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Microsoft Technology

Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer 94

Posted by CowboyNeal from the take-me-out-to-the-ballmer dept.
Xlylith writes "BBC News is reporting that Bill Gates and software giant Microsoft have signed to become first "Founding Partner" of the new Wembley stadium, in a five-year deal worth at least £5m. Microsoft technology will be used in the stadium, and the firm will get use of the pitch for 90 minutes a year. Guess where Vista will be launched in UK next year? Microsoft's press release is also available."
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Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer More

Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer

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  • Next Year (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22, 2005 @08:44AM (#13852088)
    Guess where Vista will be launched in UK next year?

    Next year? Are you sure?

    • Re:Next Year (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That's why they have this for 5 years. Just in case things go as they usually do :)

    • Re:Next Year (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Robocoastie ( 777066 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @10:18AM (#13852423) Homepage
      At least they aren't having the place named after them like all the other greedy SOB corporations do.

      • Re:Next Year (Score:3, Insightful)

        by kaden ( 535652 )
        Marketing your brand name = greed? Gotta love Slashdot...
      • At least they aren't having the place named after them like all the other greedy SOB corporations do

        Actually I'd rather they did try name it after themselfs since football is the national game here in the UK, and as this is the national stadium, think of all anti-MS feeling that would develop. People who never otherwise would have cared less, would want to boycott MS. How do you do that people ask: answer == F(O)SS. Think it wouldn't happen? My local football team tried to name it's stadium after an insu
    • Never mind Windows Vista, the stadium's running late too. The builders have said that they won't make any money from it, and recent "new build" history in England has not been good (Pickett's Lock, Millennium tent?).

      Still, let's hope they get it finished in time for the 2006 FA Cup. It's embarrassing having that played in a neighbouring country (albeit a relatively friendly one).

    • Off the top of my head, I'd say in one of the penalty spots

  • Good place to catch a virus (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How appropriate -- Microsoft is the backer of one of the best places to catch a virus.
  • Microsoft Soccer? or Microsoft Football for the euros...

  • Astroturfing (Score:4, Funny)

    by BarneyRubble ( 180091 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @08:56AM (#13852133)
    Atleast microsoft can be accused of astroturfing
  • It will open up next year!

    American rock band Bon Jovi are the first act booked to play the new Wembley Stadium.The band will perform at the 90,000-seater venue on June 11 next year, as part of their European tour.

    Read more. [wbtimes.co.uk]

    • Bon Jovi at your opening ceremony? That has to be a bad omen. Expect locusts.
      • Bon Jovi at your opening ceremony? That has to be a bad omen. Expect locusts.

        Like bad medicine? But I'm a cowboy! On a steel horse I ride! I'm a fighter, I'm a poet, I'm a preacher! I've been to school and baby, I've been the teacher! We've got to hold on ready or not! You live for the fight when it's all that you've got!
    • Bon Jovi? What is this, 1987?
    • Actually if the stadium is done on time the FA Cup Final will be held at the stadium on May 13th. Also they hope to hold a smaller event at the stadium as a test before they pack it with 90k for the Cup Final. So while Bon Jovi will 'open' the new stadium they will not be the first big event in the stadium. Unless everything goes to hell and the stadium is late.

      Also as to why Bon Jovi will be the first band to open the stadium. They were the last ones to play in the Old Wembley before it was
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • When I was 12, I had this friend and we used to sing "Bon Jobby: Living on a Jobby" together.

        We gotta hold on to what we got,
        It doesn't make a difference if we do one or not,
        We've got each other and that's all right for jobbies,
        We'll give it a shot!

        Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh we're half way there,
        Oh oh, living on a jobby..

  • Feature (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mr2cents ( 323101 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @08:57AM (#13852137)
    One of the features of this new stadium is easy throwable chairs.

  • Great ... replays powered by Windows Media Player (Score:3, Funny)

    by hattig ( 47930 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @08:59AM (#13852146) Journal
    Great ... no more working scoreboards.

    I hope they use Vista to control the annoying advertising boards with scrolling animated adverts though. I'll be happy to see them go blank.
  • Even though I don't think Microsoft has bought out a sporting venue to advertise, it's typical agressive Microsoft Marketing(TM).

    But you can't say it doesn't work.
    • "Even though I don't think Microsoft has bought out a sporting venue to advertise, it's typical agressive Microsoft Marketing(TM)."

      So I guess Staples, Qualcomm, and every other company that's ever bought sponsorship of a venue is now aggressive? I love how when MS does it, it's always evil. I'm suprised they don't own all the stadiums.
  • How about putting the M$ Logo for Vista and Windows on the soccer ball for a game against the home team (probably sponsored by $Bill) and the Penguins. Penguins win in a shutout. (I can dream...)

    • Re:A great place to put the logo... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dan-DAFC ( 545776 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:49AM (#13852317) Homepage

      There is no home team as such, it is the new English national stadium. It is the neutral venue for the major football and rugby league cup finals. While the ground has been redeveloped the FA Cup final, League Cup final and Charity Shield have been been played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (the Welsh national stadium).

      The England national team (who have being playing most of their matches in Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham in recent years) will be playing their home matches at Wembley, but in association football, national teams do not have shirt sponsors in the same way as club sides do (it is still considered somewhat vulgar to sell out your country to some corporate interest, though no doubt things will eventually change as most other sports have gone this way).

      The new Wembley stadium has taken longer than first forecast and run a long way over budget but it should be a spectacular venue. It will be the largest capacity sports venue in the world in which every seat is under cover, with a sliding roof so that the grass can be protected from/exposed to the weather as required, and each seat will have more leg room than the seats in the royal box at the old Wembley. In the words of Tony Banks, "it will make the Stade de France look like a dog kennel". Surprisingly, it will only be used for football at the 2012 Olympics, with a smaller, 80,000 seat Olympic stadium being built in the East of the city.

    • Scores may be changed without any notice...
    • M$ can not be held responsible for any losses...
    • M$ may change any functionality without notice...
    ...or something like that...

  • Safe bet (Score:5, Funny)

    by canuck57 ( 662392 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:02AM (#13852164)

    This is a safe use of Windows. If it crashes, and the building isn't moving it can't collide with anything.

    Hot dogs can continue to cook with residual heat, and be served while the servers are repaired.

    Sooner or later the blue screen of death will hit the big board but the worst that will happen is people get a good chuckle and don't know what the current score is.

    Linux will make it inside as PDAs/cell phones with Linux will work despite Microsoft efforts.

    Hey, now you can watch a live game and hack a computer at the same time! Just don't lock the doors.

    • To be honest the building does move but not in a big way!

      For this reason, the sliding roof remains an integral part of the design for the new Wembley. Options such as a palletised pitch (moving a patchwork pitch in and out of the Stadium between events) or regularly re-laying the pitch were rejected as inappropriate for Wembley. Instead, computer models have been made of air movement and sunlight on the existing pitch and the unique moving roof designed for the new Stadium. This will be left open betwee
    • "Sooner or later the blue screen of death will hit the big board but the worst that will happen is people get a good chuckle and don't know what the current score is."

      Never seen a drunk at a sports game have you? If the time/score/anything on the big board is wrong they get pissed...they don't chuckle...they get pissed.
  • Does it run linux? => NO Unless you disable the DRM (Security Guards)
    I want a google stadium. It runs LINUX!
    • You don't want to have a Google stadium either.

      You would turn up for an event to be asked "Did you mean to see ....." at the door (which incidentally would be 99% complete but would still have workmen tweaking it), and when you finally did get into it the performers would spend 20% of their time on stage doing their own projects.

      You would like the experience though, and leave with a general feeling of wellbeing and none evilness.

  • Microsoft Purchases England. (Score:4, Funny)

    by twitter ( 104583 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:40AM (#13852284) Homepage Journal
    Article is down as the new BBC [netcraft.com] runs Microsoft.

    Microsoft signs as England backer

    Bill Gates and software giant Microsoft and the Queen have signed to become first "Founding Partner" of the new England, in a five-year deal worth at least £50m.

    Microsoft technology will be used in all official functions, and the firm will get use of the soil for 90 minutes a year.

    'Iconic'

    "We are tremendously proud to be the first (founding partner)," said Nick Barley, business and marketing officer of Microsoft UK.

    "You won't see our name on consumers' shirts but there is something about England - it's an icon, it's a legend, it's part of British culture and life. The word Microsoft will appear on every one of their biometric ID cards, which will be renamed to Passport and we're working on a deal to transcribe it into consumers genes and have obtained a patent for that."

    The original England opened in 1066 and eventually became the British Empire. The Empire won its last match against Germany in the century and recently defeated Argentina.

    Regeneration programme

    English executives say over two million visitors will visit the England each year, and that the project will generate approximately 5,000 new jobs.

    The deal is at the heart of a regeneration programme called Vision 2020, creating new homes, offices and community sport and leisure facilities as well as improved public transport links.

    However its construction has not been entirely smooth, with delays and cost overruns, with Australian builders Multiplex saying it will not make a profit on the contract. Bill Gates dissmissed the builder's assertions saying the new facts will get TCO straight.

    "The union of Microsoft and the new state-of-the-art kingdom is fantastic news and will help resurrect the Empire as the world's leading sports and entertainment venue," said a representative.

    Business Aims

    "We won't have any of that Open Business going on here," Bill smiled as he toured a Castle, "I got so sick of hearing people slipping out of my grip in Munich, Mass and all that. We're going to enjoy a good market here and everywhere we are able to purchase customers."

    Disney and Warner executives were stung by the deal. A collective "I can't believe we let that tin horn beat us to it!" was heard in board meetings in both companies.

  • Stadium Sponsor Curse (Score:4, Informative)

    by Fear the Clam ( 230933 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:41AM (#13852287)
    Sweet. It'll give us another chance to test the Stadium Sponsor Curse [pbs.org].
    • Thig here is 1) Microsoft ISN'T naming the stadium after itself... 2) Microsoft is too rich for anythign sour here to hurt them... the worst is the report a slightly lower profit...

       
  • Why are we hearing about Microsoft's marketing plans all the time now? Over and over about their budget for marketing the Xbox, and now this. So Microsoft is going to have their name on a stadium in England - so what?
    • I think it has to do with Wembley . A place where people launch a lot of balls (into Goals) , fitting that Microsoft launches its load of balls there .

  • BSOD (Score:5, Funny)

    by jjeffries ( 17675 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:44AM (#13852299)
    The Blue Screen of Death is going to look awesome on a screen the size of a small house!

  • Second Tuesday (Score:3, Funny)

    by ewg ( 158266 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @09:46AM (#13852305)
    And you can sneak in on the second Tuesday of every month, pending security patch installation!
  • Will it make it a blue field of death? Seriously... if MS is serious about putting their name out there in such a way that they boast about their own systems running the place, they'd better have some VERY, VERY talented people running the IT infastructure.

  • They think it's all over... (Score:3, Funny)

    by carndearg ( 696084 ) on Saturday October 22, 2005 @10:21AM (#13852439) Homepage Journal
    They think it's all over... (Blue screen causes entire stadium to crash) ... It is now!

    (http://www.answers.com/topic/they-think-it-s-all- over [answers.com] for those of you who dont follow World Cup football)
  • With Microsoft's Servers licensing policy, you will have to pay twice the price of admission to see the tennis doubles matches... Wait, are we talking about Wimbledon [google.com]?
  • Wasn't Wembley a fraggle?
  • "Guess where Vista will be launched in UK next year?"

    Wembley stadium was originally scheduled to be opened in 2003. It's been delayed to 2006. And the centerpiece of the design was to be "four scyscraping masts". The new Pillars of Wembley perhaps? Amid lots of delays and mis-management, the new Pillars of Wembley have been dropped from the plans, and are to be replaced with an arch instead.

    Nowhere could be more apt to launch Longhorn.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/406613.stm [bbc.co.uk]
  • The team today was sporting their new all-blue uniforms.
  • In fine print on the ball:


    This ball has been sponsored by Microsoft.
    Please read the EULA for more information and legal terms.
  • ...all the corruption on the project, such as British companies spending lots of money on getting materials and people ready for the project only for it to be handed off to other (usualy foreign) firms. And Microsoft technology being used in the stadium?! The damn thing will never be finished!
  • It so happens that I went to the UK launch of Windows XP, which was held at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Not a bad event, although Steve needs a new joke writer.

    Now, that venue seats 3,000 people, and while I am of course an extremely important person, I'm not so important that they had to exclude 70,000 lesser people. So launching Vista in a 73,000 capacity venue is going to look a bit sparse, don't you think?
    • You forget all the people who'll get given free tickets too see the new Wembley stadium before all their friends, nevermind what's going on on the pitch, they're on the 'hallowed turf' of the "iconic" national stadium. add to that all the techie people who will go, and the people (like myself) who'll go for both reasons (I didn't go to the launch of XP, but if they're launcing it on the pitch of Wembley stadium, I'd think about it).
      Alternatively they might be launching it to a select few in one of the corpe
  • I just don't understand how some companies can be so oblivious to the PR implications of a move like this.

    The new Wembley stadium is late by several years, grossly over budget and most likely to annoy people in the UK since it is a monument to centralization in London (finals of any major football tournaments are traditionally played there, meaning that out of London fans have to travel to London, with all the inconvenience this carries).

    Wembley has become sinonimous with incompetence (up there with the Mil

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