Microsoft is a big company, and it competes in so many businesses that it's no longer easy to even keep track of them all. But even the most ardent follower of the software giant couldn't have seen this one coming. This week, Microsoft announced a new product line: Clothing.
It's called Softwear, of course, and currently encompasses a range of old-school-looking T-shirts that should appeal to youngsters and the aging pioneers who first plopped an expensive IBM PC on their desks.
"Softwear by Microsoft is a clothing line that taps the nostalgia of when PCs were just starting to change our lives," a Microsoft statement reads. "With retro logos, classic photos, and geek-chic iconography, these pieces showcase the DOS days of the software company that now connects over a billion people."
One of the designs features the rounded, overlapping letters of the MS-DOS logo from 20 years ago. Another features the infamous Bill Gates mug shot from Albuquerque. Yet another highlights Microsoft's 70's-erific original logo.
The clothing will become available in the US mid-month, Microsoft says. Interestingly, it was conceived by the company's new ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which is also responsible for the recent "I'm a PC" and Zune ad campaigns.
For more information about Microsoft Softwear, please visit the Microsoft Web site.
