How to host a Windows 7 launch party...

In case you didn’t know, Windows 7 goes on sale on 22 October and Microsoft is keen to make the event even more of a celebration than usual.

So, in a stroke of marketing genius, Microsoft has decided that it would like users to throw their own mini Windows 7 parties to show how great its new operating system is. If that idea wasn’t cringe-worthy enough, it’s also released some videos that explains the kind of fun things you can do in your party.

More details — and a video that may make you buy a Mac — after the cut.

The first video is a six-minute epic that shows a commendably diverse group of actors unconvincingly enthusing about their Windows 7 launch parties. Given that watching this video is likely to be the longest six minutes of your life, we can only imagine what it must have been like for the people involved. Actually, we don’t need to imagine — there’s a digital clock in the background that does it for us.

We won’t spoil the video by picking it apart frame-by-soul-destroying-frame and instead, simply present it here for your, er, um… Masochists can see the other videos over at Microsoft’s YouTube channel.

The irony is that Windows 7 is actually pretty good, but this monumentally lame marketing campaign might make everyone think otherwise. And if watching this video has made you want to throw up your own Windows 7 launch party, this 6,500-word list of terms and conditions should get you started.

[Windows 7 House Party]