Today in corporate malaise, Microsoft the Musical is a thing. It's an eight minute song and dance about Bill Gates, operating systems, Xbox, failed phones, and cloud computing created and performed by this summer's eager batch of Microsoft interns. Here's the kicker: They did it for free on their own time.
According to the video credits, Microsoft the Musical is "the work of 150 full-time employees and interns at Microsoft who volunteered mornings, weekends, and nights to make it happen."
It's an elaborate showpiece in which dozens of young people sing and dance their way through the Microsoft campus, opining about the Surface tablet my parents think they need but don't, changing the world, and Minecraft.
Unsurprisingly, there are no cute lyrics about Microsoft's $480 million contract with the US military and the 100-plus employees who, opposed to the musical's most common refrain, certainly wish it was not happening there. I'm not sure how Hololens weapon development applications would translate into song and dance, anyway. Self-aware digs at Vista it is.
I find the whole deal bizarre. Of all the causes to dedicate music and dance and labor to for free, Microsoft's continued success is at the bottom of the list.
I don't know, maybe Microsoft is one of those places with bean bag chairs and free snacks and a craft beer keg. That would've worked corporate assimilation magic on me at a young age, especially if it were my first job after working a mind-numbing IT gig or dealing with impossible customers in the service industry.
Maybe it's just a platform to kick start their Broadway careers. They sure seem like nice, enthusiastic people and my intent isn't to disparage them, but why make elaborate commercials for free? Microsoft has all the money already. Bill Gates doesn't need cute lyrics about his life. He's so obscenely rich he literally doesn't need anything.
