
Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7, is a hit in Japan, especially for its demonstrated ability to not work during live demos.
At the official Windows 7 launch event, Ultraman 7, beloved costumed monster-fighter, failed to make the touchscreen function work as advertised to enthusiastic cheers from the audience of paid volunteer fan boys.
Aoi Sukurinobudesu, Microsoft spokesperson, commented, “Consumers told us they wanted features that don’t work right out of the box. And we gave it to them right up the wazoo.”
S.C. Johnson, maker of Windex®, projects a sharp increase in revenues due to Windows 7, “We forecast record demand for glass cleaners, especially from those guys eating Windows 7 Whoppers. We see millions of touchscreens with greasy fingerprint smudges as a good thing for the American economy.”
When asked for comment, Tux, the Linux Penguin, scoffed, “Who needs touchscreen? Real geeks use the command line. Plus, I have flippers, not fingers.”
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In other news, more than half of Japanese people haven’t read a book in the past month reported Yomiuri Shimbun, a newspaper that 97% of the respondents haven’t read in the past year.

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Don’t be so quick to blame Microsoft on this one; it looks like they’re using a Sony
Thanks for the comment! The Ultraman demo is ironic because it’s the president of Microsoft Japan who can’t get the touchscreen to work! I actually think it’s the user in all three cases I’ve seen – people have never used a touch screen before.
The touchscreen feature is totally broken.
A few weeks ago we shot some footage of the product manager of Windows 7 in Japan demonstrating the touch screen feature. It took endless hours even for a simple demo, because it is so badly implemented that there’s no way even for her to use that crap in a flawless demo-able way.
That is bad news for Microsoft – the Japanese media has been really playing up the touchscreen feature! Thanks for the insight.
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