This is Microsoft's Nokia-powered Rube Goldberg machine in full

In case the "Not like everybody else" didn't get your Microsoft+Nokia blood pumping, they're back with a different take on the concept. This time it's the resolution of the Rube Goldberg teaser that was posted yesterday, titled "History in the making". The 77-second clip uses elements from the past of both Nokia and Microsoft to pull off the overly complicated machine, and, well, the joy of these things is in watching it run.

It seems likely we're going to see more ads of this sort, celebrating the union of Microsoft and the Nokia devices and services division. How many will just end up on YouTube versus getting aired on television, we can't say for sure, but "History in the making" and "Not Like Everybody Else" are likely just the beginning.

Source: YouTube

Derek Kessler

Derek Kessler is Special Projects Manager for Mobile Nations. He's been writing about tech since 2009, has far more phones than is considered humane, still carries a torch for Palm, and got a Tesla because it was the biggest gadget he could find. You can follow him on Twitter at @derekakessler.

79 Comments
  • Neat!
  • More colourful, so all the colours on all the carriers?
  • The incorrect spelling of colourful really makes me cringe. Nokia used to spell words correctly, I guess Microsoft is putting an end to that. Microsoft needs to wake up and start respecting their user base.
  • Welcome to Microsoft. They've also replaced the correct Portuguese spellings everywhere for the Brazilian unofficial way. They have no respect for Europe, I think it's clear by now.
  • Wow. Its so easy to offend you
  • Wow you sound like a bright person. /s
  • Did the 'murican got offended? I'm really sorry. /s
  • Come on, cry your misery elsewhere. Nokia fans are disgusting.
  • So is your mother and here you are.
  • Another childish anti MS post from DJCBS, what a surprise.  
  • Another retarded comment by hwangeruk, what a surprise.
  • Creative.
  • Brazil has almost 200 million people. Portugal has around 11 million. No offense, but why would Microsoft cater to market that represents less than 10% of total language speakers, even if it is the "correct" spelling? I agree that they should change the spelling for Portuguese users, as it isn't a huge deal, but Portugal is honestly not that important of a market for MS so I can see why they would prioritize brazil. 
  • Well, first European Portuguese is spoken and written in Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guiné Bissau, Cape Verde, S. Tomé and Prince, Timor and Macau.That's 7 countries and a special administrative region of CHINA. Also, Portugal has a ratio of 2 phones per inhabitant, which means there's around 20 million cellphones in this country alone, half of which are Nokia. Then you have Brazil, a country with 180 million people indeed, but where half of them can't read nor write or suffer from functional illiteracy, let alone use a smartphone. And then you have the percentage of Brazilians that can afford a smartphone indeed...but rather go for Apple because it's "fashionable". Yes, it is a big market that can be conquered, no it's not much more important than the Portuguese market. Not if Microsoft has brains. If you had Brasil -  a country with tons of poor people that can't afford a phone and tons of people who can but prefer apple - and Portugal - a country where there's a ratio of 2 phones per inhabitant, where one of those phones is a Nokia (a company to whom you just bought a D&S division) - to which country would you look first? The gigantic one where people are less inclined to join your offerings or to the smaller one where people are quite willing to accept your offerings and give you a chance?
    At any rate, it's not a question of "prioritizing Brasil". It's a question of Microsoft having both spellings and phrasings etc, and then deciding to abolish the correct way of spelling - the European way - and shoving the Brazilian way down the throats of the people of all the other countries around the World that speak Portuguese.
  • Dude chill. If you read my comment I said Microsoft SHOULD change the spelling for Portugal. But you're being whiny and ignorant so I'm gonna go ahead an correct you: 1) Those countries you listed further prove my point. They each have they're own dialect of Portuguese that is NOT European. Also they're relatively small nations that combined still are only a dent in Brazil's population.  2) In terms of cell phone users, Brazil is the fourth largest country, just after the United States, with over 275 million cell phones.  3) Brazil is the world's 7th largest economy, and it's one of the world's fastest growing. The middle class is growing fast, and they're buying phones.  4) Windows Phone outsells iPhone in Brazil, so leave your "fashionable" argument at home. iPhones sell everywhere, don't make it sound like rich Brazilians are just dumb consumers dying for a status symbol.  5) The literacy rate in Brazil is 97%. So yeah, they should add the European spelling back. But it's justified that they prioritized Brazil over Portugal. 
  • Considering that Microsoft is us company, colorful is how we spell it. Colourful isn't our spelling and really it's a spelling of a word. Get over yourself
  • Exactly.. how dare an AMERICAN company spell their words the way AMERICANS do. People find anything to whine about when it comes to Microsoft...
  • "colorful" is spelled just right, that it isn't for your language, doesn't mean that it is for every language. Welcome to a world with more then 1 way to spell color.
  • We don't need your ethnocentricism.
  • Or... And its just an idea... Maybe this is a US targeted ad with US spelling and your comment would be about as well placed as complaining that they spelled "yes" as "si" (yeah, I don't know how to add the appropriate accent character there) for a hispanic targetted ad.  Different people in different places spell and pronounce things differently.  No reason to get your feelings hurt and badmouth the ad.  I am also their user base and am US based so I don't see them as not respecting this user :)
  • As it happens Color used to be the British spelling as well, until 1066 when the Normans invaded, which changed a lot of our language with French influences like changing most words ending in or into our, after that when Johnson made his dictionary he reverted some of those back to or and kept some as our basically depending on a whim of what he thought looked better, but when Webster did the dictionary for America 40 or so years later he reformed the spellings essentially back to their original, for simplification, removing the U and reversing the RE ER from the words changed by the French influence. There are a few words in American English which have our, but this is from Scottish influence instead of French. For this reason I don't really mind when people use either, so long as they are consistent. There's nothing worse than someone who starts to write in British English, switches to Oxford English, then again to American English, then back to British English...
  • Oxford English IS "British English" although it should just be called "English" being the original from England. Most, if not all, other English-speaking countries use English from the UK. So it's only necessary to specify that it's "US English" to warn people the spellings have been butchered from the original language :P I loathe Webster with a passion as many of his misspellings have also given rise to many mispronunciations and general confusion for people trying to learn English.
  • Oxford English and Standard British English are not the same thing. Oxford English is closer to the original spelling of most words, such as Privatize, whereas the standard British spelling is the butchered language used by most people in Britain, by changing almost all words to ise, or yse, such as Privatise, instead of the more correct ize and yze.
    In American English you will find most words are ize and yze, in British English they are mostly ise and yse and in Oxford English half are ise and yse and half are ize and yze, depending on the original correct spelling based on the words origin.
  • Okay, "almost the same" as apparently they only vary by 200 verbs. I disagree with you though and think that OE are the ones that have butchered the language - English is from England so how they spell it is the correct way regardless of etymological roots. A university does not have authority over a language, and especially not the US as they've done more harm than good to the language. You can't say it's "more correct" to use "ize" or "yze" when the English language doesn't spell it that way. It doesn't matter if they used to spell it that way 500 years ago, the language has progressed and fallen in line with how it should be pronounced - with a soft s rather than a hard z sound.
  • Dudes chill! Interesting conversation, and though I agree that one should try to avoid to mix the UK and US spelling, the fact is that the most commonly spoken language in the world, including UK, is badly spoken (and written) english. (notice the deliberate omission of the word wrongly!) At its finest, the english call it pigeon english, we finns call it "rally-english" thanks to the numerous finnish rally drivers, who can certainly drive, but speak english like, well the true finns they are.
  • It is such a cool video.
  • Kinda... But how did the Lumia turn the display on and go straight tto the start screen?! Can you even do that? If so, I'm thinking NFC tags... maybe?...  
  • I had the same question. I like your NFC tag idea.... If this does work, I'm going to put an NFC tag on my car mount.
  • On the bounce into the little train it hits the power button...but not sure how it bypasses the lock screen.
  • NFC tags don't work with locked screen, at least not on 920 etc
  • ...
  • Microsoft need to keep the Nokia logo!
  • Yes. Despite the negativity, I know a lot of folks that base their new phone decision on it 1st being Nokia.
  • +1020
  • Personally, if the Nokia quality is kept with high specs, I would be happy if it was called Lumia or Surface phone etc.
  • What negativity are your talking of? , Nokia had been the best in what of does n always will be
  • They can't. They can only keep it on dumbphones and Asha phones.
  • They can, they just aren't.
  • They can't. Go read the deal and stop being an ignorant idiot.
  • Why are you so angry? Did you have a less than pleasent childhood?
  • :D
  • yeah ;-|
  • Cool commercial that people will remember, everyone at some point in the 90's and early 2000's had a Nokia mobile phone that you can see...its an attention grabber in my opinion and MS show market it, especially in Canada people would chat about it.
  • I don't recall the model number but my first Nokia was on ATT probably 15 years ago.
  • Cool.
  • Okay I give up
  • I thought something epic approaching was cyan update :(
  • I just thought it was more Cyan colored phones :/ I'd snap up a Cyan 1020, 1520, or 2520 (yes - it's a tablet. I know) in a heartbeat even though I already have the 1020 and 1520. In.A.Heartbeat. Make it happen Microsoft!
  • Interesting that the 2520 made an appearance.
  • +2520
  • Rubes are cool.
  • Two good ads.  They need to figure out how to trim these things down to 30 seconds, but they work.  Eye catching and send a nice message.
  • So cute. Loved the floppy disks and the "Windows" curtains.
  • Really like the commercial! Now run it on TV in Apple-centric Netherlands please.
     
  • Huh? We're not apple technic. We're not the US. Thank god!
  • Hope that Microsoft don't just create a colourful smartphones but a also a powerful one.
  • And I thought they were teasing a new device... WPC App for Android- Lenovo IdeaTab A3000
  • Under Microsoft, that'll be a while. LOL
  • I dont know why you people are dying for cyan update. In india we are dying for Narendra modi as our prime minister.
  • No politics. This is a tech post.
  • kcuf idom .. eh si tsuj tihs ... I hope I don't get banned.. Sorry No Politics... and Not again
  • Cool video!
  • Nice.
  • Please release the 2520 in India!
  • +822
  • Cool ad!
  • they should have started with that phone toppling a building.  its stronger than todays phones.
  • I think there is a law against that :D
  • Awesome, they need to show this everywhere lol. We need more adverts like this, as it is for certain to increase mindshare.
  • seems faster
  • Wow. Just wow!
  • Why the fudge arent these ad on tv? i've seen HTC M8 and Samsung ads everyday at every peak and evening tv time. No nokia or microsoft phones. Fight for goodness sakes, FIGHT!
  • They should have announced a new Nokia 730/830 instead! 
  • Very cool
  • Thank you for starring the 920 although its been a while in the market. Finally some loyalty and not "we forgot all about you" Nokia business
  • Not a bad attempt, but still not as good as this (I can't believe this was 11 years ago!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ve4M4UsJQo
  • IGNORE THIS REPLY
  • I don't know why but i really wanted to see NOKIA written at the end of the video not microsoft. I miss NOKIA :(
  • Lovely ad - now start a campaign around it