Microsoft Exec Demonstrates Edge’s Primary Purpose: Downloading Chrome

Anyone who has demoed a technology product or service onstage knows the terror of that moment. You know the one. That time just before you launch into your well rehearsed demonstration where you hope the technology doesn’t let you down.

Spare a thought then for Michael Leworthy from Microsoft’s Azure Migration Team. While showing off Azure’s Site Recovery tech, Everly proved what many people already know – Edge’s primary purpose is downloading Chrome.

At the 36:40 mark of this video, Leworthy starts his demo of some of Azure’s migration features and hits a snag. Rather than flail about and try and make everything work with Edge, Leworthy does what almost every other tech guy would do and moves to Plan B – try another browser. But adding to the fun – he has a laugh along with the audience – and proceeds to install Chrome so he can continue the demonstration.

“I love it when demos break,” quipped Leworthy before hitting up Bing to search for and install Chrome.

Jump to the 36:40 mark to see the fun unfold. Of course, he doesn’t check the “Help make Google better” box after searching for Chrome using Bing.

Leworthy said part of the problem is that Edge, on the demo machines, “is locked down a little” so not everything works as expected. However, how a machine that has Edge locked down lets you install another browser is interesting. And the walkthrough of how Microsoft employees authenticate into systems shows how he uses Authenticator.

While we can all have a good laugh about this there are a couple of lessons to learn:

1. Always test your demo using the equipment you’ll be using on stage
2. If something goes wrong, have a Plan B ready – even a plan with a laugh is better than blind panic