Despite their stuffy corporate veneer, Microsoft certainly knows how to throw a party. It was the evening of October 25, 2001. Microsoft was launching Windows XP, its then latest operating system. Earlier that day, they had thrown a free concert, which Sting headlined, Bill Gates emceed, and thousands attended. A few hours later, Times Square the beating neon heart of New York had been taken over. A ring of photographers, journalists, and Microsoft super-fans had surrounded the opulent Marriot Maquis theater, where Microsoft was running its launch event.