Thus has it always been with Google.

Were you one of The Chosen Ones who received an early GMail invitation? No? Allow us to sneer, from our privileged position as one of those special GMailites (or cringe in shame when we reveal we were also amongst the unworthy back in the day).

Now it’s all happening again.

From a marketing perspective, we note, with a tiny gleam in our eyes, that consumers are frantically tweeting up favors, burning off their friends, in a desperate effort to receive a Google Wave invite. The going rate on eBay, as the Early Adopted cash in on their Most-Favored-By-Google status, seems to be around $80 to $100. And still the demand persists. With not an ad campaign in sight.

Meanwhile, Microsoft encourages its employees to invite their friends home to share the delights of Windows 7. With, it must be admitted, a bit of resistance and a certain amount of criticism along the way.

Guess it’s all in the brand image.

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But, like any marketing tool, you’ve got to ensure that the medium matches the message.

Selling lingerie via house party works because:

• it seems slightly naughty (and intimate), so it’s appropriate for the private, at home setting
• it’s got the ‘giggle’ fun factor, so you don’t feel like you’re just selling out your friends
• it’s a female thing, which again works with the home setting

Now along comes Microsoft, with its own take on the house party idea. Here’s how it was described in the marketing trade media:

Microsoft this month is spreading word of the release of Window’s 7 during several thousand parties hosted across the globe by employees and everyday people in their own homes. Each host receives a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate to keep, as well as a party pack of supplies for guests.

Engadget, however, offered up a slightly different perspective:

So by now you all know about Microsoft’s painful, cringe-inducing Windows 7 party idea.

The tech blog went on:

What you might not have known is that Redmond also put together a ‘Hosting Your Party’ instructional video that blends all the worst parts of infomercials and cooking programs into one giant melange of awkward acting. Well, Cabel Sasser — founder of Mac software maker Panic Inc — has remixed said video, and the result is nothing short of a triumph.

Here’s the remix, for your viewing inspiration:

Click here to view the embedded video.

House party to gush over your new operating system? I don’t think so, Tim.

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