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Peeking Inside the Windows Vista Launch Party Schwag Bag

gizmodo.com — The Windows Vista launch party just ended, and everything unfolded exactly as expected, like a PowerPoint presentation in the flesh. The one surprise? This large bag o' schwag, which was one of the main topics of conversation. Take a gander.

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  • CDWMobile, on 10/12/2007, -33/+19Even K. Rose could appreciate that schwag! Its not an Oscars presenters bag, but its pretty good for the average geek.
    • tidu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+121I must say, the Vista packaged boxes look pretty sexy.
    • CraigB12, on 10/12/2007, -33/+7Yeah, I with they sold those cool plastic boxes without the windows CD in them. I could label my pirated versions with a sharpe and they'd fit in there nicely.
    • edilclyde, on 10/12/2007, -15/+7i am so jealous right now.
    • inarguable, on 10/12/2007, -40/+13Gee CDWMOBILE, do you really think K. Rose could appreciate it? Really? Wow, that would be so cool if he did! You could always ask him, but in order to speak you will have to take his ***** out of your mouth first...Why the hell do people chuck his name in their comments when the story has nothing to do with him? Are you hoping he will be your friend or something?
    • MBarnwell, on 10/12/2007, -18/+12@ inarguable: someone just needs a hug

      if he used my name because i'm a mac user too, would he have to take his mouth off of my ***** first too or do you have something against kevin?
      maybe if you'd stop playing WoW and get some sunlight you'd understand what it takes to make something of yourself much like kevin rose did.
    • inarguable, on 10/12/2007, -17/+6@MBarnwell - good job avoiding answering the question, but its ok, I understand. It was a tough one. Tell you what, you answer mine, and then i will answer yours.
    • spect3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+53it's supposed to be SWAG (stuff we all get).

      Schwag is used when saying "shiggity shiggity schwag".
    • randf, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22dork fight!
    • Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+57So will that schwag bag require that you received a previous XP or 98 schwag bag before it allows you to open it?
    • sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3If I got a schwag bag like that I'd expect some rolling papers too.
    • texpundit, on 10/12/2007, -12/+7If you're a musician, "SWAG" means "Stolen While At Gig." ;)
    • OwdenBowden, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2Rumor has it that there is a MAC in every bag.
    • AngryPenguin47, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1looks more like a bag 'o crap.

      i'll give you 1 dollar!
    • hobbers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4If you're an engineer, SWAG means Silly Wild Ass Guess.

      "Hey Bob, can you send me those stress estimates."
      "I could, but the designer hasn't sent me the full model yet."
      "That's ok, just SWAG them for now."
    • dgritsko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Can't we all just agree that "swag" has a lot of different meanings?
      http://acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=swag&Find=find&string=exact
    • Zoctogon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Swag = Bundle of belongings (ie. canvas bed / clothes etc) in folklore Australia.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swag
    • AriaStar, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4"I must say, the Vista packaged boxes look pretty sexy."

      Looks like they designed it after the simplicity of Mac product boxes.
    • amohongos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"it's supposed to be SWAG (stuff we all get)."

      Very true... Schwag normally comes in a rolled up sandwich bag and goes for $20 an eighth. Also known as Downtown Brown.
    • Kevinok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I always thought swag stood for, "So what another giveaway."
  • Wolfeman, on 10/12/2007, -34/+2Wow way more than Micro$oft usually gives out...
    • paulajohnw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Damn, i decided to telecommute today instead of going to that. Oh well at least i didnt have to shower.
  • generalnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7i was at the launch event and i didnt stay till close... but all we got was a usb thumb drive! so what gives? and troy A,
  • Recusant, on 10/12/2007, -23/+3I've always hated that word, "schwag."
    • Lokix, on 10/12/2007, -18/+1Me, too.
    • Treius, on 10/12/2007, -4/+44It's actually SWAG as in Stuff We All Get
    • silverbax, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21Actually it originally means SWAG as in Stolen Without A Gun but all you guys knew that cuz you're from the hood

      Not like it was cleaned up for the 'burbs or anything
    • spooq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson would beg to differ - they were using the word in the 1890s.
  • Lokix, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5What's in the big green box?
    • edilclyde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18scrolling to the picture gallery will help, but ill make your life easy..

      "Belkin easy transfer cable (which lets you copy all your files from XP to Vista without setting up a network or burning a CD) $39.99, Windows Live USB Key, SanDisk Cruzer Micro 2GB thumb drive $80, T-Mobile 24-hour hotspot card, and Zoo Tycoon 2 $20" Grand Total = Around $750
    • Lokix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Thanks, I actually did look around but I had just woke up so I'm not too surprised I missed it.
  • furiousmonk, on 10/12/2007, -9/+69Schwag = ***** weed
    SWAG = ***** We All Get
    • monergism, on 10/12/2007, -11/+8or Stuff We All Get.

      Glad someone pointed this out.
    • Spankov, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Swag does not stand for 'Stuff We All Get'.
      It's been used in England for hundreds of years before this ridiculous 'explanation' appeared.
    • troyounces, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Actually, there are three common spellings -- swag, shwag and schwag. Either of them is fine.
    • obijohn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swag
  • cr4ft, on 10/12/2007, -19/+3@tidu
    "I must say, the Vista packaged boxes look pretty sexy."

    That my friend may be the only thing
  • jyangwrites, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0I had an invite. I live in NYC. AND I DIDN'T GO!!!!!!

    Man this stinks.
  • Miso117, on 10/12/2007, -19/+4All I did was set the "sexy box" next to my computer and I got a blue screen crash...
  • Waiting2awake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4 This may be a stupid question, but, how does one get invited to these things? Is it for industry people, media or can the average guy actually go to these things?
    • jyangwrites, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It's probably for industry people, I got my invite by being a beta tester for Vista...though I got my invite for beta testing through someone in the industry...sort of like a catch-22
    • Hachi05, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3I saw a huge list of locations on Vista's website. I thought maybe you could just go.. I was gonna go wearing Open-Source stuff...
    • zbarnett, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm pretty sure anyone can go as long as they get invited.. I'm 16 and live in the middle of nowhere, but got an email saying I could go to one of the launch party things. Probably because I got involved in the windows vista beta. Now I wish I would have gone, had no idea they were giving out pretty pieces of plastic ;)
    • loup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know about this specific launch party, but I went to a couple of other Microsoft launch parties in the past, you just had to sign up to go, I don't remember there being any "industry" requirements.
    • Miso117, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3You have to sign your soul over to M$.
      3 short forms and a blood test.
      "I'm going to hell, but I got me a free Cruizer Micro 2GB! Woo-Hoo!!!"

      Kidding. you can sign up for TS2 events and Product Launches from the MS TS2 site.
      Google it. It is there. I got an invite to the NYC one, but couldn't go as I had to pull a double @ my contract company... Bunk... Did they give away a free copy of Vista?
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2There are a "Launch Events" for Vista and Office, but this is not the same thing as the "Official" launch event. The locations you are seeing are more of marketing drive aimed at IT and the Business community to convince them to upgrade to Vista. I went to one, and you definitely don't get schwag like this, just a cheap T-Shirt and the chance to win some Xbox360's and games. I got a couple of free beers our ot it and fajitas though.
    • Neticule, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3if your one of the few people that have never pirated a copy of windows, you can go. otherwise, no ***** weed for you!
    • Hachi05, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Hmm, I used the beta and didn't get an email.
    • Odweaver, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2I just got my copy of windows vista business from microsoft free in the mail a couple days ago, but I need my parents to ship it to my dorm before I can use it
    • ray901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Hachi05
      "I thought maybe you could just go.. I was gonna go wearing Open-Source stuff..."
      You mean like with clothes you got for free from a dumpster? ;)
  • RandallBe, on 10/12/2007, -29/+3Microsoft is trying to sell vista hard. No one in their right mind would want to pay that much for vista. So what do they do? throw a party making it look like a cool thing to do. So all the sheep flock to get vista because Microsoft says its the cool thing to do. People like free stuff. Keep in mind people that this is them brain washing you.
    • wssharp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35damn you, evil corporations, and your effective marketing skills!
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43What $179 for Home Premium is too much for you? Vista Ultimate is the same price as XP Pro, but I honestly don't see much about it I would spend the money on. Home Premium is the target range for most people looking to upgrade to Vista and features most of what Ultimate offers, except for value added games and other software Microsoft will release at intervals. I don't think $180 for an OS upgrade is too much, especially considering your last OS was mostly likely paid for 5 years ago. It would be crazy to upgrade from Linux and pay full retail price, but who isn't running Windows or have a copy lying around somewhere to perform a cheaper upgrade..

      BTW, OSX upgrades are in the same price range ($180). And when you consider that Ultimate is the same as OSX with iLife (which is a $115 added value package), getting OSX with iLife is in the $300 range. I would prefer iLife over Microsoft Movie any day, but its the same basic beans. OSX with value added options is the same price as Vista with value added options.

      But, because its Microsoft, its bad right.
    • RandallBe, on 10/12/2007, -26/+3@Topher06
      They are evil. Practicing unfair business laws and breaking every monopoly law there is. So yea they are bad. I in fact don't have windows in my house at all. I also think that windows xp was over priced as well.
    • bloobloo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+38@RandallBe
      How do you look outside then?
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1OS X upgrades are not quite that much - Tiger is $129 (retail) and the family pack (which gives you five licenses, even though they don't actually track licenses) is $200. So you literally can buy almost five copies of Tiger for the price of the Vista Home Advanced.

      Not to mention that the Tiger you get is the equivalent of the Vista Super Advanced version, since it leaves nothing out.
    • spooq, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@bloobloo

      Same as he looks inside... terrible!

      Muahahahahahahaha!
    • LQBMaV, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@bloobloo

      I just LOLed in my cubicle... and people looked in.

      thanks...dick.
    • CrimsonBlur, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@Topher06
      While basically I do agree with what you're saying, I do not believe iLife comes free with OS upgrades. I'm pretty sure the latest version of iLife only comes free with new Macs. If you have an older Mac and want to upgrade to Tiger and iLife '06, you have to buy both. That will cost you $210, and considering all Mac OS installs are upgrades, there is only one version of the install. Considering that, we'll assume that we're only talking about Windows upgrades as well. Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade is $259 (many stores are discounting it to $249) and Home Premium is $159. I'm not aware of any single software suite on the Windows side that can compare to iLife, but I'm sure if you had to buy all of the equivalent programs it would cost more than $80, but not an insane amount. Nothing included in Windows Vista can compare to what you get in iLife. So for most customers that only need Home Premium they're in the same price range, but for people that want Ultimate, they're paying more for less (Ultimate is probably closer to the full feature set of OSX) with the hope that the Ultimate Extras will actually not suck.

      I'm debating right now whether I want to upgrade to Vista Home Premium or just forget it and save up for a Mac. I just got my computer set up to stream everything, including video, from my PC to my XBOX 360 (no mods) and I have to tell you it is friggin' awesome, and it can't be done unless you have Windows. With Windows Vista I'll also have Media Center, a feature that I have to say does not yet have an equal on the Mac end. Using Media Center on your 360 is, again, a very rewarding experience if you have a need for it.
  • capran, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Damn, I have to admit, Microsoft gives out some good swag. I assume this was a private party of sorts, though. But I've never heard of Apple giving swag away for launch parties, or do they?
  • pigsbladder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Where is my free *****?!
    • Neticule, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4in the mail buddy! wait, do i know you?
  • fabio1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6this is sweet, i mean, compared to the brazilian Windows Vista launch "party", which was set up in a supermarket, and the swag was a lousy mousepad. --> http://www.baboo.com.br/absolutenm/articlefiles/27437-daiane_fotos.jpg

    full article here -->
    http://www.baboo.com.br/absolutenm/templates/content.asp?articleid=27437&zoneid=222&resumo=cobertura_exclusiva_lan%C3%A7amento_windows_vista
  • jcaino, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1nice, i'll be there in pittsburgh on thursday...

    360 wireless controller? yes! perfect timing, i'm planning on doing the wii360 combo this weekend!
  • n8f8, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1All I got was Office 2007 Pro.
  • kc0re, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Doesn't staring at the freaking multicolored Windows Logo get irritating after awhile?

  • torkhum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Where do I get those now that the party is over?
  • crash128, on 10/12/2007, -18/+9Apple has a new pc/mac guy ad. Saw it on cnbc this morning - it's brutal. PC guy is dressed in a hospital gown. (I'm paraphrasing here...)

    PC: So I'm going in for surgery today. Upgrading to vista.
    Mac: Sorry to hear that.
    PC: Yea, with vista, they'll probably need to change my memory, video card, and who knows what else. It's all internal.
    Mac: I wish you well.
    PC: If I don't make it, you can have my peripherals.

    They're comparing a vista upgrade to life-or-death surgery! Ouch! And ya get all the negative emotions/smells/fears/death/whatever - the whole hospital experience - being dumped on vista. Genius ad agency. And what timing.

    And let see if I can decode this - this is going to be tough for business users, much less personal/home users.

    I ain't takin' sides, just reporting what I saw.
    • pathy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14Genius in spreading misconceptions which aren't true!

      It's amazing how effective ads can be when they bend the truth over and give it a violent anal reaming, isn't it?
    • BlackCow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Meh im not worried about the nubs who don't build computers and are going to have to go out and buy a Dell. My custom rig runs faster or the same than most macs and it was a LOT cheaper. Bring on the Vista baby!
    • kernelhappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18And people complain about Microsoft FUD, but this is ok since it's Apple doing it right?

      Imagine the screams if Microsoft ran a similar series of ads when Apple was trying to move users to OSX or about trying to interchange documents with Windows users a while back (it's less of a problem today except for the Office file format change that 2007 brings).

      Hypocrisy from fanboys, whodda thunk it.
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@GreyWoldSC:

      I have been upgrading to every version of OS X that has come out on my Powerbook 667 since the year 2000.

      My mother has an even older Powermac G4, also running Tiger - she uses it daily for work, including desktop publishing with InDesign.

      And each release has given these computers a little more speed.

      Generally OS X support for computers got back seven to ten years. That's really pretty good, and as noted you generally see a speed boost on older hardware unlike the slowdown with new versions of Windows that mandates you buy a new PC.
    • dougm68, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My mother has an even older Powermac
      =======================

      Your mom uses a powerm...oh uh..nm.

      ~that response ruined a perfectly good mac flame. =(
    • Goatman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's not a good comparison. Vista is a complete re-write, so of course they'll write it to use new hardware. If they didn't people would be bitching about. The Mac OS hasn't done a re-write since 10.0
  • diggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2Windows for FREE? They've finally gone Open Source!! Where's the Torrent?
  • totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -10/+25. AVG Anti-Virus
    6. Spybot Search and Destroy
    7. Ad-Aware
    8. Coupon for Vista SP1
  • RobbieF, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4In Virginia, we had our launch party at a Circuit City. Co-sponsored by HP. They had Famous Dave's catering, Redskins cheerleaders who would take pictures with you and sign stuff, and Joe Thiesman was there as well. The SWAG was a 256mb flash drive, some squishy ball, magnets, etc. They gave away 2 copies of Vista Ultimate, but that's it.

    I still had fun. Got to chit chat with the girls and Joe, and got pictures and autographs. Ended at 1:00am though... I need a nap!
  • totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7http://sethgodin.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/wownow.jpg
    Looks like it was a blast!
    • Beaver6813, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Looks like your average Microsoft party, no change there :P Although the "Schwag" they gave out was nice enough to compensate for the emotions the guys in the picture are portraying :P
  • scottcindy69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems to me that some people here are confusing two different events. Microsoft has been having "Launch Events" around the country. I went to one two weeks ago (totally free, just had to register online before hand). At this event, everyone that attending received a free full version copy of Office 2007 Pro and Groove 2007.
    I think the launch *party* was a one time event held last night somewhere.
    • Nerfdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yep. i'm going to the "touring" launch party you're talking about in a couple weeks, and i'm told we'll also get free office pro and groove. good times!
  • Codename, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3I have mine on Memorex I MEAN UM i went to the party and umm... i g2g bye
  • thespace2, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I hope they gave you all some gum for all that ass licking you did to get in that party. Also did anyone catch the new WOW dildo someone is selling up on Ebay from their schwag bag? Brooooo it was frickin huge, the girth was incredible. WOOOOW!!!
  • Makurosu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That is a great looking bamboo hardwood floor. I'm jealous.
  • adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4No Zune?
    • totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1"No Zune?"

      I'm sure they figured that most people attending already owne-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHA!!!! Ok, seriously.

  • ppan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Microsoft's latest greatest eye candy. Once you see it you'll be convinced that this is the best looking tuna in the sea!!
  • webist, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4what, no zune?
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Some crappy software, a decent game, and a controller. Nothing too amazing...
  • evilelf2407, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1that sucks, i was invited but it was too late and i couldnt make plans in time.
  • xatx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1story: "Rumor was that Bill Gates signed a few of these copies, although I didn't see him sitting behind a card table giving autographs anyplace."

    that would've been a great shot lol
  • IareKEVLAR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Shigity Shwag... www.monkeymofo.com
  •  

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