Microsoft Wants People to Throw Windows 7 Launch Parties

A new version of Windows is not typically a reason to throw a party, but Microsoft is hoping people will do just that to celebrate Windows 7, and has teamed with House Party to help them do so.

Through a House Party promotional Web site, people can apply to throw a Windows 7 launch party any time between Oct. 22 and Oct. 29. Microsoft is releasing Windows 7 globally on Oct. 22.

“You host the party. We’ll bring the favors,” Microsoft declared on the site calling for applications. House Party is a community-based site that helps people around the world host parties that are usually held on the same day and are focused on a corporate event or product launch.

If chosen to throw a party, hosts will receive a Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and a Windows 7 Party Pack based on a theme of their choosing to help them organize the party. The themes for the party packs pertain to features of the new OS and, as listed on the Web site, are: PhotoPalooza, Media Mania, Setting up with Ease and Family Friendly Fun.

Every host also has a chance to win a PC worth US$750, according to the Web site. Winners will be notified and their prizes delivered after Oct. 30.

Windows 7, which has been in the hands of testers and early adopters, has gotten generally positive reviews. Many say it’s the OS Microsoft should have delivered when it released Windows Vista — an overall disappointment among Windows users — in early 2007.

Microsoft isn’t the first company to ask enthusiasts to throw a geek-themed party in honor of a software launch. Fans of Mozilla’s Firefox browser were asked by the company to host download parties when it released Firefox 3 in June. The company hoped to set a Guinness World Record for the number of software downloads in 24 hours, and claimed to log more than 8 million downloads of the browser in a day.