pr

... as I looked around for some new running shoes (which I did manage to purchase), in preparation for the half-marathon I have agreed to take part in, I had one eye on the clock to not miss the appointment I had which was meeting some "bloggers" and 1000heads (well two of them) in the Starbucks on the corner of Oxford and Soho street. Though not invited I asked my New Yorker friend David to come along (he is on a London networking mission currently) and well, though a MAD (I mean MAC) user I thought he may enjoy the event, and I figured 1000heads would't mind (and they didn't at all, thanks Colin).

I arrived a touch late to StarBucky's (though anywhere in London needs a half hour slot for arrival) and hooked-up with a diverse bunch of geekos, damn I must be in that category too hmm.

So we were escorted over to the brightly lit offices of 3-Monkeys (which I must say are situated in a cool building) to be welcomed by the dudes and a dude-ette from Microsoft along with finger food and plenty of booze, and some monkeys, who were all pleasant people, one of which (sorry for forgetting your name) helped me locate some mobile vids from a mutual client bash (thanks Monkey Fiona). The scene was set well, all the boxes ticked if I was ticking, but I wasn't.

A presentation/event took place #cesfest09 (?) which was supposed to be in some way connected to CES 09 though I didn't entirely get the connection, the invites or event may have been better pimped as " free drinks, and a Windows 7 preview" - to be frank, but I'm a thick old engineer.

Anyway, I'm not going to concentrate here on talking about the software (well only a touch later), but rather the boldness Microsoft adopted here in allowing a bunch of Internet noisy folk in, in order to encourage them (us) to spout-off afterward (and during, which did happen a bit, ustream was streamin and some tweets were flying around).

I've said it before, a company needs to have one of two things (both is best) if it is going to utilise what some might call Social Media Experts, or So.Me douche bags, if you will (just kidding there).

It needs:

1. A great product
2. Balls

By inviting "us lot" you are stating you do desire us to talk, ramble, converse, slag-off, amplify positive or negatively around your product/event. - and you know what? - BLOODY GOOD ON YOU TOO, Microsoft has both, in my opinion, and I don't know how many millions of users (billions?) use it, whatever reincarnation it is in. Microsoft runs entire hospitals, keeps people alive on machines, computed the stock markets, aids research into whatever whatever (I know I sound like the recent TV ad)

I couldn't care much about Windows 7 to be totally frank, sure I am a user, Vista and XP, and I have a HP TouchSmart (which is very very cool) but I'm the type of user that doesn't get excited about new updates and releases, I tend to fall into them when my machine breaks, or I buy a new one.

No, I do get excited however about looking WAY ahead into the distance and broadly considering the potential convergence. It's been what feels like forever that the box in the corner (we call it a TV) will eventually become a multi-channel entertainment and connection box. I recall having conversations with students years and years ago about replacing the TV with a computer, and well I think we are starting to get there.

In my home we are fortunate to have a 40 inch wide plasma screen, it accepts just about any format that I throw at it, it plays mov, mp3 etc all audio and video formats, takes any portable memory stick, card, drive, and has ports to plug computers into it, in fact I am looking around right now for a small PC to hook into the plasma, so we can sit 20 feet away and shop on Tesco.. It is this type of convergence this type of changing experience that "floats my boat", if you add touch into that (I have a HP TouchSmart) then you'll have me taking my wallet out.

Microsoft stated they are getting into the touch market with Windows 7 (forget iTouch here, Microsoft are years ahead in touch research, did you see the Surface?). But how? - well the task bar is bigger/wider) and whilst that is the way forward they need EVEN MORE thought in that respect. The best application for the touch experience on the HP TouchSmart is in fact made by HP, you can run the application and get your fingers dirty dirty (and the 23 inch screen) touching your assets.. (hmm that didn't sound right) - touching your media, interacting with it. But my point here is that Windows 7 is STILL too small in the visuals for that experience, the fingers are too fat to be accurate, so whilst they lip-serviced touch, I'd personally like a "touch-switch" to flip me OS into touch mode, rather than rely on third party apps for it.

Windows 7 (built on the Vista Kernel) also has monster amounts of Windows Live features, I must admit I don't currently use it, but might have a look now, and it is clear they are taking the social aspects of people's live very seriously indeed, with partnerships struck up with the major (current) players in social platforms (Facebook data will be available in Live).

Given the market share of Microsoft they are moving in the right direction, they know the future is not in the dinosaur IT department, it is in the cloud, the computing utility and I'll likely stay with them in that as they make my life easier.

Thanks for the event, keep up the good work.

That's a picture of me taken many years ago, I think around (bear in mind it's hazy) from 89ish. And if you were able to see my feet you'd be able to see me sporting a right royal pair of Kickers

.

You see for me, when growing up, Kickers were the tough old rugged footwear that people on the fringes wore, not the every day good boys so to speak, it was the slightly naughty creative crowd, the types of people that I used to hang with man ... (umm I still do I suppose but we grew up a bit).

The reason I mention these odd ball boots here is that I was invited to a pre-festive Kickers PR do but a stone's throw from Liverpool street, London, where I got to learn about the history of the mighty boot. Indeed it is a fascinating history and whilst invented during/after(?) the French revolutions of the 60s, the Kicker still seems to not have been able to have kicked its slightly "out there" personality, it is slightly rebellious you see.

I see that as good thing, you know that when musical icons such as Jarvis Cocker and Shaun Ryder sport the shoe it is not in the "mainstream" (gee I hate that term).

Or is it?

Perhaps Kickers would like more mainstream adoption mind you. In fact I am sure they do but to be frank it has been completely off my radar, and I wonder why? Fact is there is a complete range of really cool looking shoes and boots, just pop along and have a look at the cool shoes.

As I have two daughters I'm particularly interested in the cute little pink ones.

I mean they are seriously cute right? I know I'm going to go get some, and having now had conversations (post PR event) it seems all the new mummies know about the Kids Kickers ... crap, they always seem ahead of the game.

Anyway, the point is that the PR event worked, both Gary Bradshaw the dude behind Splendid and Ian Blackman "The Boss" of Kickers UK, did a neat job in brining together a bunch of noisy media peeps in the hope that we would spout off on our sites.

The event focussed on some "user generated" music vid/animation type thing, which whilst was "OK", it didn't do so much for me to be frank, but boring, I could think of 10 things far better to bring a community out to tell their stories..

However, what I did find really interesting is that Kickers are launching a new range of Boot to celebrate being in the shoe game for 40 years, and the boot itself will have the story of the company drawn all over it... hehe yes pretty quirky!

The picture here on the left shows part of the story of Kickers and that will be wrapped around a white boot and launched in August 09 I believe.

The thing is about that is if you were buying the boot you'd so need to know about the story first otherwise you may be mistaken for thinking the boot just has random drawings all over it.

I was asked if I would wear a pair and I guess I would, which is good for Kickers because they are sending me a pair in a month or so.

Good company, good people, they hooked me in again.

But do you know what I am talking about, do you wear them, or have you worn them? Got a story about them too?