Jeff Sandquist, manager for Microsoft’s enthusiast programs Channel9 and On10, has posted the first pictures of the much anticipated (by Long) special commemorative edition of Microsoft Expression from his spy T-Mobile Dash phone at MIX.
In true spy-photography spirit, Jeff’s photo is mildly blurry just barely enough to make out the contents of his photo. Each commemorative edition is a copy of Expression Studio featuring unique artwork on its cover which are inspired by pencil drawings (every single one appears to be different) – there’s even a little story behind how it ties together with Expression. Since this is a limited edition only to be given to the attendees of MIX07, surely they’re worth something on eBay.
I will be posting all the details as well as high-resolution photos when the MIX attendees get them in about 24 hours. 🙂
They should have hired Philippe Starck to design the box 😉
No offense, but I think the artwork makes the box look a little messy
BUT… this is art right? :p
That blurry photo may have made it look worse, but l can tell you from the high resolution photo it doesn’t look that bad.
ah. I see. Can we loyal readers expect to see some “stalking reportage” on the person who drew these artwork? They gotta be from the MS Design team you reckon?
I for one, think it looks awesome. I don’t know about there being 3 distinct variations though. The first 4 four front boxes look completely different. And by look at the sides of the boxes, they look different too. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were all unique and different. I think the little pencilwork seems cool.
You’re right, I think each one is unique?
@Long and Michael. According to the link… it states “one-of-a-kind artwork” So I bet… they are one-of-a-kind…
Now… let’s see how much artwork that adds up to 😉
I’ve always wondered how people do these out of focus photos of their new stuff :o) It’s much harder to make blurry photo than a sharp one :o)
I would hate to have drawn all those pictures…
Is there the retail version in the boxes? Or just another beta? thx
@tino: That’s a good question, you’d think it’s retail, but then there’s no official word everything is RTMed.
The new Microsoft product boxes are by design, – tamper proof. The packaging is expensive, it would be easy to assume, its a full retail copy that does not expire, not trial or BETA. Also, it would be cheaper to put it on a Server so attendees could download it instead of wasting packaging on pre-release software.
MS did a similar thing at WinHEC 2005 when they gave attendees commemorative editions of XP Professional x64 and Server 2003 Standard x64, which are full final versions that don’t expire but are NFR (Not for Resale). So its possible this copy of Expressions is NFR.
Wow… kinda priceless!
This things are interesting 🙂
ehm, its out. Isn’t it?