]

Is that shirt using Helvetica rather than Arial? The audacity.

[Murphy Mac Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:34PM]

Between this and the video of the Apple Store opening in Munich I might be ready to give up computers...

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/12/06/apples-munich-opening-is-mobbed-in-fullscreen-panorama/

[smp Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

I meant that as a general comment, not a reply to willxcore :)

[nak Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

It looks like it says "Softwear."

[Chickenatr Posted Dec 6th 2008 5:46PM]

...for soft guy.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 7th 2008 12:19AM]

@chickenator

That's what she said.

[Aaronage Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:35PM]

Desperate times call for desperate measures i guess :P

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:37PM]

I wish I was as "desperate" as Microsoft.

[engadgethead Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:54PM]

Yeah, something tells me things are going to get real _tough_ for the guys at microsoft...

[Sepirioth Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:38PM]

Id get one if they are prices descently. Whats wrong with a company "reinventing" itself? Stop hating and get on board people!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 3:27PM]

The problem is that they're only reinventing their outer image, just like when they came out with Vista. The potential BSOD still lies at their heart.

[iofthestorm Posted Dec 6th 2008 7:32PM]

@Who?: The BSOD is always a driver/hardware problem these days. I haven't seen a BSOD since Windows XP, and I'm on Vista now.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 9:43PM]

I'm up for a "Bill Gates is my homeboy" T-Shirt!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

why are me amazed with ad spending, when there is a apple commercial every 10 minutes?

[maveric101 Posted Dec 6th 2008 5:23PM]

theres even the apple commercial that berates MS for spending money on advertising when it should be using it to fix all of Vista's "problems." like OSX doesn't have problems of its own.

[Alex R Posted Dec 6th 2008 6:48PM]

Maveric,
OSX isn't perfect, but it gets pretty damn close.

Ooooooohhh!

[oldmanhorton Posted Dec 6th 2008 10:20PM]

haha
good one
:-|

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

in 20 years i can totally see microsfot being a clothing company and have nothing to do with electronics or software at all

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 5:23PM]

And I can see that you need to renew your prescription.

[NO DOUBT GET LOUD Posted Dec 6th 2008 2:46PM]

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN\DOS\RUN

[Decoy Posted Dec 6th 2008 4:58PM]

I wish I could rank you higher than highest rank. That's brilliant.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 6:57PM]

That was a shirt that the comic-book guy was wearing in an episode of the simpsons... give credit where credit is due...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 6th 2008 8:12PM]

Wor-
oops.

Best. Shirt design. Ever.