Microsoft has unveiled its ugly sweater for this year’s holidays – and it’s going to be a real crowd-pleaser for Windows XP fans.
And there are plenty of people who consider this operating system one of the best versions of Windows ever – after all, it is the operating system that refused to die – so it turns out there is quite a bit of demand for the sweater.
Windows XP vs Windows 11 💻 Which one will prevail? Tune in now to find out and grab this year’s #WindowsUglySweater https://t.co/4ivmjtvG7n pic.twitter.com/dJ10dUL63aNovember 28, 2023
The cotton garment (well, 55% cotton, 45% acrylic) shows a stylized version of the Bliss (default) wallpaper for Windows XP, and is referred to in the product listing as ‘Merry Blissmas’.
The design features the iconic fluffy clouds in a blue sky, with a green landscape below, and the addition of an oversized mouse cursor (you wouldn’t want anyone to miss the image). point of the sweater, well, will you?).
It’s yours via the Xbox Gear Shop for $70 (£56 in the UK and about AU$105).
The sweater can be shipped internationally around the world, but if you want the bad news, it’s already sold out in most common sizes.
Small, medium, large and extra large are all gone, leaving only sizes 2XL and 3XL. You can still request notification for any of the sizes that are currently out of stock so that Microsoft will let you know when (or if) more stock arrives.
Microsoft advises: “Machine wash cold, tumble dry on low and never remove.”
As an added bonus, some of the money will go to charity, The Nature Conservancy, which aims to protect our environment and combat climate change.
Analysis: Sweat it
Microsoft’s holiday sweaters have become quite famous at this point. In the past, we’ve had last year’s Clippy (perhaps a retired co-pilot could be on a future jersey, though Microsoft better hope not, given how many eggs it has in that particular basket) and a Windows 95 jersey .
There was indeed a Windows XP jersey in 2019 (which was also available in 2020, when Microsoft revived some previous designs) covered in the ‘XP’ logo, but this variant is a little more subtle – apart from the stupid super-sized mouse pointer anyway.
If there’s one criticism, it’s that Microsoft should make more of these garments. They’re clearly popular sweaters, and the fact that they’re already sold out in most sizes will obviously be disappointing for those eager to get their hands on a piece of ‘bliss’ this holiday season.
To be honest, we’re still waiting for the BSoD (that’s the ‘Blue Sweater of Death’).
Through Tom’s hardware