Microsoft Re-Designs the iPod Packaging
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters bring it up whenever Microsoft product naming, branding or marketing is confusing, pointing to it as a long-running self-aware critique.
What it is
A 2006 parody made by a Microsoft team that shows how the company would redesign iPod packaging, with a box piled with feature claims, logos and clutter in contrast to Apple's clean design.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2011 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends untog · 2013-01 · on “Microsoft hires designer behind "The Next Microsoft", Andrew Kim”
This is supposedly an MS-produced parody of it's marketing efforts. It's very old now (I think it uses a 1st gen iPod?) but is still worth a laugh: [this video] Thankfully MS have learnt a lot of lessons since.
Recommends alisonkisk · 2021-05 · on “If Microsoft Designed macOS (Concept)”
It's just a few lines of text complain about Windows, and some windows UI screenshots copied onto a max desktop. Not worth 2 minutes of video. The original "Microsoft iPod" video from 2006 is much better [this video]
Recommends gumby · 2022-09 · on “iPhone 14 Pro comes with dual-frequency GPS”
Many tech products are still sold on feature lists. Few people care any more. This great (short and funny) internal video from Microsoft was supposed to be a wake up call, but nothing really changed: [this video] The fact that Apple doesn't really play that game seems to drive some people wild.
Recommends jnaina · 2026-02 · on “Claude Code is suddenly everywhere inside Microsoft”
It's over 19 years old, but this video is a brutal but hilarious commentary on Microsoft's inherent dysfunction when it comes to product naming and packaging. Still on point decades later. [this video]
Cites snowwrestler · 2012-07 · on “On Apple's new ads”
> They could show the product in use. This line was part of a classic critique of Microsoft's packaging design. [this video]
Cites mturmon · 2014-02 · on “Microsoft, Past and Future”
One example of this effect is the packaging parody [this video] which was made by a MS team as an illustration of their frustration.
Cites alexwasserman · 2022-10 · on “Apple's sleeping advertising business”
That Apple could do it doesn’t mean they will, and the article doesn’t present much actual evidence it will. In Apple long-running saga with Ads it’s always seemed like Apple hates ads because it’s other companies content (and so priorities, aesthetic, and feel) jammed inside an Apple product. And Apple hates anything that ruins the Apple Experience :tm: Paying to be the first App Store entry is great, because it’s Apple showing off the normal Apple content (an app card) within a search list of app cards. But in an app that cuts to some cheap, ugly, non-Apple aesthetic ad - that’s pretty unappealing and ruins the Apple Experience. It’s tougher to craft that Apple type experience while also s
Cites Jack000 · 2023-04 · on “How to Become a “Designer Who Codes””
Actually I don't think most programmers are capable of designing something like spacex.com - every image on the site fits the minimalist theme (and there are hundreds). The photos are always dark in the appropriate areas so the text is readable, and they're dynamically cropped/resized with good positioning for all breakpoints. - the front page appears to be simple, but if you click through the site there are actually a ton of dynamic illustrations and charts like this: [LINK] The key thing is that the aesthetic is executed consistently and with restraint. This video is a bit old now but it's as true now as it's ever been: [this video] Minimalism is the most difficult aesthetic to pull off, becaus