OK, this is just too ridiculous to pass up. Via digg -- Microsoft hyping IE 5:

New Look, Auction Manager, Search Assistant, Internet Scrapbook -- here's the Main Menu (with links to all 10 cartoons)

I realize this is from January 2000, but seriously -- what the fuck?! Do these cartoons really help at ALL in the marketing department? I mean, do people stumble across these cartoons on Microsoft's website and say, "Oh my god, this ZipIE guy totally convinces me that Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 is so much better than any other web browser on the Mac! I'm totally gonna switch!" (Nevermind that IE 5.0 for Mac was admittedly a pretty good browser at that time.) I mean, does the money spent on making those Flash cartoons recouped later?

They're painful to watch, and they don't explain a damn thing about any of the features. So what the hell?

Oh, not to mention that this whole "new look" thing and being able to change the color of the toolbar icons does not equal being able to customize the UI. At best, this feature would be called "colorized toolbars" not "new look" or "customizing your browser like the rest of your Mac".

I mean, they could've taken the money spent on creating those cartoons and put them into, oh, I don't know, updating IE 5.0 for Mac to have better standards support? No, that would be truly "innovative" thinking! Or, maybe they could extend the support of IE 5.0 for Mac for a few more months... I mean, they probably only get like one phone call and e-mail a month, right? (Sarcasm aside, while I personally don't bemoan IE leaving the Mac, I am seriously astounded when I see some "switchers" using IE all the time. I see it a lot, and it's amazing given the much better experience offered by Safari, Firefox, and Camino. You'd think someone would have smacked them upside the head by now.)

And lest you think that this is limited to Microsoft, think again. Dell Tech Force -- innovation and standards my ass.